Immunization Registries

States can also interface with State Immunization Registries to submit and receive/retrieve immunization data. Utilizing regular batch feeds, or real-time Web-based queries, HIEs can send and receive patient immunization data that can be presented to authorized providers at the point of care.

Gateways facilitate the documentation and exchange of immunization data between the connected EHR/EMR and local or state registry systems through the HIE. All immunization data is first aggregated in the HIE or entered directly, and then transmitted to the registry system in various formats, depending on the requirements of the specific system. It is recommended that HIEs use the data standards and protocols developed by the CDC for the exchange of immunization data.

A direct link to desired immunization systems can be provided so that providers are able to easily access their state system, to view patient immunization histories and forecasting information about upcoming or missed immunizations for specific patients.

Public Health Reporting

Interfaces may also be developed to transfer data to reporting systems or government agencies, such as public health departments. These interfaces, which should be configured to de-identify protected health information as required, enable community-wide scanning and reporting on conditions and provide a number of benefits with regard to tracking community health, corresponding care treatment methods, and the effectiveness of these treatments.  Using reporting and analytics tools, this interface may be extended to enable automated reporting on conditions and syndromic surveillance and alerting for configured public health conditions.

Medication Management

HIEs should interface with SureScripts—RxHub. These interfaces provide various functionality for medication management, including e-delivery of prescriptions to pharmacies, automated receipt of refill requests, query for medication fill history, and query for pharmacy benefits eligibility. These interfaces are integrated and can manage both inbound and outbound medication data from appropriately interfaced EMR systems.