Adult Vaccines: Most Doctors Don’t Stock All Of Them

Less than one in three primary care practices offer all 10 recommended adult vaccines, citing a variety of financial and logistical reasons.

Researchers sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sampled 993 family physicians and 997 general internists. Of the respondents, 27 percent (31 percent of family practitioners and 20 percent of internists) stocked all 10. Results appear in the Feb. 17 issue of the journal Vaccine.

The 10 vaccines were hepatitis A; hepatitis B; human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV); combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR); meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4); pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPSV23); tetanus diphtheria (Td); combined tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap); varicella; and zoster.

Of the responding practices, two percent plan to stop vaccine purchases, 12 percent plan to increase them and the rest had no plans to change their vaccination stocking habits. But physicians who identified themselves as their respective practices’ decision makers for stocking vaccines were more likely to decrease the number of different vaccines stocked for adults (11 percent vs. three percent; P=.0001).

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee, a group that advises the various federal agencies involved in vaccines and immunizations, arrived at even bleaker figures in 2009, reported the April 2009 issue of ACP Internist. For example, 62 percent of decision makers in practices said they had delayed purchase of a vaccine at some time in the prior three years due to financial concerns. And in the prior year, 16 percent of practice decision makers had seriously considered stopping vaccinations for privately-insured patients due to the cost and reimbursement issues.

The vaccines most frequently stocked were Td and PPSV23. Zoster was the least frequently stocked, with more than 40 percent of respondents citing inadequate reimbursement or inconsistent insurance coverage. For the other seven vaccines, internists were more likely (and sometimes nearly twice as likely) not to stock the vaccine than family practitioners. While many vaccines are more likely used among adolescents, the researchers noted, many internists still provide care to these patients and to young adults, forcing them to seek vaccination elsewhere.

Besides zoster, no single reason predominated to not stock a vaccine, leading researchers to conclude that no single financial action or policy change will likely have a significant positive impact. However, they did note that PPSV23 was a performance marker in the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, and increasing the number of vaccines included in its measurements for adult patients might help.

Researchers wrote, “To fulfill the medical home concept, however, it would seem that primary care physicians should provide the full range of vaccines, including those that might be infrequently indicated.”

The ACP’s tools for its Adult Immunization Initiative are online, and the ACP’s Center for Practice Improvement and Innovation offers an easy-to-follow primer on vaccination and vaccine management.

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*


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