   |
|
|
|
RWJF Poll Gauges Awareness of Disparities in
Care AHRQ to Develop Guide for Patient Registries AHRQ Video Gives Consumers Safe Medication
Tips AHQA
Hosts Webcast to Discuss Early Issues with Part D AAFP to Fund Demonstration for Implementation
of EHRs VNAA Adds Homecare Agencies in IA, MN, and
WI to CHAMP Program CMS Adds Fifth State to ESRD Demo HHS Secretary
Appoints QIO Leader to AHRQ National Advisory Council In a joint
briefing with the Alliance for Health Reform, the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF) released a new report that gauges American views
of health care disparities. The report found that although most Americans
are unaware of the gross disparities in the country’s
health care system, they do believe all Americans deserve equal care. The poll, “Americans’ Views of Disparities in Health Care,” involved
interviews with more than 1,000 adults, including 107 African Americans
and 130 Hispanic Americans, in line with current Census demographics.
Findings include: “It will take everyone—from the federal government, health
care insurance providers, doctors and nurses, and even consumers themselves—to
improve the quality of health care all Americans receive,” said
Risa-Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, president and CEO of the RWJF. For more
information: www.rwjf.org Organizations Launch Disparity Resources for Physicians In November,
the American Medical Association (AMA) began offering a new resource
to help physicians address health care disparities. The resource, “Working Together to End Racial and Ethnic Disparities:
One Physician at a Time,” contains a DVD with peer interviews,
a CD-ROM with information on cultural competency and health literacy,
and a facilitation guide. For more information, www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/7639.html The AMA
action follows a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announcement in October
of three new initiatives to address disparities: Expecting Success:
Excellence in Cardiac Care, Finding Answers: Disparities Research for
Change, and Leading Change: Disparities Solutions Initiative. For more
information: http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/newsreleasesdetail.jsp?id=10368 The Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is developing a “how-to” reference
guide to help health care organizations create patient registries to
track the outcomes of medical treatments, including drugs. The guide
will be completed by the end of 2006 and will be available on both
the AHRQ and CMS Web sites. As part
of AHRQ’s
new Effective Health Care program, the guide will help both government
and private-sector entities design and operate successful registries.
It will also provide criteria for evaluating registries and the quality
of their data as well as guidance on how registry data can be used
to conduct valid scientific research. Outcome Science, Inc. of Cambridge, MA is managing the project under
contract to AHRQ. The company will use an inclusive process obtaining
the expertise of researchers and others who have successfully developed
and used patient registries. Experts will submit a series of papers to
inform the project and a national workshop will be conducted next spring.
Additional scientific advice will be provided by Duke University. “A reference guide will help ensure high-quality results from
patient registries,” says Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, administrator
of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicare program
will use data from registries to help “rapidly extend coverage
for new treatments and assure that treatment is reasonable and necessary
while also helping health professionals obtain better evidence for patient
care,” he says. Information about the Effective Health Care program is available at http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov.
For more information, contact AHRQ Public Affairs: (301) 427-1922 or
(301) 427-1855. The Hospital Quality Alliance has updated Hospital Compare, www.HospitalCompare.hhs.gov,
with the latest data from participating hospitals. Hospital Compare,
launched April 1, 2005, enables patients and families to compare the
performance of more than 4000 US hospitals that voluntarily report on
20 quality measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical
infections. Results
of the HCAHPS survey also will be made available on Hospital Compare
next year pending final approval by the Office of Management and Budget.
