Monday, October 18, 2004 - 4:15 PM
3

Integrating Immunization Registries into Other Clinical Systems

BACKGROUND:
Traditionally, immunization registries, such as Contra Costa Automated Immunization Registry (CCAIR), were developed as standalone systems storing only immunization data. Patient Care Information System (PCIS) is Contra Costa County’s attempt to implement patient electronic health records (EHR), with the goal of providing a single, centralized point of access to patient medical history information that were previously stored in disparate systems but are now available in our single-platform data warehouse.

OBJECTIVE:
To make immunization history and next-due recommendations from CCAIR easily accessible to users of other EHR systems, seamlessly without toggling between systems and without repeated patient search for both convenience and cutting down possible medical errors, while preserving the standalone property with its own system entry point.

METHOD:
CCAIR was enhanced to provide new callable functions that PCIS can invoke by passing a patient identifier such as medical record number. One function can do the necessary searches within CCAIR and send back the results of next-due to the caller. Another function will paint the set of CCAIR screens for viewing and editing detail history.

RESULT:
PCIS is able to show next-due recommendations and reactions to prior immunizations without users going into CCAIR. Optional drilling down to the full details stored in CCAIR can be achieved by a single mouse click. Moreover, medical information about the patient, stored in disease-specific registries, can impact next-due recommendations.

CONCLUSION:
The concept of standalone immunization registries seems to be outdated. Management of information from multiple sources can yield better overall medical care.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To improve immunization registry by integrating with other medical systems for better delivery and continuity of patient care.

  Recorded presentation

See more of Electronic Health Records: New Opportunities Are Emerging!
See more of The 2004 Immunization Registry Conference