KEYWORD1:
Immunization Tracking, Immunization Registries, Electronic Medical Records, Public Health Partnerships

BACKGROUND:
While immunization data management is a critical component for any clinical practice, clinicians will ultimately need to integrate immunization tracking with primary care information systems.

OBJECTIVE:
The objectives of this project are to provide primary care clinicians with a customizable clinical information system at very low cost and to share immunization data collected with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). Immunization Registry.

METHOD:
The project is a collaborative effort between an academic pediatric department, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MCAAP) Immunization Initiative and the MDPH. For this project, we have redesigned a comprehensive pediatric primary care electronic medical record (EMR), the Automated Record for Child Health (ARCH), for public use via the Internet. The ARCH will be used to enter immunizations at the point-of-care, print adhesive labels for documentation in the paper record, print completed forms for families, and provide analysis of immunization data (i.e. coverage by age, HEDIS compliance, etc.). Clinicians will also have the option of using many additional EMR features if desired. Each practice will have a dedicated database, hosted in a secure data center. Technical support is provided via web-based multimedia materials and a pager-based telephone support system. The system is HIPAA compliant and will share immunization data with the MDPH-IR via HL7 messaging.

RESULT:
We plan to demonstrate that pediatric primary care clinicians, academic researchers, the MCAAP, and the MDPH can collaborate to provide enhanced immunization tracking as well as better primary care services.

CONCLUSION:
Pediatric practices need to get on the road to clinical computing and immunization tracking is the place to start. Through this project, families, clinicians and the Department of Public Health will have better information and children will be better immunized.
LEARNINGOBJECTIVES:
To demonstrate how an immunization tracking system can form the foundation of a scalable, easy to use primary care clinical information system. To describe how a public/academic/private partnerships can lead to technical innovation and improved quality of care.