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CALIFORNIA REPORTABLE DISEASE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

 AFL 21-25 (Hospitalization Data) FAQ Sheet 


ā€‹QUESTION

ā€‹RESPONSE

ā€‹What does ā€œprior weekā€ mean as a reporting period? What if we do not know when coding has been completed for a case?

ā€‹CDPH is asking hospitals to report weekly on Tuesdays.  Hospitals may select a weekly reporting period that is convenient, and which corresponds to the usual time needed for coding.  For example, hospitals could report from Tuesday-Monday and include a 1-week delay if coding is done within a week.  Alternatively, hospitals might select a different weekly frame (e.g., Sunday-Saturday) or a different lag time if coding usually takes longer.  

ā€‹What does ā€œ$ā€ mean on the reporting template?  
ā€‹$ refers to a text field.  If there is a number, such as ā€œ$2ā€, that indicates the length of the field in characters, in this case, 2 characters.   

ā€‹Should we report data going back more than a week in our first report?
ā€‹Yes, please report historical data if available.  However, please only report patients one time per admission.  

ā€‹Are all the 25 diagnosis data fields required?
ā€‹Please report all diagnosis codes for each admission.  If there are fewer than 25 codes, then the remaining data fields can be left blank. The template was designed to allow reporting of up to 25 diagnosis codes. 

ā€‹Is there any specific naming convention for the file name we need to follow?  
ā€‹No specifications for file names have been developed yet.  However, it would be helpful if you can include your organization and the date of submission in the file name.  E.g. Providence20210727.

ā€‹Will these data be available to Local Health Departments?  
ā€‹CDPH is working with Local Health Departments to determine the best way to make the data available.  

ā€‹If we have not admitted anyone with COVID-19 in the latest reporting period, what should we do?  
ā€‹Please upload a file that indicates ā€œno data to report.ā€  If that is not feasible, please send an email to calrediehelp@cdph.ca.gov stating that you have had no admissions. This will enable CDPH to track data submissions for each submitting organization. 

ā€‹What types of hospitals should report? (For example, we have a separate psychiatric facility off campus.)

ā€‹Hospitals that do not admit patients with acute COVID-19 do not need to report.  

ā€‹If a patient has a positive COVID-19 point of care antigen test and then subsequently has a positive nucleic acid based/PCR test, which positive test result should be submitted in the data extract to you?  Is it the first positive COVID-19 test for the encounter, or is it the first positive PCR test result?

ā€‹In this situation, please include the first positive nucleic acid based/PCR result.
ā€‹The AFL says to submit cases that were "coded" the prior week.  Would it be OK to submit a cumulative file with all hospitalizations beginning with July 10, 2021?

ā€‹Please only report each individual hospitalization one time.  Cumulative reporting would result in persons being reported multiple times and would significantly increase the size of data files.  While cumulative reports may have advantages for some hospitals, it will be important to have consistent reporting, particularly as we establish this new process.  

ā€‹Some patients have up to 25 ICD-10 codes and it can take be difficult to automate the report to pull them all in. Is it acceptable to only submit primary and secondary diagnosis codes to get the data to CDPH quicker, or important to have all the codes even if it delays inclusion of the hospitalization in the report.

ā€‹CDPH would like all the discharge codes, even if it incurs a short (less than 2 week) delay in receiving the data.  
ā€‹Transfers/Readmissions: For patients who are transferred between hospitals, should the transferring or the receiving hospital include the patient in their report? 

ā€‹For transfers, the data should be reported by the receiving hospital and for the full hospitalization.  The receiving hospital should report as much information about the hospitalization as they have available.

ā€‹If a COVID positive patient is readmitted (e.g. within 24-48 hours of discharge), should that patient be on the report twice, once for each admission?
ā€‹If a patient is readmitted, please report separately for each admission.  


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