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In This Issue…
- AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update
- Welcome New Staff to AIRA
- IIS Program and Vendor Support for Extracting and Submitting COVID-19 Vaccination Data
- SmartyStreets Orientation - Schedule Now
- Priority Group and Serologic Testing Guidance Released
- Measurement and Improvement Updates
- AIRA Board Corner: Mary Woinarowicz, Director
- Information Requests
- Committee and Workgroup Updates: October Recap
- AIRA Job Opportunities
- In the News - October 2020
Check Out the AIRA Events Calendar for Upcoming…
AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update
Greetings,
Throughout October, the public health community ramped up preparations for a COVID-19 vaccine and jurisdictions submitted their initial vaccine response plans to CDC. With an Emergency Use Authorization expected within the coming days or weeks, plans are being put into practice.
This past month, AIRA hosted a Town Hall and four working sessions for awardees to discuss their planning efforts with their peers. We launched an online discussion forum to provide a space for IIS managers and program managers to continue the conversation, ask questions, and share planning strategies and solutions with each other. (Forums are accessible only to IIS managers and staff, Immunization Program managers and staff, and IIS implementers.) We also hosted a COVID-19 Readiness Discovery Session on October 26 and a COVID-19 Vaccine Response Planning webinar on October 27 to share sample jurisdiction plans and to provide an overview and discussion of what is currently known and unknown related to the role of IIS in the response to date.
Additionally, AIRA is actively assisting with Immunization (IZ) Gateway onboarding efforts and providing technical assistance for jurisdictions setting up data extracts for reporting vaccine administration data to the CDC and national partners. AIRA’s Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee released its Preliminary Guidance on Reporting Mass Vaccination Event Population Groups and Tiers. Find more information on the guidance later in this newsletter. If you need help with onboarding or data extracts, fill out a Technical Assistance Request or email [email protected]. Our team is happy to talk through challenges and potential solutions.
On a national front, AIRA continues to collaborate with partners on communications and funding requests to national leaders in support of IIS funding and guidance for COVID-19 vaccination planning. In mid-October, AIRA, in collaboration with the Association of Immunization Managers, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, sent a letter to Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, highlighting the ongoing concerns related to sharing identified data, the need to leverage the existing interoperability infrastructure, and concerns with the multitude of new data systems and strategies that haven’t been tested or tested to scale. Read the letter here.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met in October for three days to talk about a host of topics, including the 2021 immunization schedules for children/adolescents and adults and smallpox, monkeypox, tick-borne encephalitis, zoster, and rabies vaccines. The final day was dedicated to COVID-19 vaccines, including an update on the current status of vaccines in clinical trials, post-licensure safety surveillance protocols, and the ethical framework for early vaccination allocation. The only approval from the October meeting was for the 2021 immunization schedules.
AIRA’s Response to COVID-19 webpage includes links to partner resources, including a list of Foundational Materials for the COVID-19 Vaccine Response (for AIRA members only). Information and resources on CDC’s Immunization Services Division Awardee SharePoint site and in the weekly CDC IIS Info Brief should serve as your primary reference for the most recent guidance and communications.
A plethora of new resources have been made available in recent weeks, including the Data Use Agreement (DUA) for data sharing between CDC and jurisdictions to be completed and signed by November 2. The COVID-19 vaccination administration DUA covers the following tools that will be used to collect and report COVID-19 vaccine data:
- IZ Gateway
- COVID-19 Clearinghouse
- Immunization Data Lake
- VaccineFinder
- VTrckS
- The Department of Health and Human Services’ Tiberius
- Provider systems
- Other vaccine sources
Please review the newest resources and guidance updates related to COVID-19 vaccine administration, tracking, distribution, provider enrollment, inventory management, and more in CDC’s recent communications.
We know many questions still remain and you are working to overcome new challenges each day. Don’t hesitate to reach out with ways AIRA can continue to support you and your teams.
Rebecca Coyle, MSEd
Executive Director
Welcome New Staff to AIRA
We are very excited to welcome and introduce three new AIRA staff members!
Michelle Hood joined AIRA as the director of the Immunization (IZ) Gateway in October 2020. Michelle began her work with the IIS community in 2002 when she became the coordinator of the Nebraska state IIS. As coordinator she managed all IIS-related activities, including electronic data exchange. Over the course of 20 years, Michelle managed and coordinated 10 statewide public health data systems, including the IIS, the cancer registry, syndromic surveillance, electronic lab reporting of communicable diseases, vital records, Parkinson’s disease registry, and more. She also served as a past AIRA board president.
Sara Sanford joined AIRA as a Senior Project Manager in October 2020 focusing on the IZ Gateway project. Previously, Sara worked for the Public Health Informatics Institute as a project manager and supported IIS technical assistance and workforce development projects for more than three years. Sara’s background includes basic research in neuroscience and HIV clinical research. She also has experience managing grants and budgets, stakeholder engagement, and change management.
Sarah Stein joined AIRA as an Administrative Assistant supporting the Education and Outreach Team in October 2020. She has previously provided support to CEOs and high-profile executives in government, nonprofit, political, and university environments. Her experience includes scheduling, briefings, event management, budgets, travel, and contracts.
