As children gear up to return to school this fall, parents often rush to catch up on missed wellness visits and recommended vaccines. However, recent trends have shown that less than 50% of U.S. adults and children received the influenza vaccine during the past 12 months. This is especially alarming as millions of people are facing potential Medicaid coverage loss during the state redetermination process that began in April 2023, which could lead to even lower immunization rates.
During National Immunization Awareness Month this August, health plans can help to address the barriers to immunization and bolster provider support. Measuring and benchmarking quality measures related to immunizations for HEDIS® reporting provides health plans with a blueprint on how to improve immunizations. The electronic clinical data systems (ECDS) measure standard also offers a method to better collect and report structured electronic clinical data for HEDIS quality measurement, enabling plans to better understand where to allocate resources and what members to target to improve quality.
As part of this observance, let’s explore the key quality measures and data sources related to immunizations.
