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APRIL
2000
Immunization
registry news from All Kids Count.
Issue
Number 13
April 28, 2000
Welcome
to SnapShots, All Kids Count's
newsletter about the progress, best
practices and accomplishments of
immunization registries across the
country. We invite you to share news
about your registry. Email us: SnapShots@allkidscount.org
or call us at (404) 687-5615 with
information about a successful
programmatic or technical innovation,
major accomplishment or milestone that
your registry has reached. SnapShots is
sent to subscribers monthly by All Kids
Count. Current and past issues also are
available on the All Kids Count Web
site: www.allkidscount.org
Health
Care, School Savings Outweigh Registry
Costs
New
data show that immunization registries
can save twice as much they cost.
Studies by All Kids Count and NIP/CDC
estimate that a fully operational system
of immunization registries will cost $5
per child per year, or approximately
$125 million annually.
These same studies show that
registries can annually eliminate over
$250 million in costs incurred in this
country by making accurate, up-to-date
information on immunizations available
to health care professionals and
schools.
Fully
operational registries could save $113
million annually for the health care
system, and at least $137 million
annually for schools, Head Start and day
care programs by managing information
more efficiently. Additional savings
could be realized by decreasing the
incidence of disease, preventing vaccine
wastage, facilitating costly vaccine
recalls, and streamlining doctors’
office operations. Savings for schools
may be greater than $137 million, as
data from all states have not yet been
collected.
Since
1992, over $200 million has been
invested by federal, state and local
governments, and private foundations in
the development of community- and
state-based immunization registries.
Recent data show that approximately $50
million is now spent annually on
registries. Of that, 42% is federal 317
funding, while 58% is from
states/counties/cities, HCFA/Medicaid,
health plans, foundations, and
fee-for-service.
Contact: All Kids Count National Program
Office, info@allkidscount.org
MMWR
Reports “Substantial Progress in
Registries”
The
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) published an article
titled "Progress in Development of
Immunization Registries--United States,
1999" in the April 7, 2000, issue
of the MMWR. This study is the first attempt to quantify and evaluate
state- and community-based immunization
registry development in the United
States. The article reports on data from
the 1999 Immunization Registry Annual
Report, a questionnaire which assessed
self-reported data from 62 of 64
immunization program grantees. The
article notes that “data suggest that
substantial progress has been made in
U.S. communities and states in enrolling
children, recruiting providers, and
implementing registry functional
standards,” but that “substantial
challenges remain.” The complete article can be found at www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4913a2.htm
Data
from the annual report can be found
online at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/registry/ar_freq.html.
All Kids
Count Unveils New Web Site Design
All
Kids Count will launch its newly
redesigned web site this month. In
addition to a more visually appealing,
updated look, the new site enables the
user to more easily find information and
important links. The site is organized
into the following sections: What’s
New, About Immunization Registries,
About All Kids Count, Key Issues,
Research & Evaluation, and
Publications and Online Resources. New
additions to the site include PDF
versions of our Policy Brief and Focus
newsletter, a search engine, an online
subscription and order form, and email
links to national program office staff.
New information will continue to be
added in coming weeks. Check out the new
site at www.allkidscount.org.
2000
Immunization Registry Conference
Almost
400 people attended the three-day
National Immunization Registry
Conference in Newport, Rhode Island in
March to hear reports on the progress,
challenges, and future of immunization
registries.
Conference co-sponsors -
the National Immunization Program/CDC,
All Kids Count, Rhode Island Department
of Health -
and the planning committee assembled an
outstanding group of presenters.
The
opening plenary session featured
Patricia Nolan, director of the Rhode
Island Department of Health and current
president of ASTHO; Georges Peter,
director of Division of Pediatric
Infectious Diseases, Rhode Island
Hospital and current chairman of the
National Vaccine Advisory Committee
(NVAC); and Rhode Island Senator Jack
Reed, who serves on the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee,
and has become a Congressional leader on
behalf of immunizations.
A
“Future of Registries” plenary
session featured Timothy Westmoreland,
director, Center for Medicaid and State
Operations, Health Care Finance
Administration (see article below); an
update on All Kids Count from William C.
Watson Jr., director of the All Kids
Count National Program Office; an update
on NIP registry activities from Robb
Linkins, NIP/CDC; and an update on
American Immunization Registry
Association (AIRA) from Paula Soper,
AIRA president. Speaker presentations highlighted the progress that
registries have made in recent years in
the areas of technology, data quality,
privacy/confidentiality, collaboration,
provider recruitment, use of registry
data, and funding.
Several of the presentations are
online at www.cdc.gov/nip/registry.
Look
for More Information on Medicaid Funding
for Registries
Registries
should be looking to their state
Medicaid agencies to become key funding
sources, according to Timothy
Westmoreland, director of the Center for
Medicaid and State Operations, Health
Care Financing Administration (HCFA).
Speaking at the March Immunization
Registry Conference in Newport, Rhode
Island, Westmoreland described the
potential for state Medicaid funds to
become an important source of funding
for state immunization registries.
Because they contain accurate,
up-to-date information about the health
of children, registries are seen as
valuable sources of information about
Medicaid enrolled children. Currently,
only a few states have negotiated
agreements with Medicaid as a source of
funding. Medicaid is now developing the
mechanism for states to apply for
Medicaid funding for registries.
Immunization registries will be notified
when the policy is finalized; the
anticipated date is late June/early
July. Westmoreland’s message
underscored the importance of
immunization registries and health
departments learning to work with the
Medicaid agency in their states.
Utah
Health Plans Like “Lite” Version of
Registry
Recognizing
that health plans don’t need all of
the information that the registry can
provide and that not all users should be
able to access all the information, the
Utah state registry has developed a
“lite” version of its registry
software, WebKIDS. “WebKIDS Lite,” a
read-only version of the registry, is
based on a “need to know” principle:
It provides health plans only with
access to information that they need for
HEDIS data collection. Health plans can
query one child’s name at a time for
an immunization history, print out a
report of the child’s vaccination
status, and/or generate a
comma-delimited file that can be used to
download a child’s information
directly to the health plan’s computer
system. Because WebKIDS Lite is
read-only, it does not allow the
end-user to update the patient’s
record. Unlike the regular version, it
does not have an immunization forecast
function, vaccine inventory function,
and does not have the same reporting
capabilities.
Two
HMO’s are presently using the
“Lite” version, including
Intermountain Health Care, Utah’s
largest HMO, which has found
approximately 25% of their sample in the
registry database. That percentage will
increase as the registry becomes more
populated. Other potential users -
because they only need to query a
child’s immunization status -
are schools, Head Start and day care
programs. Contact:
Christine Perfili, cperfili@doh.state.ut.us.
We
hope you will forward this e-mail to
others who may be interested in
receiving SnapShots.
To SUBSCRIBE, please go to http://www.allkidscount.org.
This information will remain
confidential and will not be sold or
passed on to other parties.
COMMENTS,
PROBLEMS OR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT US
AT:
All
Kids Count
750 Commerce Drive, Ste. 400
Decatur,
GA 30030
Voice:
404-687-5615
FAX:
404-371-0415
Web:
http://www.allkidscount.org
E-mail:
snapshots@allkidscount.org
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