State-to-State Sharing

Now that many state of immunization registries they are starting to work towards connecting with each other to share appropriate information. Americans are very mobile and move often, sometimes to new states. The question that many registries are now asking is, how can we handle this? What can be done to connect states together?

First it is important to understand that data is only transferred in state-to-state connections for specific patients who have indicated that their records are out-of-state. A physician or physician's staff asks the registry to query the other registry for the immunization registry. The querying registry sends the patient information, asking for matching record(s) to be sent back. There is no batch transfer of records on regular intervals.

This process worked very well for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who needed their shot records in Houston. The Houston health department went to the Astrodome and helped families standing in line by quering the Louisiana registry for their immunization records. These children could then be enrolled in school without requiring re-vaccination.

The second important thing is that these queries and data transfer are only being done because of the need to provide service to a patient. Such a transaction is allowed under HIPAA rules, as long as the process was done securely and the information is going to a physician who is providing care to this patient.