Mandatory Reporting of Diseases

Disease Reporting Requirements for Health Care Providers and Laboratories.

Why is Disease Reporting Required? 

Disease reporting is the foundation of public health surveillance and plays a vital role in protecting community health. Timely reporting allows public health authorities to:

  • Identify emerging health threats
  • Respond quickly to prevent or reduce disease transmission
  • Monitor disease trends

Reporting is not optional—it is required by law. Failure to report:

  • Is a misdemeanor (Health & Safety Code §120295)
  • May result in citation and fines under the Medical Board of California Citation and Fine Program (Title 16, CCR §§1364.10–1364.11)
  • State law Title 17, California Code of Regulations (17CCR) details who must report a human or animal with a case or suspected case of a concerning disease or condition.

Who Must Report?

Health Care Provider Reporting (Title 17 §2500(b)):  

  • Every health care provider must report a case or suspected case of any of the diseases or conditions listed, to the local health department where the patient resides.
  • If no health care provider is in attendance, any individual having knowledge of suspected case may report.
  • Who is a Health Care Provider (§2500 (a)(14)):  physician, surgeon, veterinarian, podiatrist, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, registered nurse, nurse midwife, school nurse, infection control practitioner, medical examiner, coroner, or dentist.

Multi-provider settings: Facility Responsibilities (§2500(c)):  

  • Administrators of a health settings with >1 provider must ensure procedures are established to report a case, suspected case, or outbreak within the facility.

Laboratory Reporting (§2505):

  • Labs must report testing results (initial and subsequent findings), including molecular and pathologic results, suggestive of diseases of public health importance to the local health department.
  •  Labs must report negative test results when requested.

* Healthcare providers and laboratories are required to report independent of one another. If a lab has already reported a disease or condition, the provider is still required to report.

School and Childcare Reporting (§2508):

  • Anyone in charge of a public or private school, kindergarten, boarding school, or day nursery must report the presence of suspected or confirmed reportable diseases to the local health department.

Disease Reporting List

  1. What and How to Report?

    What is Being Reported

    Reporting Method

    Laboratory Reporting

    To view a list of ‘Lab Reportable Diseases’ go to CDPH Reportable Diseases and Conditions page.

     

    Laboratories must report via Electronic Lab Reporting (ELR) into CalREDIE.

     

    Conditions Requiring Immediate Reporting

    To view a list of ‘Reportable Diseases’ go to CDPH Reportable Diseases and Conditions page.

     

    Step 1: Call the Communicable Disease Investigator Program

    1. During Business Hours: (559) 600-3332
    2. After Hours: (559) 600-3111
    3. Be prepared to provide patient name, DOB, and symptoms

    Step 2: Submit a Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) (see Section 2) (required after phone report)

     

    Tuberculosis (TB) reporting

    Please see TB Reporting Page.

     

    HIV/AIDS reporting

    Please see HIV – AIDS Reporting Page.

    Do NOT fax HIV/AIDS reports.

     

    School Reporting

    Please see School Health Page.

     

    Other Title 17 non-immediate reportable diseases and conditions

    To view a list of ‘Reportable Diseases’ and their required reporting timeline (i.e., immediately, 1 working day, 7 calendar days), go to CDPH Reportable Diseases and Conditions page.

     

    Submit a CMR (see Section 2 for options).

    Fill out forms completely.

     

    Animal Bite Reporting (§2606)

    Title 17 requires notification to Public Health when any person is bitten by an animal of a species subject to rabies, whether or not the animal is suspected of having rabies. Rabies is endemic in Fresno County. In California, rabies has been found in bats, skunks, foxes, cats, dogs, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, and can be found in other mammals.

     

    All bat-human or bat-domestic animal interactions should be reported immediately. Bat bites can be too small to detect.

    To report an animal bite or potential contact with a bat, please use the following electronic bite report form: Electronic Rabies Bite Report Form.

     

    *If you have a suspected Human Rabies Case- call the health department immediately.

     

    Diseases and Conditions in Animals

     

    Veterinarian reporting tool in development, stay tuned.

    Cancer

    Please see the California Cancer Registry for information on cancer reporting.

     

    Disorders characterized by lapse of consciousness (§2800-2812)

    Report medical conditions that may impair a person's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

    DMV CMR Form Fax to (559) 600-7607

    * These reports are submitted to Public Health and forwarded to the DMV for review. The DMV is responsible for all licensing decisions. Questions regarding a driver's license status, restrictions, or eligibility should be directed to the DMV.

    Immunizations

    Assembly Bill 1797 requires all healthcare providers to submit immunization data to California’s Immunization Registry.

     

    Report into California Immunization Registry (CAIR): Click here to view the associated advisory(PDF)

     

    Blood Lead Reporting

    Labs and health care providers that perform a blood lead analysis drawn in California must electronically report all blood lead levels, along with the information specified in California Health and Safety Code, Section 124130, to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch (CLPPB).

     

    Please see CDPH Requirements for Blood Lead Reporting.

    Pesticide-related illness or injury

    (Health and Safety Code §105200)

    Any known or suspected pesticide-related illness or injury must be reported within 24 hours. For more information on reporting please refer to the guidance letter from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).

     

    Call a Poison Control Center to report a case as well as seek advice from them for treating and managing a possible pesticide illness or injury. The Poison Control contact number for health care providers is 1-800-411-8080.

     

    Pesticide Illness Reporting (PIR) forms are available for download on the OEHHA webpage.

     

     

  2. How to Submit a Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR)

    2.1 Fresno County Online Submission Tool

    2.2 Fax Submission

    • Fax: (559) 600-7607 
    • Use appropriate form (do not email)
      • Standard CMR Form (These forms are not for TB, HIV/AIDS, DMV, or animal bite reports (see Section 2))

    Provider Portal

  3. Specific Disease Guidelines

    3.1 Meningitis

    • Report even if no organism has been identified as the etiology.
    • Organisms that are not normally reportable (Enterovirus, Herpes, etc.) should still be reported as meningitis when detected in CSF or otherwise identified as the etiology of meningitis.
    • Any suspicion or detection of a meningococcal infection (neisseria meningitidis) should be immediately reported by telephone.

    3.2 MDRO, CP-CRPA, CP-CRAB, and CP-CRE 

    3.3 How to Report STD with CMR

    3.4 CDPH Respiratory Virus Reporting Guidance

    3.5 Unusual Diseases, include but are not limited to:

    • Rare disease
    • Emerging disease
    • Syndromes of uncertain etiology (possibly infectious or toxin)
    •  Increase in a common syndrome occurring out of season
    •  Unusual age distribution for common diseases 

  4. Other Questions on How or What to Report:

    • HIPAA: The Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 allows communicable disease reporting as part of permitted disclosures for public health activities (CFR Title 14 §164.512). No consent or authorization is required.
    • TB: Chest Clinic at (559) 600-3413
    • STD: STD Program at 559-600-6404
    • Immunizations: IZ Clinic at 559-600-3550
    • Immediate Report/Urgent diseases: (559) 600-3332 [after-hours (559) 600-3111]
    • Other Reportable Disease Questions: https://redcap.link/FCDPH_epi_request

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