Abstract
Reminder letters and follow-up telephone calls were used to increase influenza vaccination acceptance by 273 well elderly registered at an urban community health centre. The net effect of the reminder letters was to increase overall coverage to 43%, from 17% in the previous year. Follow-up telephone calls to patients who had not responded to the letters increased coverage to only 55%. Calculation of costs per additional vaccination given revealed that the use of reminder letters alone was much more cost-effective than follow-up telephone calls in increasing coverage. However, with the current fee-for-service reimbursement by medical care insurance in Ontario, neither means of improving vaccination coverage would result in net practice earnings. The implications for an effective and efficient annual influenza program in Canada are discussed.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Anderson C., Martin H. Effectiveness of patient recall system on immunization rates for influenza. J Fam Pract. 1979 Oct;9(4):727–730. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Barker W. H., Mullooly J. P. Influenza vaccination of elderly persons. Reduction in pneumonia and influenza hospitalizations and deaths. JAMA. 1980 Dec 5;244(22):2547–2549. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Creese A. L., Sriyabbaya N., Casabal G., Wiseso G. Cost-effectiveness appraisal of immunization programmes. Bull World Health Organ. 1982;60(4):621–632. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Henk M., Froom J. Outreach by primary-care physicians. JAMA. 1975 Jul 21;233(3):256–259. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kennie D. C. Health maintenance of the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1984 Apr;32(4):316–323. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1984.tb02028.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Larson E. B., Olsen E., Cole W., Shortell S. The relationship of health beliefs and a postcard reminder to influenza vaccination. J Fam Pract. 1979 Jun;8(6):1207–1211. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Riddiough M. A., Sisk J. E., Bell J. C. Influenza vaccination. JAMA. 1983 Jun 17;249(23):3189–3195. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ruben F. L. Prevention of influenza in the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1982 Sep;30(9):577–580. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1982.tb05666.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schoenbaum S. Influenza vaccine: delivering the goods. Am J Public Health. 1983 Apr;73(4):365–366. doi: 10.2105/ajph.73.4.365. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]