Why are Vaccines Important for Persons with Diabetes?

  • Infections can make it harder to manage diabetes.
  • Even when diabetes is well-managed, infections can be harder to fight. This means that persons with diabetes are at risk for more serious illness and complications. According to the CDC,
    • Some illnesses, like influenza, can raise blood glucose to dangerously high levels.
    • People with diabetes have higher rates of hepatitis B than the rest of the population.
    • People with diabetes are at increased risk for death from pneumonia.
  • Persons with diabetes were three times more likely to be hospitalized and have worse outcomes from Covid 19.
  • Immunization provides the best protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.
  • Vaccinations can help keep family, friends, and communities stay healthy.

 

Why Should Endocrinologists Talk to Their Patients About Vaccines?

  • Adult vaccination rates are extremely low.
  • Most adults are NOT aware that they need vaccines.
  • A recommendation from their healthcare professional is the strongest predictor of whether patients get vaccinated.
  • There are many missed opportunities for vaccination because many healthcare professionals are not routinely assessing vaccination status.

 

This is Your Shot: Be a Vaccine Champion to your Patients with Diabetes!

Impact the health of your adult patients with diabetes by ensuring they receive up-to-date vaccinations for influenza, COVID-19, and others.

There’s something that endocrinologists can do to help keep their patients with diabetes from contracting virus-related illnesses. The CDC’s Standards for Adult Immunization Practice describe a four-step process to improve vaccination rates. In addition, AACE's new Clinical Practice Guideline on Diabetes Care and Algorithm provides up-to-date vaccine recommendations for your patients.

Continue learning more by keeping up with AACE in its special project — Specialty Societies Advancing Adult Immunizations — with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Council for Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) to help increase vaccinations in adults with diabetes.

AACE is part of a consortium of medical specialty societies funded through CDC and supported by CMSS to provide vaccination resources to healthcare providers who treat adults with diabetes, including education and learning opportunities, clinical practice guidance, and quality improvement initiatives. Read the CMSS press release to learn more.

AACE Advancing Immunizations
Learn about AACE recommended vaccines and the CDC’s Standards for Adult Immunization Practice
Endocrine experts Ricardo Correa, MD, FACP, FACMQ, FAPCR, FACE; Rajesh Garg, MD, PhD; and Geetha Gopalakrishnan, MD, FACE, as they share valuable tips and success stories on how to talk to patients with diabetes about the importance of vaccinations in diabetes management. (NEW: 10/2023)

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) revised the Standards for Adult Immunization Practice in 2013. View the most recent Standards for Adult Immunization Practice on the CDC website. These updated standards call on ALL healthcare professionals — whether they provide vaccinations or not — to take steps to help ensure that their adult patients are fully immunized. These steps are as follows:

ASSESS immunization status of all your patients at every clinical encounter.

  • View CDC vaccine assessment fact sheet here.

Strongly RECOMMEND vaccines that patients need.

  • View CDC vaccine recommendation fact sheet here.

ADMINISTER your patients to a vaccination provider.

  • View CDC vaccine administration fact sheet here.

REFER your patients to a vaccination provider.

  • View CDC vaccine referral fact sheet here.

DOCUMENT vaccines received by your patients.

  • View CDC vaccine documentation fact sheet here.

Listen to AACE endocrine leader, Dr. Ricardo Correa, and coding expert Cindy Hughes share immunization coding rules, tips, and cases to help health care professionals make changes in their coding practices.

AACE Advancing Immunizations: Billing and Coding for Vaccination-Related Services for Patients with Diabetes

 

Coding Resources for Vaccine Services:

 

What's New

 

Additional Resources

 

Quality Improvement Projects

As part of the AACE Advancing Immunizations Project, we are partnering with several health systems to conduct a series of Quality Improvement Projects designed to improve routine immunization assessment; provider vaccine recommendations, immunization services, patient care procedures, and immunization documentation.

AACE's Health System Partners are:

  • Brown Medicine and Lifespan Corporation
  • Cleveland Clinic -Health Equity and Initiatives Institutes EMI
  • Houston Methodist
  • Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
  • Prisma Health Center Endocrinology Specialists and Thyroid Center
  • University of California, Los Angeles Gonda (Goldschmied) Diabetes Center
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas Health