Maximize your vaccine program
Business and Operations
Expand beyond flu shots to offer immunizations year-round
In brief:
- Most adults are missing recommended immunizations
- Providing these immunizations is a big opportunity for independent pharmacies
- Health Mart® helps pharmacies begin and expand vaccine programs
- The latest vaccine recommendations offer new ways to serve patients
Missed immunizations, missed opportunities
The benefits of immunizations are well established. Yet millions of Americans aren’t getting critical vaccinations. Consider these statistics from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey:1
“Our nation’s vaccine rates are unacceptably low.”2
For independent pharmacies, missed immunizations are a missed opportunity. Per PrescribeWellness:3
To fully capture this opportunity, go beyond flu shots. Turn immunizations into a profitable year-round business that improves patients’ health.
Immunizations have one of the highest margins of clinical services that pharmacies can offer. Providing them year-round provides a stream of additional revenue, not just a seasonal bump from flu shots.
Help patients catch up on missed vaccines, and keep them current by using the information you know about a patient. Throughout the year you could be offering:
- Herpes zoster vaccines to patients turning 50 and pneumonia vaccines for patients celebrating their 65th birthdays
- Tdap to women during every pregnancy, and once to the future grandparents who need it
- Td boosters to patients every 10 years4
Add travel vaccines, and each consultation and administration could bring in hundreds of dollars.5
Plus, a broad immunization program boosts the image of your pharmacy as a wellness destination, not just a place to pick up prescriptions.
Why pharmacies?
The rationale for vaccinations at pharmacies is clear:
- Pharmacies are accessible and convenient for patients.
- Pharmacies are already providing important community health services, including immunizations (in most states).
- Physicians aren’t meeting all immunization needs. A 2012 survey found that less than 33% of family doctors and only 1 in 5 internists stock all 11 vaccines recommended for adults.6
Community pharmacies are an obvious and trusted place for immunizations.
Tools to get started
For pharmacies that haven’t begun an immunization program:
- Health Mart’s Vaccine Starter Kit offers six months of expert support. Pharmacies receive help with certification, collaborative practice agreements (CPAs), billing and more.
- The VaccineComplete program
identifies patients who are eligible for vaccines, provides CPAs, makes it easy to report shots to state registries and providers, and even markets the program to patients.
A new opportunity
The 2018 recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) offer a major opportunity for pharmacies: provide Shingrix for adults 50 and older.7
Shingrix is a new herpes zoster vaccine. It is extremely effective, at 97% overall. As a result, ACIP recommends Shingrix even for patients who previously received Zostavax, which is only 51% effective.
For independent pharmacies, there is significant opportunity in immunizations. To realize this opportunity, understand all of the immunizations that your patients require. Stay up to date with the latest recommendations. And make immunizations a year-round program.
You will immunize your business and make your pharmacy’s bottom line healthier.