Flu Shot Pre-visit Questionnaire

Pre-visit Questionnaire to Increase Influenza Vaccinations

The purpose of this study is to assess, prospectively, the effect on flu vaccination rates of a pre-visit questionnaire that asks patients to indicate their preferences for a flu shot. Responses to the questionnaire will also be shown to clinicians via additional text in an existing flu shot alert. The investigators hypothesize that the pre-visit questionnaire will lead to increased flu vaccination compared with standard practices.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends a flu vaccination to everyone aged 6+ months, with rare exception; almost anyone can benefit from the vaccine, which can reduce illnesses, missed work, hospitalizations, and death. One barrier to vaccination is a lack of "cues to action," which could be overcome by asking patients for a pre-visit commitment to get a flu shot and additional reminders for the clinician to act on this commitment.

Eligible patients will be randomized to either receive or not receive a one-item, pre-visit questionnaire about the flu shot (that will show responses to clinicians in an existing flu shot alert).

Patient Inclusion Criteria:

• On a list of active Geisinger patients (all patients on this list attended at least one primary care appointment at Geisinger between 10/1/2008 and 4/13/2022, and either had a Geisinger primary care provider assigned as of April 2022, or were in the Electronic Health Record [EHR] since at least September 2021 and had at least one encounter in 2020-2022)
• Has an upcoming flu shot-eligible outpatient visit with a provider
• Has activated Geisinger's patient portal
• Has not yet received a flu vaccine at the time the questionnaire became available, according to the EHR

Clinician Inclusion Criteria

• Any Geisinger clinician who sees patient-participants in our study for a flu shot-eligible outpatient visit