Vaccinations help prevent diseases in both children and adults. But managing vaccines is hard because patients are different, vaccine rules change, records are often missing, and each doctor’s office may document things differently.
Doctors and nurses often miss recording vaccines correctly. They use old ways to track vaccines, which take a lot of time. This can lead to people missing vaccines and risks to public health.
Healthcare systems need strong rules to record vaccines on time and to share records easily. Technology is needed to help with this.
Norton Healthcare in Louisville found a way to use data and technology to improve vaccine rates. Norton Medical Group started a Vaccine Taskforce in 2015. This group included medical leaders and doctors from different areas. They made a plan to share the same vaccine messages and methods across their offices.
The taskforce used data and changed work processes. In 2017, they began an AI-focused project to meet vaccination goals, especially for people over 65 and adults with health risks.
One key to their success was improving how they recorded data. Norton Medical Group used Epic’s electronic health record system. They created special reports that showed vaccine rates. These reports helped by:
They also connected their system with the Kentucky and Indiana Immunization Registries by late 2017. This connection allowed vaccine data to share automatically, reducing mistakes and keeping records current.
Using technology was not enough.
Staff and patients needed to learn about the new system.
Norton gave training to providers and staff on how to use vaccine tools in Epic. Staff learned how to record vaccines properly before visits so they could spot missing vaccines.
Patients were also educated about why vaccines matter. Consistent messages helped patients accept vaccines more often.
The group saw clear results. They targeted 40,247 patients over 65 for pneumococcal vaccines and 164,907 adults for flu vaccines.
Influenza vaccination rates went up by 13.8%. In 2017, the program helped over 757,000 visits with primary care doctors and more than one million visits with specialists. This showed the program worked on a large scale.
The project showed the importance of teamwork.
The Vaccine Taskforce had 14 members from different job areas. They worked together on rules that helped patient care and made work easier.
They had monthly meetings and ongoing training to help staff get better at vaccine documentation.
They also worked with Legal, Employee Health, and Health Information teams to improve flu vaccine records for workers, showing that healthcare workers’ vaccines matter too.
New tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can further improve vaccine work.
Healthcare leaders and IT managers can use these tools to build vaccine processes like Norton Medical Group’s system that links with immunization registries and uses AI to notify patients and providers.
Healthcare leaders who want to copy Norton’s success can follow these steps:
Standardizing vaccine records and processes helps patient care and makes sure healthcare follows public health rules.
Accurate vaccine data is essential for healthcare quality and helps meet benchmarks for accreditation and funding.
With ongoing issues like flu season and pneumococcal disease risk, healthcare providers who improve vaccine workflows can lower vaccine-preventable illnesses in older and at-risk adults. This also benefits the wider community’s health.
Looking at Norton Healthcare’s approach, organizations can find clear steps to standardize vaccine work.
Using good data practices, technology, and better workflows helps keep vaccine tracking reliable and makes vaccines easier for patients to get.
These methods support better preventive care in clinics across the United States.
Norton Healthcare’s mission is to provide quality health care guided by its faith heritage, serving adult and pediatric patients across Greater Louisville, Southern Indiana, Kentucky, and beyond.
Norton Medical Group participated in AMGA’s Adult Immunization Best Practices Learning Collaborative in 2017, aiming to increase immunization rates for influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations.
The Vaccine Taskforce included immunization experts such as administrators, clinical directors, operational leaders, and providers from primary care and pediatrics.
The main areas of focus included patient education, staff/provider education, information technology, and clinical support related to vaccine processes.
Norton Medical Group utilized Epic’s Clarity Report Team to create reporting built with measure specifications for vaccination rates, enhancing data documentation and standardization.
The targeted patients included approximately 40,247 aged ≥65 needing pneumococcal vaccines and 164,907 aged 18+ eligible for influenza vaccines, with varying demographics in sex and ethnicity.
Prioritized interventions included creating an organizational vaccine philosophy, increasing protocol awareness, implementing bi-directional connectivity with immunization registries, and improving vaccine access in various specialties.
The collaborative showed improvements in all immunization rates, with influenza immunization rates increasing by 13.8% during the intervention period.
Norton Medical Group implemented a Vaccine Philosophy to convey their stance on vaccinations, ensuring consistent messaging about the importance of immunizations.
Next steps included ongoing education for staff on vaccinations, pre-visit charting to identify care gaps, and enhancing access to vaccines across specialties.
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