Action For Better Healthcare

Friday, January 27th, 2012

By Lowell C. Kruse
Former CEO, Heartland Health

Getting patients to become actively engaged in their own healthcare takes work and it does not always come easy, but it is essential if we are going to take quality care to the next level.

Some are actually studying how to get patients more engaged. According to a recent report, for almost two years, Fairview Health Services, with more than 40 primary care clinics in the Minneapolis area, has been giving patients a survey developed by researchers  to measure how actively involved they are in their healthcare. Known as the Patient Activation Measure, the survey asks patients to respond to statements like, “I know what my prescribed medications do,” and “I am confident that I can maintain lifestyle changes like diet and exercise.”

Establishing a partnership between the patient and caregivers should be a given. I often ask myself, “Why would it take a whole industry so long to decide to do something that seems so common sense?” We need to spend more time educating patients on how to manage their chronic diseases and how to care for themselves once they leave our hospitals. You do this by asking them questions and surveying them. This information helps doctors and nurses understand what support patients need to make changes in their lives and to hopefully prevent readmissions.

Fairview works with its staff on ways to motivate patients to take action and responsibility. Clinicians learn to encourage and respect different patient involvement levels by allowing them to come up with their own solutions to wellness issues, an approach that is showing promise.

We should be putting the same time and effort into patient education and follow-up as we do for researching the best surgery protocols. If patients are engaged earlier, chances are they will avoid high medical costs in the future and be healthier overall. Isn’t that our goal?

We are a society that responds well to incentives. So if it takes a financial incentive to prompt patients to take action, I am all for it. I ran into a friend the other day who lost a significant amount of weight. I asked her how she was able to do it so quickly. She enthusiastically told me about her new diet and exercise routine and then she added that her company is paying her $35 a month through reduced insurance premiums for her efforts.

So there you have it.

Categories: Community healthcare, Cost reduction, Healthy communities, Primary Care, Quality, best practices, chronic illness, consumer choice, healthcare advice, healthcare costs, healthcare reform, patient care, physicians, public health issues
Comments: 1

Friday, January 20th, 2012

By Mike Stephens
Former CEO, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

A great deal of attention has been directed by hospitals and health systems to the evolution of the accountable care organization (ACO) initiative. With the selection of the Pioneer group of health systems by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to participate in the initial program, the opportunity for most hospitals and health systems to participate in this Medicare shared savings program will be some time in coming.

In the meantime, the reduction in Medicare provider payments through the value-based purchasing and unwarranted readmission focus is soon to be a reality that will have significant impact in the near term. As a result, healthcare providers should be addressing these issues with the same level of interest that has been devoted to ACOs.

There are real opportunities through partnerships and collaboration to meet these challenges. One example is the Care Transitions Program developed and implemented by Sun Health, a Phoenix-based organization operating three retirement living centers which include assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. 

Given the findings by CMS that one in five patients discharged from acute hospitals will be readmitted within 30 days following the initial admission, Sun Health has partnered with the Banner Boswell and Del E. Webb Medical Centers to create a care transition program to assist its residents during the critical period following hospital discharge.

Patients enrolled in the care transition program receive an initial hospital visit to introduce the program, and within 24 to 48 hours of discharge receive a home visit by a care manager to review medication schedules, provide education about the patient's condition, ensure timely follow-up physician care and help connect the patient to other community resources. Phone calls are made during the 30-day program to reinforce the patient education measures and to answer questions.

The initial reports are very promising. Of the first group of patients introduced to the program, there were no returns to the hospital during the initial critical 30-day period. The Sun Health Care Transitions Program is an excellent example of how hospital providers and post-discharge care facilities can work together to meet the challenge of improving care for patients and mitigate the impact of Medicare payment reductions resulting from the CMS focus on too-frequent patient readmissions.

Categories: CMS, Quality, best practices, healthcare reform, medicare, patient care, patient safety, physicians
Comments: 0

Friday, January 13th, 2012

By Don Ammon
Former CEO, Adventist Health System West

If you care about the drug shortage impacting patients and hospitals across the country then you will want to get behind proposed legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. Make a call. Voice your opinion.

Klobuchar spoke at Fairview Health System the other day and an article published today explains her latest efforts:

Klobuchar is pressing for legislation to reduce the number of drugs in short supply, which has tripled since 2005, from 61 to more than 200. One bill the Minnesota Democrat introduced would require faster notification by drug companies when shortages loom.

Reasons for shortages range from a lack of raw materials to financial decisions by companies to regulatory barriers that don't necessarily improve drug safety but do slow production.

Another concern Klobuchar cited is "pay-for-delay" deals in which brand-name drugmakers pay generic drug companies, often via lawsuit settlements, to keep cheaper generics off the market for a time.

A report by the Federal Trade Commission last summer noted 28 such deals in the last fiscal year and estimated that they delay the availability of generic drugs by 17 months. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz called these "sweetheart deals" and the "most abusive practice in healthcare today," though he acknowledged that some courts have found them legal.

What will you do to support this effort and ensure patients have the medication and treatments they need? This should be paramount for every healthcare leader out there.

Categories: Drug shortage, FDA, Government, Safety, patient care, pharmaceutical
Comments: 1