Clinic Types and Services in VAMS

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide information about the various clinic types available in VAMS.

Starndard Vaccination Clinic Types: Clinic, Hospital, Pharmacy, Pop-Up

Examples: Urgent care centers, retail clinics and pharmacies, community hospitals, temporary vaccination sites at schools, etc.

  • Options for this type of clinic in VAMS include clinic, hospital, pharmacy, and pop-up
  • Have one permanent or one temporary location for vaccination
  • Can receive inventory at the clinic's permanent physical address or at an alternate shipping address
  • Are publicly searchable and open to all recipients for scheduling appoingments
  • Set an established schedule for appointments
  • Can be set up to offer the following clinic services:
    • Vaccinations
    • COVID-19 Testing
    • Scheduling Only
    • School-Located Vaccines
    • Vaccines for Children
    • Field-Located Vaccines
    • Other

*NOTE: If Other is selected, provide a brief description of the clinic sevice in space provided.

Mobile Vacciantion Clinic Type

Examples: Mobile clinic bus, mobile clinic van

  • One clinic with multiple locations for vaccination
  • Can add multiple locations for vaccinations
  • Require a permanent address to receive inventory
  • Are publiccly searchable and open to all recipients for scheduling appointments
  • Set an established schedule for appointments
  • Can be set up to offer the following clinic services:
    • Vaccinations
    • COVID-19 Testing
    • Scheduling Only
    • School-Located Vaccines
    • Vaccines for Children
    • Field-Located Vaccines
    • Other

*NOTE: If Other is selected, provide a brief description of the clinic sevice in space provided.

Third-Party Vaccination Clinic Type

Examples: Long-term care facility (LTCF), nursing home, employees-only clinic within a hospital, etc.

  • Are not publicly visible/searchable by recipients in VAMS*
  • Clinic staff responsible for both adding and managing recipient records as well as administering and tracking recipients in VAMS
  • Can receive inventory at the clinic's permanent physical address or at an alternate shipping address
  • Do not establish a schedule in VAMS for appointments

*Third-party clinics have the option to mark themselves as "availabe for scheduling: to allow walk-in appointments scheduling. By default, this option will not be selected and the clinic will not be publicly searchable.

Quick Tip‎

Use the clinic type "Other" for clinics that do not fall within one of the categories above and require a differente label.

Key Difference Between Clinic Types in VAMS

Standard and Mobile Clinics

  • Clinic Roles (4)
    • Clinic administrator
    • Healthcare professional
    • Inventory manager
    • Front desk
  • Scheduling
    • Set up clinic vaccination schedule in VAMS for appointments.
  • Accessibility
    • Recipients use VAMS to:
      • Record medical history
      • Search for vaccination clinics
      • Schedule appointments
      • View vaccination certificates
  • Next-Dose Eligibility
    • Recipients receive reminders from VAMS on when they should schedule follow-up appointments.

Third-Party Clinics

  • Clinic Roles (3)
    • Clinic administrator
    • Healthcare professional
    • Inventory manager (optional)
  • Scheduling
    • No clinic schedule set up because no appointments are scheduled by recipients.
  • Accessibility
    • Recipients do NOT use VAMS*
      • *Unless the recipient chose to create a VAMS account when the clinic added them as a user. Then the recipient would have access to the VAMS Recipient Portal.
    • Third-party clinics do not appear in vaccination clinic search results*
      • *Unless the clinic has marked themselves in the system as “available for scheduling,” which allows the clinic to appear in search results for walk-in appointments only.
  • Next-Dose Eligibility
    • The clinic administrator or healthcare professional tracks vaccine recipients’ next-dose eligibility in VAMS and communicates it to recipients, unless a recipient chooses to provide contact information in the system and agrees to receive VAMS communications.

Benefits and Considerations of Clinic Vaccination Types in VAMS

Standard Vaccination Clinics

Benefits

  • Recipients schedule their own appointments.
  • VAMS manages all recipients notifications (e.g., appointments reminders, confirmations).
  • Clinic schedule is easily adjustable to account for clinic absences and staffing needs.

Considerations

Standard vaccination clinics are not as useful for:

  • Quick clinic setup; a clinic schedule must be set up in VAMS
  • Recipients with accessibility challenges (e.g., lack of internet, literacy or language barriers)
  • Clinics that do not want their vaccination site to be visible to the general population

Mobile Vaccination Clinics

Benefits

  • Recipients schedule their own appointments.
  • VAMS manages all recipient notifications (e.g., appointment reminders, confirmations).
  • Clinic schedule is easily adjustable to account for clinic absences and staffing needs.

Considerations

Mobile vaccination clinics are not as useful for:

  • Clinic with no permanent shipping address for receiving inventory
  • Quick clinic setup; a clinic schedule must be set up in VAMS
  • Recipients with accessibility challenges (e.g., lack of internet, literacy or language barriers)
  • Clinics that do not want their vaccination site to be visible to the general population

Third-Party Vaccination Clinics

Benefits

  • No clinic schedule to set up because recipients do not schedule appointments in VAMS.
  • Supports walsk-ins more easily.
  • Offers accessibility support for recipients; no system interaction is required for recipients.
  • Limited to select recipients added by the clinic; not publicly searchable unless the clinic administrator marks the clinic as "available for scheduling," in which case it will appear in search results for walk-in appointments only.

Considerations

Third-party vaccination clinic staff must establish local processes for activities such as:

  • Managing the schedule for recipients and the clinic
  • Confirming Pre-vaccination Actions are complete
  • Notifying recipients who declined to receive VAMS notifications that they are eligible for:
    • Vaccination at the clinic
    • Their next dose of vaccine, if applicable

Clinic Service Types in VAMS

Once assigned a Clinic Type, Clinics in VAMS are assigned a Clinic Service Type. The available Clinic Services are dependent on the chosen Clinic Type, as certain Clinic Services are exclusive to certain Clinic Types. In total, there are seven Clinic Service types in VAMS.

Available for All Clinic Types:

  • Vaccinations
    • Enables the scheduling of COVID-19, Mpox, and routine vaccination appointments
    • NOTE: Third-Party Clinics are exclusive to the Vaccination Clinic Service type. Third-Party Clinic cannot be set up for any other service, and they only allow for walk-in appointments (no future appointment scheduling).

Available Only for Standard and Mobile Clinics:

  • COVID-19 Testing
    • Enalbles the scheduling of COVID-19 testing appointments
  • Scheduling Only
    • Enables the scheduling of vaccination and/or general appointments
    • NOTE: No vaccination logging permitted under this clicnic service type
  • School-Located Vaccines
    • Enables the scheduling of COVID-19, Mpox, and routine vaccination appointments
  • Vaccines for Children
    • Enables the scheduling of COVID-19, Mpox, and routine vaccination appointments
  • Field-Located Vaccines
    • Enables the scheduling of COVID-19, Mpox, and routine vaccination appointments
  • Other
    • Enables the scheduling of COVID-19, Mpox, and routine vaccination appointments

VAMS Help Desk Contact Information‎

For additional support, complete the contact form for the VAMS Help Desk



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