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Financial Sustainability of Vaccine Delivery in Primary Care Practices
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2017 Sep - Oct
Source: Acad Pediatr. 17(7):770-777. -
Alternative Title:Acad Pediatr
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Personal Author:
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Description:Objectives
Vaccines represent a significant portion of primary care practices’ expenses. Our objectives were to determine among Pediatric (Ped) and Family Medicine (FM) practices: 1) payment for vaccine purchase and administration and estimated profit margin by payer type, 2) strategies used to reduce vaccine purchase costs and increase payment, and 3) whether practices have stopped providing vaccines due to financial concerns.
Methods
A national survey from April to September 2011 among Ped and FM private, single-specialty practices not in Universal Purchase states.
Results
The response rate was 51% (221/430). Depending on payer type, 61% to 79% of practices reported that payment for vaccine purchase was at least 100% of purchase price and 34% to 74% reported that payment for vaccine administration was at least $11. Common strategies to reduce vaccine purchase cost were online purchasing (81% Ped, 36% FM), prompt pay (78% Ped, 49% FM), and bulk order (65% Ped, 49% FM) discounts. Few practices used strategies to increase payment, reporting rarely/never negotiating with health plans for payment for vaccines (56% Ped, 67% FM) or administration fees (56% Ped, 65% FM). When asked if they had stopped purchasing vaccines due to financial concerns, 12% of Ped and 23% of FM responded ‘yes’, and 24% of Ped and 26% of FM responded ‘no, but have seriously considered’.
Conclusions
Physicians report variable payment for vaccination services from different payer types. Physicians, especially FM, may benefit from increased use of strategies to reduce vaccine purchase costs and increase payment for vaccine delivery.
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Pubmed ID:28600199
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC5600475
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