A Community Collaborative for Improving Adolescent Immunization Rates

Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation participants will be able to:
1.Evaluate how an environmental scan pinpoints opportunities for improvement
2.Describe ways to create synergy among diverse community groups and organizations
3.Apply lessons learned to improve adolescent immunization rates

Background:
BCBSKC 2004 claims data indicated 19.7 percent of 13 year old BCBSKC members received all five recommended vaccinations compared with the national rate of 45 percent. Other local health plans were experiencing similarly low rates.

Setting:
A five-county, bi-state metropolitan area

Population:
All adolescents ages 11 to13 years

Project Description:
Over 40 agencies joined to form the Adolescent Immunization Collaborative (AIC) with a charter stating “Participating health plans, school districts, health departments and community agencies will work together for a period of 18 months to improve the number of adolescents current on immunizations by their 13th birthday according to the ACIP recommendations as measured by 2008 HEDIS, input into Registries, School Records and including all uninsured and Medicaid.” An environmental scan and parent/provider focus group results pointed the way to success.

Results/Lessons Learned:
•1,500 primary care physicians received newly established consensus guidelines
•90% of the 198 schools received “Give It a Shot” Toolkits for Secondary School Nurses reaching over 35,000 students and parents
•Nearly 90% improvement in three pilot schools
•53% of middle/high school nurses received immunization training at workshops and school nurse meetings
•68% of schools received the AIC developed “Immunization Resource Guide for Secondary School Nurses”
•Over 20,000 parents and students viewed a “Back to School” retail promotion
•Four school based immunization clinics were held
•Collaborative members' satisfaction and feedback ratings were 95% or above.
•Adolescent immunization rates for BCBSKC increased from 6.06 percent in 2004 to 23.36 percent in 2006, a nearly four-fold improvement.