Skip to Content

Public Health Data Collection and Reporting in Pennsylvania

< Return to Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania requires health care facilities and providers to report public health data as follows:

  •         Health care facilities, practitioners, and laboratories must report specified diseases, infections, and conditions to their Local Morbidity Reporting Office.1 Failure to comply with disease reporting requirements may result in restriction or loss of license.2
  •         Physicians must report instances of communicable diseases to their local board or department of health.3
  •         Hospitals, clinical labs, practitioners and other facilities providing cancer screening and treatment services must report cancer cases to the department of health’s cancer registry.4
  •         Physicians, hospitals and HIV service providers must report HIV information to their Local Morbidity Reporting Office while clinical laboratories must report HIV test results directly to the department of health.5 The department may also require the reporting of STDs such as chlamydia and syphilis.6
  •         Hospitals that perform open heart7 surgeries and cardiac catheterizations8 must submit data regarding mortality/morbidity, infections, complications, and risk factors to the department of health.
  •         Facilities that perform abortions must file monthly and quarterly reports with the department that contain information on the aborted fetus, the mother’s demographics, and the number of abortions performed each quarter. A mother’s name may not appear in the reports.9 Failure to comply with abortion reporting requirements may result in the suspension or revocation of a provider’s license.10
  •         Nursing homes must report health care associated infection data to the department of health while hospitals must report such data to the CDC and National Healthcare Safety Network.11
  •         Long term care facility administrators must report occurrences of disease among their residents to the appropriate agency and appropriate Division of Nursing Care Facilities field office.12
  •         Maternity homes and hospitals must report all births to the board of health13
  •         Providers must submit the results of hearing loss and disease screening to the department of health.14
  •         Health care facilities and providers must submit certain patient, financial, and utilization data to the Health Care Cost Containment Council.15
  •         Inpatient psychiatric facilities, nursing facilities, and hospitals must report financial information to the department of welfare.16

Pennsylvania requires local health department directors to report public health hazards and outbreaks to the department of health.17 Additionally, schools must annually report immunization data to the department of health.18

 

Footnotes

  • 1. 28 Pa. Code § 27.21a (2012); 28 Pa. Code § 27.22 (2012)
  • 2. 28 Pa. Code § 27.6 (2012)
  • 3. 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 521.4 (West 2012)
  • 4. 28 Pa. Code  § 27.31 (2012); 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 5636 (West 2012)
  • 5. 28 Pa. Code § 27.32a (2012)
  • 6. 28 Pa. Code § 27.33 (2012)
  • 7. 28 Pa. Code § 136.21 (2012)
  • 8. 28 Pa. Code § 138.20 (2012)
  • 9. 28 Pa. Code § 29.38 (2012)
  • 10. 28 Pa. Code § 29.39 (2012)
  • 11. 40 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 1303.404 (West 2012)
  • 12. 28 Pa. Code § 211.1 (2012)
  • 13. 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 322 (West 2012)
  • 14. 28 Pa. Code § 27.30 (2012); 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 623 (West 2012); 11 Pa. Stat. Ann § 876-5 (West 2001)
  • 15. 28 Pa. Code Chapter 912; 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 449.6 (West 2010)
  • 16. 55 Pa. Code § 1151.47 (2012); 55 Pa. Code § 1163.64 (2012); 55 Pa. Code § 1187.71 (2012)
  • 17. 28 Pa. Code Chapter 15 (2012)
  • 18. 28 Pa. Code Chapter 23 (2012)

 

