Monthly Update

May 2022 in Review

www.immregistries.org

In This Issue:

1. Executive Director's Update
2. Welcome New Staff to AIRA
3. We’re Advancing IIS Together This Summer!
4. Measurement and Improvement Update
5. Information Requests
6. Committee and Workgroup Updates: May Recap
7. AIRA Job Opportunities

Check Out the AIRA Events Calendar for Upcoming:

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

With the school year ending and summer quickly approaching, I’m not entirely sure how this year is flying by so fast, nor am I really ready for the summer. However, I am continuously amazed with all the work that is happening across the community.

Important organization updates

This month saw the election of two of our officers for the next year. Congratulations to:

• Heather Roth, Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, elected as AIRA’s President-Elect
• Steve Murchie, Envision Technology Partners, Inc., elected as AIRA’s Treasurer 

Their terms will begin October 1, 2022. 

Next up are director nominations. If you are thinking about wanting a leadership role, we encourage you to consider nominating yourself or someone you know who would make a good AIRA director. More information about the nomination process will be sent out shortly. Following the nomination process, AIRA will hold an election for our open director positions in July. In addition to director elections, we also have a proposed update to the bylaws that the membership will review. 

AIRA assembled our staff at the beginning of May for our first in-person meeting in more than two years. It was a time to connect across the organization on all the projects we have underway as well as to meet each other in person. The Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) convened an in-person New IIS Leadership Workshop the week of May 16. It was such a great opportunity to connect with so many of you that are new(er) to IIS. There are some amazing new leaders within our community!  

During our National Meeting in April, we held a panel presentation on the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI). For those of you that may have missed this panel, I encourage you to visit the CDC Data Modernization Initiative website to learn more. Since this presentation, many of you have reached out and asked what you need to do to be prepared. For now, what modernization looks like for IIS is still being evaluated and will likely look different for each jurisdiction based on multiple factors. I would strongly encourage you to talk with other public health programs within your agency, as there are likely lessons to learn from one another. We plan to keep everyone updated as we know more. 

AIRA is also excited to launch several new activities this summer. Coming up this month, we will kick off a new initiative—IIS Manager Lunches—and I’m very much looking forward to connecting with IIS managers. 

Have a great month, and I look forward to seeing many of you virtually very soon. 

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd
Executive Director

We’re excited to introduce a new AIRA staff member!

Sarah Wible joined AIRA as an informatics coordinator for the IZ Gateway team in April 2022. Prior to her work with AIRA, Sarah worked for seven years for the Kentucky Immunization Program, where she served in various roles, including IIS training and outreach coordinator, IIS and school assessment epidemiologist, and IIS manager. Sarah has experience in managing day-to-day operations for immunization information systems, program and grant management, and stakeholder collaboration. She has also served on numerous AIRA workgroups in the past. Prior to her work in the immunization field, Sarah worked as a prevention specialist at a regional prevention center, where she assisted with implementing effective prevention planning and programs for mental health and substance use and played an active role in facilitating collaboration between community coalitions.

School may be out for the summer, and we may not have yearbooks to sign “Have a good summer (H.A.G.S.)” or “Keep in touch (K.I.T.),” but if we could, we would! Here are a few exciting projects AIRA is working on to advance IIS with you this summer.

IIS managers virtual lunches
Throughout June and July, we’re helping IIS managers connect with fellow managers. AIRA is hosting six virtual lunches, by region, to support engagement with colleagues and discussion of shared issues. During the lunch, IIS managers will meet other managers in their region, discuss timely IIS topics, and learn about benefits available to AIRA members. Contact Beth Parilla for more information.

AIRA publication project
As we begin to gather lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it goes without saying that its impact on IIS and immunization programs has led to incredible work to share and the attention of many. Accordingly, AIRA kicked off its publication project earlier this year in an effort to increase publication of peer-reviewed IIS-related research. As a part of the project, a workgroup of subject matter experts in the IIS and research communities has been stood up to help guide the project. So, how can you get involved? Does your IIS have data to share? We know it’s out there just from hearing some of your wonderful AIRA 2022 National Meeting presentations! Or do you have an article in progress and need help with the publication process? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please email Brittany Gyer to share your ideas.

We hope you’ll advance IIS together with us this summer! Although we highlighted only a few, there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved at AIRA and collaborate with your colleagues, too. Check out our website or reach out to us directly!