IIS Program and Vendor Support for Extracting and Submitting COVID-19 Vaccination Data
AIRA and Audacious Inquiry (Ai) are partnering to support IIS programs and vendors to produce the COVID-19 data extract and submit it to the COVID-19 Clearinghouse. Our team will provide technical assistance where needed and track IIS completion of successful data extract testing by Monday, November 16.
There are two “office hours” sessions available to review the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Reporting Specification (CVRS), review the data extract testing checklist, get an overview of the technical resource repository, and ask questions. We hope you can attend one of the following sessions:
- Thursday, November 5 from 4 to 5 p.m. ET
- Friday, November 6 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET
Invitations to the sessions were sent from Kelly Carulli at Ai on November 3. You should have also been contacted by a technical assistance support resource who shared the IIS CDC COVID-19 Data Extract Resource. This document includes the IIS Data Extract Preparedness & Testing Checklist and FAQs.
Our team is available to help you complete the data extract testing and submission process. Some programs may have already submitted the sample data extract file for review, but we still encourage you to attend one of the sessions this week.
If you have questions or need call-in information for the sessions, please contact Kelly Carulli or Mary Beth Kurilo.
SmartyStreets Orientation - Schedule Now
AIRA is offering an hour-long orientation to help you get started with SmartyStreets.
During the session, participants will:
- Become familiar with the SmartyStreets website
- Begin thinking about how SmartyStreets will fit into their current infrastructure
- Learn the options available for connecting to SmartyStreets
- See how to reintegrate cleansed and geocoded addresses back into their IIS
Some of the benefits of address cleansing and geocoding for IIS include:
- A reduction in address variability, which can assist with patient-level deduplication
- Enhanced intervention strategies based on accurately geocoded data
Are you new to SmartyStreets? Is your IIS program enrolled in SmartyStreets but not currently using it? Every IIS is welcome to set up an orientation.
We’re here to help! Contact Tesha Lucas to learn more.
Priority Group and Serologic Testing Guidance Released
A Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee workgroup developed and recently released two guidance documents—Preliminary Guidance on Reporting Mass Vaccination Event Population Groups and Tiers and Preliminary Guidance on Serologic Testing. The purpose of these guides is to assist IIS, electronic health record vendors, and other stakeholders in preparing for the technical requirements of creating HL7 messages during the COVID-19 response. The first guide addresses population group and tier allocation, and the second addresses serologic results as proof of immunity. These guides contain vocabulary definitions, standards, and test cases. They are published in a preliminary format and will be updated as necessary.
Measurement and Improvement Updates
COVID-19 Standards Alignment Reports
Individual IIS M&I: COVID-19 Standards Alignment Reports have been released in the Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART). These new reports provide IIS programs with measures and test data related to IIS capabilities in preparation for a novel vaccine. Although some measures will be presented as meets/does not meet, the report is meant to be an aid to assist with IIS and immunization program preparation and readiness rather than an evaluation or ranking of individual IIS readiness.
AIRA and the Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW) generally assume that IIS connecting with Measurement and Improvement (M&I) through AART have a desire to broadly participate by being measured and sharing results, unless an IIS states otherwise. AART defaults to inclusion in measurement and sharing but provides control to admin users to set sharing settings. Admin users are encouraged to confirm their measurement and sharing settings. Do so by logging in to AART and clicking on “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner. Find more information on measurement and sharing settings here.
AART clinics
There’s still time! If you have not signed up for an AART clinic, there are open spots through December 4, 2020. Sign up here.
Quarter 3 report
The IIS Clinical Decision Support Assessment Report is now available. This report includes aggregate results for Clinical Decision Support Assessment for IIS participating in the M&I Initiative. Assessment is completed quarterly using measures and tests developed by MACAW. Find this report along with past quarterly reports in the AIRA repository.
Have questions or need help? AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to help you in understanding your AART dashboard and results, 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.
Have questions or need help? AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to help you understand your AART dashboard and results, 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.
AIRA Board Corner: Mary Woinarowicz, Director
Title: North Dakota Immunization Information System Manager
What I do: I manage the statewide IIS for the North Dakota immunization program.
Organization’s name: North Dakota Department of Health
Role on the AIRA board: Director
What do you like most about being on the AIRA board? I love the opportunity to work with other members of the IIS community that I may not have otherwise had a chance to collaborate with.
What excites you most about the IIS community? I feel like the IIS community is very collaborative and supportive. We all have a shared interest in the success of our community, and everyone wants to help contribute to that success.
What is one go-to resource you use to support your IIS work? Eric Larson is my go-to resource. He is so helpful and knowledgeable and responds right away to all my questions.
What is your favorite recent movie, book, or podcast and why? My favorite podcast is “The Wild Times.” Forrest Galante is the main host. He’s a wildlife biologist who travels the world trying to find evidence of extinct animals he believes are actually still around. He has a show on Animal Planet called “Extinct or Alive” that my oldest son and I absolutely love. Forrest does the podcast with two of his friends, and they are so funny telling stories and making fun of each other. It’s a fun, funny listen.
