New Medication Safety Guide Can Help Improve Care in Outpatient Practices
The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed an easy-to-use medication safety guide for outpatient physician practices incorporate safer systems for medication sample prescribing and dispensing.
http://chrp.creighton.edu/Documents/BestPractices.pdf
Guide to Engaging the Media in Suicide Prevention
City Platform on Strengthening Families and Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth
Communities forced to cut, or inadequately fund, programs for children and families typically face greater costs down the road, including higher spending for public safety and human services, a reduced local workforce, weakened local economies, and tighter municipal budgets.
http://www.nlc.org/content/Files/IYEFPlatform05.pdf
Healthy Families Facts & Figures: Coverage for Low-Income Children in California
This easy-to-use presentation provides an overview of Healthy Families, the California program that provides low-cost health insurance to children of families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medi-Cal, but are below 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. The overview covers program essentials such as eligibility, enrollment and benefits, service delivery, and policy issues. [California HealthCare Foundation, January 2006]
http://www.chcf.org/topics/view.cfm?itemID=117986
Updated List of Eligible Areas for Rural Health Grants
Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research for Health
Edited by B. A. Israel DrPH, E. Eng DrPH, A. J. Schulz PhD, E. A. Parker DrPH
Written by distinguished experts in the field, this book shows how researchers, practitioners, and community partners can work together to establish and maintain equitable partnerships using a community-based participatory research approach to increase knowledge and improve health and well-being of the communities involved.
Details:
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787975621.html
Happy Birthday to a Stepchild
by Emily Friedman
Poor Medicaid. It pays for some or much of the care of more than 50 million Americans. It is the largest third-party payer of nursing home costs. It has provided protection for millions of children who would otherwise be uninsured. It covers services that Medicare does not for extremely vulnerable disabled people. It is a lifeline for most public hospitals and community health centers. Yet, to use the tag line of the late comic Rodney Dangerfield, it just can't get no respect. And these days, its very future is in doubt, as it faces potential enormous funding cuts and major reconfiguration on both the state and federal level. [H&HN, 7-26-05]
http://tinyurl.com/bpxhd
Fundamental Sources of Health Inequalities
Much work now focuses on economic and racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. Bruce Link and Jo Phelan address the fundamental causes of health inequalities and raise important questions about the models through which we view the causes of disease. As they note, the dominant epidemiological model identifies risk factors proximate to the disease outcome and seeks policies and programs to reduce such risks. These authors, however, observe that risk factors change from one period to another, but socioeconomic status-which is associated with such risks at any single point in time-remains strongly related to health outcomes even as risk factors change. [Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care, May 2005] (71-pg pdf)
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/071-Part%202-Chapter%205.pdf
Overview of critical success factors to consider when implementing an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System. Includes a glossary of terms, statistics on implementation of EMRs, information on hardware and software, and an example of a successful rural EMR programs.
Organization: Office for the Advancement of Telehealth
Date: 2004
Overview of oral health issues in rural areas, with policy recommendations for improving rural access to oral health services.
Organization: National Rural Health Association
Date: 04/2005
Discusses a program sponsored by RWJ to break down language barriers to help physicians who treat non-English proficient patients.
Organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Date: 04/2005
Journal: Advances Issue: 1 Pages: 7
Pediatric Trauma Tool Kit for Healthcare Providers
A new important resource to promote "trauma-informed practice" in pediatric healthcare settings is now available through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Through NCTSN, the "Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress Toolkit for Health Care Providers" is now available through the NCTSN website
http://www.NCTSNet.org. The purpose of the tool kit is to:
- Raise awareness among healthcare providers about traumatic stress associated with pediatric medical events and medical treatment, as it may affect children and families; and
- Promote "trauma-informed practice" of pediatric healthcare in hospital settings across the continuum of care, and in a variety of settings within the hospital – such as emergency care, the ICU, specialized inpatient units, or general pediatrics.
HIPAA Security Educational Paper Series
CMS has now posted five papers in their HIPAA Security Educational Paper Series. The
Five papers are currently available: “
Security 101 for Covered Entities”, “
Security Standards-Administrative Safeguards”, “
Security Standards – Physical Safeguards”, “
Security Standards-Technical Safeguards” and “
Security Standards-Organizational, Policies and Procedures and Documentation Requirements”. When a new paper in the series is available, it will be immediately posted to the website. To view papers go to:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2
