Author: Medicat

Immunization compliance in higher education is a critical issue that institutions must navigate effectively to ensure the health and safety of their student populations. With the complexities of managing and enforcing vaccine policies, schools are seeking strategies to maximize compliance and streamline processes.

Innovative Approaches to Enhancing Compliance

1. Registration and Building Access Holds

While most institutions have moved away from financial penalties for non-compliance, many still use registration holds as an effective tool. Some colleges like the School of the Art Institute of Chicago use a service indicator to notify students of non-compliance, but this doesn’t prevent them from registering for classes. However, they do take measures such as blocking building access to encourage compliance.  For instance, the school may station staff members near major building entrances, informing students on how they can regain building access once they are compliant.

2. Partner With Other Campus Organizations

To ensure timely compliance with immunization requirements, it can be beneficial to utilize a multi-pronged approach. Partnering with the Orientation Team on your campus can help integrate these requirements into the pre-orientation “Things to Do Before Arriving on Campus” list. Further reminders can be sent via email and presented at resource fairs. Collaboration with Residence Life can result in withholding of housing assignments until immunization records are received.

3. Choose the Right Communication Methods

Additionally, an effective communication strategy should utilize progressively urgent email and text reminders to students. When it comes to incoming first-year students, communicating with parents, as well, can prove incredibly effective. You may even consider having the messages leading up to a “lockout date” that restricts access to essential campus systems like their student email. For persistent non-compliance, some schools may find it beneficial to have the Dean of Students get involved with final warnings and other potential restrictions.

4. Make Requirements Impossible to Miss

Some other unique strategies include incorporating shortcuts on school computers and your school’s website with easy-access instructions for how to upload immunization records. Notification banners could also be added to the top of students’ emails or the school’s website. Another strategy to consider implementing is distributing QR code cards with vaccine requirements at events and hanging reminder posters with QR codes around campus. These printed materials should point students to an immunization requirements page with clear instructions for how to upload missing immunization records.

5. Best Practices for Verifying International Records

International students often face unique challenges with immunization compliance due to vaccine availability and record translation issues. Some institutions allow students to translate their own records and use tools like Google Translate to verify the information.

Additionally, the CDC’s Pink Book Appendix B provides translations of common vaccination records. Many schools will also accept the “yellow card” which is used in many countries and typically also includes the English translation. Finally, for specific needs, professional translation services can be valuable for ensuring accurate representation of student health and counseling documentation. These combined approaches can help bridge the communication gap and support international student success.

6. Once You’ve Implemented These Strategies, How Can You Effectively Report on Your Compliance?

Reporting on immunization compliance is a struggle for many schools, with 63% of institutions unable to report on this data. 

This lack of reporting capability can leave schools without a clear understanding of compliance rates, making it difficult to respond effectively in the event of an outbreak.

To address these challenges, schools can leverage immunization compliance software, which can offer powerful features:

1. Customized cohorts: Create cohorts based on various demographic filters such as class (first-year, sophomore, etc.), vaccination status, or by academic program. This feature enables administrators to tailor their approach to managing compliance according to the specific requirements of different student populations across campus.
2. Advanced filtering: Efficiently manage large datasets of immunization records by applying filters such as vaccination type, date of administration, expiry dates, and compliance status. This functionality streamlines the process of tracking immunization status, allowing staff to quickly identify students who are non-compliant or due for vaccinations.
3. Robust reporting: Generate detailed reports on trends like vaccine coverage rates, immunization trends over time, and compliance levels among different cohorts. These reports not only facilitate compliance monitoring but also support data-driven decision-making for immunization policies and initiatives over time. Additionally, accurate and efficient reporting helps schools demonstrate compliance with state compliance requirements and provides documentation for external audits of campus vaccine compliance.
4. Real-time compliance status: Access up-to-date information on the immunization status of individual students or cohorts. This real-time visibility allows for prompt intervention in case of an outbreak.

Key Takeaways

Immunization compliance in higher education is a multifaceted challenge that requires a combination of effective communication, robust reporting tools, and strategic enforcement mechanisms. By leveraging smart technology and adopting proven best practices, institutions can improve compliance rates and ensure a safe environment for students, faculty, and staff.

Witness firsthand how Medicat can help elevate compliance rates on your campus. Dive into our interactive demo.

Looking for firsthand advice on ways to enhance immunization compliance? You’ve come to the right place!

