July 18, 2024
Many children and adolescents are still catching up on missed routine immunizations and well-care visits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends that doctors and health care professionals encourage families to schedule vaccines and visits for their children. See our Children’s Wellness Guidelines for a routine immunization schedule.
Tracking Our Members’ Care
We track these Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set measures developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance to help close gaps in our members’ care:
Child Immunization Status tracks the percentage of 2-year-olds who received the following vaccines by their second birthday:
- Four diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis
- Three polio
- One measles, mumps and rubella
- Three haemophilus influenza type B
- Three hepatitis B
- One chicken pox
- Four pneumococcal conjugate
- One hepatitis A
- Two or three rotavirus before 1 year of age
- Two influenza
Immunizations for Adolescents tracks the percentage of 13-year-olds who received the following vaccines by their thirteenth birthday:
- One dose of meningococcal vaccine
- One tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis
- The complete human papillomavirus vaccine series
Child and Adolescent Well-Care Visits
- Well-Child Visits in the First 30 Months of Life measures the percentage of children who had at least six well-child visits with a primary care physician during their first 15 months, and two or more well-child visits during their next 15 months.
- Child and Adolescent Well-Care Visits tracks the percentage of members ages 3 to 21 who received at least one well-care visit with a PCP or OB/GYN during the measurement year.
Tips to Consider
- Identify members who have missed vaccines or well-child visits. Contact their caregivers to schedule appointments.
- Check at each visit for any missing immunizations. Address common misconceptions about vaccines.
- Remind our members that it’s important to get a flu shot every year because new strains of flu virus appear each year. The CDC recommends that most people 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every year.
- To document well-child visits, note that the visit was with a PCP and include in the medical record:
- Date of visit
- Health history
- Physical and mental development history
- Physical exam
- Height, weight and body mass index percentile
- Health education or anticipatory guidance, including physical activity, diet and nutrition
- We collect immunization data through claims and chart review. To document immunizations, you may include in the medical record any of the following:
- Certificates of immunizations
- Diagnostic reports
- Subjective, objective, assessment and plan notes
- Office or progress notes
Resources
- Our preventive care guidelines on immunization schedules
- Information on childhood vaccines and well-visits for our members
- CDC recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines for children and teens
The above material is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for the independent medical judgment of a physician or other health care provider. Physicians and other health care providers are encouraged to use their own medical judgment based upon all available information and the condition of the patient in determining the appropriate course of treatment. The fact that a service or treatment is described in this material is not a guarantee that the service or treatment is a covered benefit and members should refer to their certificate of coverage for more details, including benefits, limitations and exclusions. Regardless of benefits, the final decision about any service or treatment is between the member and their health care provider.
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