The Caregiver Advise, Record & Enable (CARE) Act (Chapter 332 of the Acts of 2016), effective November 8, is intended to allow patients over the age of 18, who have been admitted as an inpatient at an acute care hospital, to designate a caregiver and give permission for the hospital to provide medical information to that caregiver.
Materials, Fact Sheet and FAQs can be found here…
When it comes to drugs and alcohol, many parents worry aboutinfluences from the outside world, like the media and their
children’s friends. But what can be found inside your home is just as important — youth say that the family home can be a major
source of substances like prescription drugs, alcohol, and inhalants.
Get the Preventing-Drug-Abuse-Starts-at-Home - Safeguarding Your Children here...
Teens watch their parents. Your example helps to guide their choices.
The most common reason young people give for not using alcohol and drugs is not wanting to harm their relationship with adults in their lives.
Teens whose parents set clear rules and follow through with consequences are less likely to use alcohol and other drugs.
Teens are much less likely to use drugs when parents are involved in their lives.
Teens who participate in community service and extracurricular activities are less likely to be involved with drugs and alcohol.
Teens that perform well in school are less likely to become involved with alcohol and drugs.
It takes a village. Teens that have support from a variety of adults are less likely to use alcohol and other drugs.
Often at some point in a person's healthcare, serious discussions must occur about what level of life-sustaining care the patient wants or how care should be provided in the event the patient is no longer able to make decisions for him or herself.
Such decisions are profoundly difficult for patients and families. But if the issue is not resolved, it often becomes difficult for caregivers who can become caught between their professional responsibilities and the competing opinions within a patient's family.
In the commonwealth, Honoring Choices Massachusetts is the group that helps people ensure that their healthcare choices are understood and honored throughout their lives. Among the collaborating partners of Honoring Choices Massachusetts is MHA; the Massachusetts Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), which MHA has supported; as well as the Hospice & Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
There are many components to creating a good healthcare decision plan. For example, it's important to sign a Healthcare Proxy, which is the legal document though which you appoint a trusted friend or relative known as a Healthcare Agent to make healthcare decisions for you if you are not able to make effective decisions for yourself. Concurrently, it's important to draw up a Personal Directive, which is a personal document or statement in which you give your Healthcare Agent information and instructions about the kind of medical care you want in the future. The previous steps cover medical decisions, but it's also important to create a Durable Power of Attorney, which is a legal document in which you appoint a trusted person to manage and protect your financial matters if you aren't able to do so for yourself.
At the same time, people should fill out a MOLST form, which is a medical document that communicates your decisions about life-sustaining treatments to your care providers. It tells the care team that you and your doctor or care provider have discussed your current medical condition and the role of life-sustaining treatments, and that you made decisions about the treatments you want or do not want. Anyone involved in your care will follow the MOLST form.
Links to the forms and in-depth explanations of them, are available through the resource page of Honoring Choices Massachusetts. "Confronting a serious illness, or preparing for a time when we are unable to make decisions for ourselves, is difficult and a source of anxiety for many," said MHA's Noga. "But entering into such a difficult period without a plan about how we wish to be cared for multiplies the anxiety for families and for caregivers. It's important to make choices and that's why MHA is such a strong supporter of healthcare decisions."
Asking questions and providing information to your doctor and other care providers can improve your care. Talking with your doctor builds trust and leads to better results, quality, safety, and satisfaction.
Quality health care is a team effort. You play an important role. One of the best ways to communicate with your doctor and health care team is by asking questions. Because time is limited during medical appointments, you will feel less rushed if you prepare your questions before your appointment.
Click on the AHRQ banner above to visit the site.
Who We Are Honoring Choices Massachusetts is a consumer focused, nonprofit organization which informs, empowers and helps adults make a health care plan and connect to quality care that honors their choices, all through their lives.
We provide access to comprehensive health care planning information, Massachusetts planning documents, and an easy to follow three step planning guide to help adults create their own personal health care plan.
We also help adults and families connect to Community Partners who provide hands-on help and resources to help adults start a health care planning discussion, create a personal plan and connect to person-centered care. Community Partners are community groups, care professionals, and health care organizations who work together to share resources and coordinate care for adults and families in their communities.
Our mission is to ensure that Massachusetts adults, including our most vulnerable citizens, have access to early and on-going health care planning that promotes wellness and lifelong person centered care that honors their values and choices.
Managing your health doesn't just happen in your doctor's office. You do it every day at home, at work, and with your family and friends. To help manage your health the Healthy Living Center of Excellence offers free self management education programs.
The free self-management education programs teach you skills that put you at the center of your care. Whether you have diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, chronic pain, or another serious health condition, these programs give you the tools to help manage your symptoms and overall health. During the programs you will learn from others who are like you, and make new friends to share what you learn when the program ends.
We believe that a collaborative partnership between activated older adults, their medical providers, and community-based organizations is the most effective model for managing the healthcare needs of an ever growing aging population.
The variety of programs offered will help adults maintain their independence, increase self-confidence and improve overall health.
The programs offer proven interventions addressing lifestyle and health conditions, such as:
We have a range of programs promoting health and wellness! Our programs include:
Visit our website for a description of each program, to access the statewide workshop calendar or to make a referral. You can also call 978-946-1211 for more information or to register for a workshop.
