Background

New Jersey Comprehensive Immunization Program
April 1994: Decision to build immunization tracking system. Needed a network architecture.
No "useable" state-wide network.
No desire to build (or re-build) private infrastructure state-wide.
NJ largely urban and suburban. Good Internet penetration even back then.
Belief that the Internet would be the place to be at deployment time more than a year later. This was a hard (but compelling) sell...
Needed incentives for private providers to participate (80% of immunizations given by them).
Wanted to offer Internet "goodies" in addition to the application.
June 1995: Insufficient security software available at the start, so Intranet used instead to get pilot growing.
December 1995: NJ awarded INPHO status
January 1997: First hospital site switches from Intranet to Internet connection
February 1997: Second hospital site successfully tests access to Registry through its Internet firewall
April 1997: Third hospital scheduled to convert from dial-up to Internet connection to Registry

Please address comments or questions to Dr. Noam Arzt, arzt@isc.upenn.edu [3/27/97]
URL: http://nextb.dccs.upenn.edu/noam/akc97/backgnd.html