Mountain-Pacific Quality Health has been awarded a $5.1 million contract over four years to improve immunization rates among Medicare beneficiaries. They will work with providers in Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and Hawaii to increase rates of influenza, pneumococcal pneumonia and herpes zoster vaccinations and reduce health disparities. In addition, Mountain-Pacific will partner with community organizations to conduct outreach and increase immunizations through a population-level approach. Previously, Mountain-Pacific led a campaign in one Montana county that increased pneumococcal vaccination rates by 191% through community engagement. The CEO believes collaborating within communities can help identify at-risk groups who may not regularly access healthcare.

1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2015
Contact:
Sara Medley, CEO
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health
(406) 457-5820 | 1-800-497-8232 ext. 5820
smedley@mpqhf.org
Mountain-Pacific awarded $5.1 million to improve immunization rates
(Helena, MT)–Mountain-Pacific announced today it has been awarded a $5.1 million, four-year
contract to improve the assessment and documentation of immunization status of Medicare beneficiaries,
increase overall immunization rates for influenza, pneumococcal pneumonia and herpes zoster (shingles)
and reduce health care disparities among this population.
Under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Mountain-Pacific will work
with the providers and practitioners in Montana, Wyoming, Hawaii and Alaska already working on
cardiac health and improving cardiac health care disparities. But to impact an even larger number of
beneficiaries, Mountain-Pacific will also work through communities and community stakeholders with
the expectation that a “community/population approach” will help move the immunization rates higher
than what can be accomplished by exclusively working with providers.
Working with CMS to increase immunization rates among at-risk populations by using a
community/population approach is nothing new for Mountain-Pacific. According to CEO Sara Medley,
Mountain-Pacific has held previous contracts that centered on increasing influenza and pneumococcal
pneumonia immunization rates for at-risk populations. Medley remembers a month-long communitywide
campaign to increase immunizations among an at-risk population in one Montana county where
pneumococcal immunization rates had been historically low. “In that county,” says Medley, “We were
able to show a 191% increase in the billed claim rate for pneumococcal vaccinations between 1997 and
1998—moving this county from a ranking of #7 in 1997 to a ranking of #1 in 1998.”
Medley sees the value in a community/population approach to health care. “By working within our
communities, with community partners, we’re essentially widening the net of people we can influence,”
she explains. “We’re extending care to those populations most at risk by working with providers to
identity those who have chronic conditions that warrant preventive care and by working within our
communities to identify those who don’t seek regular health care services and may be inadvertently
putting themselves at risk through self neglect,” she said.
About Mountain-Pacific—Mountain-Pacific holds federal and state contracts that allow us to oversee the quality of
care for Medicaid and Medicare members. We work within our communities to help improve the delivery of health
care and the systems that provide it. Our goal is to increase access to high quality health care that is affordable, safe
and of value to the patients we serve.
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This material was developed by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Montana,Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S.
Pacific Territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth ofthe Northern Mariana Islands, under contract with the Cen ters for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Contents presented do notnecessarily reflect CMS policy.