CHILD Profile: Development of an immunization registry

CHILD (Children's Health- Immunization- Linkages- and Development) Profile began as a two-county-wide child health and immunization tracking project sponsored by Snohomish Health District and Seattle-King County Department of Public Health in Washington State. The project receives funds through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's All Kids Count Project- Washington State Department of Health- and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Immunization Action Plan. Currently- CHILD Profile mails health educational materials to the parents of all children born in King and Snohomish counties since January 1- 1993- and all children born in Island and Kittitas counties since October 1- 1995- and still residing in this project area. These four counties- with an annual birth cohort of approximately 33-000- represent over 40% of Washington State's annual births. As of August 14- 1996- there were 694-691 pieces of mail that had been sent by CHILD Profile to the parents of 128-257 children aged 5 and under. In addition- CHILD Profile provides immunization tracking for participating health care providers- 27 medical organizations are contributing immunization information- and 110 clinic sites and over 400 individual providers contributed immunizations in the past 6 months. In addition- 10 medical organizations have agreed to participate but are not yet connected. The ultimate goal of CHILD Profile is to establish electronic linkages among health- educational- and social service facilities/agencies in the area- thus improving the quality and coordination of care for children and their families.