Florida SHOTS™: Keeping SHOTS in Check

We’ve been hearing that some offices are confused about expiration of certified 680s and patient PINs. In a nutshell, here’s how it works:

• You have 10 days to certify a 680 after creating a PIN, but if you don’t certify it in that amount of time, the PIN will be deleted from the system and a new pin will have to be issued.
• Once certified, a D.H. Form 680 PIN remains valid—and the form directly accessible to patients—for as long as the content on the form is valid. Any PIN assigned to a certified D.H. Form 680 will not expire prior to expiration of the certified form.

For more information about setting up direct patient access, see the “Setting Up Patient Shot Record Retrieval” or “Configurar la Recuperación del Registro de Inmunizatión del Paciente” guides.

Florida SHOTS is now offering parents a way to print their children’s Certificates of Immunization (DH Form 680s) from their home computers. With one click in Florida SHOTS, your office can create a PIN that will be attached to a certified (e-signed) Form 680. Each patient PIN is unique, system-generated, and different than the office login to the registry and allows parents to access a PDF of their child’s Certified 680 to print or save a copy of the form. The form is legal and valid in the state of Florida for admittance to schools and daycare facilities, and parents can print it on standard white paper.

Florida SHOTS helps relieve back-to-school stress for parents in the following ways:

• Consolidates all immunization records for any vaccinations that a child has received from multiple healthcare providers
• Provides an accurate, official copy of a child’s immunization history to enrolled healthcare providers, schools and childcare centers
• Allows access to electronically certified DH 680s at www.flshots.com once healthcare providers give parents the system-generated PIN and ID for secure login

For more information about setting up parent access, see the Setting Up Patient Shot Record Retrieval or Configurar la Recuperación del Registro de Inmunizatión del Paciente guides. You can also visit the parent login page.

With another school year approaching and stacks of 680 requests, Florida SHOTS is reminding healthcare providers to keep immunization records up-to-date and easily accessible through Florida SHOTS online immunization registry. Florida SHOTS offers a manageable solution to doctor’s offices faced with back-to-school 680 requests as it allows registered healthcare providers, schools and childcare centers, and parents quick access to printable and electronically certified DH Form 680s (now accepted on plain paper!).
Florida SHOTS provides the following benefits for physicians:

• Prints a 680 in 27 seconds compared to the 2 ½ minutes required to write a blue form by hand
• Provides a reliable immunization history for any child, whether a new or continuing patient
• Produces the legal immunization record (DH Form 680) required for school, camp and day care center attendance and creates a system-certified electronic copy accessible to schools, childcare centers, and parents
• Identifies patients’ previously reported contraindications
• Provides definitive information on immunizations that are due or overdue
• Reduces paperwork by automating reporting as well as recall and reminder functions

Parents accessing the certified Form 680 from the Florida SHOTS website are required to enter the Certification PIN and State IMM Id found on an information sheet produced by the registry.

You have the option to create a PIN each time you e-sign a certified Form 680. You can choose to create both the PIN and the certified 680 at the same time or not create a PIN at all for a certified 680. (Your office will have up to 10 days to certify a 680 once you’ve created the PIN. PINs continue to work for parent login for as long as the 680 is valid.) When you select the option to create a pin, Florida SHOTS generates the information sheet with the Certification PIN and State Imm Id for you to give to the parent.

For more information, see the Setting Up Patient Shot Record Retrieval or Configurar la Recuperación del Registro de Inmunizatión del Paciente guides. You can also visit the parent login page.

1. Median time to hand write a blue form is 2½ minutes. Double that if a patient needs one for school and daycare. Updates also must be written at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 4 years old, and 12 years old. Alternatively, you can use Florida SHOTS to search for, electronically certify, and print a 680 in less than a minute.
2. It takes 2 1/2 minutes to write out a 680 form but only 27 seconds to certify and print an accurate, up-to-date 680 form from Florida SHOTS. This saves an average of 2 minutes for each patient that needs a duplicate or updated 680.
3. Data upload allows you to batch and transmit an unlimited number of patient immunization records to the Florida SHOTS secure database in less than 4 minutes.
4. By using Florida SHOTS for a typical patient visit rather than hand writing a 680, you save on average 10 hours per 1,000 patient immunization visits. (This includes time spent using Florida SHOTS to search for the patient’s immunization history, adding missing historical data, adding that day’s shots, certifying, and printing records.)

• 10 RN hours = $247.20*
• 10 LPN hours = $174.60*
• 10 certified nurse assistant hours = $105.80*
• 10 administrative/office manager hours = $144.40*

*Cost savings are calculated based on the median hourly rate by job for the state of Florida, 2/15/09, and do not include overhead and benefits costs associated with staff.

For more information on how Florida SHOTS can save you time, see the Time Savings Study Flyer or watch the Race for the Records: Paper vs. Florida SHOTS video.