COVID Chronicle June 2021

Building Access: An Online Solution to Speed Up Vaccinations When vaccination planning kicked off in the summer of 2020, we knew that community members would need to be scheduled for their vaccines. At that time, it seemed like the solution would come from the state or federal government. As vaccine development progressed, it quickly became apparent that an approved and authorized vaccine might outpace the development of a vaccination scheduling system. Northern Light Health’s incident command teams knew that without a scheduling solution, vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people would be next to impossible. So, the vaccination planning team, Information Systems, and Marketing and Communications web development team got to work.

“Our digital services team at Northern Light Health have been instrumental in providing the technical capabilities necessary to accomplish the type of coordinated vaccination effort we have launched across our health system. Digital Services developed an entirely new platform in two weeks and has been nimble in implementing enhancements throughout this process. Without their assistance, we would surely not have been able to implement this effort as effectively. These tools will also be critical to our efforts in moving to community vaccination as well, given advanced scheduling capabilities will be a necessity with these vaccines.”

Matt Marston, PharmD VP, Northern Light Pharmacy

Bumps Along the Way The initial demand for COVID-19 vaccinations was higher than anticipated, hindering our website’s functionality during the early days of appointment releases. This created the need to scale up accessibility on the website quickly and repeatedly. Ultimately, we installed a virtual waiting room to ensure that community members would not lose their place in line. While challenges were briefly frustrating, they were resolved quickly resulting in a scheduling experience that works so well that it remains in use, even with a state solution online.

First Doses / Second Doses DAILY DOSES ADMINISTERED COVID Vaccine

(135) | (44.3%) 1st doses vs. prior wk (656) | (31.3%) total doses 205.4 avg daily doses last 7 days  

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Source: Cerner | Data as of 6/17/21 Note: Cerner data does not include Northern Light Medical Transport and Home Care & Hospice.

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