Doctor: Pediatricians get incentivized directly by HMOs who buy and sell vaccines

🚨 REALITY CHECK: Vaccines keep your pediatrician's office in business.

Sen. Johnson: “Do pediatricians get incentivized with percent vaccination of their (practice)?”

Dr. Brian Hooker: Yeah, they’re typically incentivized directly by HMOs. HMOs buy and sell vaccines. So… pic.twitter.com/DXO5W9TITj
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) July 16, 2025

Sen. Johnson: “Do pediatricians get incentivized with percent vaccination of their (practice)?”

Dr. Brian Hooker: Yeah, they’re typically incentivized directly by HMOs. HMOs buy and sell vaccines. So vaccines are big business for HMOs. But the incentivization is anywhere from $200 to $600 per fully vaccinated patient as long as their vaccines, a certain percentage of their practice is fully vaccinated. So some pediatricians can make upwards to a million or more a year just in those incentives.”

"Most US medical schools and large teaching hospitals have financial ties to drug companies, according to a survey published this week (JAMA 2007;298:1779-86).

They found that 60% of departmental heads had a financial relationship with a drug company as a consultant, member of a scientific advisory board, a paid speaker, an officer, a founder, or a member of the board of directors."

"Two thirds of departments at medical schools and large teaching hospitals had relationships with industry that involved research equipment, unrestricted funds, support for research seminars, residency and fellowship training, continuing medical education programmes, discretionary funds to buy food and drink, support for professional meetings, subscriptions to professional journals, and intellectual property licensing."

“Blue Cross Blue Shield pays your doctor a $40,000 bonus for fully vaccinating 100 patients under the age of 2,” reads a Dec. 12, 2021, Instagram post that was shared by actress Cherie Johnson and accumulated more than 600 likes. “If your doctor manages to fully vaccinate 200 patients, that bonus jumps to $80,000.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/18/fact-check...
Of course, this is denied, but there's this:

Immunization rates within Hudson Health Plan rose at a significantly, albeit modestly, higher rate than the robust secular trend noted among comparison health plans. Supplementary analyses suggest that there "was no significant change in preexisting disparities during the study period, and that children with chronic conditions have significantly greater odds of being fully immunized during the entire study period.

"Paying providers a “piece-rate” for each patient meeting a performance benchmark (e.g., each diabetic receiving HbA1c testing twice a year) is one way to reward continual improvement."(benchmarks)

Standard practice:
(Felt-Lisk, Gimm, and Peterson 2007). Financially, Hudson's program rewarded practices in two tiers: U.S.$100 for each 2-year-old who was fully immunized by the child's second birthday, and an additional U.S.$100 if the immunizations were administered in compliance with HEDIS 2003 specifications for timeliness. And "Hudson paid over U.S.$1.0 million of a potential U.S.$2.6 million in P4P bonuses across the study period 2003–2007."

Joe Biden's America

What’s the news: President Joe Biden’s administration is nearly doubling the Medicare payment for administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, raising it from $23 to $40, effective immediately.
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/medicare-medicaid/medi...

There ya go. Some of the scam.at least.

Replies

Jea9 July 16, 2025 at 7:43am

"Most US medical schools and large teaching hospitals have financial ties to drug companies, according to a survey published this week (JAMA 2007;298:1779-86).

They found that 60% of departmental heads had a financial relationship with a drug company as a consultant, member of a scientific advisory board, a paid speaker, an officer, a founder, or a member of the board of directors."

"Two thirds of departments at medical schools and large teaching hospitals had relationships with industry that involved research equipment, unrestricted funds, support for research seminars, residency and fellowship training, continuing medical education programmes, discretionary funds to buy food and drink, support for professional meetings, subscriptions to professional journals, and intellectual property licensing."

“Blue Cross Blue Shield pays your doctor a $40,000 bonus for fully vaccinating 100 patients under the age of 2,” reads a Dec. 12, 2021, Instagram post that was shared by actress Cherie Johnson and accumulated more than 600 likes. “If your doctor manages to fully vaccinate 200 patients, that bonus jumps to $80,000.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/18/fact-check...
Of course, this is denied, but there's this:

Immunization rates within Hudson Health Plan rose at a significantly, albeit modestly, higher rate than the robust secular trend noted among comparison health plans. Supplementary analyses suggest that there "was no significant change in preexisting disparities during the study period, and that children with chronic conditions have significantly greater odds of being fully immunized during the entire study period.

"Paying providers a “piece-rate” for each patient meeting a performance benchmark (e.g., each diabetic receiving HbA1c testing twice a year) is one way to reward continual improvement."(benchmarks)

Standard practice:
(Felt-Lisk, Gimm, and Peterson 2007). Financially, Hudson's program rewarded practices in two tiers: U.S.$100 for each 2-year-old who was fully immunized by the child's second birthday, and an additional U.S.$100 if the immunizations were administered in compliance with HEDIS 2003 specifications for timeliness. And "Hudson paid over U.S.$1.0 million of a potential U.S.$2.6 million in P4P bonuses across the study period 2003–2007."

Joe Biden's America

What’s the news: President Joe Biden’s administration is nearly doubling the Medicare payment for administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, raising it from $23 to $40, effective immediately.
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/medicare-medicaid/medi...

There ya go. Some of the scam.at least.

This reply was deleted.