Participate in CIIS

Benefits of CIIS

The Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS) provides the following benefits to providers:

• Consolidates all immunizations into one easily accessible yet secure record for each individual

• Allows healthcare providers to track vaccine doses and perform monthly reconciliations.

• Allows providers to look up and enter immunization data quickly and easily during large flu clinics and mass immunization events.

• Provides decision support by displaying the vaccines recommended under current guidelines based on the individual’s age and immunizations already received

• Provides a specialized school application for school nurses and staff

• Enhanced Immunization "Quick Add" Module

• Provides an accurate, official copy of a child’s immunization history for personal, school, child care or camp entry requirements

• Enables providers to easily screen for immunizations at each visit

• Enables providers to notify parents if a child has missed an immunization

• Facilitates the introduction of new vaccines or changes in the recommended vaccine schedule

• Identifies an individual’s previously reported contraindications and allergies

• Web-enabled database for manual data entry and 24/7 access

• Enables providers to generate recall notices for individuals who have missed an immunization

• Allows state and local public health officials to make assessments of populations that are un- or under-immunized in order to implement geographically targeted interventions

Brian McGill, Director of Pediatric Partners of Glenwood
The use of CIIS has increased our focus on vaccinations, improved our inventory management efforts, has helped to ensure we are catching missing or missed vaccines, and has allowed us to provide patients with a copy of their vaccine record more efficiently.

Darrie Hutchison, RN, ABC Pediatrics (A branch of Mountain View Medical Group)
Using CIIS has helped our workflow. Our front office prints out an immunization record for every patient regardless of the appointment type. This enables our back office and providers to review and/or administer recommended vaccines at the time of the visit, thus saving our patients an extra trip to the office and keeping our patients up-to-date with their vaccines.

Tammy Hort, Assistant Nursing Director, Northeast Colorado Health Department
We like CIIS and find it to be extremely user-friendly. It is quicker and easier to enter demographic information and to check for duplicate records before entering a new patient.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 20 percent of the children in the U.S. have seen more than one provider by two years of age. Accurately assessing immunization needs is difficult when records are scattered and the available immunization history is incomplete. In addition to missing opportunities for immunization, one in five U.S. children receives at least one unnecessary dose of vaccine by two years of age, wasting an astounding $26.5 million in vaccine costs each year.

The Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS), also known as the state immunization registry, is a confidential, computerized, population-based system that collects and consolidates vaccination data for Coloradans of all ages from a variety of sources and provides tools for designing and sustaining effective immunization strategies at the provider and program levels. CIIS is a program of the Colorado Immunization Section at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Participants include:

• Health Information Exchanges
• Private Practices
• Local Public Health Agencies
• Community Health Centers
• Rural Health Centers
• Hospitals
• Pharmacies and Retail-Based Clinics
• Health Maintenance Organizations/Health Insurers
• Schools, Universities, and Colleges
• Travel Clinics
• Community Vaccinators
• Childcare Centers, Pre-Schools and Head Start
• Programs
• Urgent Care Centers
• Other Specialty Clinics such as Dialysis and
• Allergy/Asthma Clinics

The Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS) simplifies immunization record keeping, provides quicker access to immunization records, and helps you keep track of a patient’s immunization status. CIIS can also help you: easily find immunizations for patients new to your practice, provide official copies of immunization records with the touch of a button, and reduce or eliminate chart pulls needed for coverage assessments and Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) reviews.

CIIS is web-enabled and accessed using the Internet. Participating immunization providers can retrieve and input immunizations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Immunizations for an individual are kept in a single record, even if the individual visits more than one clinic. CIIS allows a clinic to review a patient’s immunization history at each visit and quickly determine what immunizations are needed based on the most recent recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Participation in CIIS is voluntary for providers and individuals. Participating clinics are required to notify their patients that their immunization data is included in CIIS, and patients have the right to exclude their immunization data from the registry at any time.

No. Reporting of immunization data to CIIS is exempt from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule since it is considered a public health activity. To learn more about the application of HIPAA to CIIS, please visit the Confidentiality Policies page.

The immunizations that your patient has already received and any vaccines that your patient will receive in the future will be entered into CIIS. Other information, such as guardian’s name (for individuals under 19 years of age), gender, VFC eligibility status (for individuals under 19 years of age), date of birth and the clinic where each shot is given will be included in the registry to be sure that your patient’s record is accurate and cannot be confused with another patient’s record. Patient addresses, phone numbers and email addresses are also included in the system to allow you to contact patients in a variety of ways when they are due/overdue for immunization.

CIIS must protect the privacy of all users, including children, families and providers. According to standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all immunization information systems (IIS) are required to have a written privacy policy that clearly defines notice of inclusion in the IIS, access to, and use and disclosure of IIS data. For more information about the CIIS confidentiality policy, please visit the Confidentiality Policies page.

The Immunization Registry Act (Colorado Revised Statute 24-4-2403) allows immunization practitioners, clinics, schools, individuals/parents, health insurers, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, hospitals, or entities that have contracted with CDPHE for immunizations to send data to and access immunization information in CIIS. It is a crime to disclose CIIS information inappropriately.

Yes, the Colorado Immunization Information System has the ability to accept electronic data directly from various Electronic Health Records systems (EHRs). The capacity and direction of data exchange depends on the technical capacity of the EHR system and CIIS. Many state and local immunization information systems use the industry standard Health Level 7 (HL7) messaging protocol to exchange immunization data. Others may use batch file exports to an immunization information system. For more information about how CIIS interfaces with various EHRs, please see the Electronic Health Records page.

Good news—there is NO fee for access to or use of CIIS! CIIS provides online training resources and ongoing technical support for you and your staff at no cost to you.

In order to participate in CIIS, your clinic will need one or more computers with Internet connectivity and printing capabilities. While the preferred Internet browser for CIIS is an unmodified version of Internet Explorer 7.0 or later, the CIIS web application also works properly with Safari 5.0 and Mozilla Firefox 4.0.

Interested providers are encouraged to contact CIIS staff for an onsite demonstration of the functionality and benefits of the registry. Your office must sign a Letter of Agreement with the Colorado Immunization Information System stating that your practice will keep the information confidential and not share it with any unauthorized person. Contact us to schedule an onsite demo today!

No. The Colorado Immunization Information System does not release immunization records directly to individuals. For tips on how to track down immunization records, please see our Parents and Patients page.

Yes. Participating sites are required by law to notify their patients that their immunization data is included in CIIS. Individuals have the right to opt out and remove their immunization data from the registry at any time. Once a provider gives an individual an opt out form, it is the individual’s responsibility to send that form to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.