tailieunhanh - Damm et al. Health Economics Review 2011, 1:16

Damm et al. Health Economics Review 2011, 1:16 RESEARCH Open Access Promoting vaccinations - an analysis of measures taken by German statutory health insurers Kathrin Damm*, Jana M Schubert and J-Matthias von der Schulenburg Abstract Introduction: Prophylactic vaccinations play a significant role in health care. As a relatively cost-effective preventive measure they can help to avert transmissible diseases and thus protect not only the vaccinated individuals themselves but also those who have not been vaccinated. In order to achieve this, a high vaccination rate is necessary; for many prophylactic vaccinations this rate is not reached in Germany. In order to counteract this trend the importance. | Damm et al. Health Economics Review 2011 1 16 http content 1 1 16 o Health Economics Review a SpringerOpen Journal RESEARCH Open Access Promoting vaccinations - an analysis of measures taken by German statutory health insurers Kathrin Damm Jana M Schubert and J-Matthias von der Schulenburg Abstract Introduction Prophylactic vaccinations play a significant role in health care. As a relatively cost-effective preventive measure they can help to avert transmissible diseases and thus protect not only the vaccinated individuals themselves but also those who have not been vaccinated. In order to achieve this a high vaccination rate is necessary for many prophylactic vaccinations this rate is not reached in Germany. In order to counteract this trend the importance of prophylactic vaccinations was upgraded in 2007 within the scope of the reform of the health system. The reimbursement of patients vaccination fees was made compulsory for the statutory health insurance companies and statutory requirements were imposed on the insurers to ensure a nationwide provision of prophylactic vaccinations for insured persons. The objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent the health insurance companies promote the increasing of vaccination coverage rate today and what measures are being used to present this topic to the public. Methods In order to assess the public presentation of the topic prophylactic vaccinations we have examined the websites of 68 statutory health insurance companies. We have assessed the attitude of the companies towards the promotion of participation in vaccination programs by conducting qualitative structured interviews with representatives of 8 health insurers. Results Measures to promote vaccinations such as information recall offers projects to educate people or even monetary incentives are employed relatively extensively by the health insurers and are considered important. However it became clear that the discussion .