PQA teams with VoicePort, STC on immunization project

SPRINGFIELD, Va. — A new collaboration is looking to boost immunization rates among adult patients. Along with VoicePort and Scientific Technologies Corp. (STC), the Pharmacy Quality Alliance will be rolling out the ImmuSMART project, which will use sate immunization registry data to identify patients with gaps in vaccinations for the flu, shingles and pneumonia, and offer them the missing vaccines. 

“The model we are piloting is a remarkable innovation in pharmacy point-of-care immunization assessment,” PQA executive director Laura Cranston said. “This allows the pharmacy an important touch point related to the patients' immunization record, and the identification of immunization gaps even before the patient comes into the pharmacy.” 

Patients will be asked to confirm whether they have received vaccinations missing from their immunization record, and offered appropriate vaccines at their next pharmacy visit to cover their immunization gaps. Patients will be identified using STC queries to state immunization registries, and will be notified via outbound VoicePort call from their community pharmacy.

“The beauty of the solution that we are piloting through ImmuSMART is that it ties a custom-tailored immunization prompt to the patient directly into their normal pharmacy experience,” VoicePort President and CEO Chris Mann said. “Using our hosted interactive patient communications platform technology, we now have a scalable automated approach to immunization assessment that integrates seamlessly with pharmacy workflow."

The ImmuSMART project will roll out in the fourth quarter of 2015.