A coalition of public and private partnerships in Nebraska and Iowa will begin a project that could become a national model for increasing adult immunizations.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health and College of Pharmacy, received a $300,000 sub-award from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) to initiate an innovative model that improves access to and reporting of immunizations among adults.
UNMC will collaborate with Hy-Vee, Nebraska Health Network, University of Iowa Health Alliance, Iowa Immunization Registry Information System, Nebraska State Immunization Information System and Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC), a health information technology company.
“Through this partnership, we will achieve higher synergies and strengthen relationships between community pharmacists and health agencies for the ultimate goal of improving adult immunizations rates in both states,” said Nizar Wehbi, M.D., acting deputy director for the Center for Health Policy, College of Public Health, and principal investigator of the study.
According to America’s Health Rankings 2015 Annual Report, Nebraska is the 10th and Iowa 22nd healthiest state in the U.S. But as far as immunizations, one of the ranking measures, the states do not fare as well. Nebraska is 41st in the country when it comes to adult tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough; Iowa is 45th.
All of these immunizations, plus influenza, pneumonia and shingles, are currently available at Hy-Vee pharmacies, but later this month, pharmacists at all Hy-Vee stores in the two states will be able to check a patient’s immunization status through a single sign-on to STC’s ImmsLink.
IMMSLink can assist pharmacists to provide personalized immunization recommendations for patients and automate the reporting to the respective state immunization registries.
This reporting helps provide residents in Nebraska and Iowa access to their most complete vaccination history in one place.
“Health and wellness is a core focus for Hy-Vee and its employees,” said Kristin Williams, Hy-Vee’s senior vice president of pharmacy operations. “We are honored to work with all of the partners involved with this grant to see how we can have a positive effect on immunization rates and reporting within Iowa and Nebraska.”
Expansion of pharmacists’ vaccination authority has emerged as a pivotal public-private health trend over the past decade. Said National Association of Chain Drug Stores President and CEO Steven Anderson, “These demonstration projects seek to improve patient health by aligning the interests of health care partners, which should increase immunizations and improve the health care outcomes of patients across the country.”
This Nebraska and Iowa collaboration was one of three projects chosen among more than 20 proposals submitted. Grants also were awarded to the universities of Pittsburgh and Washington. This sub-award is supported by Grant Federal Award Identification Number, IH23IP000985, for $800,000 funded by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The content of this sub-award is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services. NACDS showed its strong commitment to this $800,000 grant by contributing an additional $300,000 to execute the demonstration projects. Given this contribution, each sub-awardee will receive approximately 67 percent ($200,000) of its funding from the CDC and approximately 33 percent ($100,000) from NACDS to implement its demonstration project. A total of $1.1 million will be used to complete CDC project work, with 73 percent from the CDC and 27 percent from NACDS.
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