News Briefs
Parents urged to 'speak up' for their children
The Joint Commission (TJC) is launching a national campaign to help parents make a difference in their children's lives by being actively engaged when their children receive health care.
The campaign urges parents to ask the right questions and to be actively involved in their child's care, whether it's at the doctor's office, in the hospital, or even at home. The new education campaign is part of TJC's "Speak Up" program.
The new "Speak Up" campaign framework urges patients, parents, and guardians of children to:
• Speak up if you have questions or concerns. If you still don't understand, ask again. It's your body and you have a right to know.
• Pay attention to the care you get. Always make sure you're getting the right treatments and medicines by the right health care professionals. Don't assume anything.
Educate yourself about your illness. Learn about the medical tests you get, and your treatment plan.
• Ask a trusted family member or friend to be your advocate (advisor or supporter).
• Know what medicines you take and why you take them. Medicine errors are the most common health care mistakes.
• Use a hospital, clinic, surgery center, or other type of health care organization that has been carefully checked out.
• Participate in all decisions about your treatment. You are the center of the health care team.
Paying for quality care in Medicare demos pays off
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated in mid-August that demonstrations being conducted by CMS continue to provide "strong" evidence that offering financial incentives for improving or delivering high-quality care increases the quality of that care and can reduce the growth in Medicare expenditures.
In an Aug. 17 news release, CMS announced new results from three of these demonstrations: one for large physician practices; one for small and solo physician practices; and one for hospitals.
"What we learn from the various Medicare demonstrations [is that they] help to achieve the administration's goals of paying for high quality and efficient health care in America," said Jonathan Blum, director of the CMS' Center for Medicare Management and acting director of the Center for Health Plan Choices. "Building on these findings, we will aggressively test new demonstration concepts to continue to meet these goals."
The CMS value-based purchasing initiative is designed to tie Medicare payments to performance on quality and efficiency and is part of CMS' effort to transform Medicare from a passive payer to an active purchaser of higher quality, more efficient health care.
More than 560 small and solo physician practices participating in the Medicare Care Management Performance (MCMP) demonstration are being rewarded for providing high-quality care in the delivery of preventive care and care for patients with chronic illness.
CMS also announced the start of three additional value-based purchasing demonstrations.
"We continue to be encouraged by the progress of our ongoing programs that test value-based purchasing across a variety of health care services," said Charlene Frizzera, acting administrator of CMS.
The Joint Commission (TJC) is launching a national campaign to help parents make a difference in their children's lives by being actively engaged when their children receive health care.Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.