Monthly Update

December 2022 in Review

 

Executive Director's Update

Greetings and Happy New Year!

I hope you all found time to relax amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. December continued to keep us busy here at AIRA as we organized and planned for the new year. This past month, the AIRA board had the opportunity to convene in person in Pittsburgh, the Steel City. The two-day meeting gave us the opportunity to collaborate, laugh, learn, and plan for the coming years with our dynamic board members. Also in December, AIRA released the new Guidance on Messaging Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), which is now available in AIRA’s repository. This guidance is recommended for use in jurisdictions that choose to collect SOGI information or where law or policy require the collection of SOGI information.

As we dive in to 2023, we have so much to look forward to. A six-week Interoperability Course focusing on immunization messaging is being launched on January 25. For more information visit the What’s New section of the AIRA website. Due to popular demand, our Introduction to Tableau is back, starting January 19. If you’re interested, you can register here and select “Introduction.” Spots will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Last but certainly not least, the AIRA 2023 National Meeting is taking place May 2-4 in San Diego, California, and we hope to see you there! As a friendly reminder, the deadline to submit your abstracts is January 8, 2023.

And with a new year come new beginnings. To ring in 2023, AIRA will be updating the way that we share routine communications. We will be consolidating and repackaging the AIRA Monthly Update and the various emails we send out several times per week into a new AIRA Weekly Update. Our hope is that this condensed weekly digest will spare your inboxes while helping you keep a pulse on what’s happening in the IIS community. You can expect to receive your first AIRA Weekly Update in February, so keep an eye out!

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy new year!

 

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd

Executive Director

 

AIRA 2023 National Meeting Announcement

Don't forget to submit your abstract!

Register to attend and reserve your hotel room today to join us this May in San Diego, California!

The AIRA 2023 National Meeting will be a great opportunity to continue our work together to ensure healthy communities through the development and implementation of immunization information systems.

Visit the AIRA National Meeting website to:

  • Register to attend
  • Submit an abstract
  • Reserve your hotel room

Abstract submission closes Sunday, January 8.

Early-bird registration closes Sunday, April 2.

 

AIRA's Board Meeting in Pittsburgh

The AIRA board met in Pittsburgh the first week of December. It was the group’s first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The board discussed ongoing AIRA projects, the organization’s financials, and its progress in relation to the AIRA Strategic Plan. 

Being together gave directors an opportunity to build relationships as well as share ideas.

The two-day meeting prompted conversation regarding a wide variety of topics such as the changing IIS landscape, activities relating to policy, resiliency, and so much more. Additional information from the meeting will be shared with our AIRA members and the IIS community, so stay tuned. 

We are so grateful to have a dedicated group of directors committed to AIRA’s growth! 

 

Measurement & Improvement Updates

AIRA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the members of the Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW) achieved consensus at the December monthly meeting to move the onboarding content area further within the pre-measurement stage of the Measurement and Improvement (M&I) Initiative to begin piloting.

The onboarding content area is different from other M&I content areas, as alignment is assessed via a methodology external to the Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART). AIRA will invite five jurisdictions to pilot the tool that will measure alignment across three provider onboarding best practice and characteristics categories: (1) capability and capacity to onboard, (2) stakeholder engagement and management, and (3) process documentation and tools. The pilot involves sharing internal and external onboarding resources, participating in a one-hour interview, and reviewing preliminary evaluation results between January and March 2023 to support this content area’s move into testing and development. Interested jurisdictions can contact Sara Sanford to learn more. 

Winter 2023 Interoperability Course 
AIRA is launching the next learning module of its Interoperability Course Series, hosted by Nathan Bunker and Assiatou Diallo. This six-week course is focused on immunization messaging and is intended for programmatic and technical IIS, EHR, and IIS vendor staff. Participants will attend weekly sessions and complete independent assignments to learn the structure and importance of HL7 v2 immunization messages. Certificates of completion will be awarded to those who attend 80% of live sessions. 

  • Duration: January 25 to March 1, 2023
  • Course Schedule: Weekly live webinars on Wednesdays, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
  • Format: Live sessions will be conducted via Zoom. Weekly course materials and activities will be available on AIRA’s learning management system, Rise. 
  • Registration: Course enrollment is limited to 150 participants. Interested participants should complete this SurveyMonkey form by January 16

New HL7 Guidance Publication 
After several months of hard work, AIRA is happy to announce that Guidance on Messaging Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) has been published and is now available in AIRA’s repository

In June 2022, HL7 International released the SOGI Data Exchange Profiles as a short-term solution in response to recently proposed legislation by some US states and cities requiring collection of SOGI information. The Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC) commissioned a small working group of 20+ members from the IIS community to review the short-term solution and prepare a technical guidance document to support IIS that must receive or send SOGI information. This guidance is recommended for use in jurisdictions that choose to collect SOGI information or where law or policy require the collection of SOGI information. 

Questions or need help? 
AIRA’s technical assistance team is available to: 

  • Assist you in understanding your AART dashboard and results
  • Help prioritize work 
  • Support your program/IIS’ movement toward alignment with standards

Submitting a request via our online TA Request form takes only a few moments. You can also email the Standards and Analytics team at [email protected] to get started.

 

Needs Assessment for Readiness to Submit Routine and Influenza Data

In collaboration with CDC, AIRA is conducting a needs assessment to understand each jurisdiction’s ability and readiness to extract and submit quarterly routine vaccination data and monthly aggregate seasonal influenza vaccine data to CDC. 

