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News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002
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Contact: CMS Press Office
(202) 690-6145
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HHS MAKES IT EASIER FOR AT-RISK AMERICANS
TO RECEIVE FLU AND PNEUMONIA VACCINATIONS
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new policy to promote greater access to flu and pneumonia vaccinations, especially among older Americans and others at high risk for illness.
The new policy allows nursing homes, hospitals and home health agencies that serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to remind patients when it is time for an annual vaccination and ask if they want to receive a shot. Such "standing orders" can make sure that many high-risk Americans are informed about the benefits of these annual vaccinations and given an opportunity to receive them.
"Standing orders can make these annual vaccinations a routine part of patients' health care, which is especially important for the elderly and other high-risk groups," Secretary Thompson said. "This change makes it simpler and faster for health care providers to offer flu shots to their patients."
The improvement is included in new Medicare regulations that modify the conditions of participation for hospitals, long-term care facilities and home health agencies that serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Previously, those rules required a physician's order for all treatments, including immunizations, in these care settings -- although regulations allowed the vaccinations to be given without a physician's order in other settings, such as a clinic or a doctor's office.
Standing orders are permanent entries placed in medical charts directing that the patient be told when it is time to get a flu or pneumonia shot and asked if he or she wants the vaccination. If the patient chooses to be immunized, a shot can be administered on the spot by appropriate health care professionals without the need for a doctor to write a new order each year.
Research sponsored by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has shown standing orders to be effective approach to increase immunization rates, but the previous requirement interfered with efforts to use them by hospitals and other health care providers.
As a result, in 2000 CMS and HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a demonstration project in eight states and the District of Columbia to test the effectiveness of standing orders at increasing vaccination rates in nursing homes. Preliminary data indicates that standing orders are a highly effective system to ensure resident vaccination. Final results are expected later this year.
Each year, between 20,000 and 40,000 deaths in the United States are attributed to flu and pneumonia. More than 90 percent of these deaths occur in people age 65 and older. The lifting of restrictions on standing orders is expected to increase the use of vaccinations and reduce disease and death from influenza and pneumococcal diseases.
Senior citizens generally should get a flu shot each year -- while a single pneumonia immunization normally remains effective for a lifetime. Medicare covers both types of vaccinations.
CMS, CDC, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and other federal agencies also are conducting a two-year demonstration project in five cities aimed at reducing disparities in flu and pneumonia vaccination coverage for adults 65 and older in African-American and Hispanic communities. The Racial and Ethnic Adult Disparities in Immunization Initiative (READII) will organize partnerships of public health professionals, medical providers and community members to identify strategies to increase immunization levels in these populations.
The regulation will be published Wednesday in the October 3 Federal Register.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are
available at www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: January 16, 2003
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