Is the employer required to report H1N1 in a health care worker to the local health department?
The treating health care facility is required to report hospitalized cases or deaths to the local public health department. The employing institution is not required to report cases to public health. Currently, hospitals are required to report hospitalized H1N1 cases in aggregate. They also must report by name • individual patients treated in the Intensive Care Unit and • fatal cases. The must also include additional details, including the patient’s occupation if the affected patient is a health care worker. An institution is required to report outbreaks of illness to the local health department. An outbreak may include staff, residents, and inmates. An outbreak is defined as any cluster of illness that either represents a significant departure from expected background illness or may have a common source of exposure.
