A Web-based Tool for Designing Vaccine Formularies for Childhood Immunization in the United States
- aSimulation and Optimization Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
- bDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL
- Correspondence: Dr. Sheldon H. Jacobson, Simulation and Optimization Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (Email: <shj{at}illinois.edu>)
- Received 1 October 2007
- Accepted 12 June 2008
Abstract
This article describes the motivation, development, and implementation of a software tool, http://www.vaccineselection.com, introduced to assist health care professionals and public health administrators in managing pediatric vaccine purchase decisions and making economically sound formulary choices. The tool integrates general operations research methodologies with specific local practice choices to solve for the lowest overall cost set of vaccines required to immunize a child according to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule. A description of the tool's capabilities is provided. Results on the use of the software tool are reported and discussed.
Footnotes
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Supported in part by National Science Foundation grants (DMI-0222554, DMI-0222597, DMI-0457176, DMI-0456945). The Website development was supported in part through contract 200-2002-00789 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Austral Engineering and Software (AES), Inc. The authors received financial support from AES, Inc., to implement the operations research algorithms for the web-based tool.
