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Denial of Insurance Authorization at a Subspecialty Office as a Cause of Missed Opportunities for Influenza Vaccination in Children With Asthma
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:987-988.
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Despite American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations that children with asthma receive yearly influenza vaccines,1 vaccination rates remain low.2 Visits to allergists are opportunities to vaccinate children with asthma, yet insurance authorization for vaccination is not uniformly granted to subspecialists. We prospectively followed up children with asthma for whom we could not obtain insurance authorization for influenza vaccinations in our allergy clinic to determine how many eventually received the vaccine.
Methods
During the 2003-2004 influenza vaccination season, all patients with asthma initially seen in a hospital-based allergy clinic who met AAP-defined criteria for vaccination were identified. Vaccination season was defined as starting on receipt of the vaccine, approximately September 22, 2003, through January 31, 2004. Patients for whom insurance authorization was obtained were vaccinated, while those for whom authorization could not be obtained were advised to get vaccinated by their primary care physician as soon as possible. In March 2004, patients . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Results
Comment
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Ronald M. Ferdman, MD, MEd;
Joseph A. Church, MD
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