July SnapShots: AIRA President's Column

I had the pleasure of participating in the July 11th meeting in Washington, DC organized by Every Child by Two (ECBT) to promote partnerships between immunization registries and managed care organizations (MCOs).

It was exciting to hear strong interest voiced by MCO representatives both in exchanging data with registries and in supporting the development of registries at the local level. I was impressed by the level of the questions, which clearly indicated that the MCOs had background knowledge of the registries. The MCOs made commitments to initiate partnerships with registries where none currently exist and to expand partnerships where MCOs and registries are already working together. The MCOs also pledged to use their resources to improve participation in registries by their network providers. Keep an eye out for details of the meeting in ECBT's August Newsletter.

The MCOs clearly recognize the value of registries in supplying them with out-of-plan immunizations, so that they can get a truer picture of the up-to-date status of their patients. This not only improves the accuracy of HEDIS© (Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set), and other quality assurance measures, it also helps the MCOs and the registries target outreach to children who are truly not up-to-date. ECBT, with assistance from AIRA as needed, will be following up with the MCOs and the registries that have said they are ready to start or expand partnerships. For more information, please email Amy Pisani at amy@ecbt.org or me at ametroka@health.nyc.gov. (Amy Metroka, AIRA President)

July 2002 SnapShots Headlines