Public Health Reporting

The Mass HIway enables the electronic submission of reporting for public health registries to improve public health research, intervention, and program development. This allows for easier compliance with applicable state laws and can also help providers earn incentives in the Promoting Interoperability Programs. For information on the Public Health Registries available Massachusetts, click here.

Registry Interfaces via the Clinical Gateway

The Mass HIway is connected to the following Public Health Programs. Please note that the capture of patient consent is not a requirement for mandatory public health reporting.

Syndromic Surveillance (SS): State data submitted to the CDC’s BioSense program via HL7 message to identify excess morbidity and mortality.
Immunizations (MIIS): Supports compliance with state law M.G.Lc.111, s.24M for submission of immunization data to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) via HL7 message. Click here for official MIIS Regulations and here for the MIIS Compliance Schedule (March 2015)
Electronic Lab Reporting (ELR): Supports electronic submission of laboratory results to the MDPH Bureau of Infectious Disease to meet regulation 105 CMR 300.170 via HL7 message.
Massachusetts Cancer Registry (MCR): Provides an electronic means to comprehensively identify and report cancer cases to the Massachusetts Cancer Registry via NAACCR CDA or PDF or further reporting to the CDC as required by Massachusetts law.
Children's Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI): Supports receipt of Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) reports
Intake Enrollment Assessment and Transfer Service (IEATS): via HL7 ADT (A01, 03, 08); QRY_19
Childhood Lead Poison Prevention Program (CLPPP): via .csv, .txt fixed length file, HL7 ORU.
Electronic Case Reporting (eCR): Supports electronic submission of electronic case reports to the MDPH Bureau of Infectious Disease. MDPH accepts eCR submissions following the HL7 CDA eICR standard (v1.1 or v3) and sent via the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Informatics Messaging System (AIMS) and the Reportable Condition Knowledge Management System (RCKMS).

HIway Attestation

Provider Organizations that are required to meet the HIway Connection Requirement must submit an online Attestation Form each year. The table below shows what Attestation Form to use in 2020. You must submit this form by Summer 2020.

Provider Organization	First Year of Requirement	Submit by Summer 2020
Acute Care Hospitals	2017	Year 4 Attestation Form
Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices	2018	Year 3 Attestation Form
Large Community Health Centers	2018	Year 3 Attestation Form
Small Community Health Centers	2019	Year 2 Attestation Form

Online Attestation Requirements

The annual Attestation Forms collect two key areas of information:

1. How the organization met its HIway Connection Requirement. Attestation questions include:
o Description of the provider-to-provider use case
o Approximate # of HIway Direct Messages per month for the use case

2. Whether the organization has an EHR, and if so, how it is connected to the HIway. Attestation questions include:
o Name and version of the EHR
o Whether the EHR is an ONC Certified Health IT Product
o How the organization connected to the HIway
Options: (1) EHR directly to HIway, (2) EHR via a HISP, or (3) via Mass HIway webmail

Suggested Attestation Steps

The online attestation must be completed in one sitting by Summer 2020. The exact date will be announced in the future, at which time the Online Attestation Forms will become available on the HIway website. You can prepare for the attestation, by using the PDF version of the forms.

Once the forms become available, the suggested completion steps, as shown in the image below are:

1. To access the page with the PDF attestation forms, click here.

2. Download the PDF version to prepare the answers

3. When you are ready to submit online, click here.

4. Fill in the Online Attestation Forms and submit to the Mass HIway.

If you don't meet the HIway Connection Requirement

If your organization cannot meet its 2020 HIway Connection Requirement, an authorized representative of the organization is required to complete an Online Exception Form. To access the PDF and Online versions of the Exception Form, click here. Use the PDF version of the Exception Form to plan and prepare your responses.

After we receive the online form, the Mass HIway may contact your organization to discuss your organization’s plans to comply with its 2020 HIway connection requirement.

If an organization did not meet its Year 2 HIway connection requirement in 2020, it is still expected to meet the Year 3 requirement in 2021 and submit a Year 3 HIway Attestation Form by Summer 2021. Likewise, if an organization did not meet its Year 3 requirement in 2020, the organization is still expected to meet its Year 4 requirement in 2021 and submit a Year 4 attestation form by Summer 2021.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mass HIway Regulations FAQs provide Questions & Answers related to the Mass HIway Regulations, and the attestation process. To access the FAQs, click here.

Webinar

Review the webinar below to learn more about the Mass HIway Connection Requirement and Attestation Process.

2020 HIway Connection Requirement and Attestation - December 2019 - PDF

Subscribe to Public Health Reporting