Health Plan-Pharmacy Partnership Increases Vaccination Rates

A health plan-enabled, pharmacy-led intervention increased the number of older adults who received pneumococcal vaccination and the number of adults who received influenza vaccination, according to a recently published pilot study.

“Patients in the intervention group had twice the odds as patients in the control group of receiving a vaccination in both the pneumococcal and the influenza cohorts,” researchers wrote. “These results suggest that pharmacists have a direct impact on immunization rates when provided with relevant data to support immunization gap closure.”

The study looked at the effect of a collaboration between a Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plan and community pharmacies to increase vaccination rates. Pharmacies were randomly assigned to the intervention or control. Pharmacies involved in the intervention received information on adults age 19 through 89 with a gap in influenza vaccinations as well as older adults age 65 through 89 with a gap in pneumococcal vaccination. After confirming with patients that they had not received the appropriate vaccinations, pharmacists offered to vaccinate them.

Compared with pharmacies in the control group, pharmacies in the intervention group had a 1.91 odds ratio for delivering pneumococcal vaccinations and a 2.18 odds ratio for delivering influenza vaccinations over the following 6 months, the study found.

“Notably, the number of prescription fills during baseline was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group for both the pneumococcal and influenza cohorts,” researchers wrote. “This finding could imply that individuals in the intervention group frequented the pharmacy more regularly than individuals in the control group; thus, they may have had greater exposure to a pharmacist-led intervention, increasing the measured impact of the intervention. Nevertheless, the impact of the intervention remained significant even after adjusting for baseline differences.”

Reference:
Sheer RL, Nau DP, Dorich N, et al. Medicare Advantage-pharmacy partnership improves influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates. Am J Manag Care. 2021;27(10):425-431. doi:10.37765/ajmc.2021.88760