Leap of Faith Technologies Wins Phase II Grant to Expand Web-Based Immunization Registry

Keeping track of a child’s immunizations may become easier for both parents and medical providers, thanks to a research and development project being conducted by Leap of Faith Technologies, Inc. Working with a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health, Leap of Faith is expanding the V@ccess Interactive Immunization Web site it developed in 1998. V@ccess provides information on immunizations and the diseases they protect against, and includes a shot registry and immunization schedules. Development of the site, which is available on the Internet at www.immun.com, was funded by an NIH Phase I SBIR grant.

“In Phase I, we focused on what we call the patient interface-a Web site providing disease and immunization information for parents of young children,” says Barbara Rapchak, CEO of Leap of Faith. “Parents could read about all of the vaccines and diseases, get links to local immunization providers, and look up their own children’s shot records. Our study of over 100 parents showed that the site was an effective way to communicate this information, and found that parents were extremely positive about using the site.”

Tools for Families and Doctors
In Phase II, Leap of Faith will refine the patient interface, adding recent information and new features such as multiple-language versions and audio enhancement for low-literacy users. The company will also develop a provider Web site to give doctors, health departments, and other medical providers the ability to enter shot records, look up children’s immunization histories, and create compliance reports.

Rapchack notes that the ultimate goal is a system that can provide a complete immunization history for every child, which will be available to both the child’s parents and medical providers. “The payoff of this program will come when most providers are entering their vaccine records into the registry,” she says. “At that point, parents won’t have to worry about tracking shot records if they’ve taken their children to different providers, and doctors or nurses can retrieve a child’s immunization status to determine what shots are due.” While the informational components of the site will be viewable to anyone, access to individuals’ medical data will be password-protected and held in a secure database.

Another key feature is an interactive shot scheduler. “The immunization schedules for young children are straightforward,” Rapchak says, “but for children whose records are incomplete or who have gotten behind in their shots, getting caught up can be very complicated.” The scheduler will allow the provider to enter the information that is known, and create a shot schedule that will catch the child up with the fewest number of visits.

Leap of Faith will be working in Phase II with Health Departments from McHenry and Winnebago Counties in Illinois, private health care providers, and researchers from Iowa State University’s Institute for Social and Behavioral Research. Assistance in recruiting and promotion will come from local churches, community groups, and social service agencies.

Leap of Faith Technologies, Inc., in Crystal Lake, IL, specializes in technical and social marketing for industry as well as the public sector. The company has received nine SBIR grants from the National Institutes of Health for research programs in health education technology.

February 21, 2001

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