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AUGUST 28, 2024

Mark your calendars for an extraordinary experience in the Evergreen State! The AIRA 2025 National Meeting will take place April 28–May 1, 2025, in Spokane, Washington. This year, we are kicking things off a day early, with pre-conference workshops available on Monday morning. The official start of the meeting begins that afternoon with our opening plenary and keynote presentation, followed by the AIRA networking reception. Join us for another National Meeting, where knowledge is lush, ideas take root, and new connections grow! 🌲

P.S. Stay tuned—the call for abstracts and registration will open soon!

As you may have seen, ASTP/ONC (recently renamed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology) published the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Patient Engagement, Information Sharing, and Public Health Interoperability Proposed Rule, also called HTI-2, in the Federal Register on Monday, August 5. This kicks off the formal 60-day comment period. AIRA will be gathering and consolidating comments across the IIS and immunization community, and we welcome your input. The rule covers proposed changes for EHR certification regarding immunization exchange (F)(1), as well as proposed Health IT for public health voluntary certification (F)(21), among many other topics.

You can access the proposed rule at the link above, or here. You can also submit your own jurisdictional/organizational comments here.

Schedule for comments to be submitted by AIRA:

• Monday, August 5 – Proposed rule published in Federal Register
• Wednesday, August 21 – HTI-2 to be discussed at AIRA’s Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC) meeting at 1 p.m. ET
• Wednesday, September 4 – Comments due to AIRA – comments can be submitted to Rebecca Sandtveit at Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.; it is especially helpful if submitters cite the page number and proposed rule passage along with their comments
• Wednesday, September 11 – Comments reviewed at AIRA’s SISC meeting at 1 p.m. ET
• Wednesday, September 18 – Consolidated comments will be shared with IIS community to be incorporated as appropriate into jurisdictional/organizational comments
• Friday, October 4 – All comments due to ASTP/ONC

We look forward to upcoming conversations on HTI-2. Thank you for your engagement, and happy reading! If you have questions about the proposed rule or the process, please reach out to Mary Beth Kurilo at Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser..

Scholarships Offered for the HL7® FHIR® Connectathon in Atlanta in September 2024

During the 38th Annual Plenary, WGM+ and HL7® FHIR® Connectathon in Atlanta, Georgia, HL7 International will be hosting a Public Health Track in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is an opportunity to engage and expand knowledge of FHIR in public health and continue to ensure public health needs are at the forefront as the FHIR standard evolves and is implemented nationwide.

Details on the agenda can be found on the HL7 Confluence page.

Sponsorship opportunities for those working in public health to cover travel and registration for the Connectathon are available through the CDC Foundation. If interested, please complete the following Smartsheet form.

The CDC Foundation kindly requests the following information:

• First and last name
• Email
• Public health jurisdiction
• Current role and responsibilities
• Knowledge of FHIR and HL7 standards (new, moderate, advanced)
• Particular information that you are hoping to learn during this Public Health Track

Sponsorship will be limited with a deadline of August 31, 2024.

Please direct any additional questions to Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser..

Register today for Envision’s webinar on Maximizing IIS Security Strategies.

AIRA will be hosting this collaborative webinar on Tuesday, September 17, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.

During this webinar, you will learn more about:

• Strategies for effectively responding to partner organization security incidents to protect IIS data
• Strategies for leveraging third-party security audits

There will be time for questions and answers at the end of the webinar.

Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email which contains links to add the meeting to your calendar.

This meeting will not be available in the AIRA Repository; however, there will be materials from the Moderna webinar available in the AIRA Repository.

AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the community. To submit an information request to the IIS community, email Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. with “Information Request” in the subject line.

Information requests are viewable only by individual members and individuals affiliated with member and partner organizations. Recent information requests can be found by using the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA Repository. Just log in to view these valuable resources! If you have any questions, please email Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser..

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In observance of Labor Day, AIRA’s office will be closed on Monday, September 2, and will reopen on Tuesday, September 3. 

- Your Team at AIRA

The 2024 AIRA board election results are in! We had an excellent slate of highly qualified candidates, making this an extremely close election.

Directors Election

AIRA welcomes the following three new directors to the board:

• Laura Barrett from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services was elected as an AIRA IIS board director.
• Kim Gulliver from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment will fill the half-term vacancy created by John Robison’s resignation.
• Shannon Coleman from STChealth was elected as an AIRA non-IIS board director.

Officer Election

Per the AIRA Bylaws, officers are elected by the AIRA board. AIRA is pleased to announce the following officer election results:

• Marie Hartel from the Tennessee Department of Health was elected as AIRA's President-Elect.
• Steve Murchie from Envision Technology Partners was elected as AIRA's Treasurer Committee Chair.

The new AIRA board term begins October 1, 2024.

Congratulations to our newly elected officers and directors and thank you to our outgoing officers and directors! 

In a remarkable display of collaboration and dedication, AIRA’s Standards and Analytics team, in partnership with CDC IIS SMEs, has successfully provided tailored technical assistance (TA) to four jurisdictions—Montana, Vermont, West Virginia, and North Carolina—throughout our 2023–2024 project period that concluded on July 31. This initiative focused on enhancing the technical, programmatic, and policy frameworks of immunization information systems (IIS) within these states. The TA efforts, which included both virtual project-based support and intensive on-site engagements, led to significant achievements, such as improved data quality, enhanced staff education, and better alignment with national standards. We extend our sincere thanks to the participating states for their collaboration and commitment that made these successes possible. The impact of these efforts is clear: over 160 hours of expert guidance, 14 strategic meetings, and multiple peer-to-peer learning opportunities have bolstered the capacity of these IIS teams, enabling them to navigate challenges and drive progress in their programs. As we look ahead to the next project period, AIRA remains committed to partnering with CDC and IIS communities to support the ongoing improvement and sustainability of IIS nationwide.

If your jurisdiction is interested in tailored technical assistance, please reach out to your IIS SME. To request general technical assistance from AIRA, click here.

As August comes to end and we close out National Immunization Awareness Month, we want to extend our gratitude to everyone who helped us spread the word, and all who liked and reposted our social media posts. Thank you for your support as we highlighted the integral role IIS play in Immunization administration and beyond.

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