title: When insurance is not enough: racial and ethnic disparities in immunizations for the Medicare population.
abstract: This review article discusses disparities in immunization rates for beneficiaries of the US Medicare program. The review considers: 1) historical and statistical information on rates of immunization; 2) goals set forward by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities related to adult immunization; 3) barriers experienced by Medicare beneficiaries in receiving immunizations; 4) barriers experienced by health professionals in providing adult immunizations; and 5) CMS efforts to increase influenza and pneumococcal immunization rates and to eliminate immunization rate disparities among Medicare beneficiaries.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, Dallas Regional Office, 1301 Young Street, Room 714, Dallas, TX 75202, USA. rfarris@cms.hhs.gov
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Farris
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006278:Medicare / Q000592:standards*; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data