VFC will benefit your patients and your practice!

The VFC program provides all routine vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at no cost to the participating healthcare provider.

Benefits of the VFC program

Being a VFC provider is a sound investment in your practice and patients. It reduces your up-front costs because you will not have to pay to purchase vaccines for VFC-eligible children. Also, you can charge an administrative fee to offset your costs of doing business. Your patients benefit because they won’t have to go somewhere else to get the vaccines they need.

The VFC program will:

• Keep your patients in their medical home.
• Reduce your up-front costs.
• Help provide quality care to vulnerable children and adolescents

VFC Eligibility

Patients  are eligible until they turn 19, if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Medicaid-eligible
• Uninsured
• American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN)
• Underinsured
  • “Underinsured” is defined as a child
    • Who has health insurance, but the coverage does not include vaccines.
    • Whose health insurance covers only selected vaccines (VFC Program-eligible for non-covered vaccines only).
    • Whose health insurance has a fixed dollar limit or cap for vaccines (VFC Program-eligible once fixed dollar amount or cap is reached).

Note: Underinsured children are eligible to receive VFC Program vaccine only through a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), or Rural Health Clinic (RHC) or under an approved deputization provider location agreement.

Becoming a VFC provider

You don’t have to be a Medicaid provider to participate in VFC. Any healthcare provider authorized by their state to prescribe vaccines can be a VFC provider.

• Contact your state/local/territory VFC coordinator to request enrollment. You can find contact information here.
• Complete the state electronic provider enrollment in WebIZ (AR Immunization Information Systems).
• For more information contact the VFC Coordinator at (501) 537-8969.

Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP)

IQIP is CDC’s national, Vaccines for Children (VFC) provider-level immunization quality improvement (QI) program. IQIP serves to assist and support health care providers by identifying opportunities to improve vaccine uptake and to help providers be:

• Motivated to try new vaccination service delivery strategies and incorporate changes into their current practices.
• Supported in sustaining changes and improvement to their vaccination service delivery.
• Aware of and knowledgeable about vaccination coverage and missed opportunities to vaccinate.
• Able to use available data from the IIS to improve services and coverage

The IQIP Program provides a simple quality improvement (QI) process for VFC-enrolled providers to improve their clinic vaccination processes and increase their patient vaccination coverage rates.

The IQIP Process

IQIP is a 12-month process during which public health representatives and VFC providers collaborate to implement provider-level QI strategies to increase vaccine uptake by improving and enhancing vaccination workflow.

If you are interested in becoming a VFC Provider, submit a ticket to the AR WebIZ Help Desk or contact the ADH Immunization Program at (501) 537-8969.

Resources

• Vaccines for Children
• CDC Vaccine Price List
• Vaccines Provided by the VFC Program
• Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
• CDC You Call the Shots
• Filing VAERS Reports
• Resources to Promote the VFC Program
• VFC Operations Guide
• Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP)
• Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)
• Rural Health Clinic (RHC)
• AR WebIZ Help Desk