The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Department of Public Health
State Laboratory Institute
305 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Bureau of Infectious Disease Prevention, 
Response and Services
(617) 983-6800

DEVAL L. PATRICK
GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY P. MURRAY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
JUDYANN BIGBY, MD
SECRETARY
JOHN AUERBACH
COMMISSIONER	

To:	Chief Executive Officers, Medical Directors, Department Chiefs, Birth Registrars and Managers at Birth Hospitals

From: 		Susan Lett, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Immunization Program

cc:		Larry Madoff, MD, Director, Division of Epidemiology and Immunization;
Kevin Cranston, MDiv, Director, Bureau of Infectious Disease 

Date:		December 5, 2011

Subject:	Notification about the Massachusetts Immunization Information System to Expecting and New Parents

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Immunization Program will be rolling out a new statewide immunization registry, the Massachusetts Immunization Information System or MIIS, later this month.  The MIIS is a lifespan registry that will contain immunization information for Massachusetts residents beginning at birth.  

On October 3, 2011, we sent you a memo describing this system and the legal responsibilities of providers and institutions to inform parents/guardians about the MIIS once it begins to receive a daily electronic feed from the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics (RVRS) that will include information about immunizations given to newborns.  This follow-up memo is to inform you that the electronic feed is scheduled to begin January 1, 2012.  Therefore we are asking you to begin the notification about the MIIS to new parents by this date. 

As previously described, MDPH has created some tools to help you inform new parents about the MIIS and we will be asking for your cooperation in the following:
•	Displaying an MIIS poster in your patient registration areas and waiting rooms. 
•	Including the MIIS Fact Sheet for Parents and Patients with the newborn screening packets you distribute to new parents.
•	Having the MIIS Objection (or Withdrawal of Objection) Form available for parents who may object to having their data shared with other providers.  The form is available for download from the ContactMIIS Resource Center website at https://www.contactmiis.info. 
Once the MIIS is fully rolled out to your facility and immunization information is routinely entered or transmitted to the MIIS for all of your patients, you will need to notify all parents and patients about the system, not just parents of newborns.
Attached to this memo, we are including our two sample MIIS posters for you to display in your patient registration areas and waiting rooms.  You will also be receiving a six-month supply of the MIIS Fact Sheet for Parents and Patients in English that we ask that you include in the newborn screening packets that you receive from the Newborn Screening program.  The MIIS Fact Sheet is also available in the same languages as the newborn screening packets.  Please contact the MIIS Help Desk for information about obtaining fact sheets in other languages.  In the future, MIIS Fact Sheets, both English and other languages, will be sent to your facility by the Newborn Screening program. 
For more information about the MIIS, please visit our website at www.mass.gov/dph/miis, email the MIIS help desk at miishelpdesk@state.ma.us, or call (617) 983-4335.  We appreciate your cooperation and commitment to collaborating with us in the roll-out of the MIIS and notification of expecting and new parents.   
Please share this information with the appropriate people in your institution that are involved with births and providing newborn screening information to parents.