Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Within a Large Healthcare System: a Population Health Model.
J Gen Intern Med
; 37(4): 954-957, 2022 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1729387
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy, pose a significant public health threat. The Veterans Health Administration system is uniquely situated to provide insights into the implementation of a population health approach to vaccine acceptance.AIM:
We describe the VA Connecticut Healthcare System's (VACHS) quality improvement project to improve rates of vaccine uptake. SETTING ANDPARTICIPANTS:
VACHS consists of eight primary care sites with 80 primary care providers delivering care to 47,000 enrolled veterans. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Our program involved identification of a local champion, education sessions, development of vaccine acceptance tools (including the templated "COVID-19 Prevention Letter" and the "COVID-19 Prevention Telephone Note"), and application of a population health approach (use of a prioritization scheme and playbook) by primary care patient-aligned care (PACT) medical home teams. PROGRAM EVALUATION We found increased rates of vaccination at VACT compared to the surrounding region 6 months after implementation (65.16% vs 61.89%). Use of vaccine acceptance tools were associated with a statistically significant increase in vaccination (24.1% vs 13.6%, P = 0.036) in unvaccinated veterans.DISCUSSION:
A population health approach to vaccine acceptance using EHR-based tools can impact vaccination rates, and this approach may be of practical utility to other large healthcare systems with EHR.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Population Health
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Gen Intern Med
Journal subject:
Internal Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11606-021-07353-9
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