Follow the Aligning Forces for Quality meeting through Friday on twitter at #af4q

CALL FOR PROPOSALS!!! The O’Reilly Strata Rx Conference is one of the first events in the world that brings leading experts together to advance personalized and predictive medicine, with the vision of achieving better patient outcomes at lower costs.

Excellent piece: The Patient, the Physician, and Dr. Google

In case you missed it--CMMI announces Innovation Awards today.

Could I have an order of transparency to go with my hospital charges please? Hospital officials said the findings are of little value because the charges have little bearing on what insured or uninsured patients actually pay. Dave Glyer -- CFO for Community Memorial Health System -- said that the study "assumed that hospital charges matter when they don't," making it "completely off base." Read more: http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2012/5/8/study-reported-charges-vary-between-california-hospitals.aspx#ixzz1uIIgVZ6k

Change of topic here... take a look at this solid description of the reciprocal obligations of health care professionals, patients & society necessary to achieve patient-centered, team-based care. http://bit.ly/LvtSOU

See RWJF comment letter on MU Stage 2 proposed rule: "We applaud this effort to encourage greater patient access to their health information online. Informed consumers are empowered consumers. Information in the hands of consumers enhances health and health care decision making."

Interesting piece comparing tactics used to reduce smoking and the lessons that could be used to address obesity. I would argue that obesity is a little more complex than smoking but there are good lessons to consider applying nonetheless.

First, I want to say that I am strongly opposed to the AHA's misguided opinion on 42 CFR § 495.6(d)(12)(i) and (ii); 495.6(j)(10)(i) and (ii) – “Provide patients the ability to view online, download, and transmit their health information within four business days of the information being available to EPs.” I actually view the four business day requirement as a bit weak... Patients should have real time access to their health information. They should not only be able to view, download, transmit or do anything they want with their record at any time, but have the opportunity to write their own notes as well. Planetree hospitals have been doing this for years! It's called being patient-centered...

Please join us on Sunday May 6, from 2-6 pm at 1919 Connecticut Ave NW Washington DC on the sidewalks around The Washington Hilton in a rally to support patients' access to their own electronic medical records in direct opposition to the stance of the American Hospital Association at their Annual Conference See the blog post link to find out more.

The need for palliative care has never been so apparent to me. Great read.

an interesting study from the UK re: medication/script errors. another reason to get on board with real time access to med records, a family member will likely know a pt is allergic... and could stop a tragedy.

Just read a great post on the Medical Ethics and Me blog on the need for CPR. I believe that this post should make part of formal courses at Medical Schools http://www.medicalethicsandme.org/2012/04/when-cpr-doesnt-serve-patients-best.html

another reasoned commentary. Thanks Deven McGraw.

a tweet from Regina Holliday: @ReginaHolliday Definition of a travesty: @ahahospitals comment on MU2. Patient data access needs to be real time, not in 30 days. #TheWalkingGallery #hcsm The AHA has come out in their public comments on Meaningful Use 2 as wanting a 30 day window, after discharge, to get Patients their data. This is completely unacceptable. Not only is it a slap in the face to all of those who have worked tirelessly for real time data access, it flies in the face of present MU regs which require data to be accessible within 4 days. I urge all my friends and colleagues on this page and on facebook to contact the AHA via twitter or email or phone to decry this stance and to urge them to retract this wrongheaded idea. There is NO GOOD reason for their request in this age of digital information. NONE. Thanks for your support. Kait B. Roe

here is the National Partnership's comments on the newly published AHA public comment for MU2

Hmmm. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-bonuses-for-docs-do-little-to-improve-diabetbre-20120426,0,374438.story

Great suite of resources on AF4Q's website that can help communities and providers make improvements in quality so that care is more patient centered ( http://forces4quality.org/measuring-patients-experience-care).

Improving Language Services Measures used in the RWJF-sponsored Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) Language Quality Improvement Collaborative, the AF4Q Hospital Quality Network, and originally developed under the Speaking Together program were submitted to the National Quality Forum (NQF) and are currently in the endorsement process. Use of the measures in designing improvement work help organizations reduce disparities among limited and non-English speaking populations and address important patient safety and quality concerns for limited and non-English speaking patients. Hospitals have been able to further stratify clinical measures to better learn patient needs and reduce hospital length of stay and readmission rates, smooth transitions in care and reduce waste. Two Language Services measures are moving forward in the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement process: • Screening for preferred spoken language and • Providing language services at key points in care. As you know, when measures are endorsed by NQF, it brings the benefits of national recognition, which can lead to important measures like these being hardwired into the metrics that hospitals collect. The measures are included in the NQF draft report for Disparities, which is currently open for public and member comment through May 9, 2012. We encourage you to submit comments in support of the value of these measures in reducing disparities in care, improving readmission rates, reducing hospital length of stay, and addressing important patient safety concerns. NQF steering committees, who recommend endorsement to the board, take public comments very seriously in considering whether to endorse a measure. Your input matters - but we need it soon. You can access the report and comment on the measures at http://www.qualityforum.org/projects/Healthcare_Disparities_and_Cultural_Competency.aspx

Leading edge opportunity at the National Quality Forum. Interested? http://tinyurl.com/7xydz7o

Howdy-here's that link to the new RWJF HIT Adoption Report. Great Health Affairs National Press Club briefing this morning. They'll post the video soon.

Thanks to everyone who attended Tuesday's AF4Q webinar featuring successes from the AF4Q Hospital Quality Network initiative. Big thanks to Maine, Oregon and Puget Sound AF4Q Alliances for showcasing your hospital work. As Susan Mende said, the AF4Q HQN work highlights how the alliances are "lighting up the sky with their bright spots!" If you missed the webinar, the recording and slides featuring: Oregon's St. Charles Hospital on reducing readmissions, Maine's Mercy Hospital-Portland on improving language services, and Puget Sound's Multi-Care Hospital System on increasing throughput, are available on the AF4Q website here: http://forces4quality.org/

Join tomorrow's Aligning Forces for Quality webinar when hospitals from the AF4Q Hospital Quality Network share lessons learned in readmissions, throughput, language bit.ly/IjqKDC - open to all!