Specifically Gardasil, where physicians are passing on the costs to patients:
“This is a national issue that is affecting lots of people,” said Benjamin Gitterman, president of the D.C. chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “It’s a matter of cash flow,” Gitterman added. Some insurance companies are paying doctors $122 per shot — just $2 more than the price doctors pay for a dose of Gardasil — an amount not sufficient to cover the cost of stocking and administering the vaccine, doctors say. The problem is disproportionately affecting pediatricians, experts say, because they administer the majority of immunizations and are among the lowest-paid specialists.
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{ 3 comments }
so true.
drop just ONE dose and you’re out the “profit” for the next 60 doses. This is excluding, of course, costs for refridgeration, syringes, alcohol swabs, sharps disposal service, billing-associated fees, staff & physician time, and interest that would otherwise be earned in a bank account with $100,000 in it (the value of the vaccines currently stocked in our office fridge).
Oh, and the insurance to cover the vaccines in the fridge in of mechanical failure.
Perhaps the vaccines could just be written for, like any other medicine, and patients could pick them up from a pharmacy and bring into the office for administration.
Pharmacies have experience with storing vaccines and other pharmaceuticals requiring refrigeration.
Isn’t it possible to arrange pick- up of the vaccine from a nearby pharmacy just before administration, similar to what Happy suggests?
Why not just set your own price for the vaccine and bill the patient for the uncovered amount? Specifically exclude items like this from whatever contracts you have if necessary. Patients can vote with their feet, and are not denied the ability to obtain the vaccine. This is the American way.
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