Public Health Data Collection and Reporting in Pennsylvania

Subtopic Statute/Regulation Description
Public Health Data Collection and Reporting Annual audited financial statements - 28 Pa. Code § 912.61 Hospitals and ambulatory service facilities must annually file audited and certified financial statements within 120 days after the close of the...
Annual cost reporting - 55 Pa. Code § 1151.47 Inpatient psychiatric facilities must complete form MA 336 (Financial Report for Hospital and Hospital-Health Care Complex Under the Medical...
Births to be reported to board of health - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 322 Every licensed maternity home or hospital must, within 5 days after the birth of any child, report the date and place of such birth, as well as the...
Cancer registry - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 5636 The Department of Health maintains a system to collect and disseminate data on cases of cancer in the state by anatomical site, medical and...
Confidentiality of information - 28 Pa. Code § 15.16 The director of a local health department must directly report to the department of health’s commissioner of local health whenever he becomes...
Confidentiality of records - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 7607 No individual who obtains confidential HIV-related information in the course of providing any health or social service may disclose, or be compelled...
Cost reporting - 55 Pa. Code § 1187.71 Nursing facilities must report costs to the medical assistance program by filing an acceptable MA-11 with the department of welfare, which includes...
Cost reports - 55 Pa. Code § 1163.64 Hospitals must complete form MA 336 (Financial Report for Hospital and Hospital-Health Care Complex Under the Medical Assistance Program of the...
Data dissemination and publication - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 449.7 The health care cost containment council will utilize data submitted by providers and other records and information available to it to prepare...
Data submission and collection - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 449.6 The health care cost containment council is authorized to collect and providers must submit all data required under this section. The council may...
Disciplinary consequences for violating reporting responsibilities - 28 Pa. Code § 27.6 Failure to comply with disease reporting requirements may result in restrictions on or revocation of licensure of the clinical laboratory, health...
Health care facility reporting - 40 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 1303.404 Nursing homes must electronically report health care-associated infection data on a patient-specific basis to the department of health using...
Medicare cost reports and Medical Assistance Form 336 - 28 Pa. Code § 912.63 Hospitals and ambulatory care facilities must quarterly report summary utilization and financial reports to the council. 28 Pa. Code Chapter 912,...
Newborn and infant hearing education and assessment - 11 Pa. Stat. Ann § 876-5 The department of health must establish a system to screen all newborns for hearing loss, and to provide information and instruction to parents on...
Newborn Child Screening and Follow-up Program - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 623 The department of health will establish a program providing for screening for the following diseases: Phenylketonuria (PKU); Maple syrup urine...
Penalties - 28 Pa. Code § 29.39 Willful violation of the abortion reporting requirements will result in the following penalties: License suspension for six months for the first...
Quality management and improvement - 28 Pa. Code § 136.21 Hospitals performing open heart surgery must maintain patient data on the following:         Mortality/...
Quality management and improvement - 28 Pa. Code § 138.20 Hospitals performing cardiac catheterization services must maintain patient data on the following:        ...
Reportable diseases - 28 Pa. Code § 211.1 When a resident of a long term care facility develops a reportable disease, the administrator must report the information to the appropriate health...
Reporting - 28 Pa. Code § 15.17 The director of a local health department must directly report to the department of health’s commissioner of local health whenever he becomes...
Reporting AIDS, HIV, CD4 T-lymphocyte counts and perinatal exposure of newborns to HIV - 28 Pa. Code § 27.32a Clinical laboratories must electronically report the following test results to the division of infectious disease epidemiology’s HIV/AIDS...
Reporting cases by clinical laboratories - 28 Pa. Code § 27.22 The following diseases, infections, conditions and results must be promptly reported upon discovery by a clinical laboratory in the course of...
Reporting cases of cancer - 28 Pa. Code § 27.31 Each case of cancer must be reported in accordance with the following: To the cancer registry maintained by the department of health’s...
Reporting cases of certain diseases in the newborn child - 28 Pa. Code § 27.30 The following diseases must be reported to the division of newborn disease prevention and identification in the department of health’s bureau...
Reporting cases of lead poisoning - 28 Pa. Code § 27.34 Reporting requirements for clinical laboratories relating to lead poisoning are as follows: All blood lead results on both venous and capillary...
Reporting cases of sexually transmitted disease - 28 Pa. Code § 27.33 The following are reportable sexually transmitted diseases and infections: Chancroid; Chlamydia trachomatis infections; Gonococcal...
Reporting of cases by health care practitioners and health care facilities - 28 Pa. Code § 27.21a The following diseases, infections and conditions must be reported by a health care practitioner or facility upon initial discovery in the course of...
Reports - 28 Pa. Code § 29.38 Every facility where abortions are performed must report the following information to the department on a monthly basis without identifying the...
Reports - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 521.4 Every physician who treats or examines any person carrying, suffering from or suspected of having or carrying a communicable disease must promptly...
Required data elements - 28 Pa. Code § 912.21 Health care facilities must quarterly submit the following data elements:1         Those contained in health...
School Health - 28 Pa. Code Chapter 23 School districts and joint school boards must maintain comprehensive medical and dental records for each child, containing all the information the...
Click on the individual state law in the table above to see our summary of the individual law.


Welcome to Health Information & the Law

Please provide the following information and continue to the site.

by Dr. Radut.