Immunization and Infectious Disease Update
National Association of County & City Health Officials
Information and Resources for Local Health Departments

Recent News


Press Herald (ME) (January 17, 2014)

Flu Deaths Rise to 45 in California
Pacifica Patch (CA) (January 18, 2014)

Healthcare Triage (January 19, 2014)

Los Angeles Times (January 20, 2014)

The Flu Vaccine Is Safer Than We Knew
Slate Magazine (January 21, 2014)
 
The Bottom Line (CA) (January 21, 2014 
 
Tri-State Neighbor (January 21, 2014)
 
The Atlantic Cities (January 22, 2014) 
 
CNN (January 22, 2014)
 
News Times (NH) (January 22, 2014)

Jackson Clarion Ledger (MS) (January 22, 2014)

Forbes (January 23, 2014)

Chicago Launches Plan to Encourage HPV Vaccine
Associated Press (January 23, 2014)
 
Paradise Post (CA) (January 24, 2014 
 
How Vaccine Fears Fueled The Resurgence of Preventable Diseases
National Public Radio (January 25, 2014)

Herald-Review (IL) (January 26, 2014)

Lima, Ohio (January 27, 2014)

Resources


Foodborne Illness Response Guidelines for Food Establishments
The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) Industry Guidelines were developed as voluntary guidance for owners, operators, and managers of retail food establishments to help outline, clarify, and explain their recommended roles in a foodborne illness outbreak investigation. The document provides step-by-step approaches to important aspects of outbreak response such as preparation, detection, investigation, control, and follow-up.

2013-2014 Influenza Surveillance

For the latest information on the 2013-2014 influenza season, please visit the CDC's Flu View website for weekly updates. 

 

CDC 2013 Prevention Status Reports

The CDC released the 2013 Prevention Status Reports, which highlight the status of policies and practices designed to prevent or reduce important public health problems. Individual reports are available for all 50 states and the District of Columbia on 10 key health topics: excessive alcohol use; food safety; healthcare-associated infections; heart disease and stroke; HIV; motor vehicle injuries; nutrition, physical activity, and obesity; prescription drug overdose; teen pregnancy; and tobacco use.  

 

Flu & Children/Youth with Special Health Care Needs Media Toolkit  

Family Voices has created a media toolkit for those who work with children/youth with special healthcare needs as it relates to the flu.  

 

ACA National Disability Navigator Resource Collaborative Website

The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) recently launched a website for the National Disability Navigator Resource Collaborative (NDNRC). The NDNRC is an initiative aimed at providing disability information and support to Navigators and other enrollment specialists to ensure that people with disabilities receive accurate information when selecting and enrolling in insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces.  For further information please contact Karl Cooper, AAHD Project Associate, at [email protected] or (301) 545-6140 ext. 204.

 

Issue Brief: Billing for Clinical Services: Health Department Strategies for Overcoming Barriers

NACCHO recently released the issue brief

Billing for Clinical Services: Health Department Strategies for Overcoming Barriers. This brief focuses on billing for clinical services at LHDs and examines the current landscape, what NACCHO is doing to support LHDs, barriers to third-party reimbursement, and strategies overcome these challenges.  

 

NEW: Billing For Clinical Services Toolkit and Website

NACCHO, with funding from the CDC, created a toolkit with resources, templates, and tools for LHDs to use while developing the capacity to bill third party payers for immunization, STD, TB and HIV services. More than 200 resources have currently been collected from state billing guides, CMS, state health departments, LHDs, insurance companies, and vendors of products such as electronic medical records and billing clearinghouses.  The toolkit can be found on NACCHO's new billing website along with other resources such as webinars, training opportunities, and information on peer networking. NACCHO wants to talk to you about your LHD billing experiences and needs! Please contact [email protected] and we will work with you to schedule a time to discuss LHD billing.

 
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. Please email Alyssa Kitlas ([email protected]) if you have an immunization video you would like to share with other LHDs. 

Get Involved

Nominations for Childhood Immunization Champion Awards
 The CDC Childhood Immunization Champion Award is an annual award that recognizes individuals who make a significant contribution toward improving public health through their work in childhood immunization. Champions can include coalition members, parents, healthcare professionals, and other immunization leaders who meet the award criteria.

The Network for Public Health Law Webinar:
HIPAA and Public Health

A webinar on Monday, February 3, 2014 (1:00-2:30 PM EDT), will discuss recent enforcement and policy development with regard to HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules. Register for this webinar now. 


Chronic Disease Self-Management Program Funding Opportunity

NACCHO, with support from CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Population Health/Arthritis Program, is pleased to offer an opportunity for LHDs to develop the capacity to deliver the Stanford model of Chronic Disease Self-Management Program or Arthritis Self-Management Program. The deadline for the application is February 17, 2014, at 10:00 AM EDT. Click here for more information. 


Blocked Shots: Examining the Basis, Nature and Public Health Impact of Vaccine Exemption Laws 

A webinar on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 (1:00 PM EDT) will examine the legal and ethical basis for vaccination requirements, review a recent assessment of how non-medical vaccination exemption laws impact the annual incidence rates of vaccine-targeted diseases, and explore how states are changing their vaccine exemption laws. Click this link to register for the webinar. 

 

Public Health Law Research Call for Proposals

Public Health Law Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, recently released its sixth call for proposals on studies that focus on the effects of laws and policies on public health. Up to $150,000 is available for studies up to 18 months long and a total of $1.25 million is available to fund short-term studies. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2014 at 3 p.m. EDT.


Volunteers Needed for Travel History Pilot Project
Travel history data are often missing or incomplete on infectious disease case records. To address this, the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Travel History Workgroup has developed standardized travel history questions that it plans to field test for Lyme disease, tularemia, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, West Nile, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis from April-October 2014. CSTE is collaborating with NACCHO to recruit pilot sites nationwide from all jurisdiction types (e.g., city, county, region, state). Please contact Dr. David Wong with the National Park Service Office of Public Health for more details: [email protected].

FirstBook Initiative

NACCHO is partnering with FirstBook in an effort to provide thousands of new books, at no cost, to public health leaders and health educators that serve low-income kids. Quality reading materials that encourage being physically active, seeing the doctor for checkups, and healthy lifestyle choices help kids grow into healthy and successful adults. NACCHO members and partners are encouraged to participate. The books are free and can be shipped to your location for $.45 for each book. Sign up here.


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. 

Publications


Immunizations  

CDC. MMWR. 2014 January 31. 63 (04); 69-72.

CDC. MMWR. 2014 January 31. 63 (04); 81.
 
Kahan, D. Social Science Research Network, 2014 January 27. CCP Risk Perception Studies Report No. 17.

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.