**2008 National Immunization Conference**

**Ad Hoc Questions and Answers**

Question: The shipping data are not coming back to VACMAN accurately.
The number of doses, date, and lot numbers are wrong.

Answer: The information in VACMAN comes to VACMAN from McKesson
Specialty Distribution. This falls into one of the CQI measures, which
is data integrity.

Question: The reconciliation process of doses and monthly replenishment
does not match up with McKesson Specialty Distribution reports and
VACMAN data. Is anyone looking at this and when will we have reliable
data?

Answer: Yes, we are looking at this and we are not sure when it will be
corrected.

Question: What are the current problems with VACMAN and what is being
fixed and when?

Answer: It appears that CDC may be getting the receipt information from
McKesson Specialty Distribution, but the receipts are not being packaged
to return to the grantees. We are researching this issue.

Question: What will the new patch on VACMAN do?

Answer: Fix the minimal order quantity problem, assist with data
matching up, and other bugs reported with VACMAN 4.1.3. (See below.)

Question: With the new VACMAN, we can not run reports of doses shipped.

Answer: We will send a change request to the control board for this.

Question: Can the report of orders pending be sent to the grantee?

Answer: Grantees can review pending orders in VACMAN by looking at
"Orders Entered, Not Yet Sent to CDC" and "Orders Sent to CDC, Not Yet
Shipped" reports.

Question: Why do we find out about cancelled orders only after calling
CDC?

Answer: Now we have a system in place where grantees receive cancelled
orders by email.

Question: How should we handle excise tax credit?

Answer: We are preparing an All Grantee Message and will send that very
soon.

Question:        We are still having problems with the daily shipping
log. We have situations where a provider has received the order and
receipt of the order is not on the shipping logs for at least the next
three days. We reported to Leigh at McKesson Specialty Distribution.

Answer:           We did have some technical issues upon automating this
report. Our IT department has been working on these issues. Please
remember to report all problems to McKesson Specialty Customer Care.

Question:        When we receive the scanned packing slips/invoices from
McKesson Specialty Distribution for our state and 317-FA purchases, they
are not readable.

Answer:           Please contact McKesson Specialty Customer Care and a
new copy can be sent.

Question: I am frustrated with the data. Why does an order go through
three different systems at McKesson Specialty Distribution?

Answer:           There are actually two systems at McKesson Specialty
Distribution although we are looking at options to resolve any confusion
by using SAP only. It is not easy to do. Our goal is to have it resolved
by January 2009.

Question:        If DT arrives frozen, does it go against the grantee's
funded DT?

Answer:          No

Question:        Will the Sacramento facility meet same performance
metrics as Memphis is supposed to?

Answer:          Yes, they are held to the same standards as Memphis.

Question:        VMBIP was supposed to free up resources, but now it is
using these resources.  Are grantees going to get more resources and or
funding?

Answer: We realize that the ordering process is more labor intensive for
grantees than what was done previously.  We are requesting some
additional funding from the Office of Management and Budget to help with
the ordering process until VTrckS is operational and providers do their
ordering. We have reduced the grants awards for distribution costs,
because those costs are now being supported through the federal contract
with McKesson Specialty Distribution.

Question:        What is the future of VACMAN's replacement?

Answer:          The blueprint for VTrckS is being reviewed. A blueprint
is a process model that defines the VTrckS scope of functionality and
identifies

> process gaps, development requirements, etc. Reviewing the blueprint
> requires extensive involvement from business subject matter experts
> and Information Technology. We are including grantees in this process
> review. After the review process and approval is completed, we can
> begin building the system. We anticipate a completion date for the 2nd
> quarter of 2009 with piloting and roll-out to follow. 

 

Question: Help me understand the Hib vaccine allocation process.

Answer: This answer was from a May 1st communication from Dr. Greg
Wallace:  "We used the grantee bulk order data for 2006 to determine the
allocation basis.  We did not want to use 2007 bulk order data due to
transitioning and draw down tools.

> For CY2006, Maryland's monthly average Hib purchases were 4,800 doses
> of PedVaxHib, 4,600 doses of ActHib and 100 doses of Comvax. For a
> 3-dose schedule we took 75% of the ActHib number plus the total
> PedVaxHib plus Comvax since it is being replaced with ActHib during
> the shortage. This gives a basis of 4,800 doses.
>
> How much each grantee gets each month depends on the total amount
> available for the month and the grantees all get the same proportion.
>
> This approach was done for all of the grantees. I know this shortage
> is very difficult for the grantees and the providers because they must
> be using all they get as soon as it comes and then have to wait for
> more.  But going to a 2-dose schedule would mean up to 300,000 doses a
> month would not be recommended for use and would decrease protection.
> So, I know that everyone is struggling to keep up with a 3-dose
> schedule, but going to 2 doses would mean vaccine not getting used in
> a shortage.
>
> Also, perhaps of interest, we did a provider survey in April which
> showed that 18-30% of providers were still giving the 12-15 month
> booster dose while 12-15% weren\'t giving the 6-month dose presumably
> due to supply. So, there may be an opportunity for provider education
> for those still giving the booster to defer and free up some doses."

Question: My state took a big hit because we were PedVax only and most
of our PedVax in the field was in the recall. 

