Public Health
Accredited managed care health plans that publicly report childhood immunization rates achieved wider immunization of members than unaccredited health plans that do not publicly disclose immunizations, according to a study in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Researchers found that 22 states currently require health plans to report vaccination data to the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and anticipate that more states will adopt similar requirements in the future.
Moreover, the authors suggest that state efforts to encourage health plans to publicly report immunization rates could help improve compliance with vaccination guidelines. The study also called for the National Committee for Quality Assurance to raise the standard for pediatric vaccination rates for health plan accreditation (Bardenheier et al., American Journal of Managed Care, April 2007).