September 27, 2019

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: CMS-1717-P
P.O. Box 8013
Baltimore, MD 21244-1850

RE: CMS-1717-P Medicare Program: Proposed Changes to Hospital Outpatient
Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs

To Whom It May Concern:

As participants in the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition (AVAC), we appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Medicare Program: Proposed Changes to Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs proposed rule. AVAC remains deeply concerned that the hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center quality reporting programs no longer include adult immunization quality measures and would urge inclusion of the Adult Immunization Status measure in the final rule.

AVAC consists of 55 organizational leaders in health and public health that are committed to addressing the range of barriers to adult immunization and to raising awareness of the importance of adult immunization. AVAC works towards common legislative and regulatory solutions that will strengthen and enhance access to adult immunization across the health care system. Our priorities and objectives are driven by a consensus process with the goal of enabling the range of stakeholders to have a voice in the effort to improve access and utilization of adult immunizations.

Despite the well-known benefits of immunizations, more than 50,000 adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases while adult coverage lag behind Healthy People 2020 targets for most commonly recommended vaccines: influenza, pneumococcal, tetanus, hepatitis B, herpes zoster, and HPV.5,6 One of our key coalition priorities is to advocate for federal benchmarks and quality measures to encourage improved tracking and reporting of adult immunization status that will result in increased adult immunization rates.

Adult Immunization Status (AIS) Measure
AVAC has been disappointed over the last few years to see several important immunization measures for influenza and pneumococcal removed from quality reporting programs under the rule. AVAC strongly urges CMS to prioritize prevention quality measurement by including the Adult Immunization Status (AIS) measure in the final rule. The AIS has also been proposed for adoption under the MIPS/MSSP as well as a number of primary and specialty areas in the CY2020 Physician Fee Schedule rule.

The AIS measure is a composite of several age-recommended vaccines for adults, comprising influenza, pneumococcal, zoster, and Tdap vaccines. Adoption of the composite measure would provide a sound, reliable and comprehensive means to assesses the receipt of routinely recommended adult immunizations. The AIS will reduce the reporting burden on providers while also incentivizing them to follow the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) Practice Standards for Adult Immunization Practice2 to assess, recommend, administer or refer and document the vaccines the patient may (or may not) have received during the visit.

Monitoring immunization status and reporting of offered and administered immunizations to patients are critical preventive service benchmarks that help to ensure immunizations remain a priority under new payment models and in the forefront of clinical care standards. Reducing the number of missed immunization opportunities, particularly among Medicare beneficiaries, is critical to improving health and reducing the burden of vaccine preventable disease.

Opportunities to assess the immunization status of Medicare beneficiaries should be done by the range of clinicians who care for them, including primary care and specialty providers. Taking advantage of each and every patient encounter to ensure that counseling and education on vaccines, based on their age and health status, and a strong provider recommendation have been found to improve the likelihood of a patient being immunized.

In 2016, AVAC released a White Paper outlining the value and imperative of quality measures for adult vaccines.3 The report highlights the role of vaccine quality measures in preventing illness and death, reducing caregiving demands, avoiding unnecessary healthcare spending, and setting the foundation for healthy aging. Quality measurement programs through Medicare play a critical role in promoting improved quality and encouraging adherence to and consistent utilization of recommended adult vaccines.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recognizes that immunization is an important tool to keep people healthy and reduce avoidable health care costs. In its Strategic Plan FY 2018 –2022, HHS acknowledges that “infectious diseases are a major health and economic burden for the United States.” Additionally, strategic objective 2.1 makes a commitment to “support access to preventive services including immunizations and screenings, especially for high-risk, high-need populations.”

AVAC believes that adult immunization quality measurement also meets the three core strategies underlying the movement toward a truly patient-centered health care delivery system by: 1) Improving the way clinicians are paid to incentivize quality and value of care over simply quantity of services; 2) improving the way care is delivered by providing clinical practice support, data and feedback reports to guide improvement and better decision-making and; 3) making data more available in real-time at the point of contact and enabling the use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology and other data sources to support care delivery.

We appreciate this opportunity to share our perspective on this proposed rule. Please contact an AVAC Coalition Manager at (202) 540-1070 or info@adultvaccinesnow.org if you wish to further discuss our comments. To learn more about the work of AVAC visit www.adultvaccinesnow.org.

Sincerely,

Alliance for Aging Research
Biotechnology Innovation Organization
Dynavax Technologies Corporation
Families Fighting Flu
GSK
Immunization Action Coalition
Infectious Disease Society of America
Medicago
National Consumers League
Novavax
Sanofi
The Gerontological Society of America
Trust for America’s Health