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.