Monthly Update

August 2020 in Review

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In This Issue…

1. AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update
2. Welcome 3 New Staff to AIRA
3. AIRA Board Election and Bylaws Amendment Proposal Results
4. 5 Down, 3 to Go: An Update on AIRA’s National Meeting Webinar Series
5. Top 10 Cool Things to Know About SmartyStreets
6. The IIS Functional Guide Turns 3
7. Measurement & Improvement Updates
8. AIRA Board Corner: Melissa Mickle-Hope, Director
9. AIRA 2019 Annual Report
10. Information Requests
11. Committee and Workgroup Updates: August Recap

Check Out the AIRA Events Calendar for Upcoming…

• Don't-Miss Deadlines
• AIRA Events
• Webinars
• Committee Meetings
• AIRA Board of Directors Meetings
• Partner Events

AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update

Greetings,

While it was truly unfortunate to miss out on catching up with so many of you in person at the postponed AIRA National Meeting, I continue to be impressed with the innovative ways we have learned to adapt to collaborating virtually. We have been thrilled with the continued level of engagement and participation in AIRA’s ever-expanding initiatives, particularly through our National Meeting Webinar Series that kicked off in early August as a way to highlight the impressive accomplishments of IIS across the community and even globally.

There is much to try to keep up with these days, and we wanted to highlight a few updates:

• AIRA’s COVID-19 Workgroup has continued to provide feedback and input on the CDC Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) development and implementation with emphasis on plans related to inventory management and vaccine ordering in recent weeks.
• Four states (California, Indiana, Nevada, Vermont) participated in VAMS pilot testing to help to validate and inform the design, functionality, and business processes of the system. The CDC is offering VAMS demos for all awardees September 1 and 2.
• The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense announced that McKesson Corporation will serve as a central distributor of pandemic vaccine using the existing distribution system under CDC guidance for COVID-19 response. For more information, please view the press release.
• Operation Warp Speed has invited AIRA as one of several partners to participate in discussions related to vaccine distribution planning.
• The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on August 26 and reviewed COVID-19 vaccine clinical development, post-marketing safety surveillance, epidemiology of persons at increased risk of COVID-19 disease, and modeling of allocation strategies. The committee began discussions about prioritization for COVID-19 vaccine and will possibly vote on a recommendation for interim allocation of initial vaccine doses during the next ACIP meeting on September 22.
• AIRA and partners are providing support to assist states with connecting to the IZ Gateway. Important information, updates, and answers to questions related to the IZ Gateway, legal agreements, VAMS, and more are included in CDC’s weekly IIS Information Brief. Make sure to read this each week!

In between your day job and home schooling for those of you kicking off virtual/hybrid school with your children, I encourage you to read AIRA’s 2019 Annual Report, which highlights the contributions of our organization and all IIS across the community. As we continue to confront the challenges that have surfaced in 2020, I know we will come out stronger as a community and look forward to the opportunities that persist. As always, thank you for all you do, and don’t hesitate to reach out with ways AIRA can support you in these challenging times.

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd

Welcome 3 New Staff to AIRA

We are very excited to welcome and introduce our three newest AIRA staff members.

Assiatou (Assi) Diallo joined AIRA as a Senior Technical Analyst on the Standards and Analytics team. Assi began her work in the immunization information system community in 2014 as an epidemiologist with the Tennessee Immunization Information System (TennIIS) at the Tennessee Department of Health. Assi’s work for TennIIS and the immunization program spanned a variety of capacities, including lead TennIIS epidemiologist and Program Improvement and Evaluation team manager. 

Courtnay Londo joined AIRA as a Program Manager. Courtnay began her work in immunizations in 2007 with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where she served in various roles, including flu health education coordinator, adolescent and adult immunization coordinator, and school wellness program coordinator. Courtnay has experience managing grants, leading coalitions, organizing communication campaigns, and collaborating with immunization stakeholders, including co-chairing the National Adult Immunization Coordinators’ Partnership for five years. Courtnay also works as a writer/consultant with the Immunization Action Coalition.

