What happens when specialists decide vaccination is their job too?
Patients with chronic conditions face elevated risks from vaccine-preventable diseases and see specialists more often than primary care clinicians. Yet vaccine counseling has traditionally been viewed as someone else's job. Since 2021, SSAAI has been working to change that - and a s the program enters its final year, the results speak for themselves.
The Challenge
Adult vaccination remains one of the most underutilized preventive health interventions in the United States. Patients with diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory conditions face substantially higher risks from vaccine-preventable diseases – and many see their specialists more frequently than their primary care physicians. Yet vaccination has traditionally been viewed as the responsibility of primary care, and most specialists have not routinely assessed or recommended vaccines as part of their clinical practice.
The Approach
CMSS convened specialty societies and their affiliated health systems to implement quality improvement initiatives aligned with CDC’s Standards for Adult Immunization Practice (SAIP). The model was built on three strategies: aligning specialty society policies and guidelines with SAIP, developing clinician and staff education, and supporting health systems in implementing quality improvement interventions – including EHR optimization, clinical workflow redesign, and integration with state Immunization Information Systems (IIS).
The Model
Rather than prescribing a single solution, SSAAI created communities of practice within each specialty. Societies convened their health systems, facilitated peer learning, and supported local adaptation. Health systems chose interventions that fit their settings – from EHR hard stops to nurse-driven protocols to pharmacy partnerships. This peer-driven approach generated ownership, enthusiasm, and sustainability that top-down mandates rarely achieve.
What Emerged
More than data on improved vaccination rates: the project revealed how specialty societies can catalyze transformation in clinical culture, how peer learning accelerates adoption of best practices, and how specialists – when given the right support – embrace vaccination as integral to comprehensive patient care. Teams across the country innovated, shared what worked, and built lasting changes into their clinical operations.
"When I started talking to patients, and these are all chronic disease patients, they said T've never talked about this before, and now that you're bringing it up, I know it's important."
