Application Programming Interface (API) for Immunization Information Interoperability
Main Article Content
Abstract
Public health agencies established immunization registries - now called Immunization Information Systems (IIS) - to consolidate records across provider locations to support more effective immunization of patients and public health surveillance. While initially collecting data through interactive client-server and then web-based interfaces, IIS now collect the vast majority of their data through automated interfaces to electronic health record (EHR) systems using standard application programming interfaces (API). IIS have sophisticated processing rules for the incoming data to ensure data accuracy and completeness. This paper will review the existing workflow, standards, and processes used by IIS to accept, process, and make immunization data available. This will include a review of emerging standards - Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) - which will likely become dominant over the next few years.
Keywords:
immunization, immunization registries, immunization information systems, Health Level Seven, public health, electronic health records
Article Details
How to Cite
ARZT, Noam H..
Application Programming Interface (API) for Immunization Information Interoperability.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 8, n. 11, dec. 2020.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/2282>. Date accessed: 25 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v8i11.2282.
Section
Case Reports
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
About Immunization Information Systems, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/about.html. Accessed July 14, 2020.
For a full discussion see IIS Technology Over Time: Impact and Changing Roles, American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA), 2018. https://repository.immregistries.org/files/resources/5c19b578dc69e/iis_history_spotlight-_technology.pdf. Accessed July 14, 2020.
HL7 v2 Product Suite. http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=185. Accessed on July 15, 2020.
Promoting Interoperability Programs. https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms. Accessed on July 15, 2020.
Kristen Forney, et al, Meaningful Use and Public Health: An Immunization Information System Case Study, Journal of Healthcare Information Management, 25(4), Fall 2011. https://www.hln.com/assets/pdf/JHIM-Fall%202011-NYC-MU.pdf. Accessed July 16, 2020.
“Improving IIS HL7 Web Service Performance in New York City,” presentation at AIRA 2019 National Meeting, August 13, 2019. https://repository.immregistries.org/files/resources/5d65bdf622b16/improving_iis_hl7_web_service_performance_in_new_york_city.pdf#page=5. Accessed July 15, 2020.
What is an API? https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/what-is-an-api. Accessed on September 18, 2020.
Cures Act Final Rule: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Conditions and Maintenance of Certification. https://www.healthit.gov/cures/sites/default/files/cures/2020-03/APIConditionsandMaintenance.pdf, accessed on September 18, 2020.
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Paten B, et al., The NIH BD2K center for big data in translational genomics, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2015;22:1143–1147.
Payne TH, et al. Report of the AMIA EHR-2020 Task Force on the status and future direction of EHRs, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2015;22:1105–1106.
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Welcome to FHIR. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/. Access on September 15, 2020.
IIS Health Level 7 (HL7) Implementation. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/hl7.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
Transport (SOAP). https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/soap/services.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
RESTful API. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/http.html. Access on September 15, 2020.
IIS Health Level 7 (HL7) Implementation. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/hl7.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
A Sayers, et al, Probabilistic record linkage, International Journal of Epidemiology, 45(3), June 2016, Pages 954–964.
IHE IT Infrastructure Technical Framework, Volume 1 (ITI TF-1): Integration Profiles. https://www.ihe.net/uploadedFiles/Documents/ITI/IHE_ITI_TF_Vol1.pdf#nameddest=8_Patient_Demographics_Query__P. Accessed on September 16, 2020.
ONC Releases Final Rule on Interoperability: How Might it Affect Public Health? https://www.hln.com/onc-releases-final-rule-on-interoperability-how-might-it-affect-public-health/. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Making EHR Data More Available for Research and Public Health . https://www.cdc.gov/csels/phio/making-ehr-data-more-available.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
N MIsra, et al, Public health reporting and outbreak response: synergies with evolving clinical standards for interoperability, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 0(0), 2020, 2.
Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR). https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/elr.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Syndromic Surveillance (SS). https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/Syndromic.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Cancer. https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/cancer.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
What is eCR? https://ecr.aimsplatform.org/. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Managing Push and Pull. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/pushpull.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Resource Index. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/resourcelist.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Immunization Decision Support Forecast (ImmDS) Implementation Guide. http://build.fhir.org/ig/HL7/ImmunizationFHIRDS/index.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Suarez, Walter, “Re-envisioning HL7 International,” Message to HL7 International Membership, September 23, 2020, E-mail.
