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Michigan has announced plans to expand its electronic childhood immunization registry to include obesity rates, Government Health IT  reports. Specifically, the state will expand upon its Web-based Michigan Care and Improvement Registry, which is currently used by 95 percent of physicians in the state to track immunizations, as well as lead levels, newborn health outcomes, hearing and vision. State officials and leaders from the Ann Arbor-based Altarum Institute Childhood Obesity Prevention Mission Project will collaborate to update the registry to collect children's height and weight measurements, according to Matt Longjohn, the project's director. The new data will allow the registry to track body mass index (BMI) measurements on each child, providing physicians and public health officials with accurate data to better identify children who are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Providers and public health leaders can then use the data to evaluate the success of programs designed to prevent or reduce obesity. Meanwhile, Longjohn notes that the addition of BMI tracking brings the state's immunization registry closer to becoming a more comprehensive child health information system. Health officials are currently working on the technical aspects of the project and expect it to launch in approximately nine months. Several other states have begun to collect BMI data on children, including Arizona, which has the nation's most extensive collection system operated through its school system. According to Government Health IT, California's San Diego County is also in the early stages of bringing physicians on board to incorporate a BMI component in their immunization registry (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 5/14/09).