Programs & Tools:
VFC: Provider Recruitment & Enrollment
Vaccines for Children Program Topics:
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Overview
The success of the VFC Program is due in large part to the participation of private providers in the program. The VFC Program was created to increase access to immunizations outside of public health department clinics in order to allow eligible children to remain in their medical homes for immunizations to the extent possible. Therefore, maintaining participation of private immunization providers is critical to ensuring that VFC-eligible children have access to vaccines in their medical homes. Please note: The "FAQs for State/Territory VFC Projects" page contains additional guidance on provider enrollment not contained in the VFC Operations Guide.
Provider Recruitment
State and local immunization programs should continue to enroll healthcare providers into the VFC program by identifying and recruiting new providers, including nontraditional providers who serve adolescents—e.g., long-term juvenile correctional facilities, family planning and STD clinics, adolescent medicine practices, and OB/GYN practices. Particularly relevant for these nontraditional providers, grantees have the discretion to allow specialty providers to limit their VFC participation to specific, relevant vaccines.
Recruitment efforts should also be targeted to providers who may have initially declined enrollment, who have not been previously recruited, or who are newly licensed or newly established within the grantee's area. It is understood that not all providers who serve children will be enrolled in the VFC program because some serve only children who are fully insured and are not VFC eligible.
Grantees should have written policies, protocols, and procedures to recruit and enroll providers into the VFC program. These guidance documents should include methods for accomplishing the following:
- Identifying practicing providers. This can be done through collaboration with medical societies, state licensing boards and the state Medicaid agency. With assistance from these organizations, grantees can better identify the subset of providers who may be immunizing children and who are not enrolled in the VFC program.
- Prioritizing potential VFC providers for contact. Prioritization criteria may include practice size, age of patients, location of practice, or previous contact with the provider regarding VFC enrollment. Newly licensed providers and providers located in “pockets of need” or who have large panels of Medicaid children should be given priority over providers who have declined to participate in VFC in the past.
- Scheduling recruitment appointments with providers based on the priority criteria.
- Documenting results of recruitment efforts and following up as needed with all providers.
Provider Enrollment
A provider's understanding of how the VFC program works is critical to maintaining the integrity of the VFC program. ("Provider" includes all appropriate office staff.) Therefore, it is essential that VFC grantees have a strong and ongoing provider education component. Provider education should begin during the recruitment and enrollment process and continue with every provider contact. Education regarding the VFC program should be structured according to the requirements for provider enrollment. These are explained below.
Two forms must be completed by each VFC provider at enrollment, and be kept up-to-date thereafter:
- Provider Profile form (see Appendix 2
). The Provider Profile form requests information on the VFC-eligible children in the practice. It is used to evaluate vaccine orders and ensure that VFC-funded vaccine is being administered only to VFC-eligible children. States may collect this information on a different form as long as the required information is included. Each grantee is responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the Provider Profiles submitted by VFC-enrolled practitioners. For all providers enrolled for more than 1 year, enrollment figures must be based on actual data. The Provider Profile must be updated annually. For further information on determining VFC eligibility, please refer to Module 2 .
- Provider Enrollment form. The Provider Enrollment form indicates the provider's agreement to comply with all the conditions of the VFC program. This form must be signed annually. The medical director or equivalent in a group practice with many providers should sign the Provider Enrollment form for the entire group. All other providers within the practice must be listed on the enrollment form. CDC defines the compliance requirements of the VFC program. Grantees should create their own forms, but the form must contain all the requirements listed below. A grantee may not mandate additional requirements for provider enrollment in the VFC program without formal approval from CDC. The process to request additional requirements for participation in the VFC program is outlined in Module 3 .
For more information about Provider Recruitment and Enrollment, including the specific provider enrollment requirements and the process for requesting addition requirements, please see Module 3 of the VFC Operations Guide.
Who Should Sign the VFC Provider Enrollment Form?
Section 1928 (c) (1) (A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396s (c) (1) (A) state the following providers qualify to be VFC program-registered providers: those health care providers "licensed or otherwise authorized for administration of pediatric vaccines under the law of the State in which the administration occurs" (subject to section 333 (e) of the Public Health Service Act, which authorizes members of the Commissioned Corps to practice).
The VFC statute follows state law in qualifying practitioners as VFC providers. The term "authorized for administration of pediatric vaccines" is intended to mean authorized to "prescribe" vaccines. Therefore only providers authorized to prescribe vaccines under state law should be the official VFC program-registered providers. However, other providers authorized to administer vaccines can operate under the supervision of a prescribing VFC provider and should be listed on the Provider Enrollment Form.
Return to VFC State/Territory Immunization Projects main page
Content last reviewed on November 6, 2007
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
