KEYWORDS:
registries, evaluation, CASA, assessment, coverage, providers

BACKGROUND:
The CDC’s Clinical Assessment Software Application (CASA) is the de facto standard for childhood immunization coverage level assessment. As more and more immunization data is included in electronic registries, it becomes critically important that this data can be properly and usefully exported from registry databases for use by CASA. In California, immunization registries are deployed regionally across the state. The California Automated Immunization Registry (CAIR) application is in use in five of the nine regions around the state.

OBJECTIVE:
To modify the CAIR web application to easily extract data for use by CASA to support individual provider site, specified provider group and health jurisdiction coverage assessments.

METHOD:
Modifications to CAIR are accomplished through a structured process of discussion and decision by a representative committee of system users from each region of the State. The development of specifications, and ultimately software enhancements, is performed by a contracted vendor whose project manager and immunization expert guide the discussion and development process. Experienced programmers take the requirements and design and implement changes in the web-based application.

RESULT:
A fully-functional, flexible and secure extract process was designed, developed and implemented in under 3 months. This presentation will show not only the interface presented to users but some interesting nuances that were added to the software to maximize its effectiveness with CASA.

CONCLUSION:
An effective interface can be developed to CASA to facilitate use of registry data, despite some of the inherent limitations in CASA’s treatment of data.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To understand how to effectively extract data from registries for use by CASA and to demonstrate a useful interface for end-users.