Childhood Immunization:
Opportunities to Improve Immunization Rates at Lower Cost
T-HRD-92-36: Published: Jun 1, 1992. Publicly Released: Jun 1, 1992.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
GAO discussed state and federal efforts to improve the childhood immunization rate, focusing on: (1) methods for reducing Medicaid costs for immunizing children; and (2) strategies to ensure that all preschool children receive vaccinations. GAO noted that: (1) state Medicaid programs can save on vaccination costs if low-cost vaccines are made available to health care providers who administer vaccinations to poor children; (2) state and local health departments currently purchase low-cost vaccines through Centers for Disease Control (CDC) bulk-purchase contracts and distribute those vaccines to public health clinics; (3) nine states purchase vaccines through CDC contracts by running vaccine replacement programs that provide free vaccines to Medicaid providers; (4) Medicaid programs in 32 states could have saved $14.2 million had they acquired vaccines at the CDC contract price, rather than the private-sector price; (5) states could also achieve substantial savings by requiring the use of combined vaccines that provide protection against multiple diseases, rather than providing Medicaid reimbursement for individual injections of single-antigen vaccines, which provide protection against only one disease; (6) raising adequate funding for purchasing and distributing CDC contract vaccines to Medicaid providers has been a major barrier in establishing a vaccine replacement program; and (7) the median immunization rate for preschool children was 66 percent for those states with integrated tracking, outreach, and education systems, and 58 percent for states without such systems.
Mar 3, 2021
-
Drug Safety:
FDA's Future Inspection Plans Need to Address Issues Presented by COVID-19 BacklogGAO-21-409T: Published: Mar 4, 2021. Publicly Released: Mar 3, 2021.
Mar 1, 2021
-
Medicare Part B:
Payments and Use for Selected New, High-Cost DrugsGAO-21-252: Published: Mar 1, 2021. Publicly Released: Mar 1, 2021.
Feb 24, 2021
-
Covid-19:
Key Insights from GAO's Oversight of the Federal Public Health ResponseGAO-21-396T: Published: Feb 24, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 24, 2021.
Feb 17, 2021
Feb 11, 2021
-
Operation Warp Speed:
Accelerated COVID-19 Vaccine Development Status and Efforts to Address Manufacturing ChallengesGAO-21-319: Published: Feb 11, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 11, 2021.
Feb 5, 2021
-
DOD Health Care:
DOD Should Monitor Implementation of Its Clinical Practice GuidelinesGAO-21-237: Published: Feb 5, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 5, 2021. -
Medicaid:
CMS Needs to Implement Risk-Based Oversight of Puerto Rico's Procurement ProcessGAO-21-229: Published: Feb 5, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 5, 2021. -
VA Health Care:
Community Living Centers Were Commonly Cited for Infection Control Deficiencies Prior to the COVID-19 PandemicGAO-21-195R: Published: Jan 6, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 5, 2021.
Jan 28, 2021
-
COVID-19:
Critical Vaccine Distribution, Supply Chain, Program Integrity, and Other Challenges Require Focused Federal AttentionGAO-21-265: Published: Jan 28, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 28, 2021.
Jan 21, 2021
-
Rural Hospital Closures:
Affected Residents Had Reduced Access to Health Care ServicesGAO-21-93: Published: Dec 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 21, 2021.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here