NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville-based company has launched new technology to ease problems with the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

The updated application assists hospitals and health systems in administering and tracking COVID-19 vaccines. It comes as a number of states are reporting they’re running out of the vaccine.

“You’re starting with two different manufacturing distributing to 50 states who are then distributing to hundreds of health systems who are then distributing to thousands of pharmacies across the country and ultimately into the arms of millions, it’s a logistical nightmare,” said Robert Chamberlain, co-founder and CEO of Applied Health Analytics.

With long wait times, clutter and confusion, many say the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine has been anything but a dream.

“You would think there would be a better system, but the reality of it is, this is the first time this has happened, health systems have never faced this issue before, the country has never faced this issue before,” said Chamberlain.

What’s worse, some fear our country has hit a roadblock with the vaccine rollout. Tens of thousands of people who managed to get appointments for a first dose are seeing them canceled.

About half of the 31 million doses distributed have been administered so far, according to the CDC.

“The challenge is it’s a dual dose regimen and there’s a length of time between the first and second dose,” said Chamberlain.

Thankfully, Chamberlain and his team say they have a tool to ease the strain, launching bMetrix™ COVID-19 Vaccine Inoculation Management, Member Communication and Reporting Solution.

The application was developed to streamline the tracking and reporting of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution, while mitigating challenges that can lead to errors in dosage registration, data collection and reporting.

Applied Health Analytics’ application is designed to combat obstacles currently plaguing the distribution plan including:

• Lack of a comprehensive tracking platform: In lieu of an integrated technology software that can efficiently track and manage multidose inoculations, health systems have resorted to using commonplace platforms like SignUpGenius that are not compatible or designed for healthcare needs.

• Long wait times and disorganized distribution: Without a coordinated system that tracks vaccine inventory and schedules patient appointments, elderly and vulnerable populations have been suffering long wait times.

• Inefficient follow-up measures: Providers need to be able to track vaccine distribution based on each vaccine manufacturer and when the next dose is required. 

• Confusion surrounding hospital reimbursement: Without accurate tracking and data collection, hospitals and health systems are unequipped to understand the reimbursement process for each state.

“Collecting that information and being able to make it available to the state and federal registries is as important as anything else to determine did Operation Warp Speed and the resulting pharmaceutical achieve the result it intended,” said Chamberlain.

These features are an update to Applied Health Analytics’ bMetrix Biometric Screening application, which, the company says, has long been trusted by hospitals and health systems to track and manage influenza vaccinations – each feature enhances the bMetrix’s ability to manage the multidose distribution that is specific to the COVID-19 vaccines.

To learn more about bMetrix and Applied Health Analytics, please visit appliedhealth.net.