Information as intervention: how Georgia used vaccination coverage data to double public sector vaccination coverage in seven years

Abstract

All states are now required by federal law to measure immunization coverage in each public clinic in their jurisdiction once a year. This law is based on data suggesting a twofold increase of immunization coverage in public clinics in Georgia during a seven-year period when the state developed a system for measuring clinic coverage and using these data to stimulate immunization performance. Review of the history of the development of the Georgia system suggests that measurement alone is not sufficient to raise coverage, however. In Georgia, measurement was coupled with a vigorous program of feedback of coverage data, provision of incentives for good performance, and exchange of information among clinics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has summarized the Georgia system with the acronym AFIX--Assessment, Feedback, Incentives, eXchange of information--and recommends that all state immunization program managers test and adapt this methodology. The article comments on the development of the Georgia system and describes why CDC believes other states should adopt it.