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Rx
Website Launched For Katrina Evacuees AHRQ Publishes Primer for Consumers on Quality
Care Study: QIO Program Key to Adoption of EHR in
Small Practices Spanish Version of Home Health Compare Now
Available AHQA Sponsors Groundbreaking Event on Prescription
Drug Quality CMS Announces Approved Drug Plans Evaluation Version of Vista-Office Released Report: Medicare Call Centers Need Upgrade HHS Distributing Poster for Helping Hurricane
Victims JCAHO Panel To Focus On Use Of IT Delaware
to Promote Electronic Prescribing A broad coalition of public and private organizations have combined
efforts to create a free, secure, online resource that allows authorized
health care providers and pharmacists to access prescription medication
records for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Using www.KatrinaHealth.org,
authorized providers can renew prescriptions, prescribe new medications,
and coordinate care for evacuees. Hundreds of thousands of residents in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina
are living in shelters or temporary housing across the United States
. Neither the evacuees nor their current health care providers have access
to their paper medical records, many of which were destroyed by the hurricane. This secure
online system will give doctors, pharmacists, and patients the critical
information they need to quickly provide evacuees with needed prescriptions.” Health
and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
within the Department of Health and Human Services worked with more than
150 organizations, including QIOs, to build KatrinaHealth.org. The website,
which contains records for more than 860,000 evacuees, allows authorized
clinicians and pharmacists to securely view prescription histories online,
obtain available patient allergy information and other alerts, view drug
interaction reports and alerts, see therapeutic duplication reports and
alerts, and query clinical pharmacology drug information. The system is only accessible to authorized health care professionals
and pharmacists who are providing treatment or supporting the provision
of treatment to evacuees. The American Medical Association is providing
physician credentialing and authentication services, the National Community
Pharmacists Association is authenticating and providing access for independent
pharmacy owners, and SureScripts is providing these services for chain
pharmacies on behalf of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
Other key data and resources were contributed by Gold Standard, the Markle
Foundation, RxHub, and the Louisiana and Mississippi Departments of Health. AHQA and
QIOs in the affected regions are joining other organizations to let
QIOs and providers across the country know about KatrinaHealth.org
and how to gain access to the site. Physicians should contact the AMA
at 1-800-262-3211 to receive a user ID and password; pharmacists in chain
drug stores can obtain access information by contacting SureScripts at
1-866-797-3239; independent pharmacists should contact NCPA at 1-888-291-1131.
Questions can be directed to the KatrinaHealth Support Center at 800-375-0943
between 8 am and 6 pm eastern time Monday through Friday or visit the
FAQ section on KatrinaHealth.org: http://www.katrinahealth.org/faqs.html The Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently released a new
booklet, “Guide to Health Care Quality: How To Know It When
You See It.” The Guide is part of the agency’s new consumer
education campaign to help people take a more active role in their own
health care. The Guide includes steps consumers can take to improve their quality
of care. It explains the difference between clinical measures and consumer
ratings. The booklet also lists Web sites and phone numbers for selected
organizations and other resources. As part
of the agency’s
outreach to consumers, AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, has also
provided some information about the key quality measures in an audio
podcast, which can be downloaded to a computer or portable digital
player by going to http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/podquality.htm. An online
version is available at: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/guidetoq/ “The
Value Of Electronic Health Records In Solo Or Small Group Practices, ” published
in the September/October issue of Health
Affairs, characterizes the QIO program as “especially important” in
helping small physician practices adopt EHRs. Researchers
at the University of California , San Francisco conducted case studies
of 14 solo or small-group primary care practices deemed “early
adopters” of electronic health record (EHR) software. Through interviews,
the authors determined practice characteristics; how the practices used
