|
About the CIR
About the CIR:
Background
The Citywide Immunization Registry
Reporting Mandate
Methods of Reporting
Confidentiality and Access
Accessing Immunization Records
CIR Fact Sheet
Background
Although immunizations are among the most beneficial and cost-effective public health measures known, many preschool children do not receive all of the recommended vaccines on time. Low levels of fully immunized preschoolers led to a measles epidemic in 1990 - 1991 in NYC and surrounding counties, resulting in over 4,000 reported cases and 23 deaths.
The problem of inadequate immunizations has brought together all segments of the public health and private health care communities to forge a comprehensive strategy to raise immunization levels in preschoolers. This includes enhancing service delivery, educating parents, providers, and the public, and establishing an immunization registry.
The Citywide Immunization Registry
The New York Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR) provides a central record-keeping system to track the immunization status of individual children and to monitor immunization levels in the population in a timely manner. The lack of such a system in the past created a barrier to immunization for the large numbers of children who received immunizations from different providers and did not have their own up-to-date record. Many physicians do not immunize without seeing the record; hence, opportunities to immunize are frequently lost because a child’s record is not available. The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has implemented a citywide, computerized immunization registry that:
- enables health care providers to readily determine the immunization status of a child during a visit and make the most of opportunities to immunize
- provides an official printout of an immunization record for parents/guardians to be used for day care, camp and school entry
- identifies children who are overdue for scheduled vaccinations so they may be contacted by health care plans or providers and brought up-to-date
- maintains the security and confidentiality of patient information
Please note that the CIR does not replace the parent-maintained immunization record, such as the Lifetime Health Record. Providers and parents are strongly encouraged to continue to use and rely on this record. However, the CIR maintains a complete and accurate record of the immunizations each New York City child receives, even if the child has been seen by several different providers.
Reporting
The City Health code section 11.04 and 11.07(d) requires that all physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who order the administration of an immunization for any individual age 18 years old and younger in New York City must report the immunizations administered to the Registry within 14 days of administration.
Providers are required to report:
- All immunizations administered from birth through 18 years of age
- Past immunizations given by other health care providers that have not already been reported. There must be proper documentation of past immunizations, including the specific vaccines given and the dates they were administered.
Immunizations administered to persons 19 years of age or over may be reported to the CIR with the individual’s consent documented in the medical record.
Methods of Reporting
Currently, health care providers report immunizations to the CIR using one or more of the following methods:
- Department of Health and Mental Hygiene paper reporting forms
- electronically from encounter, billing or clinical management systems
- on-line through our website.
For more
information, see How to Report
Confidentiality and Access
The information in the CIR is strictly confidential. No identifying information about a child, beyond what a provider already has, will be released.
The information providers receive from the CIR must be kept confidential and may not be disclosed except to protect the health of the child or the health of others.
Accessing Immunization Records
Providers need to be registered in order to gain access to the CIR. Presently, there are two methods of information retrieval:
- Telephone Access. Health care providers can access a child's immunization record by calling the CIR at (212) 676-2323 between the hours 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST Monday through Friday.
You will need to supply enough information for CIR staff to locate the child's record in the system. Usually the name, sex, date of birth and an additional piece of information, such as a medical record number or mother's date of birth, is sufficient.
- Online Access. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is now offering free training for all health care providers on how to gain online access to the Registry through our website. To arrange for a training at your office, call (212) 676-2323.
Parents or legal guardians can obtain a complete, printed record of their child’s immunizations from a health care provider or directly from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at no charge. Health officials use the data in the CIR to identify underimmunized children for outreach and follow-up by health care providers and Health Plans.
For more information, see Registry
Services.
|
|
