(P144) IMPACT OF AUTOMATED PRIORITIZATION OF CHLAMYDIA AND GONORRHEA ELECTRONIC LABORATORY RESULTS ON FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE PROGRAM METRICS

Background:
The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) receives approximately 500,000 chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhea (GC) results through electronic laboratory reporting (ELR), of which 65% do not meet the CT/GC surveillance case definition. FDOH implemented automated CT/GC ELR processes to triage and prioritize case records for follow-up based on sexually transmitted disease (STD) program priorities (e.g., pregnant females, enhanced gonorrhea surveillance projects, FDOH clients), resulting in deprioritized cases being closed and reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) automatically. We assessed the impact of improvements made by the automated processes to CT/GC event records on a variety of timeliness metrics.

Methods:
We compiled CT/GC ELR results from January–April 2022 (pre-implementation) and January–April 2023 (post-implementation). We examined the timeliness of disposition, closure, and reporting to the CDC for cases and disposition and closure for non-cases, using the ELR received date as the reference point. Due to staffing reorganization related to the enhanced gonorrhea surveillance project, all ELR results for these cases were excluded. We used ANOVA to determine differences (post-implementation vs pre-implementation) in mean times calculated for cases and non-cases.

Results:
Pre-implementation, CT/GC ELR results included 44,584 cases and 11,401 non-cases, compared to 47,656 cases and 82,439 non-cases post-implementation. CT/GC cases were, on average, dispositioned (mean difference of 0.8 days 95% CI 0.7-0.9), closed (1.1 days 95% CI 1.0-1.2), and reported to the CDC (1.4 days 95% CI 1.3-1.5) quicker with automation. Slight improvements were observed with non-cases as well. Non-cases were closed and dispositioned (mean difference 0.2 days 95% CI 0.17-0.20, 0.1 days 95% CI 0.12-0.15, respectively) quicker with automation.

Conclusion:
Automated prioritization of CT/GC ELR results improved program timeliness metrics overall, allowing program staff to respond to priority cases quicker. Further evaluation of CT/GC automation may describe the impact of time savings on treatment and disease intervention.