Immunisation Registries at regional level in Italy and the roadmap for a future Italian National Registry

Background. Immunization Information Systems, or Immunisation registries (IRs), are essential to monitor and evaluate the accessibility, quality and outcomes of immunisation programmes both at local and national level. Study design. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in order to investigate and map the level of IRs implementation obtained by the 21 Italian Regional Health Authorities. On this basis we defined a roadmap towards implementing an Italian National IR. Methods. We designed an online questionnaire. Data were collected from July to September 2016 from all the 21 Regional Health Authorities in charge of infectious diseases control and immunization management. Results. 18/21 Italian Regions have fully implemented an IR, out of them, 11 use the same software for all Local Health Units. Two Regions have partially implemented their IRs and one Region is not yet computerised. Conclusions. The decentralization of the Italian Health System is reflected also on the IRs characteristics and functionalities in terms of fragmented implementation of IRs and diversity in the software systems and data flows in place. Future efforts should not only aim not only to clarify the functionalities of Regional IRs, but should also aim to define how aggregation of data at national level can be optimised.