ASSESSING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE IN PRIVATE PRACTICE
To meet and then sustain our national health objectives for the year 2010 of eliminating most childhood vaccine-preventable diseases and of attaining 80%-90% immunization coverage of 2-year-old children, health care providers will have to improve the immunization rates of their patients. Based of the most recent scientific evidence, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services have identified periodic assessment of immunization coverage of patients by a health care provider as a key strategy for improving immunization rates. Health care providers in private practice are critical to improving immunization coverage because they administer most of the vaccination in the United States. Of the 2-year-old children in the 1998 National Survey Provider Check Study, 62% has a private provider, 19% had a public health care provider, 8% had a hospital-based provider, and 6% had another, nonpublic health care provider. The objectives of this article are to review reasons why providers should assess immunization coverage, describe which providers will benefit from assessment, and discuss what assessment is and the role it has in optimizing the deliver of immunization services.
Immunization coverage is defined as the percentage of patients in a practice who are adequately vaccinated or covered by vaccines at a certain age. This information can assist a provider in optimizing the delivery of vaccine by documenting whether eligible patients for vaccination are vaccinated on time, and if not, by identifying the reasons for inadequate vaccination. In particular, results of assessment can assist in systematically judging whether patients are undervac-cinated. In addition, periodic assessments of practice performance can be useful in tracking improvements. canadian discount pharmacy