Record and send immunisations to the AIR

Quick Reference Guide

Immunisations are recorded from the patient record, including the childhood immunisation schedule.

As of Saffron SP3, you can view vaccination information and update some patient details on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) via Bp Premier. See Access Australian Immunisation Register information for more information.

As of Saffron SP3, immunisations can be sent directly to the AIR from the immunisation screen.

Set up access to send immunisations to the AIR

In Saffron SP3, access to send immunisations to the AIR and view AIR data in Bp Premier depends on provider type.

Medical practitioners, midwives and nurse practitioners will have access to AIR information via their provider numbers. Add a user's provider number via Setup > Users > Edit > Location manager.

See Add provider details for more information.

If providers without individual provider numbers require access to send immunisations to the AIR and view AIR data, add an AIR provider number for the practice location via Setup > Practice details > Practice locations > Edit.

Find your location AIR provider number

If you do not yet have an AIR provider number at location level, you must complete and submit the Application to register as a vaccination provider form (IM004). You must send the completed form to your state or territory health department. Once your application has been approved by your state or territory health department, they will forward the application to Services Australia for processing.

Your location AIR provider number will be seven characters, comprised of letters and numbers.

If you require assistance from Services Australia regarding the Location AIR provider number, ensure you mention that you are calling about an 'Ancillary provider for the practice'.

See Add practice location details for more information.

If a provider does not have an individual provider number, and a location AIR provider number has not been supplied, and error message will appear when attempting to send immunisations to the AIR or view AIR data.

Record an immunisation

NOTE  Step 3 only applies to patients under 8 years old. This step can be skipped for all other patients.

1. Open the patient record for the patient you want to add an immunisation record for.
2. Select Immunisations from the left hand tree. The Vaccines given list will be displayed.

If the patient is under eight years old, the screen shows the childhood immunisation schedule to the left of the Vaccines given list. Vaccinations that the patient is too young for will be disabled.



If the patient is over 8 years old, the childhood immunisation schedule will not display.



3. If you are administering the birth Hep B vaccination, tick the Birth checkbox in the childhood immunisation schedule and select the date administered from the Birth Hepatitis B vaccination popup.



4. To record a childhood schedule vaccination, tick the checkbox for that vaccine. To record vaccines for patients over 8 years old, click Add from above the vaccines given list. The Immunisation screen will appear.

NOTE  If the minimum details for a patient to be identified by the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) have not been added to the patient demographic, an alert will appear indicating which details will need to be added to send the immunisation to the AIR.



5. Select the vaccination from the Available Vaccines list at the top of the window.
6. The Billing provider and Given by fields default to the logged-in user, but can be changed. The Billing provider field is the name that appears on the AIR list when transmitted.

NOTE  The Billing Provider field is set to the logged-in user if the user has a provider number. Otherwise, Billing Provider is blank by default.

In Saffron SP3 or later, select Given overseas from the Billing provider: field to record a vaccination that was not received in Australia. The Country: field will be enabled. Select the country that the vaccine was received in.

7. Select the Site and Route of administration.
8. Select the Sequence number for the vaccination.
9. Select a vaccination Batch No. if batch numbers have been defined, or enter a number as free text if known.
10. The Serial No: field is only used for recording COVID-19 vaccinations. See COVID Vaccinations and AIR Submission for more information.
11. In Saffron SP2 or later, if you are recording a vaccination for a student in a school program, you can use the School ID: field to select the school if your practice has added it as a contact. See Add a new contact for more information.
12. Enter any additional Comment for the vaccination.

NOTE  Site, Sequence, Route, and Comments are not mandatory fields.

13. Click Save batch details if you free typed the batch number, but want it recorded against the vaccination type in the Bp Premier list of batch numbers.
14. Tick Send reminder to add an immunisation reminder to the patient record for the date indicated in the Reminder date field.
15. If you have upgraded to Saffron SP3, ensure Send to AIR is ticked (it will be ticked by default) and click Save to save the immunisation in Bp Premier and send the immunisation to the AIR. Otherwise, untick Send to AIR and click Save to save the immunisation in Bp Premier without sending the immunisation to the AIR. Click Cancel to exit the screen without saving or sending to the AIR.

