Froedtert Health, Inc. Spotlight
Adult Vaccination Uptake Improvement Program
Laura Radke, MD with Rebecca Gasper, MBA are working to improve vaccination rates at Froedtert Health through accurate documentation, education, and outreach. Dr. Radke has piloted these efforts at two (2) clinic locations, McKinley and North Hills. McKinley is located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WI), serves the inner-city population as well as students from nearby colleges. North Hills, situated in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, serves a primarily white non-Hispanic patient population. The primary goal for Froedtert Health during the grant project was to educate and inform unvaccinated patients about the benefits of vaccines.
Dr. Radke and Ms. Gasper worked to ensure all employees were educated at every encounter. These efforts required agreement and coordination with the Population Health team, the Pharmacy team, and the Data Analytics team. During the development process, the team discovered that many employees did not have a primary care provider (PCP). Together, the teams created a process that would enhance the overall referral process to ensure employees received necessary immunizations and the employee could easily obtain a PCP.
When an employee visited an occupational medicine healthcare provider and needed a vaccination, a referral was faxed to the Froedtert Enterprise Patient Experience Center (EPEC), and the information was inputted in Epic. The EPEC reaches out to the patients to assist them with getting scheduled with a PCP and getting an order to go to an onsite pharmacy to receive their immunizations.
Combatting Vaccine Hesitancy
Dr. Radke and Ms. Gasper provided training for healthcare providers to help strategize ways to communicate vaccine hesitancy at McKinley and North Hills. Healthcare providers were taught motivational interviewing skills to enable an open dialogue to have a better understanding of the employee’s concerns and provide educational pamphlets.
Before each appointment, the health care team would check the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) to confirm the status of the employee’s immunization records to best discuss the next steps or concerns. The educational pamphlets have QR codes to help the employees answer questions and locate available vaccinations nearby. The health care provider would make a note in the occupational health medical record or in EPIC, when education was given during a preplacement physical or in Epic, during a Worker’s Comp appointment. From May 1 through August 1, there were 278 employees educated. This provided a baseline to see how many employees follow up to receive their necessary vaccinations.
Future Plans
These successful initiatives to improve the overall health of the workforce will expand to five (5) additional worksite clinics. The clinics include Moorland Reserve Health Center, Tosa Health Center, West Bend Health Center, Manitowoc Health Center, and Drexel Health Center. The health care professionals will continue to provide education on influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations. The project will begin incorporating the nursing staff who perform physicals for Froedtert Health employees. This will expand the population reach both geographically and occupationally.