All Kids Count: SnapShot June 1999





		JUNE 1999 Immunization registry news from All Kids Count. Issue Number 4 June 15, 1999 Welcome to SnapShots, a 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 Website: *www.allkidscount.org* All Kids Count is a national network of demonstration projects working to develop and implement community-based immunization registries for infants and toddlers. Collectively, All Kids Count projects represent the country's most advanced base of experience with immunization registries. All Kids Count is supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with direction and technical assistance from The Task Force for Child Survival and Development. HEADLINES *Registry Software And Support Services Directory Online* *National Immunization Conference Spotlights Registry Issues* *Registry Association Update At Nic* *Arizona Targets Advertising Campaign With Registry Geo-Coding* *Humor, Rewards And A Personal Touch Help Recruit Private Providers* Registry Software And Support Services Directory Online All Kids Count is compiling a directory of vendors offering registry software and support. Both private companies and public health departments are listed. On Monday, June 21, the directory will be posted on the All Kids Count web pages, http://www.allkidscount.org. Check the Resources section under "Technology." Back to Top National Immunization Conference Spotlights Registry Issues The agenda for this year's CDC National Immunization Conference (NIC) in Dallas, TX, June 22-25, features a number of registry workshops and a registry plenary session. Dates and times are subject to change, so be sure to check the marquis at the conference in advance. The complete agenda is online at http://www.cdc/nic/nip. Registry Issues Plenary: Wednesday, June 23, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Overview of registry success in the U.S. – Robb Linkins, Ph.D Findings and Recommendations of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee Workgroup on Immunization Registries – Mary des Vignes-Kendrick, M.D. Registry Cost/Benefit Issues – John Fontanesi, Ph.D. Registry-Related Workshops: A4 Tuesday, June 22 4:00 - 5:30 Moving Registries Forward through Standards, Assessments, Collaboration, and Communication Moderator: David Nelson Susan Abernathy, Suzy Feikema, Judith LeComb, Gail Horlick, Christy Curwick The latest registry-related developments associated with standards, evaluation, collaboration and communication. B2 Wednesday, June 23 1:30 - 3:00 Balancing Your Registry Checkbook Moderator: Gary Urquhart Kimberly J. Rask, Robb Seader, Verna McKenna This workshop will present cost estimates of developing and implementing registries and an innovative approach taken to fund a registry. B3 Wednesday, June 23 1:30 - 3:00 Immunization Registries - Challenges Associated with Off-the-Shelf Software Moderator: K. C. Edwards Paula Soper, Ray LoPresti, Vincent Sacco This workshop will provide an opportunity for Acclaim and ADIOS registry software users to meet and discuss how they are overcoming challenges associated with the demise of HumanSoft as a registry vendor. B14 Wednesday, June 23 1:30 - 3:00 Using Immunization Registry Information To Make Decisions: Lessons Learned from All Kids Count Moderator: Kristin Saarlas Laura Korten, Veronica Hart, Karen Fowler, K. C. Edwards, Kristin Saarlas This workshop will describe lessons learned from three AKC II projects related to provider participation, coverage status, the sharing of information with managed care and Medicaid, and AKC's approach to monitoring grantee progress through performance indicators. B16 Wednesday, June 23 1:30- 3:00 Reassessing Your Registry Direction: Strategies for Moving Forward with Registry Projects Moderator: Noam Arzt Noam H. Arzt, Ph.D., Susan Salkowitz This registry will help registry developers assess where they are and propose strategies to maximize what they have. C2 Wednesday, June 23 3:30 - 5:30 Ensuring Registry Data Quality Moderator: Suzy Feikema Frederick G. Sayward, Jean Blosberg, Maureeen S. Kolasa, Vikki Papadouka This workshop will review registry data quality challenges and solutions. D1 Thursday, June 24 1:30-3 p.m. Immunization Registries: Data Quality and Electronically Submitted Billing Data Moderator: Vikki Papadouka To maximize the value of electronically submitted administrative data, data quality assessment and control must be carefully managed. D8 Thursday, June 24 1:30 - 3:00 Tomorrow's Registries Today: Technical & Operational Issues Moderator: Susan Abernathy John M. Fontanesi, Ph.D., Ann E. Casadei, Robert G. Rosofsky This workshop will present some of the salient procedural issues registry developers should be aware of when planning and developing their immunization registries. E2 Thursday, June 24 3:30 - 5:30 The Big Challenge: Ensuring Provider Participation in Registries Moderator: Lance Rodewald Kristen J. Wells, Jake H. McQueen, Sherry V. Riddick, James