What song would you play to get pumped up? “Thunder” or “I Bet My Life” by Imagine Dragons.
What’s your favorite vacation spot? Folly Beach, South Carolina
If you had a time machine, what time period would you visit and why? I would go back to the mid-1920s. I love the fashion, music, and dance from that time period.
Information Requests
AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the IIS community. Check out the recently published Information Request regarding exemptions 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: October Recap
Assessment Steering Committee
- Since AIRA can effectively and efficiently get essential community input and communicate data quality and data use work through other AIRA processes, it will be sunsetting the Assessment Steering Committee.
- The final committee meeting is on Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
Education Steering Committee
- The Education Steering Committee met on October 21.
- The committee received a SnapShots update and discussed article ideas.
- The committee also reviewed and discussed the framework for the upcoming education survey.
- The Education Steering Committee will be sunsetting and evolving from the current single, standing committee model to a broader model. It will offer review and renewal processes that incorporate member input and guidance. This will allow AIRA to more effectively get input from the community on needs and how to best meet them.
HL7 Immunization User Group
- The HL7 Immunization User Group did not meet in October.
- The next user group meeting is Thursday, January 14, 2021.
Standards & Interoperability Steering Committee
- The Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC) met on October 14 and discussed the proposed United States Core Data for Interoperability elements that are due to the Office of the National Coordinator on October 23.
- The committee received an update on COVID-19 vaccine and discussed the planned Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) timeline and how to test an instance of VAMS.
- The committee also received an update on the COVID-19 Vaccination Reporting Format and collected questions.
MACAW
- The Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW) did not meet in October.
- The next MACAW meeting is Thursday, November 12, 2020.
- The Modeling of Immunization Registry Operations Workgroup (MIROW) Steering Committee met on October 15.
- The steering committee voted to update the two existing MIROW guides on data quality (Data Quality Assurance in IIS: Incoming Data and Data Quality Assurance in Immunization Information Systems: Selected Aspects). The steering committee also got an update on the status of the project. It recently recruited subject matter experts to participate in the development of the guide and is currently soliciting proposals from individuals and firms to facilitate the MIROW virtual meetings. The full request for proposals is available here.
- The steering committee has begun a refinement process to evaluate the offerings of the steering committee in relation to the evolution of AIRA and the IIS community’s changing needs and determine the best way to refine and advance development and promotion of uniform operational guidelines for IIS.
NOTE: Steering Committee 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.
Current openings at AIRA
AIRA is hiring two assistant project managers across the Health Informatics Division—one to work on the Immunization Gateway Team and one to work on the Immunization Integration Project Team. These positions will support the respective directors of each team to ensure projects are cohesive, consistent, and effective in supporting AIRA's goals. Collectively, these activities will advance the data quality and alignment of IIS with national standards to promote interoperability between IIS, electronic health records, and other partners. Detailed information can be found here. Please share this information with anyone who is interested and qualified. Send complete application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected] by Friday, November 6, 2020.
AIRA is hiring an administrative assistant to perform a variety of administrative and clerical tasks. Duties of the administrative assistant include providing support to AIRA members, managers, and employees, and assisting with the planning, organizing, and implementation of day-to-day activities. Detailed information can be found here. Please share this information with anyone who is interested and qualified. Send complete application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected] by Friday, November 6, 2020.
AIRA is hiring a project manager to perform a variety of project management and project oversight tasks for AIRA's Standards and Analytics Branch. Duties of the project manager include coordination and completion of a broad variety of assigned technical and programmatic projects. This position will oversee all aspects of projects, lead planning and/or implementation of projects, participate in the design and/or testing phases of projects, develop methods to monitor project progress, and provide correction if needed. Detailed information can be found here. Please share this information with anyone who is interested and qualified. Send complete application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected] by Friday, November 6, 2020.
AIRA is hiring a membership coordinator who will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing the day-to-day membership activities of the organization. This position will support the growth, maintenance, and engagement of AIRA's membership. Detailed information can be found here. Please share this information with anyone who is interested and qualified. Send complete application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected] by Friday, November 13, 2020.
AIRA is hiring a program manager who will lead efforts to grow AIRA's educational tools and priorities, support community involvement and collaboration efforts, provide assistance in coordinating the AIRA National Meeting, and more. This position will support all aspects of assigned projects, including planning, implementing, design, and/or testing phases, as relevant. The program manager also monitors and summarizes project progress, provides correction as needed, and achieves desired outcomes. Detailed information can be found here. Please share this information with anyone who is interested and qualified. Send complete application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected] by Friday, November 13, 2020.
Opportunities for independent contractors
There are no opportunities at this time. To be notified of future contracting opportunities, please sign up here.
Requests for résumés
AIRA has a need to increase its organizational capacity. Positions may be temporary, full-time, part-time, or contractor. Find detailed information here. Share this information with anyone who may be interested and qualified. Send completed application packages, including an AIRA Job Application, to [email protected].
In the News – October 2020
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