Immunization Integration Program

The Immunization Integration Program (IIP) strives to improve the way immunization data is shared, managed, and used to promote public health. The IIP is a partnership between AIRA, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and Drummond Group, in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The IIP aims to improve interoperability between immunization data exchange partners by bringing together:

Public Health Immunization Information System (IIS) Managers and Immunization Program Managers
Health Information Technology (IT) Developers (e.g., electronic health records [EHRs], pharmacy health IT)
IIS Technology Partners
Clinicians
Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)
Other Key Collaborators

Seamless, accurate, and compliant exchange of immunization information will help health care providers and public health leaders improve outcomes, lower costs, and create more robust vaccination programs.

The IIP advances its goals through two initiatives:

Testing and Recognition – This initiative helps EHRs adopt and confirm immunization-related capabilities, allowing EHRs and IIS to share high-quality information clinicians need to make important immunization decisions.
Collaborative – This initiative brings all IIP partners together to develop and implement innovative solutions that improve interoperability and immunization information sharing.

Testing and Recognition

The IIP Testing and Recognition initiative helps EHRs validate their immunization-focused capabilities and acknowledges their ability to exchange immunization data. This program is approved by the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP)/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as an alternative method to achieve (f)(1) Transmission to immunization registries certification. Testing and recognition are offered at no-cost to the participating vendor.

EHRs must demonstrate immunization capabilities to achieve IIP recognition. Components include:

Registering and identifying patients
Managing cohorts
Managing adverse events
Managing external query, response, and reconciliation
Administering and reporting immunization
Providing patient access
Managing information for clinical decision making
Managing inventory

Testing will help EHRs learn whether their products meet ASTP/ONC and IIP requirements. Clinicians can also use this information to have more informed discussions with EHRs and evaluate their solutions.

Collaborative

By giving key partners a seat at the table, the IIP Collaborative offers a forum to help increase awareness of interoperability challenges, identify priority areas, create solutions to meet the most pressing needs, and encourage adoption of solutions that can make the biggest impact.

Through sourcing real-world issues from across the immunization ecosystem, we partner with the CDC to screen and scope projects that maximize impact. The IIP Executive Council then prioritizes these challenges based on critical factors such as patient safety, data quality, and public health outcomes. This collaborative process helps the CDC’s Informatics and Data Analytics Branch (IDAB) select the highest-priority issues to tackle. Once a focus is set, our diverse partners develop and implement innovative solutions to streamline information sharing.

Please contact us at [email protected] for more information.

Benefits of the IIP

Improving interoperability between IIS and EHRs brings real-world benefits to our partners in health care and public health.

Clinicians are able to provide the right immunization for the right patient at the right time.
IIS and immunization program managers have the data they need to monitor and improve immunization rates and inform public health programs.
EHRs and other health IT developers improve information sharing with IIS and achieve higher levels of data quality and standardization.
HIEs are able to offer robust immunization-related services to their members by leveraging existing connections and inherent functionalities.
IIS technology partners will know more about IIP participants’ pain points and CDC recommendations.