Use of Person Locator Service to Facilitate Immunization Information System-Based Adolescent Reminder Project

To determine the impact of using a person locator service to reduce undeliverable addresses for an immunization information system (IIS)-based reminder project.

Return mail was compared at address-difference levels between original IIS addresses and updated addresses.

Minnesota residents were targeted for an immunization reminder postcard based on address.

Both 11- and 12-year-olds with a Minnesota address in Minnesota's IIS.

An immunization reminder postcard was mailed to households of participants.

Reminder postcard return rates were tracked for address-difference levels between original IIS addresses and updated addresses. Return mail rates were track at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level and analyzed for demographic characteristic associations.

Postcards had significantly lower odds of return when an address was confirmed (odds ratio [OR] = 0.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08-0.1; P < .001) or had major updates (OR = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.44-0.49; P < .001) than when no new address information was obtained. Significant, positive associations were found between return rate and both ZCTA-level poverty rate (γ = 0.235, P < .001) and ZCTA-level percentage of nonwhite residents (γ = 0.301, P < .001).

Use of a person locator service is a promising method for reducing the barrier incorrect address information poses to successful reminder/recall notification. Implementation of person locator services could improve the data quality of address information in the IIS and success of outreach attempts by IIS users.