A. Gaudino, M.D., Betsy Klebanoff-Hills, Shelly Vaughn This workshop will discuss ways to successfully recruit immunization providers to participate in immunization registries. E10 Thursday, June 24 3:30 - 5:30 Registry Benefits: Making Every Penny Count Moderator: Robb Linkins Cheryl Naylor, Terry D. Boyd This workshop will demonstrate ways that registries have been used to broadly impact public health. Back to Top Registry Association Update At Nic Individuals interested in the formation of an association of immunization registries are invited to attend a meeting at NIC for an update on the association's status and plans. The meeting will be held Thursday, June 24, noon to 1 p.m. in the Remmington Room. Back to Top Arizona Targets Advertising Campaign With Registry Geo-Coding New billboards targeting parents of under-immunized children will soon be strategically placed around Phoenix, AZ, with the help of the state registry's geographic information system (GIS). GIS is a new tool for ASIIS that enables visual representation of data specific to an area's geography and population characteristics, and provides tools for integrating data, including population demographics, boundaries, births, outbreaks, immunizations and provider locations. The GIS maps produced by Arizona State Immunization Information System (ASIIS) show the areas with the highest birth rate and the lowest immunization rates of children aged 18 months. Beginning in July, billboards will go up picturing Phoenix Suns basketball star and young father Jason Kidd, the spokesman for the "Kiddshots" immunization awareness campaign, his wife and six-month old baby, TJ. The billboards say, "This Kidd has his shots, your baby needs shots, too!" A phone number is listed to find the closest immunization site. New geo-coding maps will be produced in six to eight months to track the effectiveness of the awareness campaign. For information about the registry's GIS, contact Mike Popovich at STC, Inc., popovich@stchome, 520-202-3333. For information on the billboard project, contact Debbie McCune Davis at The Arizona Partnership for Infant Immunization (TAPII), tapii@goodnet.com, 602-253-0090, Ext. 234. Back to Top Humor, Rewards And A Personal Touch Help Recruit Private Providers Experience in Connecticut has shown that a sense of humor goes a long way in convincing private providers to participate in a registry. In l994, Connecticut passed legislation requiring that pediatric practitioners provide immunization histories to the Connecticut Immunization Registry Tracking System (CIRTS) within two weeks of a request. Despite the legislative mandate, providers resisted reporting. The registry used a brochure and information in the newsletter of the state AAP chapter to communicate both the law and the benefits of the registry to providers. They hired trainers to install and train private practices on use of the registry, and conducted Grand Rounds at hospitals. Each month, as CIRTS queried providers, a very factual letter was included explaining the progress of CIRTS. Then they began including a check-off list that let the providers know that not only did the Health Department appreciate the effort that registry participation required, but they also had a sense of humor: I am sick of pulling records for CIRTS. I bet those government workers never stay after hours. I think the CIRTS staff should find other things to do with their time instead of calling and bothering me. I think Betty [the registry's phone contact] should be canonized for calling 80-90 practices each month. I realize that over the next year our office may be linked to CIRTS and I won't have to send in these reports. I realize the new CIRTS will do the state inventory and print out school forms with boxes filled in. Rewards also caught providers' attention. Pediatric practices that reported immunization data were awarded coffeecakes in different categories of "competition." And Betty, the registry office assistant charged with tracking down data from providers who weren't reporting, established herself on a first-name basis with providers' office staff. Was it the legislation, the humor, the coffeecakes or Betty's personal touch that finally got through to providers? It's difficult to say, but Connecticut now has 97% of its private providers reporting to the registry, Betty's calls to providers have declined to 60 each month and providers are good-natured about reporting. For information, contact: Joan Christison-Lagay, jcl@ci.hartford.us, 860-547-1426, Ext. 7182. Back to Top We hope you will forward this e-mail to others who may be interested in receiving SnapShots. To SUBSCRIBE, *click here. This information will remain confidential and will not be sold or passed on to other parties. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please go to http://www.allkidscount.org/suscribe. 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* Back to Registry News & Information