Guideline for Vaccination in Outpatient Practices
The Guideline for Administering the COVID-19 Vaccine in Individual Outpatient Practices enables UMMS to safely and efficiently vaccinate patients and community members in UMMS/FPI ambulatory practices. The guideline establishes the procedures and workflows outpatient practices should follow throughout the entire vaccination process – from scheduling patients, to receiving, storing, and administering COVID-19 vaccine, to responding to and documenting potential adverse events. Attached to the guideline is a Pharmacy Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with instructions for handling, storing, and transporting COVID-19 vaccine. Also attached to the guideline are checklists to ensure outpatient practices are fully prepared to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
The guideline was updated on October 5, 2021, to include changes to the process for minimizing potential waste of vaccine supply in collaboration with pharmacy and the removal of references to vaccine allocation according to Maryland’s Vaccine Distribution Plan.
Please click here to review the Guideline for Administering the COVID-19 Vaccine in Individual Outpatient Practices.
FAQs
Who is eligible to receive the vaccine in UMMS outpatient practices?
This guideline establishes three possible workflow options for scheduling and performing vaccinations on site, and each includes details regarding who is eligible to be vaccinated under that particular workflow. The three workflows are: 1) vaccination of patients as part of scheduled provider visits, 2) closed sessions devoted to vaccination of only existing patients, and 3) open sessions devoted to vaccination of existing patients and community members.
Will patients/community members have to pay for the vaccine if they receive it at an outpatient practice?
The COVID-19 vaccine should be given to patients and community members free-of-charge. Hospital-based practices should not charge an immunization administration charge, whether a rate-regulated or non-rate-regulated practice. If non-hospital practices choose to charge an administration fee, it should be consistently applied across all of the entity’s practices.