Increasing Adult Pneumococcal Immunization Rates Through AAFP State Chapters

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning and Change (IGLC) grants are being utilized to support quality improvement (QI) initiatives that will increase adult pneumococcal vaccination rates through three AAFP state chapters:  Kansas, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Grant Recipients and Projects

Kansas Academy of Family Physicians

The Kansas Academy of Family Physicians (KAFP) and Kansas Foundation for Medical Care (KFMC) will provide training/coaching sessions to inform teams about the evidence based standards for adult immunization, benefits of team care and how to make systems changes to support pneumococcal and other adult immunization screening and improvement  KFMC will assist participating clinics to conduct root cause analysis to learn of any barriers in their practice, to define and implement systems changes to ensure that pneumococcal immunization is systematically assessed and treated at every clinical encounter, utilizing the Standards for Adult Immunization Practice. In this initiative KAFP is partnering with family physicians to implement evidence-based practices to promote effective immunizations of Medicare patients. Practices selected will be supported in using their Electronic Health Record (EHR) to track and improve their pneumococcal immunization rates and rates of other immunizations for seniors.

Illinois Academy of Family Physicians

The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) will work with participating practice sites to harness the power of family medicine leadership with the desire to increase immunization rates. A team will be created at each site with the identification of one individual health center champion to provide technical assistance to increase immunization rates at each site, with the aide of a regional QI consultant, subject matter experts, and physician leadership. Through interactive learning and action sessions in a team-based setting, a successful cadre of strategies, including instatement of a standing orders protocol, will be established from the creative energy of the team. The engagement and delivery will be collectively decided upon by the individual needs that best fit each site.

New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians

Using a collaborative and consultative model, the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians (NJAFP) will engage primary care practices in a series of virtual learning and consultative visits with one live, face-to-face event about midway through to review progress, share challenges and celebrate success. This model engages practices in rapid cycle changes and provides opportunities for members of the primary care team to learn how to make identified improvements from topic experts in specific fields in addition to learning from each other. The consultative model supplements educational activities through on-site, hands-on, guidance and support from NJAFP practice coaches to foster activities that will reduce the gaps identified in the needs assessment. Performance data collected from practices are national consensus quality measures for benchmarking and minimizing barriers to collection.

Pneumococcal Immunization Resources

• AAFP Immunizations
• Pneumococcus Vaccine
• Pneumococcal Conjugate (PCV13) VIS
• Pneumococcal Polysaccharide VIS
• National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit: Standards for Adult Immunization Practices
• Pneumococcal ACIP Vaccine Recommendations
• Know Pneumonia: All About your Boom