Billing and Volunteers Substantially Reduced School-Located Influenza Vaccination Costs, 2 Oregon Counties, 2010-2011

After the 2009 pandemic influenza seasons, the financial sustainability of school-located vaccination (SLV) clinics drew much attention. This study estimated and compared the labor costs of SLV clinics and reimbursements for influenza vaccinations for students attending 5 schools in 2 Oregon counties during 2010-2011.

Using a biweekly, Web-based survey, staff and volunteers prospectively tracked the time they spent on SLV clinic planning, implementation, and billing. They also tracked claims submitted and reimbursements by payment source.

We report labor hours and associated costs for implementing school-based vaccination clinics; number of claims submitted and the reimbursement rate; and total and net costs.

In county A, 260 doses were administered at a total cost of $5009 and received $3620 in payment. For county B, 165 doses were administered at a cost of $5598 and received $3807 in payments. With billing, the net cost per dose decreased from $19.74 to $8.57 and $38.08 to $16.17, for county A and county B, respectively.

Reimbursements reduced cost per dose by 48% across SLV clinics across both Oregon counties. Local health departments can bill local health insurers to offset costs for implementing school-based vaccination clinics. Efforts to set up billing processes require dedicated billing staff who can effectively manage claims submission processes with multiple health insurers.