August is National Immunization Awareness Month This national health observance presents a great opportunity to educate seniors and other people with Medicare on the importance of disease control and prevention through immunization. Vaccine-preventable disease levels are at or near record lows, yet many adults remain under-immunized, missing opportunities to protect themselves against diseases such as hepatitis B, seasonal influenza, and pneumococcal disease.
What Can You Do? CMS asks healthcare providers who provide care to seniors and others with Medicare to join us during National Immunization Awareness Month to help protect your Medicare patients from vaccine-preventable diseases. This can be done by ensuring their immunizations are up-to-date, educating them on risk factors, and encouraging their use of appropriate Medicare-covered immunizations. (Note that if you provide the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit to your eligible Medicare patients, please ensure that a written screening schedule for immunizations is reflected on their personalized preventive service plan.) Medicare Part B Immunization Benefits Medicare provides coverage for seasonal influenza, pneumococcal, and hepatitis B vaccines and their administration for qualified beneficiaries as preventive immunizations. Providers who accept the Medicare-approved payment amount for the following services are paid under Medicare Part B: § Seasonal Influenza Immunization - Medicare provides payment for the seasonal influenza vaccine and its administration for all people with Medicare, once per influenza season. Medicare may cover additional influenza vaccinations, if medically necessary. You may visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/ACIP-list.htm> for the latest 2011-2012 seasonal flu recommendations and alerts. § Pneumococcal Immunization - Medicare provides payment for the pneumococcal vaccine and its administration for all beneficiaries, generally once in a lifetime. Medicare may cover additional vaccinations based on risk. § Hepatitis B Immunization - Medicare provides payment for the hepatitis B vaccine and its administration for beneficiaries at medium to high risk of contracting hepatitis B. For More Information: § The CMS Guide to Medicare Preventive Services<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/mps_guide_web-061305.pdf> § Medicare Immunizations Billing Quick Reference Chart<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/qr_immun_bill.pdf> § CMS Adult Immunizations Brochure<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/adult_immunization.pdf> § CMS Adult Immunizations Webpage<http://www.cms.gov/AdultImmunizations/> § CMS Medicare Learning Network® (MLN) Preventive Services Educational Products Webpage<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp> - This site provides access to MLN educational resources developed by CMS for Fee-For-Service providers and suppliers related to preventive services covered by Medicare, including immunizations covered by Part B § The CDC Vaccines and Immunizations Webpage<http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/> § National Immunization Awareness Month 2011 Toolkit<http://www.healthfinder.gov/nho/PDFs/AugustNHOtoolkit.pdf> § Annual Wellness Visit Brochure<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/Annual_Wellness_Visit.pdf> - A brochure for healthcare professionals. § The ABCs of Providing the Annual Wellness Visit Quick Reference Chart<http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/AWV_Chart_ICN905706.pdf> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: If you have problems accessing any hyperlink in this message, please copy and paste the URL into your Internet browser. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to (http://www.cms.gov/prospmedicarefeesvcpmtgen/downloads/Provider_Listservs.pdf). If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS). Thank you.
