Great Lakes HIE Launches CDC Compliant Immunization Gateway

Great Lakes Health Information Exchange (GLHIE) has launched an immunization gateway, the first in the state of Michigan to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's requirements for real-time electronic submissions and acknowledgements as mandated by the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR).

GLHIE's system allows providers to submit and receive immunization information within their EMR system to help them meet meaningful use requirements in both stage 2 and draft proposed recommendations for stage 3. This gateway also has the ability to query the state of Michigan for immunization histories when that function is added by MCIR in fall of 2013.

"The Great Lakes Health Information Exchange system provides a bidirectional interface between our electronic health record and the state of Michigan's Community Immunization Record making our everyday office workflow easier.

"My staff previously made dual entry into both our chart and the MCIR portal. Today, the entry is single and seamless," says Christopher Beal, DO, of St. Johns Internal Medicine PC.

By documenting immunizations in real-time, GLHIE is supporting the vision of MCIR, as outlined in Public Act 91 of 2006, to reduce vaccine preventable disease and overvaccination. The Michigan Care Improvement Registry also works communitywide to track immunizations administered during a public health emergency.

Great Lakes Health Information Exchange is employing the technology of the Optum Immunization Gateway to facilitate the secure exchange of immunization information from healthcare provider's offices, schools, county health departments and other public health facilities, local clinics, or hospitals reporting through Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) to Michigan's statewide registry.

MiHIN is a Michigan nonprofit entity, functioning as a public and private collaboration between the state of Michigan, substate health information exchanges and payers. Their role is to set policy and supporting legal structure to the exchange of health information statewide.

The routing of child and adult immunization records will help providers improve care coordination and support public health emergency preparedness initiatives directly from their EMR, improving their workflow process.

Source: Great Lakes Health Information Exchange