Communicable Disease Service

New Jersey has developed an electronic, web-enabled system where public health partners statewide can instantly report and track incidences of communicable diseases. The Communicable Disease Reporting and Surveillance System (CDRSS) facilitates the timely reporting and immediate sharing of pertinent data, thus supporting appropriate public health responses, be they isolated incidences or multi-state outbreaks. Positive laboratory reports of communicable diseases are entered into CDRSS either by electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) transmissions or are entered manually on a daily basis from clinical laboratories and acute care hospitals. Follow up information is added by hundreds of trained users in various public health roles. The CDRSS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and weekly transmissions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) support national as well as statewide surveillance. The system does not currently allow reporting from individual health care providers.

Important Message: CDRSS 2.0 is live! You can access the system at https://cdrss.nj.gov. The first time you access the system, you will need to activate your user account. Important information on how to activate your account, as well as FAQs and training information are posted on the CDRSS 2.0 home page. 

CDRSS Production site - where real data are entered to report incidences of reportable communicable diseases.

CDRSS 2.0 On-Demand Training - for general communicable disease/STD training.

CDRSS 2.0 Surveillance for Infectious Conditions (SIC) On-Demand Training – for school users or local health departments (LHDs) involved in reporting or viewing weekly SIC module data.

FAQs:

The CDRSS has a wide user base. It is currently used by Local Health Department personnel, Infection Control Professionals (ICPs), Public Health Nurses (PHNs), Microbiologists, Public Health Environmental Laboratories (PHEL), Health Officers (HOs), Registered Environmental Health Specialists (REHS), Public Health Educators (PHEs), Nurses, Epidemiologists (EPIs), Administrative Support, Clerical Staff, Laboratory Technicians, Managers, Planners, Field Representatives, Analysts and Department of Health personnel from various programs such as the Communicable Disease Service (DOH CDS), Occupational Health Program, and the Sexually Transmitted Disease program.

CDRSS coverage extends to all New Jersey municipalities under all local health departments in all counties and covers acute care hospitals as well as multiple commercial laboratories.

CDRSS is web-based and can be accessed from anywhere you have internet connection. It is recommended to use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher as your browser. However, every user is required to receive training prior to getting access.

CDRSS is a secure system that is only accessible by employees in a public health function after receiving CDRSS training and signing a user agreement.

Training is offered on an online interactive platform provided by NJDOH. Training consists of pre-recorded videos, knowledge checks, a post-test, a user agreement, and a new user registration form.

To sign up for training and to gain access to CDRSS for general communicable diseases or Surveillance for Infectious Conditions (SIC) module training, please click on this link: CDRSS Training.

CDRSS can be used to report all the diseases listed on the Quick Reference Magnet [pdf 192k] with the exception of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and the Occupational and Environmental Diseases, Injuries, and Poisonings

• IMMEDIATELY Reportables – Immediately report by telephone to a person at the Local Health Department (do not just leave a voicemail or message) first and then enter data in the CDRSS for instant availability on a "need to know" basis following the successfully completed telephone call
• WITHIN 24 HOUR Reportables – Enter data in the CDRSS for instant availability on a "need to know" basis

Tuberculosis
609-826-4878

Lead
609-826-4920

HIV
609-984-5940

Cancer
609-588-3500

The NJDOH established ELR with all licensed state, commercial and hospital laboratories as defined in N.J.A.C. 8:57. At this point, NJDOH does not establish ELR transmission with individual providers.

Information regarding enrollment, testing, and transmission of electronic laboratory results is on the ELR Main website. Please read the Onboarding Manual for a description of the entire Electronic Laboratory Reporting process. Below is a brief overview of the process outlined in the Onboarding Manual:

1. Enroll and establish an electronic communication mechanism.
2. Build, validate, and submit test messages to the test environment for manual review.
3. Submit live data via established communication message to the test environment and hard copies of laboratory results for content validation by public health staff.
4. After a sufficient number of reports are error free, schedule a date to go live and begin sending reports to the CDRSS production environment.

• CDRSS Helpdesk Request Form
• Email: cdrs.admin@doh.nj.gov
• Phone: 609-826-4749
• For any Training questions, email cdrstrain@doh.nj.gov
• For ELR questions, email NJELR.ADMIN@doh.nj.gov