Primary care practices face many challenges that impact patient care—with the most recent and perhaps wide-ranging being the COVID-19 pandemic. Explore ways in which providers can proactively bolster their practices to ensure patients receive the preventative care they need, no matter the disruption.
Be Prepared: Protecting Vaccine Supplies Before, During and After a Disaster
Preparation is an important aspect of everyday practice management and success, and it is never more critical than when a disaster strikes. Common disasters that affect vaccine supply, include national vaccine shortages, as well as severe weather. Emergency preparedness for these situations means practices have concrete plans in advance to ensure that both providers and staff are ready to handle a future crisis and provide needed support to patients.
Vaccine Recordkeeping: A Team Approach for a Healthier Tomorrow
Keeping vaccine records up to date is key to a patient’s lifelong immunity and health. Official childhood vaccination records have been adopted by every state and territory to encourage uniformity, but limited interoperability in healthcare can make recordkeeping a challenge. As a result, responsibility falls on both the patients and providers for managing records throughout the patient’s life.
Reviewing the CDC’s Seven-Step Vaccine Administration Guidelines
Patients and providers alike benefit from staying up-to-date with vaccines. Often, the focus is on what patients can do; today, we turn our attention to clinicians. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that clinicians periodically review the seven steps to effective vaccine administration as they play a significant role in vaccine effectiveness.
Online Vaccine Resources for Providers (and Patients)
Staying Current With Proper Vaccine Storage and Management
In early 2017, nearly 900 children in Ocean County, New Jersey faced possible revaccination when state health officials discovered that a pediatrician administered mumps, measles, chicken pox and other vaccines that had been improperly stored. The New Jersey example gives a glimpse into an important question among practices and clinics: how best to store vaccines.
Six Steps to Successful Vaccine Storage
Vaccines save up to three million lives annually, yet more than $20 million in pediatric vaccines alone are wasted each year due to inadequate vaccine refrigeration, according to the U.S. Federal Vaccines for Children Program. Proper storage is pertinent to immunization effectiveness, and physicians must practice vigilant care when handling and dispensing vaccines.
Leveraging Vaccines: The Important Questions to Ask
For physician practices, the nature of business is changing. More patients are seeking care at alternative facilities, and more reimbursement for patients’ care is tied to performance metrics. As practices aim to remain profitable today, every penny counts. That’s where vaccine buying groups can assist.