Survey reveals gap in cost of vaccines to doctors

Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) - A new survey suggests about one in 10 U.S. doctors who vaccinate privately insured children are considering dropping that service largely because they are losing money when they do it.
    A second survey revealed startling differences between what doctors pay for vaccines and what private health insurers reimburse. For example, one in 10 doctors lost money on one recommended infant vaccine, but others made almost $40 per dose on the same shot.
    Study co-author Dr. Gary Freed of the University of Michigan says a lot of doctors weren’t even aware of how little the reimbursement is.
    The studies are the first to attach numbers to doctors’ long-simmering complaints that they are only breaking even - or even losing money - when they give shots.
    Experts say there’s no evidence that significant numbers of doctors are quitting the vaccination business yet because of financial concerns.
    But health officials are worried. Reimbursement concerns were behind an exodus of doctors from vaccine programs in the 1980s, which contributed to a terrible resurgence of measles in 1989-91 that caused 11,000 hospitalizations and 123 deaths.
    This year, U.S. measles cases rose to the highest level in more than a decade, mainly because some parents are opting out of getting their kids vaccinated.
    Health officials fear the stage could be set for bigger outbreaks in the future.