Achieving New Heights: Increasing HPV Vaccinations throughout the Mountain West ECHO

About the campaign

The American Cancer Society received funding in 2020 for a project titled “Mountain West HPV Project – An ACS | NCI CCC Partnership Model to Reduce Geographic Disparities in HPV Vaccination Rates for Adolescents Living in Rural States”. The states included in this work are Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming; states that are experiencing multiple disparities, notably geographic and gender gaps, in HPV vaccination rates. The Center for Health Outcomes and Population Equity (HOPE) at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah is a partner on this 3-year grant project.

This partnership uses a health equity lens to implement disparity-reducing interventions by leveraging health information technology, Project ECHO, and a regional consortium convening stakeholders to network and share best practices related to HPV vaccination in demographically similar states.

This project is made possible through grant funding from Merck, for the purpose of Mission: HPV Cancer Free Quality Improvement Initiative.

Why focus on HPV vaccinations?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for healthcare providers, patients, and policymakers. One outcome from the past few months is a dramatic decline in preventive visits and vaccinations. A recent study showed a 71% decline in healthcare visits for 7-17-year-olds occurred, ages when critical vaccines like Tdap, HPV, and meningococcal are given. Because of this children and communities are at greater risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

About the ECHO series

The Achieving New Heights: Increasing HPV Vaccinations throughout the Mountain West ECHO is focused on helping clinic teams, which may include providers, nurses, medical assistants, and others to learn about best practices, team engagement, evidence-based strategies for recommending, delivering, and prioritizing the HPV vaccine and other vaccines amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ECHO model is designed to allow learners to hear from peer-to-peer clinical case studies and didactics taught by national leaders in HPV vaccination.

The ECHO consists of five sessions lasting one hour each:

October 26, 2021: Orientation & Networking

November 9, 2021: The Pulse on HPV

November 16, 2021: Revolutionize Cancer Prevention through Provider Recommendation & Starting at Age 9

November 30, 2021: Optimize Health Information Technology & Communication Strategies to Increase Vaccines

December 14, 2021: Prioritize HPV Vaccinations through Quality Improvement Efforts