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One of the thrusts of the Affordable Care Act is to ensure that America’s patients are getting quality health care, as they most certainly deserve nothing less. One way of doing that is by keeping patient safety in mind at all times.
A feature on HealthCare.gov revealed the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to raise patient safety awareness, as shared by Joe McCannon, Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
McCannon shared that thus far, HHS has collaborated with almost 4,500 organizations, a number that includes 2,000 hospitals that have pledged their commitment towards improving patient safety. Mentioned in particular is the 100 percent participation rate of hospitals in Iowa, towards the promotion of innovations that will bring about improved hospital care, as well as reduce unnecessary costs.
One hospital stood out in the feature in terms of “raising the bar” for Patient Safety: Denver Health in Colorado. As far back as seven years ago, Denver Health has been taking structured steps towards improving the quality of health care and patient safety, focusing on high opportunity clinical circumstances.
Based on the 2010 University Health Systems Consortiums Quality and Aggregate Score, Denver Health is shown as having the lowest ratio of deaths.
In an effort to duplicate the success enjoyed by Denver Health, the Partnership for Patients initiative seeks to connect health care providers across the country. This connection will provide such successful organizations as Denver Health to share their best practices with other institutions, which can then learn and apply these practices, as appropriate, in their own organization.
Below are the two goals that have been identified for the partnership:
• Reduce preventable injuries in hospitals by 40 percent
• Cut hospital re-admissions by 20 percent
Several studies suggest that undergoing routine preventive health services has the potential to save lives, by catching chronic diseases at a stage when treatment is still possible, among other reasons. However, for some Americans, the cost of these services has been prohibitive, that they are willing to risk the odds of not having them at all.
Unfortunately, this tradeoff may be dangerous; 7 out of 10 Americans die due to causes that are preventable. These include such chronic diseases as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Through the Affordable Care Act, however, access to preventive health services will be made available to more Americans. Mayra Alvarez, Director of Public Health Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, shared some of the preventive services that more Americans may be able to enjoy, in a feature on HealthCare.gov.
Those who enroll in new health plans on or before September 23, 2010 are entitled to free preventive services, as all health plans are now required to cover certain preventive services without charging co-pay, co-insurance, or deductible.
Examples of these preventive services are as follows: blood pressure readings, cholesterol tests, and nutrition counseling; cancer screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies; flu and pneumonia shots; and routine vaccinations against diseases such as measles, hepatitis, and meningitis.
Those who are enrolled in Medicare are qualified for a free yearly wellness exam, as well as various preventive services. To date, more than 150,000 seniors and Medicare beneficiaries have been able to enjoy an annual wellness visit.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known also simply as the new health care reform law, include several provisions that ultimately have the welfare of the American in mind in terms of health care. One of the things that it touches on is the importance of prevention in ensuring better health.
This provision led to the creation of the National Prevention Council, as shared in a post on HealthCare.gov. Serving as chairperson for the council is the Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, the author of the post.
Dr. Benjamin listed the responsibilities of the National Prevention Council as the coordination of efforts towards prevention, wellness, and health promotion across the government. She wrote further that the Council is expected to develop a National Prevention Strategy, based in part on input received from the public, as well as from interested stakeholders.
“The National Prevention Strategy brings prevention and wellness to the forefront of our national conversation on health,” Dr. Benjamin said. “A focus on prevention will offer an opportunity to not only improve the health of Americans, but also help to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care.”
In connection with the effort to develop the National Prevention Strategy, Dr. Benjamin shared that the Council hosted a meeting for stakeholders, set on December 15, Wednesday, simulcast on www.hhs.gov/live from 9 am to 1 pm Eastern. The purpose of the meeting is to allow the Council “to hear directly from stakeholders, including, local, state, and community-based organizations, as well as public and private sectors who are engaged in prevention programs and activities.”
The primary reason why any American will strive to get health care coverage is to ensure that they will be provided with the health care that they need, when they need it. Jay Angoff, Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, rightfully points out, in a post on HealthCare.gov, that more often than not, we do not know much about how our health insurance policies work until we are faced with the need for “potentially life-saving care.”
Unfortunately, there was a time when getting sick also meant waging war with your insurance company, an experience that even President Barack Obama’s family went through. The President’s mother had battled ovarian cancer, and her insurance company as well.
This scenario, however, will hopefully be corrected through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Some provisions that will protect cancer patients have taken effect last September 23.
For instance, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to impose lifetime limits; for cancer patients, this means that your health care coverage will be there to cover your treatments for as long as you need them.
Another protection is placing an end to rescissions. Before, there is no assurance that one’s treatment will be covered straight away when one makes a claim. An insurance company usually goes through your paperwork, and one tiny mistake may mean that coverage will be denied. Now, for as long as premiums are paid for consistently and one acts in good faith, there is no danger of losing health insurance just when one needs coverage the most.
In a previous post, we shared with you how Medicare is being expanded to include tobacco cessation programs, ensuring that beneficiaries are given the opportunity to undergo such programs when these can be more helpful and effective, which is before the onset of disease.
Preventive care is not just a Medicare provision, but a provision that includes everyone, regardless of age. After all, it is not just seniors who have smoking habits; come to think of it, there may be more yuppies that are into smoking when compared to seniors.
Health care reform recognizes that being able to prevent disease from occurring is just as important as meeting the health care demands of patients. It is for this reason that cancer prevention tools, including such programs as annual mammograms for women over 40, regular pap smears, HPV vaccination, tobacco cessation counseling or medication, and screening tests for colon cancer for adults over 50.
New health plans are also mandated to offer coverage sans cost-sharing services, for services such as obesity screening, counseling from physicians or health professionals in order to promote sustained weight loss, blood pressure screening, counseling on the daily use of aspirin in order to reduce the risk of a stroke, and screening for high cholesterol and diabetes.
Children are also taken care of by healthcare reform, through the availability of new health plans for children without cost-sharing. Among these services are well-baby and well-child doctor’s visits every few months and screenings for such childhood problems as obesity and depression.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes provisions that indicate an important fact: prevention of diseases is as important as the treatment of diseases. Thus, focus is also given towards ensuring that health care coverage for Americans will include access to important preventive care.
According to a feature on the Wall Street Journal, the White House has released rules that specified the preventive health services that insurance companies should provide to consumers at no additional cost. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, gave the following statement: “Services like these will go a long way in preventing chronic illness.”
The regulations stipulate that health plans that are initiated after September 23 should include coverage of preventive health services, at no additional cost. This is only applicable to new health plans, though; those who choose to stay with their existing health plans will not be able to benefit from the change.
The list of services that are covered for adults include the following, as shared in the report: mammograms, colonoscopies and other cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, counseling for tobacco use and selected types of pre-natal care. Pediatric visits, vision and hearing screening, developmental assessments, immunizations and obesity screenings are among the services that are covered for children.
Since it is rare for anything to be given for free, insurers reportedly revealed that new plans will have to raise premiums overall in order to cover the cost of covering the added services. According to the administration, the change may increase the cost of premiums by 1.5 percent annually.
