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• Help us improve health equity – share your voice!
• Where can you find MIIC data?
• Providers, we need your help with improving reminder/recall campaigns
• Results are in: MIIC’s data is top tier
• MIIC help desk: Login issue requests
• Learning corner: Allowable uses of MIIC and MIIC data
• Release updates: Assessment report
• Provider spotlight: Kelsey Peterson

Help us improve health equity – share your voice!

MIIC is conducting our first ever health equity survey of MIIC users. We invite you to participate in this brief survey that will help us better understand the types of health equity related data organizations currently collect and to assess what types of data could be collected during immunization visits. We hope the findings from this survey can inform future changes to MIIC with regards to the collection and analysis of more detailed client information in areas such as race, ethnicity, country of birth, and sexual orientation and gender identity. Contribute to health and data equity by taking the survey today at MIIC Health Equity Survey.

Where can you find MIIC data?

Did you know there are several places to find MIIC data and statistics?

• MIIC Status and Overall Characteristics: Aggregate information about client records and immunizations in MIIC and organizations using MIIC.
• Minnesota Public Health Data Access: Immunizations: Interactive maps and tables showing MIIC-based childhood and adolescent immunization rates. Rates are available for single antigens and the childhood series by county and 7-county metro area ZIP codes.
• Current Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Coverage Rates: MIIC-based child and adolescent immunization rates. Rates are available for the childhood series, kindergarten platform, and adolescent platform by county and birth cohort.
• Vaccine Data: Influenza and COVID-19: Viral Respiratory Illness in Minnesota: MIIC-based COVID-19 and influenza immunization rates for the current respiratory illness season.

MIIC also has a variety of reports available including assessment reports, improbable shots report, vaccine usage, vaccine given, and vaccine summary report. If you are interested in learning more about these features, visit MIIC User Guidance and Training Resources.

 If you still can’t find what you are looking for, contact the MIIC help desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us.

Providers, we need your help with improving reminder/recall campaigns

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) regularly sends reminder/recall notices to clients throughout Minnesota using information in MIIC. It is important that MIIC has complete, accurate, and timely data. When that does not occur, clients may have questions about their or their child’s immunization record and/or the reminder/recall notice they receive.

If a client contacts your organization after receiving a reminder/recall notice:

1. Review both your system and MIIC for immunizations recommended.
2. If there are discrepancies, resubmit any data missing from MIIC.

To prevent clients from unnecessarily receiving reminder/recall notices, ensure your organization is routinely monitoring your data submissions and that all immunization data is reported to MIIC.

Results are in: MIIC’s data is top tier

MIIC participated in The American Immunization Registry Association’s (AIRA) Data at Rest (DAR) evaluation program in October. DAR is defined as the measurement of data residing in the IIS regardless of how it got there. DAR helps to improve data quality by putting into practice indicators that are found in the IIS data quality practices helping to assess completeness validity and timeliness.

MIIC met 41 out of the 45 of the measured areas, making it the top performing IIS of the participating jurisdictions. This achievement was possible thanks to providers like you who submit complete and timely information to MIIC. Help us remain a top-performing IIS with continued dedication to reporting quality data to MIIC!

MIIC help desk: Login issue requests

In 2024 the MIIC help desk received more than 12,000 requests for help. Of the initial requests, 60% were user account login issues. Help desk inquiries related to user account issues increase in the months of August and September as school and child care users prepare to complete their annual report. The figure below shows the number and percentage of login/password related requests to the help desk by month during 2024.

The remaining requests range from specific features within the application to data-related questions, to questions related to other MDH programming.

Here are some tips to help with user login:

1. MIIC will send email reminders prior to your password expiring. When you receive this email, promptly login and change your password.
2. If you’ve previously logged into MIIC (and set-up your security questions) use the forgot password link.
3. Contact your organization’s MIIC administrator for account reactivations or password resets (if the above doesn’t work).
   1. Note: All organizations are required to identify a MIIC administrator when the data use agreement (DUA) is signed. MIIC administrators are responsible for setting up and maintaining user accounts.
4. If your MIIC administrator is not available, contact the MIIC help desk by emailing health.miichelp@state.mn.us using your work email and provide your organization code. 

