Oregon Immunization ALERT


Electronic Data Transfer: Guidelines

INTRODUCTION:
Thank you for your interest in electronic data exchange with ALERT. Getting immunization data into ALERT is important for your clinic and for the individuals you serve. ALERT is interested in finding the least burdensome method for data submission for your clinic. This document explains required and preferred data fields and cites several web links to assist you in determining if electronic data transfer is a viable option for your clinic. Please share this document with technical staff and/or your software vendor.
REQUIRED DATA:
ALERT needs to receive demographic and vaccination data for each individual that receives an immunization. These data can be sent in two separate files, or in one file with all data elements. As a minimum, ALERT will need the following data fields for each patient receiving immunizations: Required Demographic fields: Unique identifier (e.g. account or chart number) First Name Last Name Middle Name (if available) Date of birth Gender At least two of the following demographic elements: Address, Telephone number, Social Security Number, Mother's maiden name, Parent/guardian name, or Medicaid Number. Due to the large volume of records ALERT receives from various sources, the additional demographic information described above is essential to ensure ALERT matches immunization records reported from multiple sources appropriately. If you are unable to supply this information, ALERT will not be able to merge your data with other sources to obtain one complete immunization record. ALERT can accept multiple names, phone numbers and addresses for each individual. Please include as much information as possible. Required Immunization fields: Unique identifier (the link to the above demographic identifier) Code for the vaccine administered Date of the vaccination ALERT currently accepts two types of vaccination codes, 1) HL7 standard CVX codes (http://www.cdc.gov/nip/registry/hl7/hl7-cvx.htm) or 2) CPT immunization codes (http://www.cdc.gov/nip/registry/st_terr/tech/stds/cpt.htm). If you have a different set of vaccination codes that you would like to send to ALERT, please contact ALERT technical staff at (971) 673-0300.
ADDITIONAL PREFERRED DATA:
Vaccine Eligibility Status Code: Clinics participating in Vaccines for Children (VFC) are encouraged to provide vaccine eligibility coding information electronically. This greatly simplifies vaccine accountability for both clinic and State VFC staff and meets the federal coding requirements (see https://www.immalert.org/files/docs/dataexchange/vfc-codes.asp for more information on vaccine eligibility codes). If electronic coding of vaccine eligibility information is not possible, ALERT and VFC staff will work with providers to ensure that vaccine eligibility status reporting is maintained. Site identifiers (for clinics with multiple sites): ALERT highly recommends that clinics with multiple sites provide site-specific identifiers to both demographic and immunization records wherever possible. This will enable ALERT staff to provide recall reminders to appropriate clinics. Site-specific identifiers will also make it easier to match a recall report to a child’s medical chart/record. These identifiers also enable Immunization staff to provide assessments for each clinic site. Vaccine Lot & Manufacturer Information: Entering vaccine lot and manufacturer into the ALERT database can save your clinic valuable time and resources in case of a vaccine recall or adverse event. Current CDC manufacturer codes can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/registry/st_terr/tech/stds/hl7-mvx.htm
OTHER DATA:
A complete list of fields that can be sent to ALERT can be found at: https://www.immalert.org/files/docs/dataexchange/datafield-list.asp . Receiving additional data elements increases the likelihood that ALERT will be able to merge and deduplicate records. In addition, your clinic may want to send elements that you can use for your own performance measures. For example, you may want to consider sending provider identifiers, which would allow you to receive performance reports on individual providers in your practice.
DATA FORMATS ACCEPTED:
Data is typically pulled from Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems or from billing data systems. If you have both EMR and billing data systems, ALERT encourages you to pull data from the EMR, as we have found these data to be more complete (e.g., self-pay, history of disease, and historical immunizations are often in the EMR but not in billing databases). ALERT currently accepts the following electronic file types: Delimited text files Report format text files ISAM database files Spreadsheet files Access database files Fixed format text (https://www.immalert.org/files/docs/dataexchange/fixedlengthtext.asp) If you have a different file type that you would like to send to ALERT, please contact ALERT technical staff at (971) 673-0300.
DATA TRANSFER OPTIONS:
Data can be sent to ALERT securely over the Web via HTTPS file transfer. Alternatively, ALERT can set up a password-protected FTP directory for data submissions. If choosing this option, data must be encrypted. Finally, some providers prefer to mail data to ALERT via disk. ALERT encourages sending encrypted data wherever possible. For assistance with data encryption, please contact ALERT technical staff.
NEXT STEPS:
If you believe your site is a good candidate for electronic data transfer to ALERT, please call and request to speak to ALERT technical staff at (971) 673-0300. ALERT staff will obtain some general information about your site and data systems. Next steps include receiving a test file from your site and, once any data issues are resolved, setting up routine data transfer. ALERT and health education staff will also work with you to capture any additional data not input into your system (immunization histories, etc). If you have any questions about electronic data exchange with ALERT, please do not hesitate to contact ALERT technical staff at (971) 673-0300. Thank you for working with ALERT on this important effort.
Related Data Exchange Documentation:
Frequently Asked Questions Vaccine Eligibility Codes Data Field List Fixed-Length Text File Requirements Country Codes Language Codes Administration Site Codes Administration Route Codes