Answer: The answer given at the NIC is out of date, and is being
replaced with this one: The Vaccine Supply and Assurance Branch obtained
a modest amount of additional Hib vaccine from sanofi pasteur in April
and allocated that vaccine selectively to states who were
disproportionately affected by the Hib vaccine shortage.

Question: Why do we get 25% of our HIB allocation each week?

Answer: The answer given at the NIC is out of date, and is being
replaced with this one:  Grantees are no longer restricted to ordering
only 25% of their monthly Hib allocation per week. Please use discretion
in determining how much of the monthly allocation to order each week. 
There should be sufficient doses to cover Hib orders as long as all
grantees do not put all their orders in on the first of the month.  As
long as grantees pace their ordering, we should not experience any more
Hib inventory stock outs. As you can see from McKesson\' Specialty
Distribution's performance metrics, McKesson Specialty Distribution is
shipping out the vast majority of orders within three shipping days, so
please refrain from using the \"urgent\" order box in VACMAN for Hib
orders unless absolutely necessary.

**Change Request Précis VACMAN 4.1.4.**

**Expected release date is summer 2008.**

**The following were approved by the Change Control Board (CCB).**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Description**
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Cancellation Reasons. Provide refined definitions with the status codes
  in VACMAN.

  Vaccine Order Type Flag. Add a flag on the order record to indicate
  that the order is Non-Federal (state funded).

  Override Flag for Minimum Orders. Allow grantees to order less than the
  minimum order size (example 1 dose versus Unit x Pkg Size) for selected
  vaccines. This functionality will be available only on the provider
  order/multi order screen.

  Provider Enrollment versus Doses Ordered (CkProvProfile Doses Order).
  Need to have quantity of doses ordered bump up against provider profile
  information.

  Add RecType to MSH. Developers need the ability to rebuild stock
  records in the users' datasets. This change will allow us to automate
  returning lost stock records back to the users' datasets.

  Urgent Flag for Non-CDC Orders. Grantees need the ability to designate
  non-CDC vaccine orders as Urgent.

  Transaction Screen. (1) User requests ability to type-in data on the
  Transaction Screen. (2) Increase width of expiration date column in the
  lot drop down list. (3) VACMAN is changing doses to zero after a record
  is saved if the user does not tab off of the Doses field.

  Validate NDC and Minimum Order. Registry grantees that cut and paste
  vaccines into the new orders table bypass all the validation checks in
  VACMAN, and we continue to get orders with invalid NDCs, etc.

  Cancellation Report. Add cancellation information to the existing
  backorders report available in VACMAN.

  Orders Transmitted and Not Yet Shipped report. Add filtering capability
  to report so that it is consistent with other report formats in VACMAN.
  (Filter on date range/PIN, etc.)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**The following contained a bug and CCB approval was not required.**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Description**

  Import/Export of Non-Federal Orders. WA tried to import order for DT
  and was unsuccessful.

  Flu Order Issue. The flu screen allows users to order minimum order of
  1 dose. When the vaccine unit = 10 and pkgsize =1, minimum order should
  be 10. The current logic allows users to order doses below the minimum
  requirement.

  Order History does not show multiple receipts. The order history is not
  showing vaccine orders with multiple receipts. When there are multiple
  receipts for an order the Order History should reflect the total number
  of receipts for the order (e.g., receipt 1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc.)

  Provider Mailing Zip Code. NE reported an issue with Provider Mailing
  Zip Code. When the user tried the Copy Shipping information button to
  the mailing information, the mailing zip code was not saving the
  mailing zip code data.

  Report Selection by Presentation. Users are unable to select reports by
  vaccine presentation or maker/NDC number. (Example: Flu by specific
  presentation. User retrieves data for all flu orders, but needs ability
  to validate McKesson Specialty Distribution inventory balances so
  should be able to narrow flu orders on the report).

  Vaccine Dropdown - Not Delete Condition. When a new contract file gets
  pushed to the grantees and updates the vaccine tables, users are still
  able to order vaccines that went off contract because it still appears
  in the dropdown.

  Provider Search. Utah reported when searching for PIN 7, the result
  returned PIN 70.

  Shortcuts not Working on the Doses Administered screen. Shortcuts for
  Doses Administered, Non-CDC vaccines, is not working when user presses
  the Tab or Return keys.

  2008 Flu Season Order Pre-Booking. Grantees need the ability to
  pre-book flu orders prior to the start of the 2008/2009 flu season.

  Modify Backup Function. The backup function has created a duplicate
  data folder within the VACMAN data directory; the application does not
  know which data folder to read and write to.

  Doses Admin screen bug. When user adds a Non-CDC vaccine, the screen
  will not display the Non-CDC vaccine correctly

  Doses Admin Report bug. The Doses Admin report is not showing the
  correct data.

  Doses Distributed vs. Doses Admin Bug. The Doses Distributed versus
  Doses Administered Report displays different data for a provider than
  the data on the Transaction Report for the same provider.

  Import Bug. When importing a Direct Ship order, if the first record is
  rejected, the remaining records are also rejected. When importing
  Provider Orders, the system rejects on a good provider PIN.
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

This document can be found on the CDC website at:

<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vmbip/downloads/nic/08-nic-vmbip-ah-mt.doc>