Confirming an encounter

If the patient does not yet exist in the AIR, or the information recorded in the encounter is inconsistent with existing AIR data (for example, the immunisation has already been recorded in the AIR), an error will display requesting that you adjust the encounter or confirm that the information is correct. Click Yes to confirm the data is correct, or No to adjust the encounter and resend.

If you chose not to confirm the encounter but you wish to resend the encounter without adjusting it, you can confirm the encounter by right-clicking it and selecting Confirm pend.

Sending immunisations to the AIR

If you unticked the Send to AIR check box and clicked Save, right-click the immunisation and click Edit to return to the Immunisation screen. Tick the Send to AIR check box and click Save to send the immunisation to AIR.

Otherwise, from the Bp Premier home screen select Utilities > Australian Immunisation Register. A list of unsent immunisations will appear. Select Send to AIR. See Send immunisation records to AIR for more information.

If you are working in remote mode the Send to AIR check box will not be available. You must Save any immunisation records created in remote mode and send to the AIR via the Australian Immunisation Register screen. See Send immunisation records to AIR for more information.

Edit an immunisation

To edit a successful immunisation, right-click the immunisation and select Edit. Make any required changes, ensure Update and Send to AIR is ticked (it will be ticked by default) and click Save to send the updated immunisation to the AIR.

For immunisations recorded by providers with a Medicare provider number, only the provider who recorded the encounter will be able to edit it. Otherwise if the immunisation was recorded at a location has a single AIR provider number, only users from the location will be able to edit the immunisation.

Edit immunisations sent to the AIR in Saffron SP2 and earlier

Immunisations sent to the AIR in Saffron SP2 or earlier cannot be edited and resent in Saffron SP3 or later.

If you need to update an immunisation sent in Saffron SP2 or earlier and you have upgraded to Saffron SP3 or later, you must update the immunisation manually in HPOS.

If you recorded an immunisation in Saffron SP2 or earlier and the immunisation was not sent to the AIR successfully and needs to be resent in Saffron SP3 or later, you must delete the original immunisation, recreate it, and send the new immunisation to the AIR.

Print, save, or resend a vaccination list

1. Select Clinical > Immunisations from the main menu. The Immunisation list will appear.



2. Click the Vaccine drop down box to select the immunisation list to be printed.
3. Use the options at the top of the screen to filter the search results:
• Given by
• Start date
• End date
• Born before
• Born after
4. Select Print each doctor's list on separate pages when printing details to separate the printed list of immunisations by doctor.

The Immunisation list will display any immunisations recorded that meet the filter criteria.

5. To open a patient's record, select the name and select File > Open Patient or click on the toolbar.

After you have created a list of immunisations, you can save to file, resend to AIR, print a formatted list, or print a simple list.

Save to file

1. Select File > Save.
2. Enter the File name to save the file as and select the file type required in the Save as type field: XML, CSV, or TXT format.
3. Click Save.

Resend to AIR

1. Select File > Resend to AIR.

Use this function when you identify immunisations that have not been received by the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) and need to be resent. All immunisations in the list will be marked and appear in the Australian Immunisation Register screen for transmission to Medicare. See Send immunisation records to AIR for more information.

Print a formatted list

1. Select File > Print details or click on the toolbar. This option prints an Immunisation Register in a format suitable for submission to bodies such as the HPV Register. An example formatted printout is shown below.

Print a simple list

1. Select File > Print list to print a simple list of the immunisations displayed.

Add an injection as a procedure

Injections that are not listed in the immunisation screen can be recorded through the Procedure screen in Today's Notes.

1. Select Procedure from the row of buttons at the bottom of Today's Notes in the Patient record. The Procedure screen will appear.
2. Type your search term into the search: field at the top of the screen and click Keyword search. The Procedure list will populate with results.
3. Select the injection to be administered from the Procedure list. If it is not listed, free type the injection into the Procedure: field.
4. Add any relevant information such as the injection batch number or expiry date to the Further details field and tick any applicable check boxes to the right of the Procedure list.
5. Click Save.

Last updated 02 February 2022