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• Timely and accurate data: It never gets old!
• New COVID-19 and influenza codes
• Watch out: Bad alias records
• Restricted access MIIC record: What it means and what to do?
• Child cares utilization of MIIC
• Planning for nirsevimab administration this year?
• Learning Corner: Pending Clients
• Release updates
• Provider spotlight: Hollie Blilie

Timely and accurate data: It never gets old!

With the start of the respiratory season upon us, it is important to remember to send timely and accurate seasonal vaccine data. Timely entry of immunizations into MIIC is a very important part of providing high quality services to MIIC users. Health care professionals use this information to provide informed recommendations to their patients and make sure they get the right vaccines at the right time. Members of the public rely on complete records for school, child care, employment, travel, and other activities that require proof of vaccination.

Reminder: If your organization is not yet reporting electronically and is interested in learning more, review our Submitting and Exchanging Data with MIIC webpage and contact the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us to start the onboarding process.

New COVID-19 and influenza codes

It is also important to note there are new COVID-19 and influenza (flu) vaccine codes in use this fall. Due to changes in circulating viruses, all flu vaccines for the 2024-2025 season are trivalent. Be sure to send the correct vaccine codes through data exchange and select trivalent vaccines (rather than the previously used quadrivalent vaccines) from the trade name dropdown when entering manually.

New 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines are also recommended this fall. Remember to electronically send the specific vaccine code(s) for the vaccine being administered (which includes new NDCs this fall) or manually enter these as COVID Routine vaccines, rather than COVID Pandemic. If you are looking for more information on these new vaccine codes, you can check our MIIC Codes for Data Submission and Exchange webpage or the CDC: Vaccine Data Code Sets.

Watch out: Bad alias records

Respiratory vaccination season brings its own data quality issues, including the creation of bad aliases, or an incorrect name being saved on a MIIC record. This appears to occur more frequently with families scheduling back-to-back appointments or residents getting vaccinated in long-term care facilities. Read the following example to learn how accidental creation of a bad alias can impact the delivery of care:

When navigating between clients in MIIC, remember to always select ‘manage client’ from the left-hand menu to start a new search. Additionally, always verify you are entering immunizations under the correct name and date of birth.

While these errors are often quickly fixed if found early, the longer they persist the more likely the errors are to compound. Long term, these situations take much longer to fix and require the coordination of the MIIC team, multiple providers, and sometimes the clients themselves.

Remember to review data for accuracy before reporting to MIIC.

• When logged into the MIIC user interface, always confirm you are on the correct screen before typing over information.
• Carefully read all pop-up warning messages, which can alert you if you are about to create an alias.
• If reporting via spreadsheet upload, always review to ensure you are reporting accurate information. Report as many client details as available to you. Reporting full name (including middle), address, and phone number help ensure your immunization data is added to the correct client’s record and does not cause a bad alias.

If you come across any MIIC records with incorrect information, email the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us with the MIIC ID and a description of the issue.

Restricted access MIIC record: What it means and what to do?

Sometimes when searching for client records in MIIC, you may come across the “Access Restricted” screen (pictured above). Client records can be restricted for a few reasons:

• Deceased: MIIC received death certificate information from the Office of Vital Records, or a provider organization has updated the client’s MIIC record after receiving trusted information the client is deceased.
• Opted out: MIIC received a request from the client or the parent/guardian to update the MIIC record’s privacy setting to opt out of MIIC.
• Locked to a specific organization: MIIC received a request from the client or the parent/guardian to update the MIIC record’s privacy setting to lock them to a specific organization. Or a provider organization has updated the client’s MIIC record to be locked to their organization.

If you are trying to access the record, you should contact the client or their parent/guardian to confirm that the restricted access is accurate. If changes are needed, review the provider organization information on the Restricted Access screen and use it to reach out to the “Contact Person”. Some additional tips for handling restricted access records are listed below.

• Client is coming up as deceased but is not deceased? Contact the MIIC Help Desk at 651-201-5207 or health.miichelp@state.mn.us
• Client is coming up as opted out, but wants to opt in? The client or parent/guardian can visit Data Privacy and MIIC Records to update the record’s privacy settings.
• Client is restricted/locked to your organization and wants it unlocked? Review the Managing Clients in MIIC (PDF) user guidance for to unlock a record.

