FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2010
Contact: Will Jennings, 202-225-4076


Lincoln, Pryor, Berry, Snyder Announce $299K to Improve Child Immunization in Arkansas

Washington – U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representatives Marion Berry (AR-01) and Vic Snyder (AR-02) today announced that the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care in Little Rock will receive a $299,397 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant to research ways to improve Arkansas’s immunization reminder and recall systems to ensure more children receive vaccinations.

Immunization reminder systems help physicians’ offices keep track of future appointments for children to receive vaccines. Recall systems track missed appointments at which vaccines would have been administered.

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care will partner with the Arkansas Department of Health and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to determine how training doctors and staff at health care facilities will improve childhood vaccination rates. Researchers will work with providers throughout Arkansas to help them implement staff procedures and other measures that improve vaccination rates. The results of the study will be used to create an office toolkit that will help health care providers in Arkansas implement effective immunization reminder and recall procedures.

“I am pleased to announce this exciting research that will help health care providers throughout Arkansas ensure our children get the vaccines they need to stay healthy,” Lincoln said. “I commend the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care for their great work advancing research that helps medical professionals care for Arkansas’s children. From fighting to end childhood hunger to working to expand access to children’s health care, I am committed to doing everything I can to secure federal resources that keep our children healthy and strong.”

“Immunizations save lives and help keep children healthy. These funds will help health care providers across Arkansas put in place effective and efficient procedures to help families maintain a regular vaccination schedule and keep kids safe,” Pryor said.

“By having a stronger system in place to ensure that children in rural and urban areas are immunized regularly, we can save families a lot of money in health care costs,” Berry said. “Practicing preventive measures like this is the best way to cut costs for Arkansans, and these efforts are a step in that direction.”

“One of the most effective tools to keep children safe from some of the world’s most deadly diseases is vaccinations,” Snyder said. “Effective child immunizations make Arkansas a healthier place to live, and I applaud the positive efforts put in place by these research programs to improve immunizations’ procedure and delivery systems.”

“Immunizations are the most cost effective medicine available, yet too many Arkansas children don’t get all their recommended dosages at the recommended intervals. The goal of the grant given to AFMC is to work with our state’s physicians to develop an improved system of recalls to the offices so that families return as needed to ensure that the correct course of immunizations is completed,” said Ray Hanley, President and CEO of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care.