Hospital Contacts and Designee | New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center

The Hospital Contacts and Designee Form must be completed annually and whenever there are any changes in hospital staff/responsibilities.

This designee form should be submitted through the Health Electronic Response Data System (HERDS) application in the Health Commerce System. To complete the form, you must sign into the Health Commerce System. This form is not part of the newborn screening application.

Accessing the HERDS Application

1. Log on to HCS

If you cannot remember your user id or password, please call Commerce Accounts Management Unit at 1-866-529-1890.

2. Add the HERDS application, if you have not done so already. Select My Content > All Applications from the Main Menu Bar.

3. Select H for HERDS

4. Click the green button with the white addition sign located to the right of the application name to add HERDS to your My Applications list.

5. Once added, click HERDS on the My Applications list to open.

Viewing and Completing the Form in HERDS

1. The form can be viewed/completed by the following roles:

HERDS System Administrator
CEO/President
Chief of Neonatology/Newborn Services
Director of Maternity Services
Director of Nursing
Newborn Screening Manager
SDF Reporter

Completing/saving the form is NOT the final step in the process.

2. Roles are assigned in the Health Commerce System’s Communications Directory. You can check your assigned roles by clicking My content and then See what roles I hold in the Health Commerce System.

3. The HCS Coordinator at each hospital can assign roles, if needed. To find the name of the HCS Coordinator at your institution, Select My Content >Look up my coordinators.

4. To find the form, click data entry and select the Newborn Screening Hospital Contacts and Designee form.

5. Once the form is completed and saved, the hospital CEO must log in and also add the HERDS application to review and submit the form. Because the hospital CEO is responsible for assigning designees, they are the only one that can submit the form.

6. If there are changes to designees throughout the year, follow the same process, but only edit the changed information.

7. If you have any questions, about your Health Commerce Account or Coordinators, call Health Commerce at 1-866-529-1890.

Assigning a Role in The Communications Directory

1. Click Coordinator's Update Tool
2. Select the appropriate organization
3. Click Manage Role Assignments (blue tab)
4. Click the Modify link located to right of the role name
5. Under section 2 (if no one is currently in role) or section 3 (if role has been assigned), check the box to the right of the person with an ID you wish to add to the role.

Avoid assigning the role if you see an NA after a user’s name. This will not assign user any permissions.
If you cannot locate the person in the list, then proceed to the last option, Search for Person(s) by Name.
Enter the person's last name in the Search for Person(s) by Name.
Click Submit
Select the person in the list with a valid user ID

6. Click Add Role Assignments.

OR, if the person and user ID appear in Manage People, then you can use this method to assign one or more roles

1. Click Coordinator's Update Tool
2. Select the appropriate organization
3. Click Manage People (blue tab)
4. Click on the user’s name you want to assign role(s) to.

If you do not see user in list, the user may have a Primary Organization with another facility/agency or may have attained an HCS account using their medical license. In other words, you will not see user in your Manage People. Use instructions above.

5. Click Manage Role Assignments tab
6. Check the box next to the role(s) you wish to the user to hold
7. Click Revise Role Assignments.

For additional assistance, please call the Commerce Accounts Management Unit (CAMU) at 866-529-1890 press option 2.