Understand when to use FHIR eCR IG vs CDA eICR for electronic case reporting

Steps

1. Determine the capability of the receiving public health agency or intermediary — many agencies and routing platforms (such as the AIMS platform used in the U.S.) accept CDA eICR today, while FHIR-based eCR is being phased in; verify the current accepted formats with the receiving entity.
2. Use CDA eICR when your trading partner or the jurisdiction mandates CDA-based reporting, or when your EHR natively generates CDA documents and the public health routing infrastructure is CDA-centric.
3. Use FHIR eCR (per the HL7 eCR FHIR IG) when your environment is FHIR-native, the receiving infrastructure supports FHIR document exchange, or when regulatory or IG requirements specify FHIR.
4. Review the eCR FHIR IG to understand the mapping between CDA eICR sections/entries and FHIR Composition sections/resources, as the two standards carry equivalent clinical content through different syntaxes.
5. Consider the EHR's native export capability — many certified EHRs generate CDA eICR as part of ONC certification requirements; a FHIR translation layer may be needed if downstream systems require FHIR.
6. Monitor HL7, the CDC eCR program, and jurisdiction-specific guidance for the transition timeline from CDA to FHIR eCR, as requirements are evolving.