During our recent webinar, Taming Immunization Compliance Chaos, we gained valuable insights from our guest speaker, Emily Lenz, Director of Health Services at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Emily shared her expertise when it comes to managing immunization compliance on college campuses. From managing waivers to communicating effectively with students, she provides valuable strategies for ensuring compliance and enhancing student health outcomes.

Here are some of the questions we received during the webinar and what Emily had to say:

Q: When are students notified of immunization requirements?

A: Students receive notifications about immunization requirements in their welcome packets which they receive once they confirm their enrollment at SAIC. Additionally, once students’ information is entered into Medicat, they start receiving messages from me. They also receive reminders through campus life communications, including welcome emails and other pertinent notifications.

Q: How do you communicate requirements with students?

A: We prioritize early and frequent engagement. As soon as incoming students enroll, our immunization requirements are front and center on their enrollment checklist. We initiate contact with incoming students through biweekly emails, followed by weekly emails and secure messages. This ensures they are well-informed about immunization requirements, even from their earliest moments as a part of our campus community.

Q: How do you get students to pay attention to the messages you’re sending telling them they’re non-compliant?

A: We’ve noticed that students are more likely to open our compliance messages when we use all caps in our subject lines, emphasizing phrases like “PAST DUE” and “ACTION NEEDED.“

Q: What methods or systems does SAIC use to manage compliance?

A: We use Medicat One Immunization Compliance Management and an integration with the Illinois State Immunization Registry (I-CARE). This combination helps us stay organized and automate compliance to the best of our ability.

Q: What are the consequences for students who are not compliant?

A: Non-compliant students face administrative holds. We have an interface with PeopleSoft that places a service hold on accounts and notifies students if they’re not compliant. However, we don’t enforce a registration hold, which I know a lot of other campuses use.

Q: How did you get most students to use the portal and not fax/mail records?

A: Depending on what time of the year we receive them, we’ll just tell students to please upload records to the Medicat Student Portal. We still receive a few by mail and fax, so our front desk staff will just scan them and then enter the dates.

Q: Are you allowing students to enter their own dates for each immunization record they upload?

A: Yes, we do allow students to enter their own vaccination dates and upload their records. When students enter their dates, our system flags the entries for review, allowing us to easily identify records needing attention. Our staff ensures that the information entered matches the records provided. While we have encountered occasional errors, particularly in vaccine names, most students accurately report their vaccination dates.  

Q: What challenges do you experience with verifying international vaccines?

A: When verifying international vaccines, we encounter several challenges. While some records come with English translations, others require students to translate them themselves – which we then verify.

Q: What tools do you use to make verifying international records easier?

A: We utilize Google Translate to help us verify international records. In some cases, we do require that students have their records translated for us. If you have a lot of international students from a particular country, you start to pick up on patterns in the formatting of the immunization records, which makes manually reviewing them a lot easier.

Q: Does SAIC offer immunizations to students, and how are they billed?

A: Yes, we provide all required immunizations for free to students. We bill the SAIC student insurance plan using ledger billing, while we do not bill other insurance plans.

Q: Do you accept religious or medical waivers on your campus?

A: Yes, we do accept both religious and medical waivers at SAIC. During the period when we had a COVID vaccine requirement, we established a committee to review religious waivers. We’ve reverted to having health services staff handle waivers since then. Religious exemptions are evaluated carefully, and medical exemptions are accepted, provided they are signed by a medical provider.

Thank you again to Emily Lenz for sharing SAIC’s effective strategies for managing immunization compliance. We hope these insights help you navigate the complexities of immunization compliance on your campus.

Discover solutions to help take immunization compliance to the next level on your campus. Ready to take that next step? Connect with our team today.

The Benefits of Integrating with the State Immunization Registry

One effective way to streamline vaccine management for in-state students is to integrate your EHR with your state’s immunization registry. For example, if your campus is located in Georgia, we can help you set up an integration to automatically import any immunization records for students who received vaccines in Georgia. This integration is particularly impactful for schools with large in-state student populations, as many of these students likely received one or more vaccines in that state.  Here are some additional benefits:

1. A Student-Friendly Experience

For many students, integrating with the state immunization registry means convenience. They no longer need to manually submit their immunization records to the clinic. Instead, their records are automatically updated in the registry, which is then reflected in your EHR and immunization compliance management software. This not only saves time for students but also minimizes the risk of human error. Plus,any new immunizations received in the state can automatically be imported and remain up to date.

