Missouri health department launches new COVID-19 case reporting system

On Friday night, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced it launched a new electronic COVID-19 case reporting system.

In a news release, the health department said the new system replaces "all forms of paper reporting," which can be incomplete or inaccurate, and allows health care providers and shared housing facilities like nursing homes to report COVID-19 cases. By consolidating multiple methods of reporting, health care providers now can submit reports to state health authorities through one channel, the department said.

The health department said the new system ensures that "all necessary data" can be available to epidemiologists and facility managers for goals like case management and facility-wide testing, the department said.

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“Digitizing this reporting system will help streamline a process between the state and those reporting cases to us in multiple ways,” said Randall Williams, health department director, in a news release.

Gregory Holman is the investigative reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to gholman@gannett.com and consider supporting vital local journalism by subscribing. Learn more by visiting News-Leader.com/subscribe.