Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of this presentation participants will be able to understand the components of READII Rochester.

Background:
In 2002 the CDC initiated the Racial and Ethnic Adult Disparities in Immunization Initiative (READII) to address immunization rate differences. The Rochester, New York READII project included a labor-intensive intervention, placing outreach workers in neighborhood health centers. Outreach workers developed a database of patients eligible for pneumococcal and influenza immunization, then used it to remind physicians of vaccination needs and to contact immunization-eligible patients via mail and phone. The project was successful, markedly increasing vaccination rates and diminishing racial disparities. This analysis will address the long-term program cost-benefit in reducing treatment costs of pneumococcal illness in people > 64, taking into consideration recently observed reductions in the attack rates of invasive pneumococcal disease in older adults.

Objectives:
Since pneumococcal vaccination benefits accrue over time, we want to determine whether or not a patient-oriented intervention to improve vaccination will reduce Medicare's treatment expenses for invasive pneumococcal disease. We will build a forecast model of outpatient and hospital illness care costs over time.

Methods:
We wil treat the READII pneumococcal-immunization-eligible population as a cohort followed over several years divided into pneumococcal-vaccinated and -unvaccinated. Mortality, disease attack and vaccination rates will be projected for both parts of the cohort with a range of predicted outpatient and hospitalization treatment costs. We will compile illness costs from a Medicare perspective and compare them with program costs.

Results:
A model will compare intervention costs to the benefits of pneumococcal vaccination in a cohort followed over time.

Conclusions:
The results will indicate whether or not immunization outreach could be cost saving to Medicare.