Medical Groups Collaborate on National Initiative to Increase Adolescent HPV Vaccination Rates; Initiative Aimed at Effort to Reduce Over 34,000 Cancers Each Year in the U.S.
Alexandria, VA – AMGA Foundation and the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable have launched the HPV Vaccination Best Practices Learning Collaborative, a new initiative aimed at helping medical groups and health systems across the nation improve HPV vaccination rates in adolescents. This initiative has the potential to impact the health of more than 84,000 children.
The following medical groups and health systems were selected to participate in the collaborative:
- Arizona Community Physicians, Tucson, AZ
- Baton Rouge Clinic, Baton Rouge, LA
- Carle Physician Group, Urbana, IL
- Hattiesburg Clinic P.A., Hattiesburg, MS
- The Iowa Clinic, West Des Moines, IA
- Marshfield Clinic Health System, Marshfield, WI
- Sentara Medical Group, Norfolk, VA
- St. Elizabeth Physicians, Erlanger, KY
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV causes an estimated 34,800 cancers of six different types in the United States each year. Widespread HPV vaccination has the potential to prevent 92% of those cancers. Vaccination may also lower healthcare costs by reducing the need for screenings and subsequent care.
“The HPV vaccine presents a bold new opportunity for the U.S. healthcare system to drastically reduce cancers caused by HPV,” said John Kennedy, M.D., AMGA Foundation president and AMGA chief medical officer. “Eight AMGA member medical groups and health systems across the country have been selected by expert national advisors through a competitive application process to work side-by-side with one other and the American Cancer Society to develop and implement HPV vaccine best practices. Success will be defined by a significant increase in HPV vaccination rates among adolescent girls and boys. Upon completion, this collaborative will produce a new care model for dissemination to all high-performing health systems that are aligned with AMGA Foundation and American Cancer Society’s goal to prevent the vast majority of cervical and other cancers linked to HPV among adolescents.”
“The American Cancer Society strongly recommends vaccination of all boys and girls ages 9 to 12 to protect them from cancer,” says Debbie Saslow, Ph.D., American Cancer Society managing director, cancer control interventions-HPV/GYN cancers. “Working together with partners like AMGA and health systems will have the greatest impact on this critical public health issue.”
The initiative adheres to AMGA Foundation’s best practices learning collaborative framework. This framework is standard for all AMGA population health initiatives and was most recently used to facilitate the administration or documentation of more than 5 million influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations to adults over a three-year period.
Participating organizations will have access to the National Advisory Committee, a panel of subject matter and clinical experts who will guide participants on developing objectives and educational content. Through this collaborative, participants will expand their quality improvement work, accelerate their pace of improvement in administering HPV vaccinations, and learn from one another in a peer-to-peer setting. The National HPV Vaccination Roundtable will support the collaborative by providing experts and tools and resources to participants. The initiative’s first in-person meeting occurred in late February.
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About the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable
The National HPV Vaccination Roundtable is a coalition of over 70 organizations working at the intersection of immunization and cancer prevention. The work of the HPV Roundtable builds connections and synergies between organizations, creating a forum for sharing information and resources to increase HPV vaccination rates in the U.S. The HPV Roundtable was founded in 2014 by the American Cancer Society with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Supplemental funding has also been awarded from the National Cancer Institute and the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV Policy. Learn more at hpvroundtable.org
About AMGA Foundation
AMGA Foundation is AMGA’s philanthropic arm that enables medical groups and other organized systems of care to consistently improve health and health care. AMGA Foundation serves as a catalyst, connector, and collaborator for translating the evidence of what works best in improving health and health care in everyday practice. Learn more at amga.org/foundation
About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate and empower our members to deliver the next level of high-performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of medical groups’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans.
Funding for this project was made possible (in part) by the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under CFDA # 93.421 - Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation's Health, Cooperative Agreement grant number 6 NU38OT000283-02-01. The content of this program does not necessarily reflect the office policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.