Effects of Health Level 7 Messaging on Data Quality in New York City's Immunization Information System, 2014

OBJECTIVE:

We compared the quality of data reported to New York City\'s immunization information system, the Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR), through its real-time Health Level 7 (HL7) Web service from electronic health records (EHRs), with data submitted through other methods.

METHODS:

We stratified immunizations administered and reported to the CIR in 2014 for patients aged 0-18 years by reporting method: (1) sending HL7 messages from EHRs through the Web service, (2) manual data entry, and (3) upload of a non-standard flat file from EHRs. We assessed completeness of reporting by measuring the percentage of immunizations reported with lot number, manufacturer, and Vaccines for Children (VFC) program eligibility. We assessed timeliness of reporting by determining the number of days from date of administration to date entered into the CIR.

RESULTS:

HL7 reporting accounted for the largest percentage (46.3%) of the 3.8 million immunizations reported in 2014. Of immunizations reported usin