Choosing wisely® aims to promote conversations between providers and patients by helping patients choose care that is:
Recognizing that patients need better information about what care they truly need in order to have these conversations with their providers, patient-friendly materials have been developed and many consumer groups are working on disseminating them widely.
Choosing Wisely recommendations should not be used to establish coverage decisions or exclusions. Rather, they are meant to spur conversation about what is an appropriate and necessary treatment. As each patient situation is unique, providers and patients should use the recommendations as guidelines to determine an appropriate treatment plan together.
Massachusetts Health Quality Partners is leading a multi-stakeholder effort to advance the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely® campaign in the Commonwealth. The goal of this effort is to encourage physicians and patients to discuss medical tests and procedures that may be unnecessary, and in some instances cause harm. Reducing unnecessary medical care can improve quality for Massachusetts patients.
Healthcare interests across the state have come together to encourage patients to discuss with their physicians whether diagnostic imaging in the treatment of lower back pain and persistent headaches is appropriate. The local effort includes more than 20 organizations participating in Choosing Wisely Massachusetts and is being led by Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP), of which MHA is a member.
By examining 2013 clinical quality data, MHQP found that about 20% of the imaging tests that the state's primary care physician practices ordered for lower back pain are not indicated. The American College of Radiology points out that most people who seek medical help for headaches have migraines or tension-type headaches, and that all that is usually needed for doctors to diagnose them is a careful medical history and a neurological exam. Adding a CT scan or MRI rarely shows why a headache occurs and it does nothing to ease the pain.
Participating organizations and agencies will be disseminating Choosing Wisely information to their constituents - providers, patients, and consumer groups - throughout the month to raise awareness and interest in the campaign. MHQP has been leading the Choosing Wisely Massachusetts Campaign for two years with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the ABIM Foundation; ABIM is behind the national Choosing Wisely Campaign, in which various medical specialties drew up lists of evidence-based recommendations that patients can use in their discussions with their doctors.
"People suffering from lower back pain or frequent headaches want to know what's going on and they want relief," said Steven Defossez, M.D., MHA's V.P. of Clinical Integration and a practicing radiologist and MRI specialist. "Cross-sectional imaging tests are powerful tools, which when applied thoughtfully can result in accurate diagnoses and appropriate care plan formation. Therefore it's not surprising that patients often look to an MRI or CT scan for answers. However, diagnostic imaging may not always be the best option. Over-utilization of diagnostic imaging is wasteful at best and may actually be harmful. It's important for patients to work collaboratively with their caregivers, following evidence-based best practices, to get the best outcome."
Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP)As the statewide regional health improvement collaborative in Massachusetts, Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) is uniquely positioned to leverage and connect its existing initiatives and partnerships - including its strong multi-stakeholder governance structure of actively engaged physician, health plan and patient/public councils - to introduce and promote the Choosing Wisely® campaign in Massachusetts.
As part of their work, MHQP convenes an Advisory Group every quarter to help guide the development and implementation of a localized, collective version of the Choosing Wisely campaign focused on the following recommendations:
Antibiotic overuse for:
MHQP has also launched the Choosing Wisely Massachusetts Website and conducted awareness activities via its social media outlets and a statewide radio PSA. MHQP has begun to recruit "Choosing Wisely champions" from local specialty societies, such as the Massachusetts Radiological Society and Massachusetts Medical Society's Committee on Interspecialty, as well as to support local uptake of the campaign and materials by individual organizations including health plans, employers and provider organizations. MHQP's future plans include rolling out campaign materials in spring 2014, starting with recommendations around imaging for lower back pain. MHQP will also support the continuing work of its partners to integrate Choosing Wisely within their respective institutions and organizations. Massachusetts Health Quality Partners is a nonprofit coalition of health care providers, health plans, employers, patients, academics and government agencies working together to promote improvement in the quality of health care services in Massachusetts. MHQP's mission is to drive measurable improvements in health care quality, patients' experiences of care, and use of resources in Massachusetts through patient and public engagement and broad-based collaboration among health care stakeholders.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of healthcare throughout the world. IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping healthcare systems put those ideas into action.
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors is a public-private partnership whose mission is to improve patient safety and eliminate medical errors in Massachusetts. The Coalition’s membership includes consumer organizations, state agencies, hospitals, professional associations for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, long-term care workers, as well as health plans, employers, policymakers, and researchers. The Coalition leverages the efforts of all of these organizations to accomplish the shared goal of improving patient safety. The Coalition promotes a systems-oriented approach to improving patient safety, identifying the causes of medical errors, and developing and supporting implementation of strategies for prevention.
The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety works with providers, patients and policymakers to advance the safety and quality of health care. Visit its website for actionable toolkits and other resources for health care providers, and sign up for its monthly email newsletter for updates on local patient safety news and research. The Center is also building a network of peer support programs to help those affected by a medical error or adverse event.
U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) website includes access to clinical information, research findings, consumer/patient healthcare information, quality and patient safety information, data and surveys.
WhyNotTheBest was created and is maintained by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation working toward a high performance U.S. health system. It is a free resource for healthcare professionals interested in tracking performance on various measures of healthcare quality. The site enables organizations to compare their performance against that of peer organizations, against a range of benchmarks, and over time. Case studies and improvement tools spotlight successful improvement strategies of the nation’s top performers.
