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Get Better Maine to Feature Statewide

Book Club with

T.R. Reid!

Our friends at the Maine Health Management Coalition, Quality Counts and others are planning a state-wide book club with T.R. Reid, author of "The Healing of America":

Monday, Nov. 7th

UMaine Augusta

Tuesday, Nov. 8th

Portland Public Library

You can also schedule your own book club and use the Reader's Guide: join the book club!

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Did You Know?

75% of chronically ill patients who leave the hospital wouldn't need to return if they had a plan for follow-up care.

When patients leave the hospital, they should expect to be healthy and stay healthy. They shouldn't expect a return visit within one month of discharge. To help patients remain healthy, AARP created How to Avoid the Roundtrip Visit to the Hospital with several consumer-friendly tools, including a guide to help patients be prepared for life after the hospital, podcasts and easy-to-follow tips for people living life after being an inpatient.

The Maine Campaign for Better Care had the opportunity to meet with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Dr. Donald Berwick in Boston. Dr. Berwick invited a small number of stakeholders from several New England states to speak on the "Triple Aim" of better care, better health, and lower cost and how best to achieve those goals. Consumers for Affordable Health Care Executive Director Joe Ditré was invited and provided Dr. Berwick, CMS and HHS staff, and the 25 attendees with information about the Campaign for Better Care and its goals. As the sole consumer representative, Joe thanked the health providers and government officials in the room for their work to help patients and their families get better care at a lower cost. He then provided examples of the work of Maine CBC to help patients and consumers understand more about "Care Coordination" and "Transitions of Care" proposals.

Joe made three requests for CMS to consider:

Individual care plans and providers partnering with patients and their families to follow the individual care plans;

CMS requiring consumer ombuds programs where Medicaid managed care or other health plans operate on a managed care basis; and

Consumer representation at the governance level of health plans seeking certification or where state Medicaid agencies file for waivers such as 1115 waivers of federal Medicaid rules.

As the only consumer stakeholder in attendance, our testimony was critical for consumers throughout the region that are grappling with how to better coordinate care and lower overall costs.

News You Can Use

This Associated Press article in the Bangor Daily News shows the ill effects of unnecessary and burdensome procedures: "Prostate testing's dark side: Men who were harmed"
Sometimes the price of treatment will lead us to consider alternative health options. Recent studies show that alternative methods could help combat Osteoarthiritis, as this article points out.
Heartfelt story written by the BDN's Meg Haskell about the 30th Anniversary of the Senior Companion group.
In this guest column in the Portland Press Herald, the author discusses the move to patient-centered care.

Free Aging Advocacy Summit

Learn how to become an effective

advocate for Maine seniors!

Our friends at Maine's Aging Network are excited to announce that Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and K.J. Hertz, Deputy Director of Public Policy and Legislative Affairs for the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging will be presenting at the Aging Advocacy Summit.

When: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 8:00-12:30

Where: Augusta Civic Center

At the Summit, participants will learn how to develop effective messages to address threats to Medicare, LIHEAP, Social Security, MaineCare and the Medicare Savings Program, to advocate for more resources for vital supports, and to create grassroots advocacy plans to get messages out.

Please attend the Summit if you care about these issues and want to learn how to be an effective advocate for Maine seniors! Also, please forward this invitation to anyone who might be interested in attending!

Click here to register for the Summit.

Click here to see the Summit agenda.

Click here for directions to the Augusta Civic Center.

Need more info or can you sponsor the Summit? Contact Jess Maurer at jmaurer@spectrumgenerations.org or at 207-592-9972

Thanks for reading our e-news update! If you haven't already, we encourage you to sign your organization on or join us as an individual supporter of the Campaign.

"Like" us on Facebook!

If you haven't already, please visit us on Facebook and share our page with your family and friends!

Want to join the Campaign?

If you want to help us improve care and reduce costs in Maine, please contact Greg White, gwhite@mainecahc.org or call 622-7083.

	Questions about health care or coverage? Finding affordable health care can be difficult. What are your choices? What are your rights? We can help. We are a non-profit information, assistance, and referral service. We do not sell insurance. All calls are confidential.
Health Care HelpLine: 1-800-965-7476 or jderrico@mainecahc.org