Lonnie Peterson joined AIRA as a Communications Specialist. Lonnie has worked in public health for 20 years and in immunizations and immunization information systems for over 14 years. Her past roles include Public Information Officer for the Washington State Board of Health and health educator/promoter, media specialist, and manager of Washington’s Health Promotion System (Child Profile) for the Washington State Department of Health. Lonnie is also a certified editor.

AIRA Board Election and Bylaws Amendment Proposal Results

2020 AIRA Board of Directors Election
The 2020 AIRA board of directors election results are in with a record-breaking number of ballot submissions! We had an excellent slate of highly qualified candidates, and it was a really close election. The following four directors will begin their terms on October 1, 2020. 

AIRA welcomes three IIS member directors to the board:

• Miriam Muscoplat, MIIC Manager and MIIC Operations Supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Health
• Kathryn Cruz, IIS Manager for the New Mexico State Department of Health
• Jeffrey McIntyre, IIS Manager for the Mississippi State Department of Health, was re-elected to serve his second consecutive term on the AIRA board

AIRA welcomes one non-IIS member director to the board:

• Steve Murchie, CEO at Envision Technology Partners, was re-elected to serve his second consecutive term on the AIRA board

Board of directors half-term vacancy filled
AIRA also welcomes one additional IIS member director to the board to fill a half-term vacancy:

• John Robison, Interoperability Coordinator for the Philadelphia Department of Health

A vacancy on the AIRA board began August 1, 2020, when Jude Alden resigned. The board has appointed John Robison to serve the remainder of her term. The board based this decision on the recent election in which he received the next highest number of votes for an IIS member director. His service begins immediately and will end September 30, 2021. Each incoming director brings a variety of expertise to the board; together they bring over 30 years of experience in immunization, IIS, and interoperability. Congratulations to all of our new directors and a huge thank you to our outgoing officers and directors!

Bylaws Amendment Proposal
The AIRA board put forth an amendment to modify AIRA’s bylaws to adjust the composition of the Executive Committee and extend voting rights to all of the committee’s members. This amendment was proposed in light of the establishment of the Governance Committee chair as an officer role. Per AIRA's bylaws, these bylaws may be amended by a majority of voting members. A majority of AIRA's voting members voted in favor of the amendment. This amendment is effective immediately.

Thank you for supporting AIRA and its continued efforts to provide leadership for current and future IIS activities!

5 Down, 3 to Go: An Update on AIRA’s National Meeting Webinar Series

Over 425 people attended the Select AIRA 2020 National Meeting Presentations webinar series in the first half of the series, with webinars averaging more than 225 attendees. The IZ Gateway Portfolio webinar alone drew more than 280 participants, with a robust and engaging question and answer session. If you’ve missed any of these webinars, please visit the AIRA repository to watch the recordings.

The remaining Select AIRA 2020 National Meeting Presentations webinars will highlight IIS operations, including business continuity planning, global perspectives, and ways IIS are aligning with national standards through AIRA’s Measurement and Improvement initiative. Click the links below to register for the remaining sessions today:

• September 8: IIS Operations: Learn about business continuity planning, standard operating procedures, and more
• September 15: Global Perspectives: Hear from immunization registries in Pakistan, Chile, Tanzania, Zambia, and Vietnam
• September 22: Moving the Needle: IIS Community Success, Data at Rest Pilots, and Measurement and Improvement (M&I) 2020 Validation Recognition: Explore AIRA’s Measurement and Improvement Initiative and ways IIS are applying the findings to advance IIS toward alignment with national standards

Recap of the CDC panel and IZ Gateway webinars
Over 240 people joined the first webinar in the series, where CDC held a panel discussion on advancing IIS. Dr. Cindy Weinbaum, deputy director of the Immunization Services Division at CDC, described the national vaccination landscape during the COVID-19 pandemic, including routine immunization, flu vaccination, and COVID-19 vaccine planning. Michelle Banks, with the Program Operations Branch at CDC, covered strategies to strengthen immunization programs, and Lynn Gibbs-Scharf, branch chief of the IIS Support Branch, discussed CDC’s areas of focus for IIS. Afterward, CDC answered a variety of questions from participants. If you missed this discussion, you can watch the recording in the AIRA repository.

