KEYWORDS:
Indian Health Service, Data Exchange, WIR
BACKGROUND:
The Indian Health Service (IHS) and many tribal facilities use an immunization information system called the Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS) Immunization Package to collect and track immunizations. In order to capture Tribal immunization data from the 12 Tribal facilities in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) collaborated with IHS to develop a method for data exchange between the RPMS system and the WIR.
OBJECTIVE:
To develop HL7-compliant automatic data exchange between the IHS RPMS Immunization package and the WIR.
METHOD:
The WIR project manager will discuss progress in the IHS/WIR data exchange project to date, identify challenges and strategies to overcome these challenges, and lessons learned.
RESULT:
Progress in establishing data exchange between the WIR and the IHS’s RPMS system continues to be made. Challenges encountered by the WIR staff and the Tribal sites participating in this project include garnering political support for the process, providing technical support at both the Tribal sites and the WIR to develop and implement the data exchange, and ensuring data quality. Strategies used to overcome these challenges will be discussed.
CONCLUSION:
Connecting other immunization information systems with state immunization registries is an important step towards ensuring complete participation in state immunization registries. The lessons learned by the WIR staff through the data exchange project with IHS’s RPMS system are applicable to other types of data exchange that may occur between state registries and other immunization information systems.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand status of data exchange between IHS/tribes and the WIR
2. Understand challenges in and strategies for connecting other immunization information systems with state immunization registries
Back to The Indian Health Service HL7 Data Exchange Project: Lessons Learned
Back to The 2003 Immunization Registry Conference (October 27-29, 2003)