TIP OF THE WEEK
15 things patients should ask about their prescriptions
Improving health care quality is a team effort. You can help your patients improve their own care by helping them taking an active role in their health care. Encourage your patients to ask questions, understand their condition, and evaluate their options.
When a patient is prescribed a new medication, she should feel empowered to ask questions. Below are some examples:
- Name of the medication and how it’s spelled
- If a generic version is available and if she can take it
- What the medicine is for
- How and when she should to take it
- What the dose is
- When she should stop taking the medication
- When the medication will start taking effect
- Should she stop taking the medication if she feels better
- If she can get a refill
- Side effects and when she should tell someone when/if side effects occur
- Food, drinks, or activities that should be avoided
- Should she stop taking any other medication or vitamins
- What she should do if she forgets to take her medication or if she accidentally takes more than the recommended dose
- Written information to take home
- Tests she needs to take while on the medication
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
Be Prepared for Medical Appointments: Build your Question List
American Healthcare Research and Quality -- This question list helps patients and caregivers take an active role during medical appointments by providing questions that aid in understanding medical conditions and evaluating healthcare options. (HTML) (PDF)
Have you completed the Home Health Immunization Survey for 2007?
Please take five minutes to complete the 36 survey questions relating to your immunization practices. We are re-measuring the immunization practices in Ohio home health agencies and we need your help. The results of this survey will be compared with last year’s survey to identify trends over time.
IN THE NEWS
STATE CONSIDERS UNIFIED POT OF MEDICAID MONEY FOR LONG-TERM CARE
May 12, 2007 -- Cleveland Plain Dealer -- The Ohio Department of Aging has begun a study that may lead to a unified pot of Medicaid money for care for the elderly -- including in-home services and those provided by nursing homes, said Barbara Riley, director of the department. "Instead of filling slots for various programs, we would let people choose what they need," she said in a recent visit to Cleveland. "It would be based on consumer choice." Read more >>
CMS SEEKS TO BEGIN 'PROFILING' INEFFICIENT PHYSICIANS
May 11, 2007 -- Kaiser Network -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has the data and computer capacity to identify physicians who are inefficient compared with their colleagues and as early as mid-2008 might begin to contact those physicians and ask them to become more efficient, according to recent testimony by Herbert Kuhn, acting deputy administrator before a House subcommittee hearing, CQ HealthBeat reports.
At a House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health hearing, Kuhn said that identification of inefficient physicians, or "profiling," would involve a comparison of the number of tests ordered by physicians for certain types of patients with the number ordered by colleagues in cases that have the same outcome. Read more >>
STUDY: QIO PROGRAM IS ‘GOOD VALUE FOR HEALTH CARE DOLLARS’
May 8, 2007 -- American Health Quality Association -- In a study released today, researchers found that Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program efforts in nursing homes were “a very sound investment” for Medicare, costing significantly less than $10,000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). In the U.S., a QALY falling between $50,000 and $100,000 is commonly considered a good value.
Published in the Spring 2007 edition of Health Care Financing Review, the study, “Medicare’s Quality Improvement Organization Program Value in Nursing Homes,” attempts to answer the question, are the benefits of the QIO program worth Medicare’s investment? The answer, the authors conclude, is “yes.” Read more (PDF) >>
STATES' SPENDING MAY HELP KEEP CHILDLESS SENIORS INDEPENDENT
May 8, 2007 -- Newswire -- Seniors who do not have children to help care for them are less likely to have to go into a nursing home if they live in a state that spends more on home- and community- based services, researchers have found. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago report the finding in the May 11 issue of the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences. Read more >>
REPORT PROJECTS FUTURE NEED FOR LONG-TERM CARE
May 7, 2007 -- Newswire -- Providing long-term care to older adults is a growing challenge for American families. About 10 million people 65 and older now depend on such services, and that number is expected to double by 2040. A new report from the Urban Institute projects the number and percentage of people 65 and older with disabilities and their use of long-term care services. The analysis shows how changes in disability levels, financial resources, their adult children’s availability, and other factors will affect older adults’ demand for paid and unpaid long-term care services. Read more >>
COMING ATTRACTIONS
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE CONFERENCE CALLS
June 12, 2007, 9:00am -- Pain
June 12, 2007, 3:00pm -- Oral Meds
June 13, 2007, 9:00am -- Telehealth
June 13, 2007, 3:00pm -- Organizational Culture
June 14, 2007, 9:00am -- Transferring
June 14, 2007, 3:00pm -- Acute Care Hospitalizations
Dial in: 1-877-326-2337
Conference ID: 2143198
SAVE THE DATE
Home Health Quality Affair: Celebration of Your Success
June 27, 2007 | Columbus, Ohio
