Meditech this week unveiled a new online tool, free for its clients, that aims to enable easier and more effective vaccine administration. Added to any menu within the electronic health record, the module can help providers more efficiently administer the vaccine to their patients across care settings.

WHY IT MATTERS
The web-based Quick Vaccination offers mobility and speed, Meditech says, helping customers to distribute the vaccine within their EHR workflows – in standard clinical settings, or using tablets at high-volume settings such as pop-up inoculation sites. 

Quick Vaccination allows for automatic defaults of key vaccine and administration data, the company says, shortening the amount of time it takes to document vaccine administration – and enabling sites to vaccinate more patients in less time.

The tool automatically generates a certificate of COVID-19 vaccination for patients, accessible from their patient portals. Patients can show certificates when they get their second shot to ensure the proper dose. (Meditech’s scheduling tool enables appointments to be synced with the patient portal, so the patient is reminded of the second dose appointment.)

Integration within Meditech's Immunization Interface, meanwhile, enables automatic transmission of vaccine data to state agencies' immunization systems. 

THE LARGER TREND
This week, EHR vendors including Epic and Cerner – as well as Microsoft, Salesforce, Mayo Clinic and others – announced the new Vaccine Credential Initiative, which will leverage FHIR standards to enable more secure, interoperable access to digital vaccination records. The goal is to create new data infrastructure for administering COVID-19 vaccines nationwide, according to VCI, helping to create a "trustworthy, traceable, verifiable, and universally recognized digital record of vaccination status."

As vaccines began rolling out this past month, we surveyed the major EHR vendors to see how they were tweaking their software and adjusting their customer-service strategies to help meet the unique demands of population-wide, two-dose inoculation.

Meditech, for instance, noted that it offers best-practices guidance and scenarios for vaccine administration across each of its integrated care locations – outpatient practices, hospitals and long-term care facilities – to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients.

"We understand that vaccine administration is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so we’re preparing our customers for a variety of scenarios," said Helen Waters, executive vice president at Meditech.

ON THE RECORD
"Time is essential in fighting COVID-19, and we recognize that immunizing as many people as possible is imperative," said Meditech VP of Client Services Leah Farina in a statement announcing the new Quick Vaccination tool, which she said helps to "streamline the process and enable care providers to efficiently administer the COVID-19 vaccine to their patients while meeting CDC guidelines."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.