Tracking Immunization Records With Health IT
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Tracking vaccinations is easier than ever before thanks to EHR technology and immunization information systems.
Before the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), providers had to manually enter vaccination information into immunization database software. Now, Health Data Management reports real-time connections between EHRs and those databases are eliminating the need for manual data entry.
“Immunization information systems serve as a model for how information systems can benefit public health,” states a blog post from the American Immunization Registry Association on the Health IT Buzz. “Recent federal initiatives, such as the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs which provide financial incentives for the meaningful use of certified EHR technology, have focused on the interoperability between immunization information systems and EHRs while continuing to support the fundamental needs of immunization programs and public health initiatives. To be a truly useful tool, an immunization information system must receive and contain data that is timely, accurate, and complete.”
Healthy People 2020, a group that provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans, is one group that may be able to benefit from this technology. Two of the group’s national objectives are to increase to 95 percent the proportion of children less than six years of age participating in an immunization information system and to increase the number of states that have 80 percent of adolescents between 11 and 18 with two or more age-appropriate immunizations recorded.
One of the challenges to meeting these objectives is convincing providers to exchange information within their state or region, something an automated information system simplifies. “As more providers use these systems the goal of interoperability will be achieved, which will ultimately allow immunization providers to work more efficiently, identify patients due for immunizations faster, and ensure that people get the vaccinations they need when they need them.”