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Background: The immunization schedule has become increasingly complex for parents and providers. Strategies to remind parents about vaccinations due or overdue are important to ensure success in implementation of recommended vaccines and improve immunization coverage. Reminder/Recall is an effective strategy in increasing up-to-date immunization coverage among children. The Maine Immunization Program worked with a large pediatric practice to evaluate the effectiveness of using ImmPact2 for Reminder/Recall to improve immunization rates.
Setting: Urban pediatric clinic
Population: 582 children born between July 2nd 2007 and July 1st 2008
Project Description: A baseline immunization coverage was established by chart reviewing in the clinic. The baseline was calculated on vaccinations of 4 DTaP, 3 Polio, 1 MMR, 3 Hib, 3 HepB, 1 varicella and 4 pneumococcal among each of the children. Reminder/Recall was run, and letters were mailed to parents or guardians at 3 month intervals. Immunization coverage reports were run at 1 month intervals throughout a 15 month span. Data on vaccinations received and the percentile increases per month was analyzed. The baseline coverage percentage for the age cohort utilized was compared to monthly coverage percentages for the same population
Results/Lessons Learned: The Reminder/Recall is an effective way to improve immunization rates. The percentage of up-to-date clients for 4-3-1-3-3-1-4 increased from 18% to 64% in the clinic. This success was achieved through a combination of increased office visits for vaccination as well as recognizing clients as moved or gone elsewhere (MOGE) that were found to no longer be associated with the practice. Using Reminder/Recall as a tool to notify parents or guardians about vaccinations and continuing to MOGE former clients should result in ongoing improvement of immunization rates for this practice. A cost benefit analysis is being done and will be included.