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Newly passed legislation will see approved COVID-19 vaccines, administered in Australia, reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). The new legislation also requires all Influenza vaccinations to be reported to AIR from 1 March 2021, with all other National Immunisation Program vaccinations to be reported from 1 July 2021 (such as MMR, HPV and pertussis vaccines). Previously reporting to AIR was at the discretion of vaccination providers and thus seasonal flu vaccinations were only reported at a rate of about 50%.
Your medical record software will need to be updated to send additional COVAX information to AIR including the vaccine serial number, along with the patient and provider identification information. In settings where no EMR is available, or it doesn't support uploading to AIR, there will be an alternative system.
“This vaccine program will be the largest logistical process in modern time - with multiple vaccines, providers and settings. The key to an efficient rollout will be based on digital health tools, and will require coordination between sectors and a patient focussed approach.” - FACRRM Dr Chris Pearce, Chair ACRRM Digital Health Committee
90% of Australians have a My Health Record. The system holds vaccine information from AIR and is updated daily. Patients and healthcare providers will be able to see the vaccine status in My Health Record (MHR), with phone apps like Healthi (that connect to MHR) already displaying the COVID immunisation status. If you want to familiarise yourself with how it works, the Australian Digital Health Agency has a number of education resources for healthcare professionals here
There are things you can do now whilst waiting for the roll out of the vaccination program.
- Review and improve your data to support effective patient recalls. Identify those patients in vulnerable groups by age, ATSI status and chronic conditions. More information on the value of coding your data is available here
- Become familiar with data mining tools such as PenCAT and POLAR
Developments with appointment booking solutions
Telstra Health released an upgrade to its Communicare community health and primary care services platform to enable the tracking and tracing of patients receiving COVID-19 vaccinations and allowing users to capture vaccine serial numbers. Communicare is widely used by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and other community health services around the country.
VaccineConnect is a new vaccine management system for community wide vaccination programs. Patients can create an account and set up family profiles, which will be used to determine their priority. They will be able to allocate their preferred vaccine provider and once notified that vaccines are available, patients can log in to VaccineConnect and book an appointment. Once the vaccine has been administered, either the medical record software or VaccineConnect will send the information to AIR www.vaccineconnect.com.au
Patient engagement platform HotDoc is developing new features to help with the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out to primary care, including pre and post-appointment communications to patients, digital consent forms and new patient forms and appointment reminders to reduce no-shows. www.hotdoc.com.au/
Online appointment booking and directory service HealthEngine has partnered with medication software vendor MedAdvisor to develop an online booking and appointment management platform available to pharmacies for the Covax roll-out and other immunisation programs. The new Patient Appointment Management System will support community pharmacies in time for the 2021 flu season and the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacy as part of Phase 2A of the national vaccine program. TerryWhite Chemmart has signed up to use the platform in its 450+ pharmacies.
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Newly passed legislation will see approved COVID-19 vaccines, administered in Australia, reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). The new legislation also requires all Influenza vaccinations to be reported to AIR from 1 March 2021, with all other National Immunisation Program vaccinations to be reported from 1 July 2021 (such as MMR, HPV and pertussis vaccines). Previously reporting to AIR was at the discretion of vaccination providers and thus seasonal flu vaccinations were only reported at a rate of about 50%.
Your medical record software will need to be updated to send additional COVAX information to AIR including the vaccine serial number, along with the patient and provider identification information. In settings where no EMR is available, or it doesn't support uploading to AIR, there will be an alternative system.
“This vaccine program will be the largest logistical process in modern time - with multiple vaccines, providers and settings. The key to an efficient rollout will be based on digital health tools, and will require coordination between sectors and a patient focussed approach.” - FACRRM Dr Chris Pearce, Chair ACRRM Digital Health Committee
90% of Australians have a My Health Record. The system holds vaccine information from AIR and is updated daily. Patients and healthcare providers will be able to see the vaccine status in My Health Record (MHR), with phone apps like Healthi (that connect to MHR) already displaying the COVID immunisation status. If you want to familiarise yourself with how it works, the Australian Digital Health Agency has a number of education resources for healthcare professionals here
There are things you can do now whilst waiting for the roll out of the vaccination program.
- Review and improve your data to support effective patient recalls. Identify those patients in vulnerable groups by age, ATSI status and chronic conditions. More information on the value of coding your data is available here
- Become familiar with data mining tools such as PenCAT and POLAR
Developments with appointment booking solutions
Telstra Health released an upgrade to its Communicare community health and primary care services platform to enable the tracking and tracing of patients receiving COVID-19 vaccinations and allowing users to capture vaccine serial numbers. Communicare is widely used by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and other community health services around the country.
VaccineConnect is a new vaccine management system for community wide vaccination programs. Patients can create an account and set up family profiles, which will be used to determine their priority. They will be able to allocate their preferred vaccine provider and once notified that vaccines are available, patients can log in to VaccineConnect and book an appointment. Once the vaccine has been administered, either the medical record software or VaccineConnect will send the information to AIR www.vaccineconnect.com.au
Patient engagement platform HotDoc is developing new features to help with the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out to primary care, including pre and post-appointment communications to patients, digital consent forms and new patient forms and appointment reminders to reduce no-shows. www.hotdoc.com.au/
Online appointment booking and directory service HealthEngine has partnered with medication software vendor MedAdvisor to develop an online booking and appointment management platform available to pharmacies for the Covax roll-out and other immunisation programs. The new Patient Appointment Management System will support community pharmacies in time for the 2021 flu season and the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacy as part of Phase 2A of the national vaccine program. TerryWhite Chemmart has signed up to use the platform in its 450+ pharmacies.