Covid 19 Vaccine – Is Your Practice Ready?
Finally, the Covid-19 vaccines have arrived! While some still have their suspicions about the effectiveness and safety, there is already great demand to be vaccinated. The fact is that the vaccine development process was informed by decades of research and large-scale clinical trials with thousands of participants. The clinical trials demonstrated that these vaccines protect people against disease by training our bodies to trigger an immune response. After the two required doses, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have a 94% to 95% efficacy rate of protection against COVID-19. Therefore, ultimately, it is up to the physicians to not only administer the vaccine, but also to assure their patients that the vaccines are safe and effective.
The question is, is your practice ready? These times in a pandemic have been rough on pretty much everyone, and physicians especially. Practicing medicine has always been hard. For those on the front lines of patient care, some of the added stresses are obvious. Doctors are confronted with an overwhelming number of extremely sick patients, which has altered their ability to practice in the way they were taught and accustomed to. Even those not directly engaged in COVID-19 care have been profoundly affected by the massive disruption the pandemic has caused in their ability to care for patients.
The strain of the personal risk to which doctors expose themselves in any type of patient care nowadays is obvious. Additionally, doctors have had to deal with safety precautions, amplifications of health inequities and disparities, contagion management, financial strains, legalities, and additional bureaucracy. Physicians in small private practices around the country have also reported steep declines in revenues.
When doctors decide to help out by administering the vaccine, many times they don’t bargain for the overload of bureaucracy and legalities that come their way. Health care providers are required by law to record certain information in a patient’s medical record. This record should include the date of administration, vaccine manufacturer, vaccine lot number, the name and title of the person who administered the vaccine, the address of the facility, vaccine information statement (VIS), and much more. If there is an adverse reaction, it should be reported even if the cause of the adverse event is uncertain.
The doctor will need to review the patient’s immunization history, screen for contraindications and precautions, educate the patient about the vaccine, etc.. The COVID-19 pandemic is also changing rapidly and requires different strategies to maintain clinical preventive services. Providers are responsible for adhering to all requirements outlined in the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Agreement that they sign upon commencing their participation in the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program.
Additionally, the rollout of the vaccine has been quite cumbersome. States have been trapped by their own policies, with some states getting the most heat for their limiting rules, and other states now facing a flood of out-of-state patients who are locked out of getting the vaccine in their home state. Our beloved Florida, due to its relaxed rules, attracted a flood of older adults, resulting in huge lines and lots of confusion.
Keeping up with all this can be hectic, to say the least. A doctor’s priority should be to provide the best level of care to the patient. In order to help you do just that, Athena MMG is here to handle all the management and logistics for you! Leave all the legal regulations, bureaucracy, planning, and marketing to us. Furthermore, we can provide you with additional locations to administer the vaccine safely and effectively. Contact us to find out more.