HCAHPS is a national survey that collects patients’ perceptions
of hospital care. The Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a five minute
video available for download or viewing online called “Tips
for Taking Medicines Safely” to help educate consumers on safe
medication administration. The video augments existing AHRQ publications
on how to safely take medications available online. The tips include asking questions if you have doubts or concerns about
your medicine, bringing a bag with all the medicines you take to your
medical appointments, and asking about side effects and what to avoid
while taking the medicine. The video is being distributed to more than 4,500 Web sites in the Healthology
network, including those for ABC News, Chicago Sun-Times, iVillage, the
American Diabetes Association, and many others. Experts
featured on the video include AHRQ Director, Carolyn M. Clancy, MD;
Gregg S. Meyer, MD, Medical Director, Massachusetts General Physicians'
Organization; David Bates, MD, Chief, Division of General Internal
Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Christine Kovner,
RN, PhD, Professor at the College of Nursing, New York University. View the video at: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/chkmedvid.htm AHQA joins the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP),
the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and the National Council
of State Pharmacy Association Executives (NCSPAE) in hosting a live,
interactive webcast examining early issues and critical questions about
the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, which took effect January
1. “Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit – Early Lessons
and Next Steps in Implementation and Evaluation,” will be held
Monday, January 23, 2006 at 1-3 pm ET, 12-2 pm CT, 11am -1 pm MT, 10
am -12 noon PT. Speakers include: Who should attend? Registration is $100 per site. To register online go to: http://gateway.ilearning.com/aacp/ and
follow these directions: For more information, contact Lisa Croce at lcroce@ahqa.org. The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched
a redesigned website that promises to be more user-friendly and offers
one-stop shopping “centers” targeted to specific professionals
such as providers and partners. Use of the CMS website increased from 125.9 million page views in 2003
to 325.7 million page views through November 2005. CMS worked with consumers,
providers, and other users on upgrading the original site, which now
contains many new features including consistent organization and navigation;
timely, relevant and accurate content; and an improved Google search
feature. The site is organized on four levels, all navigable back to the first
level: To view an online demonstration, visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AboutWebsite/12_Aboutthiswebsite.asp To view a Macromedia Flash demonstration of the cms.hhs.gov website
redesign, visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/includes/cms_redesign_demo.asp Note: No changes have been made to www.medicare.gov TransforMED, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians
(AAFP), will begin a process to select 20 family practices to participate
in a national demonstration program to test a patient-centered, evidence
based model of family practice that is based on electronic health records
(EHR). The demonstration program is expected to be active by June or
July of 2006. No fee will be charged to the pilot practices. In 2004,
the report “Future of Family Medicine: A Collaboration
of the Family Medicine Community,” called for drastic changes in
family medicine to ensure its survival. “A standardized electronic
health record, adapted to the specific needs of family physicians and
the patients they serve, will constitute the central nervous system of
the New Model practice,” the report notes. The New Model of family
care also includes: TransforMED is a resource center established by AAFP to help family
practitioners adopt this new model of family medicine in their practices.
AAFP is investing $8 million in the effort. According American Medical
News, a financial analysis undertaken as part of the Future of Family
Medicine project indicated that a practitioner who adopts the new model
could increase income by 26%. The report also estimated transition costs
will range from $23,442 to $90,650 per physician depending on productivity
loss associated with EHR implementation. For more information, contact ndp@transformedinc.com The Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) has announced the
acceptance of 11 homecare agencies from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
into the VNAA Curricula for Homecare Advances in Management and Practice
(CHAMP) program. CHAMP, funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, is a ground-breaking
national practice improvement program designed by renowned homecare,
nursing and geriatric health experts. These agencies,
from Iowa , Minnesota and Wisconsin , are the third of three teams
that will be trained in 2006. The two other teams
comprise fifteen homecare providers from New England and ten homecare
providers from California . The VNAA CHAMP program will use a train-the-trainer model to embed in
homecare agencies the capacity for continuous practice improvement. This
10-month multimode training program includes an E-Learning program, a
web-based E-measurement system, face-to-face workshops, and group coaching
calls. The first program topic is Medication Management. For more information on CHAMP and a list of homecare agencies involved,
visit: www.vnaa.org/champ The Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the addition of
Evercare of Georgia as a third participant in a new demonstration project
that will increase the opportunity for Medicare beneficiaries with
end stage renal disease (ESRD) to join managed care plans. The
project, which began on October 31, 2005, partners Medicare Advantage
organizations and dialysis providers to test the effectiveness of disease
management models and to increase quality of care for ESRD patients while
ensuring that care is provided more effectively and efficiently. The
health plans will provide all Medicare covered benefits with an emphasis
on disease management and care coordination. Evercare
of Georgia will partner with DaVita, a dialysis provider, to offer
a Medicare Advantage Special Needs plan in DeKalb and Fulton counties
in Georgia. Evercare
of Georgia joins CMS demonstration sites in four other states: California,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas. For more information on those
sites, see the CMS website: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1703 QI and P4P Quality
improvement and pay-for-performance are emphasized in the demonstration.
CMS will reserve 5% of the capitation payment rates for incentive payments
related to quality improvement. In addition, participating organizations
will receive payment for improvement on past performance and performing
above the national averages for quality measures related to dialysis. Enrollment began on November 15, with coverage beginning January 1,
2006. Additional information on other Medicare demonstrations is available
at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/researchers/demos/. Former AHQA president, Dale W. Bratzler, DO, MPH, Principal Clinical
Coordinator at the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc, the
Oklahoma QIO, is one of five new members appointed by Department of Health
and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to serve on the National Advisory
Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The
Council, which consists of 21 members from the private sector and seven
ex-officio members from other federal health agencies, provides advice
to the Secretary and to the Director of the AHRQ. The four additional new Council members are: Appointments were extended for two current Council members: For more information, contact AHRQ Public Affairs: (301) 427-1866 or
(301) 427-1855.  Home :: Inside AHQA :: For The Media :: Public Policy :: Advancing Quality :: Quality Connections :: SiteMap
|
|
|
Copyright © 2003,
American Health Quality Association. All Rights Reserved. |