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:

1. Testing and Recognition – This initiative helps EHRs and adopt and confirm immunization-related capabilities, allowing EHRs and IIS to share high-quality information clinicians need to make important immunization decisions.
2. 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 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 market supplier.

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 ONC and IIP requirements. Clinicians can also use this information to have more informed discussions with EHRs and evaluate their solutions.

Benefits of Testing and Recognition

Participating in IIP Testing and Recognition will help EHR developers learn about immunization capabilities that will improve interoperability with IIS and help them confirm their product’s ability to successfully exchange immunization data.

Continue learning about the IIP Testing and Recognition initiative. Get an overview of testing requirements, download the IIP test plan, apply to participate, and learn more about usability guidance.

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.

The IIP solicits immunization interoperability challenges from the broader immunization ecosystem and works with CDC to screen the issues to ensure topics are within scope and not duplicative of other efforts. The IIP Executive Committee prioritizes the issues based on criteria such as the impact on public health, patient safety, and data quality to inform the IIP and assist the CDC Informatics and Data Analytics Branch (IDAB) to select issues to tackle.

The IIP Collaborative, comprised of IIS, EHRs and other health IT, HIEs, clinicians, public health agencies and other critical partners, is addressing identified priorities to improve immunization interoperability, information sharing and management.

  Current IIP Priorities:

1. Validating data and addressing reasons for IIS rejections. Inconsistency in how data is entered such as dates entered in the future, birth date discrepancies, or missing fields can cause IIS to reject immunization messages; data validation prior to submission can improve acceptance. The workgroup's data validation resources are being piloted by an EHR vendor. The IIP welcomes additional opportunities to implement the strategies.
2. Regularly updating code sets. Out-of-sync code sets—such as National Drug Codes for the annual influenza vaccination—between immunization data exchange partners inhibit interoperability and can prevent patients’ vaccinations from being recorded properly.

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

Future IIP Priorities:

1. Immunization Data from Pharmacies. Address bi-directional immunization data exchange challenges between pharmacies and IIS. Efforts will launch with a landscape analysis to identify interoperability challenges and identify immunization-related capabilities for the IIP Testing & Recognition initiative to consider for future testing of pharmacy health IT.
2. Immunization Submissions Prior to the Assignment of a Legal Baby Name. Identify best practices and triggers for sending demographic update messages to the IIS once a legal name is assigned.
3. Triggers which Prompt Submission or Query Messages from EHRs to IIS. Develop and promote appropriate triggers for IIS queries and submissions aimed to reduce burden on the IIS and support point of care and public health decision-making.  

Solutions:

• IIP Collaborative Transport Recommendations
• Acknowledgment Messages
• Foundational Guidance for Minimum Functionality to Improve Visibility and Access to Information from Acknowledgment Messages
• AIRA Discovery Session: Data Quality Improvement Success Story: Collaborating through the Immunization Integration Program 6/28/21 (webinar)
• The Immunization Integration Program & Pipeline Approach: The ACK Journey 4/26/22 (webinar)
• IIP Collaborative Patient Matching Brief
• Data Validation
  • Top Five Strategies for Improving Immunization Data Quality at the Point of Care
  • Training Resources for Vaccine Data Entry Users
  • Data Entry Error Guide Template
• Multiple Patients Matched in a Query to IIS
  • Immunization Query Response Aggregate Measures for Multiple Matches Report 
  • Immunization Query Response Workflow Functionalities Catalog 
• Bulk Query
  • Bulk Query Toolkit 
  • IIS Bulk Query Discussion with HIMSS-AIRA IIP 4/26/22 (webinar)
• IIP Collaborative Patient Matching Brief

Continue learning about the IIP Collaborative

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.

Continue Learning About the IIP

• Meet IIP leaders, learn how to get involved, and see upcoming events.
• Learn more about the IIP’s history and read frequently asked questions.