A University Health Initiative to Increase Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Rates

• The national rates of HPV vaccination are far below Healthy People 2020 goals for both girls and boys.
• The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices supports HPV vaccination for males and females through age 26.
• This was a quality improvement initiative designed to improve local HPV vaccination efforts at a university health center.
• We describe evidence-based strategies found to have a positive effect on vaccination efforts.
• We found that health care provider recommendation was the most effective strategy to increase local vaccination rates.
• Campus-based marketing efforts impacted vaccine acceptance in a college student population.

This article describes an effective quality improvement (QI) initiative at a university student health center intended to increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates. A 16-week QI initiative used evidence-based interventions including preventing missed opportunities for vaccination, provision of strong vaccine recommendations, use of patient reminders, and campus-based marketing strategies. Electronic health record reports and feedback surveys provided evaluation. Findings revealed a 13-fold increase in administered vaccines during the intervention period. Provider recommendation was the most significant intervention. This program supports the integration of strategies to impact HPV vaccination rates at a student health center.