This document specifies the format for transmission of Model School Health Information System (MSHIS) data in conformance with the Uniform Health Data Set (UHDS). This data is transmitted from a school to the central repository of student health information located at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

This document defines only the format of data transmission. For a detailed description of the content of the UHDS, including the meaning of each data item, please refer to the Uniform Health Data Set documentation (Version 2.0).

The data may be submitted in diskette form. Each submission must be a on a single diskette. The diskette must be in DOS format. Either a 5-1/4 inch or a 3-1/2 inch diskette may be used. The diskette must have a label affixed to it identifying it as a MSHIS UHDS data submission, and also showing the following information:

• School district name and Mass. DOE number (see UHDS document)
• Year of submission (e.g. 1994/95)
• Name and phone number of contact person in case of problems or questions

The diskette should be mailed to the following address

Alternately, the data may be submitted electronically as an attachment to an electronic mail message sent to the following Internet address: rleibowitz@state.ma.us.

In this case, the electronic mail message should contain the same information that would go on the diskette label.

Each UHDS data submission must consist of a single file. The file must be a standard DOS text file, with a carriage return/line feed combination at the end of each line of text. There must be a single line of text for each student's data. The school system may make a single consolidated submission for the entire school district, or multiple submissions, for example, from separate schools. However, each student must appear in only one submission per year.

Each line of the text file must contain a series of exactly 39 fields, separated by commas. Since a comma will never appear within a field, it is not necessary to surround each field with quotes. Data that is missing should be left blank, but no fields should be omitted (a blank field will appear in the file as two adjacent commas). No blank characters should appear. The fields are as follows, using the names found in the UHDS document:

Fields 30 through 39 contain repeating data. Within these fields, the vertical bar character (ASCII code 124 decimal, 7C hexadecimal) must be used to separate each repetition. The repeating data in these fields are documented in detail below.

This field must contain a series of zero or more screening reports separated by the vertical bar character. Each screening report must consist of five characters, representing the five screening-related UHDS fields:

1. ScreeningCode

2. Problem

3. Referral

4. Treatment

5. FollowUp

This field must contain a series of zero or more two-character health insurance coverage codes separated by the vertical bar character. The UHDS field name for health insurance coverage is:

1. HealthInsur

This field must contain a series of zero or more single character exam codes separated by the vertical bar character. The UHDS field name for exam codes is:

1. ExamCode

This field must contain a series of zero or more single character source of care codes separated by the vertical bar character. The UHDS field name for source of care codes is:

1. SourceOfCare

This field must contain a series of zero or more five character visit summaries separated by the vertical bar character. Each visit summary must consist of a two character visit type code followed immediately by a three-character count of the number of visits of that type (with leading zeroes if necessary). The relevant UHDS field names are:

1. VisitType

2. VisitNbr

To take the example presented in the UHDS document, a student may have the following profile:

This profile would be submitted as follows:

This field must contain a series of zero or more two-character assistive device codes separated by the vertical bar character. The UHDS field name for assistive device codes is:

1. AssistDevCode

This field must contain a series of zero or more condition codes separated by the vertical bar character. The UHDS field name for condition codes is:

1. CondCode

This field must contain a series of zero or more medication information reports separated by the vertical bar character. Each medical information report must consist of four characters, containing data from the following UHDS fields:

1. MedsCode

2. MedsFreq

3. MedsAdmin

This field must contain a series of zero or more injury reports separated by the vertical bar character. Each injury report must consist of six characters, containing data from the following UHDS fields:

1. InjuryActivity

2. InjuryBodyPart

3. InjuryType

This field may contain a series of zero or more two-character codes defined by the school, separated by the vertical bar character. These codes can be used by the school for data analysis in the central repository. The school should be sure not to include any information in these codes that would potentially allow the individual student to be identified, thereby compromising the privacy of the data.

The following fields are not applicable or not yet defined at the time of the MSHIS pilot project, and should be left empty in the submissions of pilot data:

PSID

CheckDigit

Functi onal Measure

EducaMeasure

DisabilityIndex

PhysFitMeasure

PsychoSocMeasure