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Pediatric immunization records improving with varying data quality
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Data on children who received at least two immunizations recorded in immunization information systems within the United States has increased from 90% to 94%, nearly meeting the Healthy People 2020 goal of 95% coverage.
“In 2016, 55 jurisdictions in 49 states and six cities in the United States used immunization information systems to collect and manage immunization data and support vaccination providers and immunization programs,” Neil Murthy, MD, from the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the CDC, and colleagues wrote. “To monitor progress toward achieving [immunization information systems (IIS)] program goals, CDC surveys jurisdictions through an annual self-administered IIS Annual Report.”
To examine how much progress has been made toward IIS program goals — including data completeness, bidirectional exchange of data with electronic health record systems, clinical decision support for immunizations and ability to generate childhood vaccination coverage estimates — the researchers analyzed data from 2013-2016 IIS Annual Reports.
The number of children with at least two immunizations observed in IISs increased from 90% to 94% between 2013 and 2016. Murthy and colleagues note that this number is steadily approaching the Healthy People 2020 goal of 95% coverage. Despite this progress, pediatric data quality within IISs is variable.
Coverage rates for seven-vaccine series created by IISs were at least 10 percentage points lower in 30 of 55 rates when compared with the related 2016 National Immunization Survey-Child coverage rate. Regarding the four program goals, the researchers observed improvement in three specific areas: bidirectional exchange with EHR systems, pediatric clinical decision support for immunizations and the ability to generate jurisdictional and provider-level childhood vaccination coverage estimates.
“To realize the full benefits of IISs, immunization programs need to implement strategies that prioritize and align resources to achieve functionality and high data quality in [the four priority areas],” Murthy and colleagues wrote. “Strategies such as implementing best practices, adhering to national standards and incorporating independent third-party assessments can reduce variability across IISs and support IIS’ full potential to facilitate complete vaccination of U.S. children against vaccine-preventable diseases.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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