Connecticut State Department of Public Health

All About CT WiZ

Blue and White CT WIZ logo the I in Wiz is a syringe 

The official Immunization Information System for Connecticut.

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As of September 17, 2018, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) Immunization Program replaced the Connecticut Immunization Registry and Tracking System (CIRTS), the Vaccine Tracking System (VTrckS) and AFIX with one new system called "CT WiZ".  

General Questions on CT WiZ

For Health Care Professionals

What is CT WiZ?

CT WiZ is the statewide Immunization Information System (IIS) designed to meet national standard requirements for effective tracking and administration of immunizations in a public health setting. It is a web-based database that maintains complete, accurate, and secure immunization records for all Connecticut children.  All personal information including immunization status and dates of immunization of individuals shall be confidential as required by Connecticut law.

CT WiZ meets the IIS National Standards with the following features!

  • Order your vaccines, report doses administered and track your inventory all in one system.
  • Enables bi-directional (query and response) electronic data exchange with your electronic health record system (EHR).
  • Assess your coverage rates with Immunization Coverage Rate Reports.
  • Up to date programming, called the “Recommender”, which forecasts vaccinations that are invalid, due and overdue to help avoid under and over-vaccinations.

    In addition, CT WiZ offers the same functionality as CIRTS.

  • Reminder/Recall Reports
  • Easily view and print official immunization certificates for schools, childcare, camps and even college.
  • Electronically query your patients' previous immunization records and consolidate them into one record.

For additional information, you can review the May 10, 2018 and October 24, 2018 recorded webinar “How do I?” on the CT AAP website at http://ct-aap.org/2018.

All personal information including immunization status and dates of immunization of individuals shall be confidential as required by Connecticut law. Only the parent(s)/child’s legal guardian, child’s doctor, or health care workers who can assist with missed opportunities or missed immunizations have access to CT WIZ.

What are the CT WiZ reporting requirements, regulations and mandates?

Find the reporting requirements, regulations and mandates at State of CT Regulations regarding CT WiZ.

How are patients notified of their automatic enrollment in CT WiZ? (CT WiZ Handout Process)

The CT WiZ handout notifies patients of their automatic enrollment in CT WiZ. Connecticut hospital birth packets and home birth packets include this handout. As clinics are onboarded with CT WiZ, the handout is posted in their clinic waiting room.

 

State regulations only require a signature to opt out. Luckily, <1% opt out.  Click here to order the CT WiZ Handout. 


Will reporting to CT WiZ violate HIPAA requirements?

No.  Physicians are authorized to disclose immunization histories to the CT WiZ Program and its authorized agents without patient authorization or opportunity to object because:

  • It is required by law.
  • It is part of public health activities.

The information that we request is what is minimally necessary to satisfy the objective of the state registry. Practices should however keep an accounting of each disclosure that is made to CT WIZ.

Click here for more information regarding the impact of the HIPAA Privacy rule on public health.

Who has access to the information in CT WiZ?

Connecticut state law requires that information in CT WiZ be kept confidential. Only you, your doctor, health care workers who can assist you with missed appointments or missed immunizations, and your school nurse have access to CT WIZ. The information will not be shared with any other people or any other agency unless you have signed a Release of Information. Please click here for the form in English-Spanish (pdf).

What are the benefits of CT WiZ to our pediatric practices?

The following are benefits for your pediatric practice:

  • Obtain immunization histories on patients who transfer to your practice from any other pediatric facility in the state.
  • Have easy access to the first hepatitis B shot given in the birth hospital.
  • View the child’s Immunization Home and use the Recommender to see the earliest, recommended, overdue, and latest dates to administer that vaccine to that child.
  • Refer “late” kids to outreach services by our Local IAP Coordinators.
  • You can run your own Reminder/Recall Report to find children that are not up to date.

What is the cost of using CT WiZ in my office?

The only cost associated with using CT WIZ is the monthly fee of your Internet Service Provider (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla, etc.)

Are practices that administer vaccines required to report to CT WiZ?

Yes.  Connecticut State regulations states that all offices that administer vaccines to children must report them to the state registry.

Click here for the CT WiZ Confidentiality Agreement CT WIZ.

How are vaccination histories of patients reported to CT WiZ?

Each month, CT WiZ sends a “Compliancy” report to each pediatric practice asking for immunization histories on kids who have turned 8 and 20 months of age. These are two key times when immunization status should be reviewed.

Similarly, a 2-year-old clean up report, known as the “Goldenrod” Clean Up report is also sent each year as a last effort to try to bring your 2-year-old population up-to-date with their immunizations.

Providers will be able to enter the immunizations into CT WiZ as they administer them or when they receive their monthly "Compliancy" reports or through reporting by their electronic health record (EHR).

