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QIO HHQI Weekly Update :: February 25, 2008   

TIP OF THE WEEK

Coaching Patients and Their Caregivers to Talk to Their Doctors

Home health clinicians have an opportunity to play a key role in coaching patients and their caregivers on how to take an active role in their care, including improved communication with their physicians. Below are just a few ideas for how your agency’s staff can facilitate better patient/physician communication:

  • Emphasize the importance of a physician follow-up visit and the need to provide the primary care physician with recent health status information.
  • Practice and role-play questions with patients/caregivers for primary care physicians/specialists.
  • Provide advice in getting prompt physician follow-up appointments if necessary.
  • Educate and encourage patients to prepare them for talking to their physicians and asking questions.

RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

Quick Tips When Talking To Your Doctor (PDF) – This one-page tip sheet was created by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to help patients improve their communication skills with their doctors. Print this sheet and use it as an educational tool with patients and caregivers.

Talking with Your Doctor: A guide for older people (PDF) – A 48-page booklet by the National Institute on Aging that helps older people choose a doctor they can talk to and coaches them on how to make decisions with their doctor, discuss sensitive matters, and involve family members. Order the book free of charge.

Be An Active Health Care Consumer – As part of its effort to help consumers become better informed and participate as partners in their own health care, AHRQ has developed this Web site that includes materials to help patients get safer, higher quality care.

Ask Me 3 – Three essential questions for good health, developed by the National Patient Safety Foundation: (1) What is my main problem? (2) What do I need to do? (3) Why is it important for me to do this?

Partnership for Clear Health Communication (PCHC) – PCHC is a national, non-profit coalition of organizations working to build awareness and advance solutions to improve health literacy and positively impact health outcomes.

 

IN THE NEWS

FIGHTING BEDSORES WITH A TEAM APPROACH

February 19, 2008 -- NY Times -- A study of a collaborative program involving 52 nursing homes from around the country, including the Elisabeth Prentiss Center in Cleveland and Ohio KePRO, suggests that involving everyone from nurses and nursing assistants to laundry workers, nutritionists, maintenance workers and even in-house beauticians is an important component to reducing pressure ulcers. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society’s August issue reported that team efforts had reduced the number of severe pressure ulcers acquired in-house by 69 percent. Read more >>

MEDICARE WON'T PAY HOSPITALS FOR “NEVER EVENTS”

February 19, 2008 -- Associated Press -- Beginning October 1, 2008, Medicare will no longer pay for the extra costs associated with eight preventable hospital “never events,” including catheter-caused UTIs, injuries due to falls, and leaving objects in the body after surgery. Next year, three more “never events” may be added to the list. Private insurance and state Medicaid programs are beginning to follow Medicare’s lead by refusing payment for these in-hopital events. Read more >>

CMS REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON A FULLY BUNDLED MEDICARE PAYMENT SYSTEM FOR ESRD

February 20, 2008 - - CMS - - Improvements in how Medicare pays kidney dialysis centers could enable them to more efficiently deliver services to Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), according to a report to Congress by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read more >>

OHIO KEPRO EVENTS

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Upcoming Education from the Ohio Council for Home Care:

Cuyahoga Community College Spring ’08 Continuing Education Schedule for Gerontology Professionals

 

The Tip of the Week Archive is available on the Ohio KePRO Web Site.