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New
Immunization Registry: Up and Running!
The North Carolina
Immunization Registry (NCIR) is a comprehensive, high-quality,
confidential, population-based system that offers numerous benefits
to providers and parents. It is a clinical tool that assists
immunization staff with vaccine recommendations by utilizing
the age, history and contraindications for the patient, as well
as the current Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
(ACIP) schedule. The NCIR is very user-friendly and greatly
streamlines the fulfillment of federal and state reporting requirements
tied to the Universal Childhood Vaccine Distribution Program
(UCVDP) by eliminating the manual paper-intensive accountability
reports that providers must currently submit.
History/Development
of the NCIR
The Division of Public Health (DPH), in partnership with the
Division of Information Resource Management (DIRM), established
the NCIR. To minimize cost and risk, and maximize chances for
success, we brought the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR)
to North Carolina for adaptation and installation. The WIR is
already a proven success in the public and private provider
sectors of that state.
NCIR Statewide Deployment
To date, all of North Carolina’s local health departments,
as well as more than 300 private providers are using the registry.
The participating providers have been trained to enter historical
immunization data, vaccine inventory, and new immunizations.
Overall, the response has been very favorable, particularly
with regard to ease in learning and using the system.
Thus far, the success of the NCIR has far exceeded expectations.
During its years of inception and development, the NCIR project
encountered and overcame numerous financial, political and technological
barriers. Today, the system has been fully implemented into
the offices of more than 25% of UCVDP providers (exceeding the
goal of 10%). Recruitment efforts continue, and the Immunization
Branch hopes to have at least 75% of its providers using NCIR
by the end of 2008.
The NCIR is daily adding champions to what will become NC's
safety net in tracking childhood immunization rates and driving
up coverage percentages for children by age two. Childcare providers,
agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and the Immunization Branch, the general public, and especially
healthcare providers stand to gain numerous immediate and long-term
benefits from this registry.
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