AIRA’s second webinar in the series highlighted how the Immunization Gateway is being used in the COVID-19 response. Presenters from CDC, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Audacious Inquiry, and AIRA provided an overview of the IZ Gateway, policy and technology requirements for IIS, an onboarding status overview, and next steps. The recording and slides for this webinar are now available.

The following webinars included inspiring presentations from a variety of IIS on data quality, data use, and working with IIS end users. Thank you to all of the fantastic presenters and attendees who have participated so far. The remaining webinars will be held on Tuesdays at 3 p.m. ET through September 22, 2020. Register today!

Top 10 Cool Things to Know About SmartyStreets

SmartyStreets is a really awesome address cleansing and geocoding service available to AIRA members to help improve data quality. SmartyStreets is available at no cost to members, although it may require internal resources for integration into operations. The Address Cleansing Service page on the AIRA website provides information on how to connect to SmartyStreets along with some additional resources that your IIS may find helpful.

What are the top 10 cool things that AIRA wants you to know about SmartyStreets?

1. Its average uptime is 100 percent.
2. SmartyStreets provides services to some major companies, including NASA, Netflix, and many others you may recognize.
3. The SmartyStreets team is techie but accessible. They list Family, Outwardness, Wizardry, and Fun! as their company’s core values.
4. SmartyStreets has capabilities to verify both US and International Addresses. International services are not included in the AIRA Partner Agreement.
5. Their speed is supersonic. The average service response time for a single HTTP request of 100 addresses is sub-30 millisecond.
6. SmartyStreets provides 45 metadata points for each address, including county name, congressional district, and time zone.
7. SmartyStreets can be reached if you have an after-hours emergency.
8. All interactions with SmartyStreets are encrypted and cannot be intercepted by third parties.
9. SmartyStreets receives monthly updates from the US Postal Service.
10. Need a smile? You can find photos and bios of your favorite SmartyStreets reps on their website.

As you see from a few of the highlights above, SmartyStreets is a useful validation tool that IIS can leverage as a data quality intervention, which can benefit both IIS and immunization program operations. For information about address cleansing and geocoding, please visit the Address Cleansing Service page on the AIRA website or contact Tesha Lucas to learn more about SmartyStreets.

The IIS Functional Guide Turns 3

Time flies! Can you believe that it has already been three years since the IIS Functional Guide, Vol. 1: Query and Response was developed? We want to share a few of our community’s accomplishments in that time. For those not familiar with it, the guide is a resource for the IIS community to help improve query and response functionality.

What changes have happened with query and response functionality since the release of the IIS Functional Guide, Vol. 1? Let’s start with our goal of returning clinical decision support (CDS) information. In 2016, 11 of 23 measured IIS returned CDS. In 2020, 41 of 49 measured IIS returned CDS.

We have also seen improvements with evaluation status (i.e., determining if a vaccination event was valid or invalid). In 2016, none of the 11 IIS that returned CDS provided evaluation status. In 2020, 19 of the 41 IIS that returned CDS provided evaluation status.

A third area of improvement is forecasting. We want the IIS to send the immediate dose (i.e., the next dose that is needed) based on the information currently available in the IIS. In 2016, 7 of the 11 IIS that returned CDS forecasted the immediate next dose. In 2020, 32 of the 41 IIS that returned CDS forecasted the immediate next dose.

A final area of improvement is forecasting when a dose is not recommended to be given (e.g., the patient has received all recommended doses and is complete). In 2016, none of the 11 IIS that returned CDS forecasted when a dose is not recommended to be given. In 2020, 13 of the 41 IIS that returned CDS did so.

