'Tis the Season to Avoid Cold and Flu

Flu and its complications affect young and old and result in thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year. The good news is that flu vaccination is covered by Medicare and for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP. Because case managers work with patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, the CMS is launching an effort to help case managers encourage everyone, especially the African American, Hispanic and Native American communities, who have low rates of vaccination, to get their annual flu vaccination as early as possible.

CMS has made available an Immunization Guide (located at http://www.cms.gov/immunizations) which helps providers bill for administration and the cost of the vaccine. The CMS immunizations page features a mini-poster (in English and Spanish) reminding everyone that flu vaccination is covered under Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP. We appreciate your sharing the mini-poster with your colleagues as it can be easily reproduced to reinforce the fact that the annual flu vaccination is a free benefit for Medicare beneficiaries and for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP.

The CMS regional flu contacts (listed below) may be able to work with you to create events and programs that encourage hard-to-reach populations to get their annual flu vaccination. We appreciate your help in disseminating these important flu prevention messages, helping to raise awareness and improve access to this important preventive service for all the people we serve. Thank you again for your assistance in this important work.

Helpful Regional Flu Contacts

Region/States Contact Name Email Address Phone
Region 1
(CT, MA, ME,
NH, RI, VT)		 Barbara Manning Barbara.manning@cms.hhs.gov 617-565-9435
Region 2
(NJ, NY)		 Norma Harris Norma.harris@cms.hhs.gov 212-616-2342
Region 2
(PR, VI)		 Maria Martinez Maria.Martinez@cms.hhs.gov 787-771-1404
Region 3
(DE, DC, MD,
PA, VA, WV)		 Monique Scott Monique.Scott@cms.hhs.gov 215-861-4508
Region 4
(AL, GA, FL, KY,
MS, NC, SC, TN)		 Teresa Zayas Teresa.Zayas@cms.hhs.gov 404-562-7500
Region 5
(IL, MN, MI, OH, WI)		 Ashley Setala Ashley.Setala@cms.hhs.gov 312-886-9598
Region 6
(AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)		 Gaye Humphrey

Melissa Scarborough		 Gaye.Humphrey@cms.hhs.gov

Melissa.Scarborough@cms.hhs.gov		 214-767-6455

214-767-4407
Region 7
(IA, KS, MO, NE)		 Lorelei Schieferdecker Lorelei.Schieferdecker@cms.hhs.gov 816-426-6453
Region 8
(CO, MT, ND,
SD, UT, WY)		 Michael Fierberg Michael.Fierberg@cms.hhs.gov 303-844-1592
Region 9
(AZ, CA, HI, NV)		 Sharon Yee Sharon.Yee@cms.hhs.gov 415-744-2935
Region 10
(AK, ID, OR, WA)		 Andrew Tartella Andrew.Tartella@cms.hhs.gov 206-615-2412