Child cares utilization of MIIC

MIIC can make it easy for Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) licensed child cares to ensure the children in their care are up to date on immunizations and compliant with immunization laws.

Licensed child care centers (DHS Rule 3) can have direct access to MIIC to:

• Look up and print immunization records of individual children in their care.
• Keep a list of children in their care and quickly review or print all their immunization records to complete the annual report. For more information and the six-step process to use MIIC to assist with your child care immunization report review Using MIIC to Assist with the Completion of the Child Care Immunization Report (PDF).

If you do not know if your organization currently participates in MIIC, contact the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us with your DHS Rule 3 license number for assistance.

Family child cares (DHS Rule 2) can request access to MIIC immunization records for children in their care by submitting an immunization record request to Non-MIIC Provider Record Requests. Family child care providers can also send parents/guardians to Find My Immunization Record for options to access and share their child's MIIC immunization record.

Planning for nirsevimab administration this year?

Determining need for nirsevimab

Parents have multiple options to choose from to protect their newborn against severe disease from RSV for children born during the RSV season (October to March). Nirsevimab should be given in the first week of life for infants born shortly before and during season and whose birthing parent did not receive RSV vaccination during pregnancy.

To determine need for nirsevimab among children born during the RSV season, you will need to assess the RSV immunization history of both the newborn and the birthing parent.

• Ask for documentation: Pregnant persons are encouraged to keep a record with them if they elected to receive the RSV vaccination between 32 to 36 weeks gestation.
• Review records from hospital: Providers caring for persons during pregnancy are encouraged to include vaccination details in any medical records shared with the birthing hospital, as well as report RSV vaccination administration data to MIIC. Hospitals are also encouraged to include nirsevimab administration information in the newborn’s discharge summary and share with the newborn’s pediatrician.
• Search in MIIC (with consent): The newborn’s provider must obtain consent from the birthing parent prior to viewing the birthing parent’s MIIC record. Most Minnesota providers exchange data with MIIC electronically, and many are unable to query MIIC for the birthing parent’s record if the birthing parent is not their patient. To avoid delays or missed opportunities to vaccinate, birthing hospitals are encouraged to include the birthing parent’s RSV vaccination history in the newborn’s discharge summary when possible.

Nirsevimab should be given shortly before the start of the RSV season for infants less than 8 months of age and entering their first RSV season (October through March). Children ages 8 to 19 months who are at increased risk of severe RSV disease or are American Indian or Alaska Native should also receive nirsevimab shortly before the start of the RSV season.

To determine need for nirsevimab among children entering their first or second RSV season, you will need to assess the child’s RSV immunization history.

• Search in MIIC: Review a client’s immunization history in MIIC to assess previous nirsevimab dose(s) received during the current season.

Reporting nirsevimab administration data to MIIC

All providers, including birthing hospitals, who administer nirsevimab are strongly encouraged to report the administration data to MIIC. Birthing hospitals may be administering nirsevimab before the baby has been named. MIIC will not accept immunizations reported under a newborn’s “placeholder name” or “baby alias” (e.g., Baby Boy Mohamed, Twin 1 Smith). Birthing hospitals are encouraged to work with their technical and/or EHR support teams to identify workflows that allow for nirsevimab administration data to be sent to MIIC after the baby’s legal name has been assigned. Because this could result in a potential delay in reporting the data to MIIC, birthing hospitals are also encouraged to document nirsevimab decisions in the newborn’s discharge summary and provide the parent/guardian a record of nirsevimab administration.

Again, all providers who administer nirsevimab are strongly encouraged to report the administration data to MIIC within 7 days of birth or as soon as possible after the baby’s legal name is identified. Outpatient providers may receive record of a newborn’s receipt of nirsevimab (for example, through hospital discharge summary or a record the parent/guardian received from the administering provider) without that dose on the newborn’s MIIC record. In these situations, the outpatient provider is encouraged to report the nirsevimab administration data as ‘historical’ to MIIC. Learn more at Capturing Immunizations Not Currently in MIIC (PDF).

Additional nirsevimab questions?

Learn more about Immunization options to protect infants and toddlers at Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) for Health Professionals.

