Specialty Societies Advancing Adult Immunization
SSAAI is a partnership between CMSS and six specialty societies that promotes adoption of the CDC’s Standards for Adult Immunization Practice (SAIP) among high-risk adult patients with COPD, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer; as well as older adults and employees in occupational health settings.
Through our member societies, CMSS serves as a vital partner helping to increase the CDC’s reach among clinicians, and to distribute education materials about influenza among the most vulnerable patient populations.
By engaging specialists in immunization, SSAAI improves vaccine assessment, recommendation, referral, and documentation within specialty care settings, while demonstrating the impact of the SAIP through reliable, validated data.
Audience:
- CMSS member societies and their clinician members
- Federal, state, and local health agencies
- National and regional health systems
- State and regional immunization information systems
- Electronic health record vendors
- Advocates for vaccine equity
Value:
SSAAI helps member societies and engaged health systems build infrastructure, capacity and expertise to better promote immunization and overcome challenges of lack of standardized processes, vaccine hesitancy, time, and reimbursement. The partnership is part of CMSS’ commitment to address emerging issues that affect specialty societies and to help channel member contributions that advance healthcare.
Program Partners:
Specialty Societies
CMSS is proud to implement this project in partnership with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE), American College of Cardiology (ACC), American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), American Geriatrics Society (AGS), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). Past participants include the American Society of Nephrology. All participating societies have developed new and updated clinical practice guidelines or policy/position statements endorsing the adoption of SAIP in their members’ specialty settings.
Health Systems
40 SSAAI health systems are implementing tests of change to improve adoption of the SAIP in specialty settings and increase vaccination rates for influenza, COVID-19, pneumococcal, shingles, RSV and TDAP. Participating health systems submit aggregated vaccine outcomes and process data to a centralized data platform. These health systems are in turn sending their vaccination data back, creating a multistate resource for vaccine intervention.
Project Advisory Panel
- Beth Baker, MD, MPH, FACOEM
- Ankeet Bhatt, MD
- Sharon Brangman, MD, AGSF
- Theresa Cullen, MD
- Christopher da Costa, MD, PhD
- Timothy Farrell, MD, AGSF
- Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, ATSF
- Michael Keng, MD
- Alan S. Kliger, MD
- Anna McCollister
- Justin R. Ortiz, MD, MS, FACP, FCCP
- Rebecca J. Schmidt, DO, FACP, FASN
- Cynthia D. Smith, MD, FACP
Wow – I had no idea how meaningful a small change would be. People who have postponed these vaccines for years are now receiving them… We are thrilled that the grant has helped us overcome the barriers to this service.
Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPHOregon Health & Science University
American Geriatrics Society Health System Partner
Visit the CMSS Learning Center to access educational materials from SSAAI program participants designed to support the adoption of SAIP in specialty settings and make a difference in your community.
Disagreeing Better Toolkit for Clinicians and Care Teams
Adult Immunization Resource Center
Acknowledgement
The Specialty Societies Advancing Adult Immunization (SSAAI) program is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) totaling $42,675,407 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of nor endorsement, by CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.