New UI navigation!
New tools that enhance both navigation and the user experience have been added to the Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART). The new user interface (UI) utilizes features such as buttons, links, tabs, menus, fields, and breadcrumbs to enhance navigation from the highest level of testing results down into specific test case results.  

To access a content area, click on the hyperlink. AART automatically redirects an end user to the content areas landing page to begin reviewing testing results. Depending on the Measuring and Sharing settings determined by the IIS system admin, users can view testing results by Measurement and Improvement (M&I) stage (e.g., Validation, Assessment, or Testing and Discovery) and by content area (e.g., Transport, Submission and Acknowledgement, etc.) for their individual IIS and their peers.

Each landing page contains breadcrumbs, so you can easily navigate back to the home page when needed.

Users will be able to toggle between basic and complete requirements for Validation by clicking on the tabs. Validation is a summary step to acknowledge IIS or IIS vendor systems that are progressing toward and achieving alignment with community-selected measures and tests.

Users can also click on View Assessment Details for a deep dive into the background, assessment, and test case outcomes for each Assessment report. Report limitations and general recommendations are displayed to provide an overview of conformance test results for improving data quality.

For additional information at the Assessment Measure level, select the triangle next to the measure number. Click on the test case for additional details and select Test Details.

Navigation within each content area will have a very similar workflow.  

Updated reports
Quarter 1 2022 individual IIS Assessment and Validation reports are available and can be found by logging into AART. Updated first-quarter 2022 aggregate Assessment and summary Validation reports are also published in the AIRA repository.

Questions, want to participate, or need help?
AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to assist you in understanding your AART dashboard and results, prioritizing work, and moving your IIS toward better alignment with standards. Fill out a Technical Assistance Request or contact us at [email protected].

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

• Mother’s Maiden Name Collection

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].

HL7 Immunization User Group

• The HL7 Immunization User Group met on May 12.
• The user group received an update about the Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC) and HL7 Innovations Workgroup.
• Kevin Snow gave a presentation about acknowledgment messages in IIS followed by a panel discussion which transitioned into a group meeting discussion.
• The group received a presentation on ACK – Community Progress and Future Directions from Eric Larson at AIRA.
• The next HL7 Immunization User Group meeting is June 9, 2022, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.

Measurement for Assessment & Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW)

• MACAW met on May 12.
• The workgroup received updates on the MACAW in-person meeting in July.
• The group discussed Query #5 multiple match patients.
• MACAW also reviewed validation statuses and policy and technical monitoring.
• The next MACAW meeting is June 9, 2022, from 12 to 1 p.m. ET.

Modeling of Immunization Registry Operations Workgroup (MIROW)  

• MIROW did not meet during the month of May.
• MIROW is updating the existing MIROW guides on data quality (Data Quality Assurance in IIS: Incoming Data, Data Quality Assurance in Immunization Information Systems: Selected Aspects, and Lot Number Validation Best Practices). In May, the content of the guide was approved to proceed to copyediting and graphic design. The guide will be available in late summer 2022.
• The next MIROW meeting is June 16, 2022, from 4 to 5 p.m. ET.

Smarty User Group

• The Smarty User Group met on May 18.
• The user group talked about user group knowledge and sharing.
• The user group worked through a live group exercise on asset mapping.

Standards & Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC)

• SISC met on May 11.
• Paloma Hawry, speaking on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave an update on code sets.
• The committee received an update on the HL7 Immunization User Group and SISC small groups from Nathan Bunker.
• The CDC continued the discussion from the previous meeting around 2D barcodes.
• The next committee meeting is June 8, 2022, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.

Tableau User Group (TUG)

• TUG met on May 24.
• TUG welcomed the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, American Samoa Public Health, the Florida Department of Health, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the University of Michigan, Sauk County Wisconsin, the Ohio Department of Health, and the Multi-State Partnership for Prevention. TUG has welcomed 21 new users to the group since the last meeting!
• Tavio Pirocchi from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment presented “Tableau Calculated Fields, Part 1.”
• The next meeting is July 26, 2022, from 12 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].

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.

AIRA is seeking:

• A Senior Project Manager to perform a variety of project management and project oversight tasks for AIRA’s Standards and Analytics Branch

• An Onboarding Analyst, whose duties will include coordination within AIRA’s Health Informatics Branch and with other AIRA staff on a variety of efforts

The deadline for submission of applications for both positions is June 17, 2022.

Opportunities for independent contractors
To be notified of future contracting opportunities, please sign up here.

• There are no opportunities currently.