Learning corner: Allowable uses of MIIC and MIIC data

MIIC participating organizations are required to sign the data use agreement (DUA) which specifies that MIIC and MIIC data can be used for:

• Assessing a person’s immunization status to determine needed immunizations.
• Issuing reminder notices to persons due or recommended for immunizations and recall notices to persons past due for immunizations.
• Notifying people of a vaccine-preventable disease outbreak that may affect them.
• Produce individual immunization reports for school admission, child care enrollment, or other processes that require an immunization history.
• Notify people of any vaccine recalls.
• Prepare summary reports without personally identifiable information.
• Facilitate the ordering and management of state-supplied vaccine.

Accessing an employee’s immunization history for employment verification or any other purposes, is not an allowable use of MIIC per the DUA, nor is such access authorized without consent under Minnesota’s immunization data sharing law.

Please contact the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us with any questions.

Release updates: Assessment report

Several changes were made to assessment in MIIC:

• Childhood assessment now allows users to assess their cohorts as of a date of their choosing.
• Adolescent assessment now allows users to assess their cohorts as of the client’s thirteenth birthday. 
• Adult assessment was removed as we re-evaluate options for assessing adult immunization coverage rates.

Learn more about childhood and adolescent assessment at Immunization Assessment MIIC User Guidance and Training Resources.

Provider spotlight: Kelsey Peterson

Kelsey Peterson works at Horizon Public Health as a supervisor of the disease prevention, control, and emergency preparedness unit for the last three and a half years. The conversation with Kelsey has been summarized for clarity and length.

How long have you been engaged in the MIIC texting program?

We started engaging with this program during the COVID-19 pandemic to send out reminders about the COVID-19 vaccine. In May 2024, we enrolled in the routine vaccines texting campaigns.

Which MIIC texting campaigns does your organization participate in?

Routine texting campaign for children and adolescents

Why is the texting program important to your organization?

It’s a great communication option for families who prefer text messages and meets a population that are not engaged with mailings or phone calls. Texting campaigns are an efficient way to connect with some demographics that are not reached through other forms of communications.

How does the texting program support your organization’s immunization practice?

The program aims to increase immunization rates by providing people a direct way to schedule vaccine appointments.

What is the goal of your texting program?

The goal of our campaign is to expand our communication with the public and to reach a broader group of people in a more accessible way. We use the texting program data to inform us about who is being reached through text messaging and its impact on the population we serve.

What outcomes are you seeing since enrolling in the texting program?

Prior to implementation of the texting program, we sent letters to people who were overdue for routine vaccines. Our organization was unable to track whether the people who received the letter ended up getting vaccinated. In contrast, the texting program provides us with data on how many people receive a message and how many people go on to get vaccinated after receiving a message.

What feedback, if any, have you received from families and/or staff regarding the texting program?

Our staff have provided positive feedback because the program directly communicates with the public and provides concrete data to inform future texting campaigns. The program is also user friendly and communicates information that the public is more likely to engage with.

Why did you begin requesting undeliverable texting data?

Undeliverable texting data shows which clients were unable to receive a text message due to a bad phone number in MIIC. As we started to receive data, we understood that undeliverable data would help inform us on which clients were unable to receive a text message. After reviewing the data, we found that 25% of people received an undelivered text message (the program tried to send a text message, but the message was not delivered). Our organization wanted to increase the number of delivered text messages so more people could be notified that they are due/overdue for immunizations.

How have you utilized the undeliverable texting data to inform current practices?

After becoming aware of the high percentage of undeliverable text messages, we worked with MDH to understand why the messages were undelivered. We then communicated this information with staff and emphasized the importance of requesting updated cell phone information from patients, so the program can successfully deliver text messages.

Why is data quality important to you and your organization?

Updating phone numbers as part of this data quality project increases the number of delivered text messages to clients who are due/overdue for routine immunizations. Improving the phone numbers can make sure that more clients are able to receive the message and make educated decision on when to vaccinate. The project also gave us an opportunity to explain to staff the reasoning behind our practices that aim to support healthy families, communities, and individuals.

Is there any additional information you’d like to include?

While we are currently focused on improving immunization rates by reducing the number of undeliverable text messages. We would also like to understand different ways we can work to improve immunization rates in the population we serve.

If your organization participates in the MIIC texting program and would like more information on undeliverable text messages, please contact us at health.miictexting@state.mn.us.

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