Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR): Health Care Providers and Local Health Departments

WIR trainings are free and available for everyone. Whether you are looking to start using WIR, are a new staff person who needs to be trained, or you are just looking for a refresher, this training is for you. To register, please contact the WIR help desk at 608-266-9691 or email. While a particular date and location may be listed below, seating is limited and availability is not guaranteed. If you are no longer able to attend the training, please contact the help desk and request to be removed from the wait list.

All WIR users are highly encouraged to attend! Full details on location, dates, times, and how to register are posted in the WIR announcements.

What are WIR User Group meetings?
User Group meetings occur in various locations across Wisconsin. The meetings provide a forum to interact with WIR staff and discuss key elements of the system including current, and upcoming projects. This is a time for WIR users to hear about upcoming projects and changes, and ask questions about functionality, reports, specific client-instances. You are welcome to bring screenshots or specific examples that you have experienced and would like more clarification. Tell us about your needs, and hear about WIR.

For all of the dates listed below, check-in will be at 8:30 a.m. The agenda starts at 9 a.m. with a presentation from WIR staff and followed by a question and answer session. Please register in advance.

The WIR team conducts webinars quarterly to go over different WIR tools and functionality with users. These are free and available to everyone with WIR access. Please go to Adobe Connect at the time of the webinar. There is no registration required. Please note, attendees will need access to a computer with working speakers or a headset, as there will not be a conference line to call in. Each session is scheduled from 12-1 p.m. CST.

Webinars will be recorded and made available on the website under the "trainings, and webinars" tab below.

If you are new to WIR, contact the WIR Help Desk to help your clinic and your staff become familiar with WIR.

• Sending and Receiving Data, P-02324 (PDF): A list of specific items (hardware and software) providers need prior to accessing WIR.
• Best practices for data entry: WIR user interface, P-00862A (PDF): This document is a list of data entry best practices for those providers that interface with WIR.
• Share data with the WIR flyer, P-01012 (PDF): A brochure that explains why it is important to share complete data with WIR.
• Completeness and accuracy of the WIR: Summary results, P-01012 (PDF) and published article summarizing the completeness and accuracy of data exchange with WIR.
• The WIR User Agreement, F-42008A: Document that new WIR users must sign to show they agree to the privacy and terms.
• The WIR Organization Security and Confidentiality Agreement, F-42008: A document signed by organizations new to WIR.

For clinics interested in interoperability, also called data exchange, please click the tab below.

Reminder/Recall: Reminder and recall reports can generate a list of clients who are due for vaccinations. The report can generate letters, cards, address labels, client listings, and downloadable text files. These can be sent to the parent, guardian, or individual. The letters can either remind them of an upcoming appointment, or recall them to come in to get a vaccine that is past due.

Manage Custom Letters: This report, similar to the reminder and recall reports, generates letters for patients who need vaccines. The letter can be sent to the parent, guardian, or individual, using contact information from the reminder and recall list. The letters can be customized. For example, you can include specific clinic or provider information.

Vaccine for Children (VFC) Report: The VFC report gives VFC providers a way to identify the VFC client cohort served in their clinic. The report pulls VFC client information based on information entered in WIR in the “client eligibility” field. This report can be used for completing the annual VFC re-enrollment process, or serve as a check to make sure VFC eligibility is being documented appropriately.

VFC Eligibility Dose Report: The VFC dose eligibility report looks at clients who are in the VFC cohort, based on dose-level eligibility. Dose-level eligibility is a term that means tracking a child’s VFC eligibility status for every dose they receive from the VFC program. Tracking this information is a requirement of the program.

Assessment Report: The assessment report gives an overview of several benchmark summaries (for example the 24-month-old series) at one time, and looks at vaccine visits where additional doses could have been administered to bring clients up to date.

Benchmark Reports: The benchmark reports generate a list and a summary of clients who either have or have not met an immunization benchmark (for example the 24-month-old series).

Ad Hoc List Report: The ad hoc list function allows the user to create customized reports looking at individual client information. This is a powerful feature that can look at several fields, depending on what the user selects. Filters within the Ad Hoc Reporting function can generate reports based on a range of dates, site, vaccine group, ethnicity, and other factors. City and county public health departments may include in their reports clients associated with their departments or those living within the same city or county.

Ad Hoc Count Report: The ad hoc count function in WIR allows the user to create customized summary reports. Filters within the Ad Hoc Reporting function help to narrow a search by date, site, vaccine group, ethnicity, and other factors. City and county public health departments may include in their reports clients associated with their departments or those living within the same city or county.

Provider Report Cards: Provider report cards are summary reports sent to the immunization registry (IR) administrators (a clinic's super user) on a monthly basis. The information assists IR administrators in identifying issues with data quality, timeliness, and completeness. You can sign up to receive the provider report card by emailing Melanie Malinowski.

Public immunization record access allows individuals, parents, or legal guardians to look up their own or their child's immunization record in the WIR. Many people in Wisconsin receive immunizations from more than one provider. Without access to the immunization information, it can be difficult to know which vaccine a patient needs at a particular time. Offering parents and guardians access to look up their child's immunizations can decrease the number of patient requests to providers for immunization records.

To access public immunization records a patient will need the patient's first and last names, their date of birth, and either their Social Security number, Medicaid ID number, or their health care member ID number.

Follow the links below to access the public immunization records portal.

Health care providers can order the following parent brochures through the Department of Health Services (DHS) forms center. The form number is required when ordering; this is the P-number listed after the brochure name (see links below).

WIR Webinars

• WIR Introduction: What is WIR and What Can WIR Do for You?
• WIR Series Webinar: Ad Hoc Reports (November 2019)
• WIR Series Webinar: Vaccine Scheduling (May 2019)
• WIR Series Webinar: Vaccine Inventory, Ordering, and Transfers (February 2019)
• WIR Series Webinar: Immunization Registry (IR) Administrator role (December 2018)
• For local health departments: WIR Mass Vaccination Training (August 2018)
• WIR Series Webinar: Provider report cards and error reporting tool (May 2018)

Looking for information about interoperability? Take a look below:

• Comparison of HL7 and batched file submissions to WIR: Published article comparing the differing methods for entering data into the WIR.
• Promoting Interoperability: Public Health Registration for Electronic Data Submission System (PHREDS) webpage (Note: Any provider who wishes to submit data to WIR must first register through the PHREDS prior to submitting data.)
• Promoting Interoperability: Immunization Objective: Webpage for public health meaningful use in Wisconsin.
• WIR Interoperability Specifications: Implementation guide for immunization messaging.
• Flatfile: Includes information about proprietary fixed-length format file(s) used to load client and immunization-related data.
• HL7: Includes the local specifications of HL7 version 2.5.1 release 1.5.
• School flatfile specifications: Includes information about proprietary fixed-length format file(s) used solely for K-12 private and public schools to load client and immunization-related data.

For questions about interoperability, please contact the WIR Help Desk (see below).

Below you will find quick reference guides to help health care providers use all of the clinical tools within WIR. Additional fact sheets will be posted in the future.

Deciphering a Patient's Immunization History in the WIR, P-02261 (PDF)
Reminder Recall Reports, P-02400 (PDF)
WIR Pharmacy Recruitment, P-02451 (PDF)