EHRs; financial costs, benefits, and risks; time/cost benefit to the
practice; use of the EHR to improve quality; and the time it took to
payback EHR implementation costs. Their findings include: The authors
state that support-services programs such as the QIOs (through DOQ-IT)
that offer technical assistance to physician practices, “a
re especially important because they lessen the current heavy reliance
on physicians’ technical and business savvy for lowering costs
and increasing benefits.” In most
practices, there was one staff member who was an “EHR
champion” driving the adoption. This person was usually a physician
but could also be the office manager or practice administrator. Chuck
Parker DOQ-IT Project Team Lead at MassPRO says the converse can also
be true, “ A single staff person can cause significant delay and/or
hardship with the installation if not properly addressed and informed.” Parker
said, the “most successful projects” are the ones that “take
a more formalized approach” to making sure the EHR addresses their
needs. Read an
abstract of the study at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/24/5/1127 Lumetra announced the launch of a Spanish-language version of Home Health
Compare, an online resource that includes 10 publicly reported measures
of home health care quality in a consumer-friendly format. The original
version (English) of Home Health Compare has been available since November
2003. Now, Spanish-language residents will have access to information that
can help them make decisions about nearly 7,000 Medicare-certified home
health agencies across the country. To access the Spanish-language version
of Home Health Compare, visit www.medicare.gov and
click on “Español” in the upper right-hand corner,
then scroll down to select Compare Home Health Agencies in Your Area. The American
Health Quality Association is bringing together, for the first time,
a diverse group of key national stakeholders to discuss ways to measure
and improve the quality of drug therapy for Medicare beneficiaries
in the new prescription drug benefit. AHQA’s Conference on Quality
Measurement and Improvement in the New Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
is scheduled for November 17-18 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington,
Virginia. Starting January 1, Medicare beneficiaries across the country will
begin receiving prescription drug coverage through Medicare, which is
contracting with numerous plans in each state to provide individualized
coverage (see a list of plans in each state: ). Ensuring the quality
of this benefit across the board is critical and challenging. This conference
will look at potential solutions including the use of public reporting;
medication therapy management programs; medication reconciliation and
discharge planning, and electronic prescribing and health information
technology to identify medication over-use, under-use, and adverse events. Potential solutions include the use of public reporting; pay-for-performance;
medication reconciliation, discharge planning and electronic prescribing
and health information technology to identify medication over-use, under-use,
and adverse events. This event is the first national conference to invite pharmacists,
physicians, nurses and other health care providers, drug plan sponsors,
QIOs, federal agencies and Congressional committees, pharmaceutical industry
organizations and companies, HIT industry, and public and private payers
to discuss the best way to ensure the quality of this new benefit. In addition to plenary speakers, sessions on medication therapy management
(MTM), health information technology, continuity of care and measures
of quality for the drug benefit will be offered, and will include an
afternoon of regional break-out sessions where attendees can network
with providers and drug plan sponsors in their state or region. Participants
will discuss what is happening in their area, including examples of model
Medication Therapy Management programs and other quality initiatives. For more information and registration, visit: http://www.ahqa.org/pub/inside/158_1084_5225.cfm The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified
the prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans that will offer
prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries starting January
1, 2006 . The drug plans will begin marketing to beneficiaries on October
1. QIOs in the SOW 8 are tasked with offering quality improvement assistance
to drug plans. The new plans will offer prescription drug coverage to everyone in
Medicare, regardless of their income or how they get their Medicare coverage.
Every state but Alaska has at least one prescription drug plan offering
a premium of less than $20 a month. Ten organizations are offering drug
coverage nationwide. Extra assistance is available to those with limited incomes and resources.