K Marsolo, Informatics and operations—let’s get integrated, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2013;20:123.
For a full discussion see IIS Technology Over Time: Impact and Changing Roles, American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA), 2018. https://repository.immregistries.org/files/resources/5c19b578dc69e/iis_history_spotlight-_technology.pdf. Accessed July 14, 2020.
HL7 v2 Product Suite. http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=185. Accessed on July 15, 2020.
Promoting Interoperability Programs. https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms. Accessed on July 15, 2020.
Kristen Forney, et al, Meaningful Use and Public Health: An Immunization Information System Case Study, Journal of Healthcare Information Management, 25(4), Fall 2011. https://www.hln.com/assets/pdf/JHIM-Fall%202011-NYC-MU.pdf. Accessed July 16, 2020.
“Improving IIS HL7 Web Service Performance in New York City,” presentation at AIRA 2019 National Meeting, August 13, 2019. https://repository.immregistries.org/files/resources/5d65bdf622b16/improving_iis_hl7_web_service_performance_in_new_york_city.pdf#page=5. Accessed July 15, 2020.
What is an API? https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/what-is-an-api. Accessed on September 18, 2020.
Cures Act Final Rule: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Conditions and Maintenance of Certification. https://www.healthit.gov/cures/sites/default/files/cures/2020-03/APIConditionsandMaintenance.pdf, accessed on September 18, 2020.
P. Dullabh, et al, Application Programming Interfaces in Health Care: Findings from a Current-State Sociotechnical Assessment, Appl Clin Inform 2020;11:59-69.
Paten B, et al., The NIH BD2K center for big data in translational genomics, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2015;22:1143–1147.
Payne TH, et al. Report of the AMIA EHR-2020 Task Force on the status and future direction of EHRs, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2015;22:1105–1106.
Y Kim, et al, Investigating data accessibility of personal health apps, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 26(5), 2019, 415.
S Woody, et al, Application programming interfaces for knowledge transfer and generation in the life sciences and healthcare, Digital Medicine (2020) 3: 4.
Welcome to FHIR. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/. Access on September 15, 2020.
IIS Health Level 7 (HL7) Implementation. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/hl7.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
Transport (SOAP). https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/soap/services.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
RESTful API. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/http.html. Access on September 15, 2020.
IIS Health Level 7 (HL7) Implementation. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/technical-guidance/hl7.html. Accessed on September 15, 2020.
A Sayers, et al, Probabilistic record linkage, International Journal of Epidemiology, 45(3), June 2016, Pages 954–964.
IHE IT Infrastructure Technical Framework, Volume 1 (ITI TF-1): Integration Profiles. https://www.ihe.net/uploadedFiles/Documents/ITI/IHE_ITI_TF_Vol1.pdf#nameddest=8_Patient_Demographics_Query__P. Accessed on September 16, 2020.
ONC Releases Final Rule on Interoperability: How Might it Affect Public Health? https://www.hln.com/onc-releases-final-rule-on-interoperability-how-might-it-affect-public-health/. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Making EHR Data More Available for Research and Public Health . https://www.cdc.gov/csels/phio/making-ehr-data-more-available.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
N MIsra, et al, Public health reporting and outbreak response: synergies with evolving clinical standards for interoperability, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 0(0), 2020, 2.
Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR). https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/elr.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Syndromic Surveillance (SS). https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/Syndromic.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Cancer. https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/cancer.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
What is eCR? https://ecr.aimsplatform.org/. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Managing Push and Pull. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/pushpull.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Resource Index. https://www.hl7.org/fhir/resourcelist.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Immunization Decision Support Forecast (ImmDS) Implementation Guide. http://build.fhir.org/ig/HL7/ImmunizationFHIRDS/index.html. Accessed on September 21, 2020.
Suarez, Walter, “Re-envisioning HL7 International,” Message to HL7 International Membership, September 23, 2020, E-mail.
K Marsolo, Informatics and operations—let’s get integrated, J Am Med Inform Assoc 2013;20:123.