Raise your clinic's adult immunization rates
How Standing Orders Can Help
Standing orders streamline the delivery of adult immunizations by simplifying the process of identifying and vaccinating appropriate patients in your practice. By putting in place a routine, standardized process, such as a standing order, you empower your staff to assess and vaccinate patients according to current CDC recommendations, while you maintain overall control of the process.
Using standing orders (1) improves efficiency in delivering adult immunizations, and (2) increases overall adult immunization coverage rates, leading to improved patient health.
The Need For Standing Orders
Immunization rates for adults in the United States are unacceptably low: Influenza (49%), Tdap (17%), Zoster (24%).
As a result, more morbidity and mortality are associated with adult vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) than with pediatric VPDs, where stronger immunization efforts exist.
In a busy adult practice covering a broad range of services, delivery of adult immunizations can become an overlooked preventive intervention, despite the fact that full insurance coverage for patients up to 65 years of age is available under the Affordable Care Act.
Medical practices can help remedy this situation by implementing standing orders. These key practice components have been demonstrated to:
- Streamline assessment of the need for and the administration of vaccines
- Improve vaccine coverage rates in the practice
- Improve patient care
Despite the endorsement of the use of standing orders by multiple major medical and public health organizations, these simple tools are not being implemented in many adult practices, leading to multiple missed opportunities to vaccinate patients and to prevent unnecessary disease and death.
What Immunization Leaders Say About Standing Orders
Supporting Organizations
American College of Physicians
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Association of Nurse Practitioners
Association of Immunization Managers
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Gerontological Society of America
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)
Public Health Foundation
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine – Group on Immunization Education
Vaccine Education Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia