ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico has one of the most successful vaccination programs to fight COVID 19 among the fifty states. With the highest fully vaccinated rate in the nation, its centralized system for vaccine rollout has become the envy of all other states. The state’s approach to vaccination has been different from all others and it’s working.
According to the Center for Disease Control, New Mexico has ranked first or second in the nation for many weeks for vaccination rates – 53.7% of residents have received the first dose and 35.7% are fully vaccinated. 1,480,512 shots have been given and more than half of the state’s adults have received at least their first dose.
What the country is starting to notice is that New Mexico’s amazing success came together because of an unprecedented and groundbreaking partnership between Real Time Solutions, an Albuquerque tech company, the Governor and the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH).
As the vaccines became available late last year, the Governor and NMDOH tasked Real Time Solutions with the challenge of creating a centralized system for public registration, scheduling appointments, sending notifications, and recording and reporting the vaccinations.
Since developing the site that went live on December 23, 2020, Real Time Solutions works on it continuously to ensure smooth operations as providers and New Mexico residents sign up.
“We’ve worked around the clock for six months to get this right,” said Chris Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer at Real Time Solutions. “This has been a terrific public-private partnership with the Governor and NMDOH to create the most effective system in the country.”
The beauty of the system is its ability to bring so many providers and users into one portal. It eliminated the administrative burden for providers and removed the burden of searching for a shot for the registrants.
The country is noticing as well. Politico released a story titled, “The unlikely state setting the U.S. vaccination pace.” It writes, “New Mexico in recent days became the state first to provide at least one dose to half of its adult population, and a nation-leading 38 percent of adults are fully vaccinated.” This according to a Kaiser Family Foundation Review. “They are an exemplar,” said George Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Their model works.”
In addition, Forbes Magazine published a story titled, “This State Has Already Vaccinated Most Adult Residents. Here’s How.”
And most recently, The New York Times published a story that says New Mexico “is a vaccination pacesetter thanks to decisive political decisions, homegrown technology and cooperation.”
New Mexicans have had uniformly smooth sailing with vaccination rollout from the centralized portal set up by Real Time Solutions. Residents first registered and received official notifications, then they were placed in a phased priority list and when their name came up, they received an appointment from a working team at NMDOH. They received emails or text alerts as reminders through the system. Before arriving at their appointment, the system reminded them to fill out the online medical questionnaire. After the shots, they were either given a 15- or 30-minute wait time for allergic reactions and notified by text and email when it was up and they could leave. A notification automatically scheduling the patient’s booster appointment was sent as soon as the first dose was given. The packaged data that is collected on the portal is reported to the CDC and NMDOH at the end of each day.
“The whole process was digitized in one system,” said Chris Schroeder. “From initial scheduling, to the medical questionnaire, to reporting the number of vaccinations administered each day, the portal has been integral in getting vaccines to as many New Mexicans as possible.”
In addition, Real Time Solutions has set up a call center that contacts and tracks residents who do not have access to a computer or smart phone. “We worked to make the system accessible to residents unfamiliar with technology and those who have disabilities,” said Steve Schroeder, CEO at Real Time Solutions. “So, we’ve made registration and alerts available through the website and phone.”
Getting providers onboarded to the system was also key to New Mexico’s success. Over three hundred providers joined the centralized system, rather than managing outreach and scheduling appointment themselves in addition to administering the vaccines. Unlike programs done in other states, New Mexico providers were allowed to use the centralized system. Providers are not charged for using the system and frequent training is made available.
Using the system, NMDOH operators can schedule anywhere from one to 30,000 vaccine appointments with the click of a button.
Real Time Solutions provided the state with an intricate mapping system from all the registrants, something unique to New Mexico. The mapping showed the location of every registrant in the state. NMDOH could then use the priority system to draw from the database and schedule appointments in the most efficient way. And, for instance, if vaccines were available at the end of the day, instead of throwing them away, NMDOH would use the system to notify people nearby of available doses. In that way, all of the vaccines were used.
“New Mexico had a great vision to use a centralized system,” said Steve Schroeder. “The system really worked. All this hard work reflects that we got the job done for New Mexicans.”