- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Less Than Half of Hospitals Require Providers Receive the Flu Vaccine
Despite recommendations that all healthcare workers are vaccinated against the flu, a study from the University of Michigan found that more than half of hospitals do not require healthcare providers get the influenza vaccine.
Despite recommendations that all healthcare workers are vaccinated against the flu, a study from the University of Michigan found that more than half of hospitals do not require healthcare providers get the influenza vaccine.
The study, published in Infection Control and Hospital Endocrinology, found that overall vaccination coverage of healthcare providers is estimated at 75.2%. However, in settings that make getting the vaccine mandatory, vaccination coverage exceeds 95%. The study is based on results of a survey held in 2013.
“Vaccination of healthcare workers has been shown to significantly reduce patients’ risk of influenza and its complications, including pneumonia and death, compared with vaccination of patients alone,” Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH, senior author of the new study and the George Dock professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. “To put it bluntly, American hospitals have a lot of work to do.”
Overall, only 42.7% of respondents said their hospital required flu vaccination of healthcare providers, but at VA hospitals the rate was much lower—only 1.3%. The major barriers to hospitals requiring the flu vaccine was opposition from healthcare worker unions and concerns about staff opposition.
Nearly one-fourth (22%) of non-VA hospitals “strongly encouraged” providers get vaccinated and 21% of respondents said that their hospital required unvaccinated staff sign a form that explained they had declined to get the flu vaccine or required them to wear a mask while seeing patients during flu season.
“Mandated vaccinations are not a simple panacea and will continue to be met with challenges and opposition for numerous reasons,” said M. Todd Greene, PhD, MPH, lead author of the new study and a research investigator at the University of Michigan and the VA. “But our findings suggest that opportunities remain for many healthcare organizations to require vaccination of their staff to increase coverage rates.”
Standard Criteria for Loss of Ambulation Needed in DMD
April 19th 2024A recent study suggests the differences between ambulation definitions for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) can impact the identification of ambulant vs nonambulant individuals, and standard criteria across settings are needed.
Read More
Government agencies have created an online portal for the public to report potential anticompetitive practices in health care; there are changes coming to the “boxed warning” section for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies (CAR T) to highlight T-cell blood cancer risk; questions about the safety of obesity medications during pregnancy have arisen in women on them who previously struggled with fertility issues.
Read More
Gene, Light Therapy Combo Shows Promise Against Prostate Cancer Cells in Proof-of-Concept Study
April 18th 2024In their preclinical model, the researchers found efficacy both in vitro and in vivo by using CRISPR-Cas9 to mimic porphyria and combining the technology with light therapy.
Read More
Pegcetacoplan for PNH More Cost-Effective Than Anti-C5 Monoclonal Antibodies
April 18th 2024A cost-utility analysis conducted from the perspective of the Italian health system found that pegcetacoplan was more effective and less costly than 2 complement 5 (C5) inhibitors for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
Read More
