Find the best Vaccine Management Software

Vaccinations have become more important than ever recently. If you're a government leader, a public health organization, or a healthcare official with this Herculean task of vaccinating millions of people, you need to evaluate vaccination progress, monitor vaccination distribution, schedule vaccinations for patients, generate guidelines for citizens, and support transparency in the vaccination process.

Good thing there is vaccine management software to come to the rescue. This software will allow you to manage vaccination processes and workflows with features such as inventory management for managing and maintaining the supply chain, reporting and analytics for creating dashboards and trackers, and patient management features for storing patient-related information and tracking vaccination doses.

In this buyer's guide, we’ll explain what vaccine management software is, its common features, its benefits, and the latest trends that software buyers should watch for.

Here's what we'll cover:

• What is vaccine management software?
• Common features of vaccine management software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of vaccine management software
• Key considerations when selecting vaccine management software
• Market trends to understand

What is vaccine management software?

Vaccine management software enables public healthcare administrators, healthcare providers, and communities to streamline the workflow of the vaccination process including scheduling, vaccination guidelines, eligibility screening, vaccine inventory management, payment processing, and vaccine distribution record management.

Along with these features, vaccine management solutions also include functionality for provider enrollment, self-service patient services, and public health community dashboards that can coordinate the process of vaccine distribution and management, and solidify the relationship between providers, patients, and distributors.

Inventory management in VaxCare (Source)

Common features of vaccine management software

Below are some common features of vaccine management software that you should watch for:

Appointment management	Register and schedule/self-schedule/reschedule appointments for vaccination slots and sites.
Medical records	Create patient medical records that include vaccination records for first and second doses as well as no-shows.
Vaccine information/guidelines	Send patients information about vaccines and what they should expect at the vaccination site. Deliver educational content to patients and address their vaccine hesitancy with knowledge bases, virtual assistants, and more.
Reminders	Send automated reminders/notifications to patients via text/email for initial and second doses, as well as specific instructions to follow once they get vaccinated.
Eligibility screening	Screen patients for clinical eligibility with the help of tools such as pre-screening surveys.
Follow-ups/alerts	Send instructions to patients via text/email about who to contact in case of emergency. Also, record any side effects they experience using an e-form.
Inventory management	Administer and record the number of doses of vaccines available, in real-time.
Waitlist management	Manage your patient queues and waitlists based on custom criteria, and set priorities, such as for healthcare workers and other frontline essential workers.

What type of buyer are you?

Consider which buyer type you are and what your specific needs are before making a decision on which tool to purchase:

• Healthcare providers: Healthcare centers and hospitals that provide vaccines to patients will have various software needs such as scheduling appointments, reporting, mass vaccine enrollment tracking, appointment and reminder management, and vaccine administration tracking. If you are one of these buyers, look for a tool that has self-registration for patients, pre-appointment surveys, and SMS/email communication to send details pertaining to the appointment and vaccine. You should look for a user-friendly interface for medical professionals to oversee the entire vaccination workflow as well as manage eligibility screening and appointment scheduling process for patients.
• Public and state-level health organizations: If you are a health organization that delivers vaccines to hospitals and healthcare providers, you need software that can track vaccine management procedures including tracking vaccine inventory in healthcare centers and analyzing vaccine-related problems in these centers. Look for a tool that has good inventory management and billing and invoicing capabilities.

Benefits of vaccine management software

Here are the key benefits of vaccine management software:

• Smooth inventory management: Vaccine management software records each and every detail about vaccine stock including shipments, quantity, location, serial numbers, vaccines used, and available supply. This not only helps hospitals and vaccine management authorities to effectively administer and manage vaccine availability but also to forecast vaccine demand and manage the quantity availability and future ordering.
• Easy appointment scheduling: With features such as appointment scheduling and automated reminders, vaccine management software helps staff check availability and create appointments. If a patient is due for their vaccine dose, either first or second, the system automatically sends a reminder to the patient about their upcoming appointment.
• Easily accessible patient records: This tool has the functionality to record patients' information that can be accessed online by multiple authorized personnel and help them track real-time data about their patients. This includes patient information such as medical history, prior vaccines, demographics, check-up reports, and other information.
• Automated invoicing and billing management: This tool can include features for automated invoicing and billing, which will help in generating invoices and bills for each patient.

Key considerations when selecting vaccine management software

• Integration: Check if the vaccine management software you are purchasing will integrate with your existing systems such as an inventory management system, electronic medical records software, human capital management system, workflow management system, or any other system that you are already using to run your facility. Having a tool that works well with your current system can eliminate the need for double data entry and will synchronize multiple systems to update data in real-time across tools.

Market trends to understand

• Data and analytics help create effective vaccine management dashboards: When it comes to the vaccine management progress, healthcare providers and government officials need access to critical information such as the availability of vaccine supplies, mortality rates, communities that might need more attention, the number of vaccines already administered, the target vaccination rate, and information on public outreach efforts to overcome vaccine reluctance. A vaccine management solution that uses data and analytics to create dashboards and trackers will help easily generate data on the vaccine process. These data-driven dashboards help communities to assess resources and track vaccine deployment across geographic areas. Furthermore, clear insights into vaccine distribution will improve tracking and monitoring efforts, will help create an equitable vaccination process through better population prioritization, and will allow for proactive communication with stakeholders such as vaccine distributors and government leaders.

With so many options, choosing the right vaccine management tool can be difficult. If you want a second opinion before making a decision, you can schedule a free call with our software advisors to learn more about your options.

Note: The application selected in this guide is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. It has been taken from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.