• "Do Not Unplug." It is very important that all storage units are labeled with "Do Not Unplug" signage and that the breaker number on the circuit breaker sticker(s) is updated if necessary. If the unit, power outlet, and/or circuit breaker is not properly labeled, it will be cited as a compliance finding during the site visit.
• Administration Fee: It is essential that Vaccine Coordinators verify (not just ask but verify) that your facility is not charging more than $21.72 per shot (VFC-eligible patients) or $21.72 per antigen (WyVIP-eligible patients). Compliance Specialists are verifying the vaccine administration billing practices during site visits to ensure no patients (or payors) are being billed more than the allowable amount.
• Documentation of Training: The Staff Training Log is an on-going document found in your Vaccine Management Plan that needs to be kept and updated for no less than three (3) years. It should not be discarded when the Vaccine Management Plan is outdated and replaced. All site visits and other training opportunities need to be documented on the Log to be compliance with the Program. 

Staff Training Log.

If you have any questions, please contact a Compliance Specialist at 307-777-7952.
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Vaccine Program Management Workflows

Jude Alden, MBA, CPM, VFC Coordinator

Looking for ways to make vaccine life easier? The Immunization Program has put together workflows for all the major processes associated with managing a Public Vaccine Program within your office. These flowcharts can be helpful when training new staff, identifying bottlenecks, and for screening patient eligibility! Visit the Vaccine Program Provider Portal found under Vaccine Programs at www.immunizewyoming.com to evaluate your office's workflows today.

During the 2015 Immunization Conference, we will be offering a session where we will be evaluating these workflows in teams and identifying pain points and bottlenecks. This will allow us to establish best practices that will assist providers in effectively managing the responsibilities associated with the Public Vaccine Programs in their clinics.  

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Pediatric Eligibility Determination Flowchart

Jude Alden, MBA, CPM, VFC Coordinator

 We have put together a flowchart to assist providers with eligibility screening for their pediatric patients. There are many scenarios and workflows that determine a patient's vaccine eligibility and therefore this process can be challenging. This flowchart can be used to train staff and make eligibility decisions.

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Vaccine Lot Decrementation - for interface users

Jude Alden, MBA, CPM, VFC Coordinator

The Immunization Program will soon be contacting providers who currently have an electronic interface that sends immunization data from their Electronic Health Record (EHR) to the Wyoming Immunization Registry (WyIR) regarding correct lot decrementation. Currently, providers with an interface have to manually type their "Doses Used Last Month" into the Create/View Order screen as well as manually deduct administered doses from their WyIR inventory in the Reconciliation Screen. To improve data quality and ease provider burden, we will be working with providers to ensure that their vaccine inventory is decremented and they no longer need to complete these additional tasks.

We have discovered that most EHRs are defaulted to mark all vaccines as private stock. This seems to be the most significant reason why lots are not decrementing. Please make sure that your EHR can designate between private and public, which was a requirement of using an interface, and make sure that staff are entering the appropriate stock when recording vaccinations.

Stay tuned as we will providing training and support to ensure these efforts are successful!
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Jude Alden, MBA, CPM, VFC Coordinator

Currently, Section 317 Funds are used to purchase vaccines for the Vaccines for Uninsured Adult (VUA) Program, which is available at Public Health Nursing Offices and other select public providers. As we evaluated the future of these funds, we administered a survey to PHN office to identify what they thought could be the best way to utilize this resource.

Currently all PHN Offices have an active VUA Provider Agreement in place.  Over 80% of PHN Offices find the VUA Program valuable to their community and feel their staff can easily handle program responsibilities. More than 60% of providers feel that the VUA Program is the best way to utilize these funds. Unfortunately, we did find that only half of the providers feel that they see enough patients to fully utilize the vaccine available through the VUA Program and are able to use the minimum vaccine package sizes prior to expiration.