Skip Navigation Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC
CDC CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z
Contact Help Travelers Health n i p Home NIP header
Family

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

Immunization Registries: Vendor Exports and Data Quality

Danielle Reader-Jolley, SIIS, Scientific Technologies Corporation, 4400 E. Broadway Blvd, Suite 705, Tucson, AZ, USA, Timothy Baker, State Immunization Information Systems, Scientific Technologies Corporation, 67 E. Weldon Avenue, Suite 110, Phoenix, AZ, USA, Christina Babin, Idaho Immunization Program-IRIS, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, PO Box 83720, 450 West State Street, Boise, ID, USA, and Quan Le, Immunization Program, Louisiana Department of Health, 4747 Earhart Blvd, Suite 107, New Orleans, LA, USA.


BACKGROUND:
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals have received large amounts of patient demographic and vaccination data from vendor exports. This has greatly benefited data completeness in each state’s immunization registry. However, data quality presents a unique challenge when data is imported from an outside source.

OBJECTIVE:
Inform and educate on lessons learned while importing data from vendor exports.

METHOD:
One goal of any immunization registry is to provide as complete a picture of vaccination coverage as possible. To achieve this, it is often necessary to employ mechanisms that can import data from patient management systems and billing systems. This can greatly enhance the value of a registry, but care must be taken to ensure that data quality is not adversely affected.

RESULT:
When data are imported into a registry, a validation process must ensure that the quality of the data is high. However, this only addresses data fields that are being sent by a vendor export. Problems arise when a vendor doesn’t track certain data that are valuable to a registry. While data validation can ensure that certain mandatory fields are imported, an immunization program needs to find a balance between the fields that are critical vs. optional.

CONCLUSION:
Vendor exports may not provide all demographic information or vaccination details that are desirable. An immunization program must be careful to balance their desire for quantity of data with the need for quality of data.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Understand the goals of batch data imports. Appreciate the importance of data quality. Demonstrate the use of the registry in data validation.

[ Recorded presentation ]   Recorded presentation

See more of Understanding Data Quality Issues with Manual and Electronic Provider Data Submissions
See more of The 2004 Immunization Registry Conference