Opportunity 

The influenza (flu) virus contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality each year. Although the vaccine has been shown to effectively reduce disease and economic burdens, vaccination rates remain low at under 50 percent nationally. 

Intervention 

We implemented an active choice intervention in the electronic health record (EHR) that alerted care providers about patient eligibility during clinic visits and prompted them to accept or decline an order for the flu vaccine. 

Impact 

Results from the study showed that the intervention led to an increase in vaccination order rates of six percentage points, representing a 37 percent relative increase compared to the last flu season.  

Based on these findings, the health system decided to implement the approach across all primary care clinics in the Penn Medicine network.