Is your practice ready for a measles patient? A 10-step checklist from Pennsylvania's outbreak

Pennsylvania's measles outbreak keeps growing. The state Department of Health had confirmed 1,398 cases in 44 counties as of Oct. 28, including 265 hospitalizations and five measles-associated deaths, according to its measles dashboard. The state is one hot spot in a national surge: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 4,588 U.S. cases as of Oct. 22, already double all of 2025, and the 43 new outbreaks this year are approaching 2025's total of 48. Cases have been reported in states and jurisdictions across the country.

For practice administrators, measles is an operations problem as much as a clinical one. These 10 steps cover what front-office teams, managers and clinical leads can do now to keep one infectious patient from becoming dozens of exposures.