Investigation of obstacles to accessing information regarding private medical insurance coverage and physician reimbursement for adolescent vaccination.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate accessing insurance company vaccine reimbursement and coverage information.


METHODS
A telephone survey was conducted from June 2006 to August 2006. Participating organizations were insurance companies in the states of New York, Oregon, and Texas. The main outcome measure was the obstacles encountered while trying to obtain information on vaccine costs and reimbursement.


RESULTS
Obstacles identified included the predominance of automated answering systems and the necessity of leaving voicemail messages, company nonresponse, and refusal to participate.


CONCLUSIONS
Obstacles result in difficulty obtaining vaccine reimbursement and coverage information by phone. Greater transparency is necessary to enable stakeholders to make informed decisions about immunizations.
Boom
Julie A
JA
Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Nelson
Cynthia S
CS
Middleman
Amy B
AB
Frugé
Anne
A
Kozinetz
Claudia A
CA
D022126:Access to Information; D000293:Adolescent; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007348:Insurance, Health; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010820:Physicians / Q000191:economics*; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D014481:United States; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics*