Immunizations for Adolescents

Measure Specification

This measure assesses the percentage of adolescents 13 years of age who had one dose of meningococcal vaccine, one tetanus, diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, and have completed the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series by their 13th birthday. The measure calculates a rate for each vaccine and two combination rates. This measure follows the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) guidelines for immunizations.

[1],[2],[3] These vaccines are available for adolescents to prevent them from acquiring serious diseases and help protect against disease in populations that lack immunity, such as infants, the elderly and individuals with chronic conditions.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends routine HPV vaccination for adolescents at age 11 or 12 years; vaccination may be given starting at age 9 years. In a two-dose schedule of HPV vaccine, the minimum interval between the first and second doses is 5 months. Persons who initiated vaccination with 9vHPV, 4vHPV or 2vHPV before their 15th birthday and received 2 doses of any HPV vaccine at the recommended dosing schedule (0, 6–12 months), or received three doses of any HPV vaccine at the recommended dosing schedule (0, 1–2, 6 months), are considered adequately vaccinated (Meites, Kempe, and Markowitz 2016).

ACIP recommends a single dose of the Tdap vaccine be administered at age 11 or 12 years (Liang et al. 2018). ACIP recommends routine vaccination with a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine for adolescents aged 11 or 12 years, with a booster dose at age 16 years (Mbaeyi et al. 2020). In certain situations, a pentavalent vaccine may be administered to persons aged 10 years and older when both a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine and meningococcal B vaccine are indicated at the same visit (Collins et al.

2024).

This measure contains four strata defined by a single submission criteria. This measure produces four performance rates. This measure will be calculated with 4 performance rates: 1) Patients who had one dose of meningococcal vaccine (serogroups A, C, W, Y or A, C, W, Y, B), on or between the patient’s 10th and 13th birthdays. 2) Patients who had one tetanus, diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) on or between the patient’s 10th and 13th birthdays.

3) Patients who have completed the HPV vaccine series with different dates of service on or between the patient’s 9th and 13th birthdays. 4) All patients who are compliant for Meningococcal (serogroups A, C, W, Y), Tdap and HPV during the specified timeframes. For accountability reporting in the CMS MIPS program, the rate for Submission Criteria 4 is used for performance.

For the purposes of MIPS implementation of this measure, this patient-process measure is submitted a minimum of once per patient during the performance period. The most advantageous quality data code (QDC) will be used if the measure is submitted more than once.