Last Updated: September 28, 2022

Onboarding Guidance for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and

Congenital Syphilis (CS) Message Mapping Guides (MMGs)

Purpose Statement: The purpose of this document is to provide concise guidance and an overview of 

onboarding activities for the STD/CS MMGs. Please note that more detailed information to assist in your 

jurisdiction’s preparation for onboarding is available at the NNDSS page HL7 Implementation & Onboarding, 

Technical Assistance (https://www.cdc.gov/nndss/trc/onboarding/index.html). 

Please notify the NMI Onboarding team (edx@cdc.gov) of your interest to begin onboarding and also indicate if

your jurisdiction is planning to implement a new local surveillance system in the near future.

• Download the most recent version of the Generic/STD/CS MMGs

• Obtain STD and CS Reference Documents:

o National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS) to MMG cross walks

o Data prioritizations

• Completion of STD and CS Implementation Spreadsheet and Gap Analysis Mapping

o Mapping from local variables and values to Health Level 7 (HL7) data elements and value sets

must be provided. This information can be included in the implementation spreadsheet or sent 

separately (e.g., crosswalk file, data dictionary, export scripts).

• Complete Test Case Scenario Worksheet

• Complete State Reportable Conditions Checklist for STD and CS

• Send completed Implementation package to edx@cdc.gov and provide points of contacts (POCs) for the 

onboarding process

• Address any feedback or findings from mapping of data elements and/or mapping of value sets after 

program review

• Attend Onboarding Kickoff Call and send test messages to Public Health Information Network Messaging 

System (PHINMS) Service Action Pair (url: https://phinms.cdc.gov/phinms/receivefile)

• Address any feedback or findings from test messages after program review

• Send Limited Production Messages (LPM) for STD Program Review and Feedback

• Address any feedback or findings from LPM after program review

• Send year-to-date (YTD) file for STD Program Review and Feedback

• Address any feedback or findings from YTD messages after program review

• It is extremely important that jurisdictions continue NETSS reporting until they are approved to go into 

production for the STD and CS MMGs.

• Jurisdictions that have not been fully onboarded and approved for production at least 30 days prior to 

STD data closeout will need to close out in NETSS.

• Jurisdictional STD program staff and information technology (IT)/health informatics lead for the health 

information system should work together to implement and onboard the MMG. This process may take 

4-6 months to complete.

Before Pre-onboarding:

Pre-Onboarding and General Onboarding for STD/CS MMGs

Recommendations from the CDC STD Program
Last Updated: September 28, 2022

• CDC encourages requesting Technical Assistance (TA) 

(https://www.cdc.gov/nndss/trc/onboarding/technical-assistance.html) provided by our partners at the 

Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). Please email edx@cdc.gov to request TA. 

• When reviewing the messages, the CDC STD Program is primarily concerned with the following:

o Data elements that were provided in NETSS but are missing from HL7.

o Data elements mapped incorrectly.

o Value sets mapped incorrectly.

• Some data elements do not map directly from NETSS to HL7 (e.g., the eight individual drug use data

elements in NETSS all map to two data elements in HL7: Drug Name and Drug Use Indicator). For further 

guidance on cross-mapping, please review the STD NETSS to MMG crosswalk and CS NETSS to MMG 

crosswalk spreadsheet files.

• For further guidance on data element prioritization, please refer to the STD MMG data prioritization and 

CS MMG data prioritization documents. 

• Please maintain linkage between NETSS and HL7 Case IDs to allow for a smooth and accurate review of 

data during onboarding. This linkage can be provided in the HL7 message itself as the Local Record ID

(INV168, OBR-3) or the Legacy Case Identifier (INV200, 77997-5), or provided in a separate crossmapping document. 

• The Lab Interpretive Section is very important. Every lab should specify the organism that was tested, 

either through the Test Type (INV290) or the Organism Name (LAB278), as well as the result in the 

appropriate data element (INV291, STD123, or both LAB628 and LAB115) in order to be considered 

complete. These data are required for calculating Event Date, Specimen Collection Date, and Date of 

Initial Health Exam. 

• High-priority data elements, must be mapped in order to be onboarded (please see the STD MMG data 

prioritization and CS MMG data prioritization documents).

• Many PHIN VADS value sets have similar names or code similar concepts. Please ensure that you are 

using the correct set, as listed in the MMGs, when creating your HL7 messages. 

• As a friendly reminder, Public Health Information Network Vocabulary Access and Distribution System 

(PHIN VADS) value sets change over time. Please ensure that you are using the most current version of 

the value set when creating your HL7 messages. 

• Unlike NETSS, HL7 does not require a value for every data element. If the information needed for the 

data element is not available in your system yet, please do not send a default “Unknown” value. 

• PHIN VADS value sets will likely not capture every option in your data. If a value in your data does not 

map, please do not send default “Unknown” codes. Periodically review mapping of value sets.

Otherwise, known values from your data could be misinterpreted. 

• When sending an “Other” value from a PHIN VADS value set, be sure to specify the text value, where 

present, in OBX-5.9. 

• Please specify units when relevant (e.g., age, quantitative test result) and convert values to any required

unit (e.g., gestational age of congenital syphilis report must be in weeks). 

• Data elements for CS are not structured in the same way as they were in NETSS. For example, the 

following are collected separately: the CSF WBC count and CSF protein levels, as well as case 

classification and stillbirth status. 

Lessons Learned during Piloting and Onboarding