For additional questions about reporting nirsevimab administration data to MIIC, or about accessing MIIC to view the newborn’s or the birthing parent’s RSV immunization history, contact the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us.

Learning Corner: Pending Clients

In MIIC, “pending” clients refer to temporary client records that require further review before combining with an existing record or creating a new record. These pending records are created when clients submitted through data exchange have more than one potential match in MIIC. Multiple matches can occur for a variety of reasons:

• Twins typically have very similar names and the exact same birth date and other demographic information. An incoming message that matches exactly to one twin can still be an almost exact match to the other twin, so it requires further review to know which twin’s record the new immunization should be added to.
• Outside of multiple births, other people may coincidentally have the same or a very similar name and birth date combination. Incoming messages for one of these people will still appear to be a potential match for the other person, particularly if the rest of their demographic information (i.e., mother’s maiden name, address, phone) is incomplete or inconsistent across the records.
• One person can also have multiple records in MIIC. These fragmented records are usually the result of data exchange difficulties, data entry errors, or immunization information submitted under incomplete or different demographic information (i.e., new addresses, name changes). In these cases, multiple existing records need to be combined with the pending record, rather than just determining which one record to add the pending information to.

The MIIC team regularly reviews and determines if these pending clients should be merged with one or more existing MIIC records or they should be added as a new record. Most pending clients are resolved within a few business days, although higher volume times like flu season and back to school vaccination can extend this response time. It is also important to remember that the best way to prevent an unnecessary pending client and to ensure all information is properly added to the appropriate record is to always gather and send complete and up-to-date demographic information whenever you see your patients. Provider organizations are encouraged to update demographic information in MIIC, even if identified outside of a vaccination encounter. Doing so could help prevent a pending client-related delay in adding new immunization information to the client’s record.

Release updates

Several updates were made to MIIC the evening of Sept. 25. You may notice some changes including:

MIIC assessment reports: Updated statewide averages and descriptive text

The standard Childhood, Adolescent, Adult, and Single Vaccine (Flu) Assessment Reports have been updated with the 2024 Minnesota averages.

The descriptive text in the Childhood Summary Assessment Report has been updated to clarify that children’s up to date with rotavirus status is assessed as of 8 months of age. All other vaccines in this report assess whether a child is up to date as of 24 months of age. This is not a change in how rotavirus status is assessed, but a change in the footnote and descriptive text of the table to provide further clarification.

MIIC’s dose column is no longer used

The “dose” column was removed from the manage immunizations screen in MIIC. MIIC will continue to record the dose information sent to us by organizations and to return it when queried via data exchange.

Before

After

Provider spotlight: Hollie Blilie

Organization/position/ length of position

Hollie Blilie has been working for Polk County Public Health for 10 years and is currently working in Disease Prevention and Control as an Immunization Coordinator for the last four years. Read on to learn more about Hollie’s use of MIIC.

How long have you been a MIIC user?

Over the last 10 years.

How does your organization utilize MIIC?

Our electronic health records transfer to MIIC and we help clients put records into MIIC. We also do quality improvement and vaccine management for reports and vaccine outreach such as postcards and texting projects.

What is the process you follow if you suspect duplicate client records in MIIC? What steps do you take to confirm if the records are duplicates or not?

We find duplicate records while running reports or pulling data for outreach and most often find them through the same or similar names, date of birth, and similar addresses. Since Polk County is rural there are often not many people with similar names and addresses. Once we confirm they’re duplicate records we make sure to send them to the MIIC Help Desk so they can be merged.

Why is it important to reach out about duplicate clients?

It’s important for data accuracy. When people’s records are accurate our data reports and outreach activities are more useful. Accurate data also helps people access their record through Docket.

How do you ensure colleagues report quality data?

While doing uploads we make sure everyone is looking for duplicates. We currently have to hunt to find duplicate records so we’re always looking for a way to improve quality data.

What is your favorite thing about MIIC?

MIIC’s accessibility is amazing, and I appreciate that people do not have to opt in to use it. It’s easy to use and uploading records is simple. For example prior to MIIC hunting down records could be much more difficult. Now MIIC gives easier access as well as having the connection to Docket that connects the data from MIIC to the public.

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