Christina's Considerations

Preventable Hospitalizations = Cost Savings

The AHRQ Preventable Hospitalization Costs (PHC) is a software program that 1) maps selected AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs) for a State, by county, and 2) estimates the cost savings associated with reducing the level of potentially avoidable hospitalizations. The tool assists health care decisionmakers in identifying communities for future interventions, such as improving preventive and primary care services or improving patient safety, and tracking the impact of such interventions over time. By overlaying residence data, the program shows where interventions can have the biggest impact for certain health plan enrollees or other target populations.

The PHC uses hospital discharge records as the basis to calculate the county level rates of each of the area-level indicators in two of the AHRQ QI modules: the Prevention Quality Indicators and Pediatric Quality Indicators.  Go to:  http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/mappingtool.htm to learn more.

Savvy Daddy

On April 22 Tony at Hospital Impact entered my interest in workplace effectiveness and healthy children and families with his post on Savvy Daddy at http://www.savvydaddy.com/.  Take a peek at the resource if you are new to fatherhood or just want to continually improve your performance as a teacher, leader, coach, guide, and inspiration!

For Profit HIE? To be, or not to be!!

For-profit HIEs has been around for a while, but now they are being presented to Capitol Hill by Dr. Menschik. 

I can hear the cries now, but the reality is that if we can't find a public utility or public-private collaborative way to accomplish the goals then we are asking for HIE to go the way of other for-profit health industries.  It is time for a little, "put-up or shut-up"!

OR Safety Toolkit

I liked these reminders and wanted to include them on my blog. Visit the  OR Safety Toolkit and see if you agree.

Evangeline

My mom and dad have given me subscriptions to Louisiana Life for the last few years.  This current issue has an article on the story of Evangeline An Acadian Journey.  Those of you interested in Longfellow or poetry will enjoy the story, but that isn't why I've included the link here. 

Over the years I've come to know that most people don't know their are primarily two different French Louisiana communities.  The first of course are the Acadians, aka Cajuns, and the second are those who came directly (or somewhat) from France.  (Most of my French heritage is from the latter.) 

In addition, most people don't know that the Acadians (Cajuns) were actually exiled from Canada beginning in 1755 by the British.  Some of these people settled along the Eastern seaboard, but many more gathered in South Louisiana near the bayous of Louisiana and Gulf of Mexico.  Longfellow's story of Evangeline is the tale of one.

If Roseanne Roseannadanna were still here she might say something like, "if it isn't one group of people getting kicked out of a place, its another!"

Community Emergency Response Training

Steve Lazenby of the Santa Paula Fire Department recently completed a DVD project that is a short version of his CERT Training class.  I'm pretty up-to-date on the latest in self, family and community emergency preparedness, but still learned something new from my favorite fireman!  To view the video, sponsored by Rotary Club of West Ojai, go to http://www.walkyourtalkproductions.com/.

NPI Contingency Status Survey

Marty and I have been virtual professional associates for a few years and were finally able to meet late last year in Beverly Hills.  He has asked me to help spread the word about Healthcare IT Transition Group's latest survey and I'm happy to do so with all of my readers.

Healthcare IT Transition Group is sponsoring a free, open-access survey to assess the readiness of the healthcare industry for the May 23 deadline for National Provider Identifier implementation. HITTG invites payers, providers, clearinghouses and others involved in claims processing to get specific about facts on the ground. Full, de-identified results will be free to all, shortly after the survey concludes at midnight EDT, Saturday April 19, 2008. 
 
Please feel free to forward this link to others who may be interested in participation.  To learn more, or take the survey, go to http://surveys.hittransition.com/npi.

Communicating with Your Doctor

AHRQ has a new consumer education video on communicating with your doctor.  Clear and effective communication helps you to get the most out of your visits and greatly contribute to the safety and quality of the care you receive.  Watch the video and keep the following quick tips when talking with your doctor in mind.

• Give Information. Don't Wait to Be Asked!

• Get Information

• Take Information Home

• Once You Leave the Doctor's Office, Follow Up

Premed with Purpose

A reader sent me a link to her weblog, Premed With Purpose and I've finally had a chance to visit.  I'm really excited to see that she is finding her voice so early in her career.  There are some links to useful sites for premed students and residents. 

I look forward to hearing the voices of new healthcare professionals and their perspective on the topics of interest to us all.  Thank you for writing Megan!   

Help Change Healthcare

A few years ago, my friend Gale and I had some conversations that have lead to her newest adventure, Care Seek -- a place where nurses, doctors and patients can share their experiences with the care provided by doctors.  More importantly, consumers choosing a doctor can review the comments to obtain the good, the bad and the ugly on anyone they are considering.

Gale has also entered the blogosphere with Help Change Healthcare - a social networking site.

I encourage you to visit both sites to learn more about the doctors providing your family's healthcare and let your voice be heard!