Center for Health Care Strategies

The Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), www.chcs.org, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality and cost effectiveness of publicly financed care for people with chronic health needs, the elderly, and racially and ethnically diverse populations. CHCS works with state and federal agencies, health plans, providers, and consumers to design programs that better serve high-need and high-cost populations. Its program priorities are:

• Improving quality; 
• Reducing racial and ethnic disparities; and 
• Improving care for people with complex and special needs.   

Their website includes a resource library with a wealth of information. Areas covered include adults with chronic illnesses and disabilities, behavioral health, children’s health, clinical quality, consumer involvement, long-term care, Medicaid program design, and racial and ethnic health disparities.

You can sign up for free updates of CHCS activities at www.chcs.org/feedback.

 

Diabetes Dateline

Diabetes Dateline, diabetes.niddk.nih.gov, is a quarterly newsletter put out by the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC). Issues can be viewed online as PDFs and their archive goes back to 1999. Topics in the current issue include Early Type 2 Diabetes Linked to Higher Kidney Failure, Mortality Risk; High BMI Increases Diabetes Risk for Many Americans; and Gene Variant Increases Type 2 Diabetes Risk. The newsletter also has a regular feature on new publications.

 

Help to Quit Smoking

Sometimes our tax dollars are at work in useful ways. Here’s one. Smokefree.gov, created by the National Cancer Institute, offers accurate, up-to-date information, and professional assistance to help your patients quit smoking. Different people need different resources as they try to quit and this site has many of them to help support immediate and long-term needs of quitters.

Included on the site are educational resources for preparing and staying quit, phone support, and even an instant messaging service manned by smoking cessation counselors. There are interactive forms, smokefree.gov/guide/why_quit, a downloadable PDF of their quitting guide, smokefree.gov/pubs/clearing_the_air.pdf, and even an online nicotine addiction test, smokefree.gov/guide/why_so_hard.

 

Mental Health America

Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association), www.mentalhealthamerica.net, is the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. They’ve been around since 1909 and have 320 affiliates nationwide. Their mission is guided by the idea that good mental health is fundamental to the health and well being of every person and of the nation as a whole.

Information on their site can be searched by audience, issue, or disorder and treatment. There is an entire section of resources on medications and an area devoted to how to find help for yourself or a family member. Print resources in their store start at less than a dollar. For example Attention and Behavior Problems in Your Child: Could It Be AD/HD? A Guide for Parents is available for only $0.45.

 

National Council on Interpreting in Health Care

In 2005, the foreign born population in the US exceeded 35 million people. That’s over 12% of the population. What’s changing things for healthcare providers is that this group is increasingly dispersed throughout the country.

If communicating with non-English speaking patients more effectively is on your mind, consider joining the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), www.ncihc.org. This organization promotes equal access to health care for individuals with limited English proficiency. They offer a monthly bulletin and have an e-mail discussion group where participants can raise issues, ask questions, share information and resources, and network with each other.

Their website also offers a series of white papers to provide answers to commonly asked questions regarding health care interpreting. What should the role of an interpreter be? How do you test interpreters when no certification test is available? What models exist for providing language access services?

Call for Entries

Do you develop patient education strategies for primary care settings?  Do you consider your efforts cutting-edge or innovative? If so, you may be interested in submitting an entry for the 2007 Patient Care Award for Excellence in Patient Education Innovation. It is given annually at the Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education held this year in Newport Beach, CA, November 8-11.

The winner will receive a cash award of $500 plus a $300 stipend to attend the conference from sponsor, Patient Care Magazine. Download the entry form at: www.patientcareonline.com