Over the past three years, IIS have made significant improvements to ensure that query and response functionality conforms with ACIP recommendations as referenced in the Functional Standards. When an IIS returns CDS, it helps ensure that all elements of a patient’s immunization status are current and accurate. This leads to more thorough immunization evaluation and forecasting. To learn more about how to improve query and response functionality, please check out the IIS Functional Guide, Vol. 1: Query and Response document.

Need help? AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to assist you in understanding your Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART) dashboard and results, help prioritize work, and support your movement toward better alignment with standards. Do not hesitate to contact us for technical assistance. We can quickly answer a question or dive deeper into topics, such as assisting you and your IIS technical development team to better understand issues and make plans to more fully align with standards. Fill out a Technical Assistance Request or contact Kristi Siahaya for more information.

Measurement & Improvement Updates

Join us on September 22! AIRA and the members of the Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW) will be presenting Moving the Needle: IIS Community Success, Data at Rest Pilots, and Measurement and Improvement (M&I) 2020 Validation Recognition during the AIRA 2020 National Meeting Webinar Series. This presentation will begin with an overview of Measurement and Improvement, including IIS success to date and the road ahead. Next, presenters will provide an overview of the Data at Rest (DAR) pilot project and how Oregon plans to use the results from the pilot to address data quality challenges. Finally, those IIS that have achieved validation in one or more content areas as part of the M&I initiative will be recognized. More information about the AIRA 2020 National Meeting webinar series can be found here.

Quarter 2 Reports! Data Quality Incoming/Ongoing Assessment and Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Validation individual IIS reports are available in the AART. Data Quality Incoming/Ongoing Assessment aggregate reports can now be found in the AIRA repository. Submission/Acknowledgement and Query/Response updated Validation Reports are also now published in the AIRA repository.

AIRA Board Corner: Melissa Mickle-Hope, Director

Title: Deputy Director for the Citywide Immunization Registry

What I do: I’m the Deputy Director for Citywide Immunization Registry, the IIS for New York City (NYC), and I manage NYC’s Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program.

Organization’s name: Citywide Immunization Registry

Role on the AIRA board: Director and representative on the Education Steering Committee 

What do you like most about being on the AIRA board? I like meeting new people and staying up to date on emerging trends in health information technology.

What most excites you about the IIS community? I’m excited that IIS have proven to be an important part of the pandemic response. IIS are truly an important part of the public health infrastructure.

How does your involvement on the AIRA board bring value to your program? Being a part of the AIRA board allows me to participate regularly in the AIRA community. I am able to learn more about the valuable AIRA webinars and resources being offered. Additionally, AIRA webinars allow participants to share different IIS experiences and best practices which may help with decision making for my program. Finally, being a part of the AIRA board allows me to be aware of any challenges or concerns the IIS community may face in a timely manner.

What is your favorite recent movie, book, or podcast and why? Becoming by Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama is a woman I admire, and her memoir serves as an inspiration to me. Learning how she was able to find her voice has encouraged me to do the same.

What song would you play to get pumped up? "Hello" by Kes the Band

What is your motto? “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” —Martin Luther King Jr.  

What’s your favorite vacation spot? Paris, France. Paris is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. It is filled with culture and history. I hope to return soon.

If you had a time machine, what time period would you visit and why? I would visit 20 years into the future because I believe good things are on the horizon.

AIRA 2019 Annual Report

We are excited to announce that AIRA’s 2019 Annual Report is now available. This vibrant report showcases the incredible contributions from our AIRA members and volunteers, of which 90 percent volunteered their time and talents last year. For over 20 years, AIRA has worked to serve the IIS community. Thank you for your efforts to coordinate and amplify the voice of IIS and public health!

Information Requests

AIRA members have the ability to submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the community. Use the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA repository to see the recently published Information Request regarding applications IIS are employing to administer points of dispensing (PODs) and how IIS streamline the reporting of POD vaccine data.

Information Requests are viewable only by individual members and individuals affiliated with member and partner organizations. Just log in to view these valuable resources! If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

Committee and Workgroup Updates: August Recap