In every state, at least five prescription drug plans will offer coverage
with no premium to beneficiaries who qualify for extra help. A guide on how to talk about the prescription drug coverage was included
in the September 25 edition of Parade magazine, including a
call for families to discuss the new prescription drug benefit as they
gather the day after Thanksgiving. More information to help guide these
conversations is expected in the coming weeks. In early
October, the Medicare & You 2006 handbook will be mailed
to every Medicare household. In mid-October, specific information to
help beneficiaries find the drug coverage that suits their needs will
be available on Medicare’s Web site, www.medicare.gov, and its
24-hour toll-free number, 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800 633-4227). For a list
of plans by state, visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/map/map.asp The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released
an evaluation version of Vista-Office Electronic Health Record (Vista-Office),
an adaptation of the Veterans Health Administration electronic health
record (EHR) technology. The version was released on a limited basis
to assess its effectiveness in private physician offices. The evaluation
version will be distributed by qualified vendors and evaluated for
usability, effectiveness, implementation, and potential to communicate,
exchange, and use data with other systems and software. Results
of the evaluation will be used by software vendors to make further improvements
and develop a version that is certified to support CMS’ goals for
quality improvement and interoperability. The list of qualified vendors for Vista-Office evaluation software
is available at: www.worldvista.org.
There is a small fee to purchase the software and other fees related
to licensing and support for the database program and CPT® codes.
In addition, most physician offices will need vendor support for installation,
configuration, and maintenance, similar to support with any other electronic
health record. Physicians
and clinics that are interested in participating in the program as
an evaluation site, should visit www.vista-office.org to
learn more about this opportunity. For more
information, visit the CMS website at: www.cms.hhs.gov/quality/pfqi.asp or
contact Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, the primary contractor with
the CMS for the VOE project: 515-223-2900. Medicare beneficiaries who call Medicare-funded call centers may not
be receiving accurate information, according to a report by the HHS Office
of Inspector General (OIG). The report supports earlier findings by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) in July and December of 2004,
which also raised concerns about the accuracy of information provided
to beneficiaries. In FY 2004, Medicare-funded call centers, which include the 1-800-MEDICARE
line, received 29.3 million calls. OIG surveyed 305 of those callers
over a one week period to assess their satisfaction. The report found84%
of callers were satisfied overall, but: OIG recommends that CMS work to strengthen current oversight and place
a greater emphasis on completeness of responses, efficiency for the caller,
and accuracy of answers given by customer service representatives. CMS
was also encouraged to continue seeking ways to improve the national
Interactive Voice Response system. Medicare-funded
call centers are an integral part in CMS’ strategy
to educate beneficiaries about the new prescription drug plan. For a
PDF of the report, visit: http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-04-00030.pdf A poster, “Help Is on the Line,” is
available from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to
inform Hurricane Katrina evacuees of available resources for federal
assistance. Health
care providers are urged to display the 8 x 11.5 inch poster in areas
where hurricane victims may need assistance. Included in the poster
are national telephone numbers for the Mental Health Hotline, Head
Start Services, Elder Care, and Medicare and state-specific numbers
for Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and State
Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP). To print
a customized poster with state-specific numbers, visit the HHS website
at http://www.hhs.gov/katrina/poster.html and
download the PDF. Users will need to select their state from the drop-down
menu shown in the PDF document and resave the PDF on their desktop to
print a customized version. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has
established a Healthcare Information Technology Advisory Panel that will
focus on the improvement of patient safety and clinical processes during
the implementation of new information systems. The panel will be led by William Jessee, president and chief executive
officer, Medical Group Management Association, when it convenes for its
inaugural meeting in October. The panel
includes representatives from the Office of the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology, American Health Information Management
Association, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Veterans Health
Administration, and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. JCAHO is also establishing a strategic issues work group that will
consider the panel's recommendations and spearhead JCAHO's future initiatives
on health care information technology. Members of the advisory panel
will be charged with recommending ways that technology and JCAHO's accreditation
process can be used to help re-engineer the delivery of patient care,
resulting in major improvements in safety, quality, and efficiency. Panel
members also will examine topics such as the impact of electronic health
records on performance benchmarking and public reporting capabilities. Delaware
will begin a collaborative pilot program that will target 100 physicians
to promote the adoption and use of electronic prescribing technology.
While the program will benefit all patients, the focus is on improving
patient safety, reducing costs and improving the overall quality of
care in the delivery of prescription drug benefits to the state’s
employees and beneficiaries.  Home :: Inside AHQA :: For The Media :: Public Policy :: Advancing Quality :: Quality Connections :: SiteMap
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