Industry Voices—How One Community Health Plan Increased COVID Vaccinations by 40% Using HIE Data

The development of safe, effective, lifesaving vaccines is complex scientific work. But the job does not end there. As we’ve seen with COVID-19—and now with monkeypox, polio, measles and other serious public health issues—there is also a science to the process of connecting with the community and getting the vaccines actually administered.

Aggregating health data from disparate sources (regional and state registries, health plan member data and EHR clinical data) is essential in helping public health agencies identify and reach specific high-risk or vulnerable populations. Having person-level data on race, ethnicity, ZIP code, preferred language, disability status and gender identity, combined with vaccine records and other health data, moves us one step closer to improving health equity and better health outcomes for everyone.

One health plan in California was able to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates by 40%, showing us that the right health data can be a powerful ally in population health, providing granular insights to identify and build trust with individuals and communities that in turn help increase vaccination among those most vulnerable as quickly as possible.

Read the article by Erica Galvez, Chief Executive Officer of Manifest MedEx and Lakshmi Dhanvanthari, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Health Plan of San Joaquin published in Fierce Healthcare.