Immunization and Infectious Disease Update
National Association of County & City Health Officials
Information and Resources for Local Health Departments |
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Recent News
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Associated Press (June 7, 2013)
Associated Press (June 8, 2013)
Associated Press (June 10, 2013)
Atlanta Black Star (June 10, 2013)
Family Practice News (June 10, 2013)
LegislativeGazette.com (June 11, 2013)
Daily Journal (June 12, 2013)
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Resources
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Health Department Toolkit: Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) Notifications
CDC recently released a new toolkit to assist local health departments (LHDs) with notifying patients after an infection control lapse or potential disease transmission during medical care. The toolkit includes the key steps a public health department should take to initiate a patient notification. It also provides resources to assist with creating notification documents, planning media and communication strategies, developing communication resources, and releasing notification letters.
CDC's Website Features NACCHO Demonstration Sites
CDC's Office of State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (OSTLTS) has posted a summary of the Year 1 LHD HAI prevention demo site activities on their public health stories from the field webpage. The link to the direct summary is available here.
Syndromic Surveillance Using Electronic Health Record Clinical Data from Hospital and Ambulatory Settings: An Annotated Bibliography
The availability of electronic health record (EHR) data from new settings is creating opportunities for syndromic surveillance. Nearly 50 articles on syndromic surveillance using EHR data from hospital and ambulatory settings are available in an annotated bibliography. The bibliography, available on the International Society for Disease Surveillance website, is a valuable resource for both practitioners and researchers as they consider the feasibility and utility of using new types of clinical data for syndromic surveillance purposes.
Grand Rounds: Unsafe Injection Practices in the U.S. Healthcare System
This session of CDC's Public Health Grand Rounds explored how unsafe injection practices, which put patients at risk for infection, have been associated with a wide variety of procedures and settings. Injectable medicines are commonly used in healthcare settings for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various illnesses. Unsafe injections also increase the burden on patients, healthcare providers, and medical care and public health systems.
Plan Now: August is National Immunization Awareness Month
August is recognized as National Immunization Awareness Month. This awareness month highlights the need for improving national immunization coverage levels and encourages all people to protect their health by being immunized against infectious diseases. Refer to the National Health Information Center toolkit to plan your LHD's events and messaging.
NACCHO's Billing Toolkit for Immunization Programs
NACCHO recently released a toolkit with resources, templates, and tools for LHDs to use and develop capacity to bill third-party payers for immunization services. More than 150 resources are available from state billing guides, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, state health departments, LHDs, insurance companies, and vendors of products such as electronic medical records and billing clearinghouses. Specifically, the toolkit provides the following information:
- Details on how to get started, such as credentialing steps and contracting processes;
- How to submit claims; and
- Steps for establishing billing procedures for other clinical services.
To view and download these tools, please log in or create a NACCHO account here. You do not have to be associated with an LHD to access these, or any other tools, within NACCHO's website. If you would like to share your tools, resources, or best practices, please email Rebecca Gehring at rgehring@naccho.org. All tools and resources will be credited to their original author and organization. For general reference, please see the provided fact sheet.
NACCHO Immunization Videos Page
NACCHO has gathered videos addressing vaccination into one convenient place. Watch short videos covering immunization issues, including influenza, pertussis, adolescent immunization, and personal stories about vaccine preventable diseases. Videos range from humorous to serious and target a variety of ages.
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Get Involved
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Infection Prevention Training for Ambulatory Surgical CentersUp to 8.75 hours of continuing medical education credits (CMD) are available by completing the Outpatient Training and Resources section of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' HAI Infection Initiative. Training topics include: monitoring and reporting HAIs in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), hand hygiene, sterilization and disinfection, environmental cleaning, and safe injection practices. Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) Leadership Award
APUA is now accepting nominations for the 2013 APUA Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual or organization for extraordinary leadership in promoting the prudent use of antibiotics in an effort to contain antibiotic resistance. Deadline for submission is July 15, 2013.
Call for Resources: NACCHO Seeks LHD Billing Tools for HIV/STI/TB Services
Are you currently billing or plan to bill for HIV/STI/TB services? If so, have you developed any resources or tools that could help other LHDs start billing programs?
Examples of billing resources for HIV/STI/TB services may include:
- Billing process guidelines or protocols;
- Billing procedures and training materials for LHD staff;
- Educational materials to inform clients of billing changes; and
- Letter of intent to a third-party payer/insurance companies.
Please submit any resources you would like to share to Alyssa Kitlas.
Submit a Tool to NACCHO's Immunization and Infectious Disease Toolkits
NACCHO's Immunization and Infectious Disease Toolkits are intended to provide LHDs with resources related to immunization and infectious disease prevention and control practices. Examples of tools include templates, guides, community resources and much more. Log in to submit your own resources to the Toolkit to share with other LHDs.
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Publications
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Immunizations
CDC. MMWR. 2013 June 14; 62(RR04): 1-34.
Imdad A, Tserenpuntsaf B, Blog DS, Halsey NA, Easton DE, Shaw J. Peds. 2013 June 3. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-3449.
Robison S. Peds. 2013 June 3. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-3866.
Infectious Diseases
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The mission of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is to be a leader, partner, catalyst, and voice for local public health departments.
For additional information about NACCHO, visit www.naccho.org. |
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