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GAO Report on Patient Matching: Nothing New Under the Sun

by Noam Arzton February 24, 2019

On January 15, 2019 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report to Congress, Health Information Technology: Approaches and Challenges to Electronically Matching Patients’ Records across Providers. This report is in response to mandate in the 21st Century Cures Act for the GAO to study patient matching. To develop this report, GAO reviewed available literature and interviewed more than thirty-five stakeholders (who are not identified) over the course of a year.

I have written several blogs and a feature article on patient matching developments in the US. Similarly, this new GAO report is an excellent retrospective on industry efforts over the past several years. It includes a clear statement of the problem, good discussion on both barriers and progress to date, insights from the stakeholders interviewed on their practical issues, and a review of various initiatives by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) over the past several years. The footnotes alone are worth the read as they contain excellent sources and side comments.

HLN Releases New Version of its Award Winning Open Source Immunization Forecaster

by Noam Arzton February 4, 2019

On February 1, 2019, HLN released a new version (v1.15.1) of the Immunization Calculation Engine (ICE). ICE is a state-of-the-art open-source software system that provides clinical decision support for immunizations for use in Immunization Information Systems (IIS), Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Personal Health Record (PHR) Systems.

This version includes a new 2-dose Adult Series in the Hep B vaccine group with support for the HEPLISAV-B vaccine and logic updates and fixes to the Meningococcal B, HPV, Influenza, Polio and DTP vaccine groups. A revised ICE Implementation Guide (v3r1; and v3r1 with changes highlighted since version 1.14.1) includes a new evaluation reason: SELECT_ADJUVANT_PRODUCT_INTERVAL.

HLN will be demonstrating ICE integrated into two EHRs at the HIMSS19 Interoperability Showcase starting on February 12 in Orlando, FL.

The full software release is available for download at https://cdsframework.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ICE/Downloads.

See Press Release.

See the feature article about ICE in Open Health News.

AIRA 2018: Is Open Source the Key to IIS Sustainability?

by Noam Arzton August 20, 2018

Noam Arzt and Bill Brand engage in a “fireside chat”

On August 14-16, 2018 the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) held its 2018 National Meeting. This meeting brought together more than 350 informatics professionals, public health officials, EHR vendors, and other stakeholders who all care passionately about Immunization Information Systems (IIS) and their role in the healthcare community. IIS projects leverage interoperability with EHRs, PHRs, and other systems to promote clinical practice at the point of care; enable public health surveillance; and reduce cost by assisting in preventing both under and over immunization.Read More→

Noam Arzt awarded AIRA 2018 Volunteer Service Award

by Noam Arzton August 17, 2018

On August 15, 2018 Dr. Noam Arzt, President of HLN, was awarded the 2018 Volunteer Service Award by the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA).

In her presentation, Rebecca Coyle, Executive Director of AIRA, said that, “Noam Arzt has been nominated and selected for this award for his service as an AIRA volunteer in the IIS community. Since AIRA’s founding in 2012, he has served on 14 committees or workgroups, including the Technical committee, the Urban/Cities Committee, and the Data Exchange Steering Committee and currently serves o the SISC, ESC, and JDI Advisory Workgroup. Noam’s passion and commitment to the IIS community and to public health are also reflected in the open source release of Immunization Calculation Engine (ICE) and a data quality tool developed by HLN.”

HLN releases Version 1.14.1 of its Award Winning Open Source Immunization Forecaster

by Noam Arzton August 12, 2018

On August 10, 2018, HLN released a new version (v1.14.1) of the Immunization Calculation Engine (ICE). ICE is a state-of-the-art open-source software system that provides clinical decision support for immunizations for use in Immunization Information Systems (IIS), Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Personal Health Record (PHR) Systems.

The release completes support for Earliest Date and Overdue Date for all vaccine series in ICE’s default schedule. If enabled, ICE will output two additional forecast dates along with the Recommendation Date: the Earliest Date and Overdue Date. The Earliest Date is the soonest date that the vaccine can be given and still be considered valid. The Overdue Date is the date after which an immunization administered would be considered late. Completing support for Earliest Date/Overdue Date is an important milestone for ICE. HLN will be presenting this new version this week at the annual meeting of the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) and week of August 20 at the CDC Public Health Informatics Conference.

The latest ICE Implementation Guide (v2r20) describes how implementers should update their installation and software to properly read the Earliest, Recommended, and Overdue dates. The relevant information starts on page 43. Note that a “track changes” version of this same guide is also available. The tracked changes are intended to make it easier for the reader to see what has changed in the Guide since the prior release of the ICE Implementation Guide (v2r18).

The full software release is available for download at https://cdsframework.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ICE/Downloads.