National Immunization Conference Highlights

Technology is great, is it not!!!! If you were not able to attend the National Immunization Conference this past May in Nashville, you can still see AND HEAR what was presented. The CDC was able to not only capture the presentations on their web page, but now you can also hear the audio. This is a great resource for those who couldn’t attend or even for those who weren’t able to hear all the presentations they would have liked to attend. Following are two presentations we found worth noting, check them out on the web…….

Christine Mahon from the Department of Public Health in Maricopa County, Arizona presented on the cost saving benefits they have experienced by utilizing the Arizona State Immunization Information System. Between the months of April and September of 2003 information retrieved from the registry was tracked at 3 of the 7 immunization sites throughout the county. They used the Arizona registry as a tool for immunizing children; whenever a child came into one of their offices with a questionable record they would search the registry in order to get clarification on the shots that were in question.

What Mahon and her colleagues found was that the sites were able to save almost $50,000 on vaccine costs and almost 4,000 immunizations that would have been duplicate shots. As a result of this study children throughout Maricopa County who do not have a personal immunization record at the time of the visit will be researched and all children presenting with a not up-to-date record will also be researched in an effort to save even more time and money that would have otherwise been overlooked. Check it out at… http://cdc.confex.com/cdc/nic2004/techprogram/paper_4912.htm

In an effort to improve vaccine accountability, the New Jersey Department of Health expanded their immunization information system to accommodate the VFC program. At the National Immunization Conference in May, Zina Kleyman and Barbara Giudici from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, and Nora Rezzetano from Automated Health Systems, presented on how the enhancements have made the New Jersey registry a more valuable tool for all participants. The goal of the improved system is to transmit data from the New Jersey Immunization Information System to the VFC program and add additional quality assurance measures for vaccine accountability to identify providers with problems or concerns.

With the implementation of the improved system, provider offices are now able to complete VFC transactions in a timelier manner. The VFC vaccine accountability form which is filled out each time a child is given a VFC covered immunization is now pre-filled with information provided by the registry application. In addition, all VFC forms that providers need on a daily basis can be printed electronically and completed forms can be emailed to the VFC program. Lastly, Automated Health Systems who process all the vaccine orders for VFC is able to electronically receive a monthly extract of all the completed accountability forms which used to have to be mailed in and then manually entered for processing. These enhancements have made the New Jersey registry a more efficient and worthwhile tool for everyday use. Check it out at…. http://cdc.confex.com/cdc/nic2004/techprogram/paper_5278.htm.

July 2004 SnapShots Headlines