Moreover, the integration also provides students with peace of mind. They can rest assured that their immunization records are securely stored and easily accessible by clinic staff whenever needed. This eliminates the worry of misplacing important documents. This proactive approach not only ensures their health but also contributes to the overall well-being of the college community.

Elevate the student experience by delving into how EHRs enhance student education and empowerment.

2.Simplifying Workflows for Clinic Staff

College health staff also reap significant benefits from integrating with the state immunization registry. By having access to this data, student immunization status can be updated in a matter of seconds, rather than days or weeks (especially during periods when the number of incoming students is high, like summer).

By integrating with a state registry, records are automatically imported and marked as verified if they meet the requirements designated by the clinic. This means that for the vast majority of students, no manual verification of their records by clinic staff is needed.

Diane Norris, Director of Health Services at Georgia Southern University, emphasizes the transformative impact of integrating with the state immunization registry: “The bi-directional GRITS interface continues to save a tremendous amount of time for our staff and provides timely information on immunization administration from outside providers.”

Additionally, staff can use the registry to help generate reports and statistics, providing valuable insights for future vaccine management strategies. By analyzing trends and patterns in immunization data, college health staff can make informed decisions and implement targeted interventions to improve vaccination rates and overall public health on campus.

Learn more about Georgia Southern University leveraged a state registry integration to streamline their compliance process.

3. Creating a Healthy Environment for the Campus Overall

Integrating with the state immunization registry also benefits college campuses by creating a healthy environment. With accurate and up-to-date immunization records, colleges can ensure certain groups of students are compliant with state and federal regulations. This not only protects the health and safety of students but also reduces the risk of vaccine-preventable outbreaks on campus.

Furthermore, by integrating with the state immunization registry, colleges can contribute to the broader public health goals of the community. Accurate immunization data allows colleges to proactively collaborate with local health departments and participate in public health initiatives aimed at improving vaccination rates and reducing the spread of infectious diseases.

How VeriVax Simplifies Out-of-State Immunization Management

While integrating with the state immunization registry is crucial for in-state students, out-of-state students present a unique challenge – especially students who have received vaccines in multiple states.

Oftentimes, students struggle to track down these records from various doctor’s offices, often requiring their parents to get involved. This can result in unnecessary stress and compliance delays. To address this, colleges can utilize VeriVax.

1. The Advantages of Leveraging VeriVax

VeriVax simplifies the immunization compliance process for students. With VeriVax, students simply enter their name, date of birth, and the state(s) that they’ve lived in, and within a matter of seconds, their vaccine history is retrieved and uploaded directly into their student record.  Rather than the “vaccine chase” taking weeks and many phone calls and emails back and forth between students and staff, VeriVax expedites this process to just a few minutes.

Moreover, once the immunization records are submitted into our system, compliance status is automatically marked as verified. Students can then readily identify any outstanding vaccine requirements and upload necessary documentation.

2. Efficiency Boost for College Health Staff

VeriVax also eliminates the cumbersome reliance on manual processes, whether that includes verifying paper copies or scanned/faxed records. Leveraging a digital platform like VeriVax not only enhances data accuracy, but also mitigates the risks associated with lost or misplaced documents.

VeriVax’s transformative impact extends beyond the immediate realm of immunization compliance, providing a foundation for a holistic approach to well-being. The efficiency gained not only streamlines administrative processes but also empowers clinic staff to redirect their efforts towards more strategic and impactful tasks.

With automated processes seamlessly handling immunization records, staff members can shift their focus to initiatives that enhance the overall health of the campus community. This includes dedicating time and resources to optimizing workflow, implementing health education programs, and releasing new offerings and services to students.

In essence, VeriVax becomes a catalyst for a more comprehensive and dynamic health ecosystem on campus. The tool’s role goes beyond mere record-keeping; it becomes a facilitator of a proactive approach to health management.

Interested in exploring VeriVax? Learn how your clinic can automatically verify over 90% of immunizations.

Key Takeaways

Optimizing vaccine management is crucial for enhancing the health and well-being of college campuses. Combining the power of innovative solutions like VeriVax and state immunization registry integrations empowers colleges to create a healthier campus community, allowing staff to focus on strategic health initiatives and providing an elevated overall student experience.

Interested in learning more about how your campus health solutions can become more integrated and impactful?  Connect with a member of our team.