Image Credit: National Institutes of Health
Vaccines are an essential part of eradicating and preventing disease. The loss of precious vaccines is costly not only to patients but also providers. One refrigerator full of damaged vaccine can cost a practice upwards of $40,000. Protecting these temperature sensitive vaccines is critical to diminishing waste and providing the highest level of patient care.
Hancock Physician’s Network (HPN) in Greenfield, IN continues to raise the bar in driving quality and efficiency improvements within their vaccine administration program. The network consists of six family practices, three immediate care clinics, two internal medicine offices, one pediatrics location, and an OB/GYN office. Every HPN location stores vaccines. These locations are storing anywhere from three to 20 different types of vaccines. The family practice locations alone are storing 20 different vaccines on average with at least 10-20 doses of each. Two of the family practice offices, as well as the pediatric location, are Vaccines for Children (VFC) providers.
After suffering multiple vaccines losses themselves, the network set forth implementing a multi-pronged approach to revitalize their vaccine program. The plan consisted of temperature monitoring, medical-grade refrigeration, and strengthened processes to ensure every vaccine, whether it was VFC or private stock, was being handling efficiently and effectively.
HPN then used the historical temperature data available from their Sonicu platform to draw out a plan for replacing the vaccine refrigerators and freezers by their level of temperature stability. The most unstable units were replaced immediately with Helmer units and every refrigerator and freezer, whether it is household or medical-grade, continues to be monitored to ensure vaccine efficacy and patient safety. Alarms and notifications keep the staff informed and prepared to handle emergencies if vaccines are at risk of a temperature excursion.
With temperature monitoring in place and the transition to 100% medical-grade refrigeration underway, HPN, is taking time to look at processes and procedures around the vaccine program. Once these updates have been solidified they will be rolled out to the staff members who will undergo additional training. With top level support, HPN is making substantial progress into the network’s vaccine program to safeguard vaccines, diminish waste, streamline processes, and keep the community safe from preventable disease.
Read more about how HPN used the power of data to transform their vaccine program by downloading the white paper below.
