Doctors office no longer doing vaccines

The girls go to a Family Doctor, not a pediatrician. It has worked out great in the past because a good friend of ours is a nurse there and when they needed appointments she could get us in quickly or when they had to have their urine checked weekly I could just run it to her and she would take it for us bad. I called to set up their 4 year old well child visit. I asked about shots at 4. She said they could wait until next year for those shots because they were for school. That was when she also said that they didn't do vaccines there anymore that we would have to go to the health department.

I am struggling a bit with this. DH thinks I am being snooty about it, but why should I have to take my kids to the dr for a check-up and then turn around and take them to the health department for vaccines? I am seriously thinking of switching because of this. Am I being totally unreasonable? What doctor's office doesn't do vaccines??

 

Our doctor quit doing them about a year ago too. I don't really have too much of a problem with it since they only have the one more set before school starts at 5, then they don't get anymore for quite awhile & they tend to get those at school so it won't be much of an inconvenience for me. Now, if they had quit giving them when L&L were babies and getting shots at practically every visit, I would have been really annoyed!

 

Brandy, you're not being unreasonable. Doctors provide a service, and if the service they provide doesn't include everything you need, then it makes sense to go elsewhere. Our pedi's office didn't provide the flu shots and it was truly annoying to have to go to the Health department to stand in line with a million people waiting for shots. I don't think I would voluntarily sign up with a doctor who required that I went elsewhere for part of the standard service pedi's provide (unless you truly like the doctor and there are other worthwhile conveniences related to the office).

 

You're probably the minority patient (children at a family practice, non pediatrician), it doesn't make sense to keep vials of vaccinations if no one else is going to use them. They expire once reconsituted pretty quickly and if honestly, if they're not making the amount of money off of them giving the injections as it costs to purchase the vials, then it's not a good business decision.

Say there's 10 injections in $100 vial. They give out 3. Insurance pays them $14 a shot. If they were able to give out all eight of the ten injections, they would be fine, but since they only were able to give out 3 before the vial expired, they didn't even recover half of the cost. (plus there's the negligible cost of the syringes and biohazard waste, the more costly cost of a nurse vs a CNA and the liability insurance on both for giving preparing and giving injections). It doesn't make sense to keep doing them when you're not their target market. I'm sure that it wasn't an overnight decision, they probably had people come, look over their books and give suggestions of what services to cut in order to stay afloat.

I personally would find a pediatrician.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to think about finding a different doctor. Around here, most family practice doctors don't do vaccines because as a PP mentioned it's not good business for them when they don't serve a lot of kids. This is part of the reason I am glad we go to a pediatrician. If you love the family doctor, I don't know if I'd change just because of the vax thing since they won't get many vaxes anymore (annual flu and then another set of boosters probably is all you're looking at). But if you're not in love with the family doc, then it makes sense to find a pediatrician who will handle all your children's needs.

 

I agree with this. I also agree with the person who said you might be the miniority at their office. They problem do have a perfectly good reason for no longer offerring vaccines. BUT...that still doesn't mean its good for you. I don't blame you for not wanting to take them to the health dept. What a pain! If you could find a good pedi in your area that was able to provide the services you need, than I think it totally makes sense for you to make the switch.

 

Very interesting explanation, Bex - thanks!

I'd probably go elsewhere (unless there's something irreplacable at the practice you go to). With little kids, it's a huge hassle to run around to different places. I like one stop shopping whenever possible.

 

I agree with Bex. I don't think you are being unreasonable at all. I would definitely try to find a pediatrician, so they'll get the vaccines they need.

 

If they are not providing you with everything that you are looking for, it totally makes sense to switch doctors.

 

My family doctor has never done vaccines. I have always taken my girls to the pedi to get it done, but Luke has always went to the health dept...just because that is where we started his and where all his records are so i just take him there. As a matter of fact, I'm taking Luke to the family doc next week to get his physical (health dept was already booked up solid), and then taking him the week after next to the health dept for his vaccination. Does your health dept do well child and physicals? Our does, however they ony accept certain insurances if you have insurance (lucky ours is one of them), so Luke could have gotten his physical there if I had been on the ball and called earlier.

For us, I like our family doc and the office so much that I can take the inconvenience...so I guess it really boils down to how much do you like your family physician and is it worth the move over something that you really won't have to deal with much past age five except for the occasional booster.

 

We go to a family practitioner and I think he only orders shots when they're needed...less waste...of course he's part of a network of doctors so I'm sure he can ship off some "soon to expire" vials to one of the pedi's in the network...also to, in PA I don't think there's a "health department" that gives shots - sometimes they run free clinics but they're mostly for the uninsured or for CHIP recipients...

 

i'm another one who's doctor never offered vaccines at their office - i was actually surprised to find out some doctors do. ardon: i really really really like our family doc though so wouldn't switch.

 

That's one reason I didn't choose a family doc when we moved. Dh and I go to one but the kids go to a ped down the road. Like the others have said, unless you absolutely adore this place I'd look at switching.