The newly appointed Alabama Medicaid Advisory Commission is tasked with tasking the group with evaluating the financial structure of the Alabama Medicaid Agency and identifying ways to increase efficiency while also helping ensure the long-term sustainability of the agency and reporting their recommendations to Governor Robert Bentley before the 2013 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature. The Alabama Medicaid Advisory Commission has published no recommendations to date.
The American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) provided data for research conducted by Ahmedin Jemal, D.V.M., Ph.D., Surveillance Research Program, American Cancer Society, and colleagues that identified updated trends in incidence rates for human papillomavirus (HPV) associated cancers and HPV vaccination coverage levels in the January 7, 2013, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Nationally, 32.0% of females aged 13-17 years had received three doses of the HPV vaccine in 2010 showing the necessity for increased efforts to increase HPV vaccination coverage.
The concept is so simple that even the Alabama Legislature can get it.
It costs less to vaccinate women against HPV than it does to treat them for cancer. The reduced costs benefit the taxpayer in Medicaid cost reductions and future Medicare cost reductions.
The “just say no” attitude of many Alabama legislators regarding sexually transmitted diseases may in part be responsible for Alabama having the highest rates of HPV associated cancers in the United States. The cost of HPV vaccine for females under 18 who are uninsured is covered under the federal Vaccines for Children Program.
The Alabama Department of Public Health’s (ADPH) Comprehensive Cancer Control Program joined with the ADPH Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program to create and carry out a campaign to promote HPV vaccination. The “Third Time’s the Charm” campaign targets Alabama parents, physicians, and college students with a message that emphasizes the importance of getting all three doses of the HPV vaccine in 2011.
The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert website the date of publication.
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