A new patient transferred into my office, how can I obtain their immunization record?

You can request access to CT WiZ to access the medical records.

If you are a health care provider intending to administer vaccines to a child who needs to know a child's immunization history for a child not in your practice to determine whether additional doses of vaccine are needed, please call the State Immunization Program at 860-509-7929 with the following information:

  • child’s first name and last name
  • child’s date of birth
  • your facility’s name and town
  • your phone number and fax number

If you are a health care provider who needs to officially document a child's immunization status to meet state day care or school immunization entry requirements, please send a fax request to the State Immunization Program at 860-707-1925 with the following information:

  • child’s first name and last name
  • child’s date of birth
  • your facility’s name and town
  • your phone number and fax number

You may also mail a written request to the State Immunization Program at:

Attn: CT WIZ

Connecticut Department of Public Health

State Immunization Program
410 Capitol Ave., MS #11MUN
Hartford, CT 06134

 

Or, you may contact your local IAP Coordinator. 

The Official Immunization Record includes the child's immunization status as reported to the CT WiZ Program, including name and date of each vaccine dose given or permanently exempted, and name and birth date of the child. Currently, the CT WiZ program tracks children up to two years of age. Starting in late 2018, we will begin to bring clinics online with direct access and Electronic Health Record (EHR) electronic data exchange with CT WiZ and will be able to capture immunizations beyond age two.

Important Note:  These records from the immunization registry do not include booster doses.  Providers will need to add the booster doses to these records.


How is the immunization rate for our practice determined?

Immunization coverage reports are generated for all Connecticut practices based on a child’s immunization status on their 2nd birthday. Up-to-date coverage includes: 4 DTaP, 3 polio, 1 MMR, 3 hepatitis B, Hib given age appropriately, 1 Varicella or Varicella disease, and 4 PCV.

You can run your own rates for your clinic in CT WiZ by going to the Reports module. In the Coverage Reports section, access the AFIX Data Snapshot Reports.

What would contribute to an immunization rate being lower than expected?

The following scenarios can contribute to lower than expected rates.

  • Sometimes children in your practice are up-to-date with their immunizations but were not up-to-date at the time they turned 2 years of age. CT WIZ uses this age as a cut-off, as all children should be series complete by the time they turn 2 years of age. 
  • Some children are still late as their parents are requesting an alternate schedule or are refusing one or more vaccines.
  • Invalid doses are another significant reason for a lower than expected rate. The most commonly administered invalid dose of vaccine is the Hep B #3 not given on or after 24 weeks of age.
  • Lack of reminder and recall to the well-child visit. All too often it is found that the DTaP #4 was not given, suggesting that the older infant is not coming back to the office.

My office is extremely busy and short-staffed, who can I call to assist with conducting outreach on patients lost to follow up?

Immunization Action Plan Coordinators, or IAP’s, are people contracted through the State Health Department to raise immunization rates in target areas of the state that are at risk for being under-immunized. There are 11 IAP areas in the state of Connecticut. One of the ways IAP’s help to raise rates is to help the pediatric providers in their offices.  IAP’s can:

  • Conduct outreach on hard-to-reach kids in need of immunizations (i.e. phone calls, post cards, home visits.)
  • Identify the correct primary care provider when the office has not seen the child in their office.
  • Serve as a local resource for the latest information on immunization. They will provide you with regular updates on new recommendations, new vaccines, and changes in the law, etc. 

Click here for a list of IAP Coordinators in the state, Outreach Staff Contacts and for a Map of towns/cities served by IAP coordinators.

How do I request a user name and password to login to CT WIZ?

For School Nurses: Click here to request a user account.

For Clinics, in order to receive a user name and password for CT WiZ, your clinic must meet the following criteria:

  • The Clinic must be enrolled in the Connecticut Vaccine Program.  Click here for information on how to enroll your clinic.
  • The Clinic is reporting immunization records electronically from their EHR to CT WiZ.  Click here for Electronic Data Exchange with CT WiZ.
  • If the Clinic is reporting on paper to DPH, you may only request access if you will data enter doses administered on your patients from your CVP order into CT WiZ. 
  • The Clinic already has a primary and backup vaccine coordinator accessing CT WiZ.

          If your clinic meets the criteria, click here to request a user account.

The Connecticut DPH staff will review and approve or deny your access. 

  • If your account is approved, you will receive two emails: the first one with your username and the second email with your temporary password.  You will be required to change your temporary password and set up your password questions. 
  • If your account is denied, you will receive an email notifying you that access was denied and another email notifying you with the reason.

Where can I get help with CT WiZ?

How do I access help in CT WiZ shows you where in CT WiZ to get screen level information and videos to help you.

You can also find printable training materials at CT WiZ Training.

If you are having technical issues with the system, find help at CT WiZ Technical Support.