The impact of community pharmacy utilization of immunization information systems on vaccination rates: Results of a clustered randomized controlled trial.

Background: Adult immunization rates in the United States remain low. More convenient access to immunization information systems (IIS) may improve vaccination rates.

Objective: The objective of this multilevel, clustered, randomized controlled study was to measure the impact of providing pharmacists with software and training to query IIS for patient vaccine history/recommendations on adult influenza, pneumococcal, herpes zoster, and Td/Tdap vaccination rates.

Observations Illustrating the Use of Health Informatics to Link Public Health Immunization Registries and Pharmacies to Increase Adult Immunization Rates and Improve Population Health Outcomes.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act encourages health information exchange between clinical care and public health through Meaningful Use measures. Meaningful Use specifically identifies objectives to support a number of public health programs including immunizations, cancer registries, syndromic surveillance, and disease case reports. The objective is to improve public and population health.