This assessment was sent to all IIS managers and immunization program managers and should take your jurisdiction 20 minutes to complete. Please coordinate with your colleagues to submit only once for your jurisdiction. Your completed needs assessment is due no later than Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

The needs assessment has eight sections: Data Submission to CDC; Data Extraction and Analysis; Data Transmission, Timing, and Redaction Mechanism; Technical Capacity; Staffing; Data Specifications; Data Feedback Loop; and Big Picture. 

Most questions offer an opportunity to share comments to assist with capturing each jurisdiction’s situation. We encourage your jurisdiction to respond candidly to all the questions, as we will use this information to provide support to meet your needs. Where noted in the questionnaire, AIRA will aggregate responses to specific questions before sharing the data with CDC. 

 

Epi Shared Services Is in Full Swing! Don't Miss Out on These Offerings!

In March, AIRA launched its Epi Shared Services (ESS) initiative to support new-hire onboarding, training, and advancement of data analysis skills among immunization information system (IIS) data analysts and epidemiologists. Since then, ESS has offered a variety of resources for those who extract, analyze, interpret, visualize, report out, and/or interact with IIS data. Be sure to check out these ESS resources today!

Data visualization trainings
AIRA’s Power BI and Tableau training courses are free and fully customized, using data that is specific to an IIS audience. Interested individuals can fill out a training application and select which training level they are interested in (e.g., Intro, Intermediate). Spots will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

AIRA continues to host Power BI and Tableau user groups on a bimonthly basis.

Epi Connect
AIRA’s Epi Connect peer connection program was launched on November 29. During this event, 37 individuals representing 21 IIS jurisdictions were paired with peers who have complementary skills. The goal of the program is to broaden connections in the IIS community. Connections are informal, and pairs can connect as frequently as desired and through whatever format makes the most sense (e.g., phone, email, web-based meetings). 

To sign up for future Epi Connect gatherings and to be paired with an epi/data analyst peer, fill out this interest form. Select “Epi Connect” and any other interests under “What Epi Shared Services activity are you interested in learning more about?”

Epi staff augmentation and support 
AIRA continues to provide epidemiological support and data visualization technical assistance. Our epidemiologist, Taylor Boomsma, is available during weekly data visualization office hours:

  • Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET 
  • Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET

If you are stuck on a data set or need some visualization support, don’t hesitate to email Taylor or reach out through our technical assistance form

ESS participants are an engaged, lively bunch! Thanks to everyone who has joined one of the ESS offerings. If you are interested in being involved in ESS, please fill out this ESS form to be added to our mailing list. We look forward to seeing you again, and we look forward to welcoming new epi/data analyst colleagues into the community! 

 

Information Requests

AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the community. Recent information requests can be found by using the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA repository.

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: December Recap

HL7 Immunization User Group

  • The HL7 Immunization User Group met on December 8.
  • The HL7 Immunization User Group meeting received updates about the HL7 Immunizations Innovations Workgroup.
  • The community had a discussion on the items covered in 2022.
  • The committee also voted on new topics to cover in 2023.
  • The next meeting is January 19, 2023, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET

Measurement for Assessment & Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW)

  • MACAW met on December 8.
  • The workgroup welcomed new member Scott Benedict from Gainwell Technologies.
  • The group continued the discussion on methodology and approach for onboarding.
  • MACAW also continued discussions of the 2023 in-person meeting.
  • The next meeting is January 19, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m. ET.

IIS Best Practices Community of Practice (CoP)

Power BI User Group (PUG)

  • PUG met on December 20. 

In 2022 we:

  • Completed our first year of the PUG with 121 individuals representing 42 jurisdictions or organizations 
  • Had an average of 40 members at each meeting 
  • Saw presentations from Michigan, Minnesota, Chicago, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Envision Technology Partners
  • Thank you to all our presenters! Your efforts help expand access to actionable immunization visualizations for both internal programs and the public. 

What you can look forward to in 2023:

  • We will start 2023 with presentations covering the initial steps to take with your data to begin building a visualization, extracting counts for statistical analysis, and more! 
  • The next meeting is February 21, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m. ET. 
  • Interested in joining? Please email Amber Buckland.

Smarty User Group

  • The Smarty User Group met on November 16. 
  • A summary of the meeting can be found in the November Monthly Update.
  • The next meeting is February 15, 2023, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.

Standards & Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC)

  • SISC met on December 14.
  • Paloma Hawry gave an update on code sets from the CDC.
  • Alexandra Hayes from AIRA gave an update on SISC Small Group SOGI (Sexual Orientation Gender Identity) and an update on the HL7 User Group.
  • The committee discussed vaccine funding source with Lori Reed-Fourquet from EHealth Sign.
  • Carla Stearle from the CDC requested feedback on the Master Provider Data Project. 
  • The next meeting is January 18, 2023, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. 

Tableau User Group (TUG)

 In 2022 we: 

  • Added 50 new members, bringing our group total up to 134 
  • Had an average of 50 members at each meeting 
  • Saw presentations from: Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, and Tennessee 
  • Thank you to all our presenters! Your efforts help expand access to actionable immunization visualizations for both internal programs and the public. 

What you can look forward to in 2023: 

  • We will start 2023 with presentations covering an internal data quality dashboard, an immunization program’s data zone, an internal school and childcare immunization dashboard, and more! 
  • The next meeting is January 24, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m. ET. 

NOTE: Meeting minutes will capture only action items and decisions made. Recordings of the meetings can be obtained directly upon request by emailing [email protected].

 

AIRA Job Opportunities

Are you interested in working for AIRA or in the IIS community? Find current job openings at AIRA and other states/jurisdictions on the Employment Opportunities and Requests for Proposals page on the AIRA website.

Opportunities for independent contractors

To be notified of future contracting opportunities, please sign up here.

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