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For
Immediate Release
April 8,
2010 | |
Communications
Coordinator
1-800-838-0388
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| Maine and America Need
Better Care
New Campaign
Focuses on
Improving & Coordinating
Care for Vulnerable Older Adults as
Health Reform is
Implemented
NEW Survey: Older Adults
Suffering From Poor Care
Coordination |
(Augusta) Consumers for Affordable
Health Care (CAHC) is joining more
than 100 organizations across the nation in kicking off
a new campaign that will help ensure national health
reform works for those with a lot at stake-
older Americans and those with multiple health
conditions. Together with the National Partnership for
Women & Families, Community
Catalyst and the National Health Law
Program
(NHeLP) today we launched the Campaign
for Better Care (CBC), a multi-year initiative
that will focus on improving health care quality,
coordination and communication for vulnerable older
patients and those with multiple health problems and their
family caregivers.
One of the Campaign's key goals is to build a
consumer movement of and for these families who are counting
on health reform to provide the comprehensive,
coordinated, patient-centered care
they need.
"Here in Maine we are ahead of the nation when
it comes to health care reform. Maine
people have benefited from many consumer protections on
our books that the rest of the country will just
begin to benefit from under national health
reform. But there is still a lot of work to do when it
comes to making sure the care our older residents and those
with multiple health conditions get better care.
Lowering costs through better care and health is
critical. That's why we are thrilled to join this
Campaign," says CAHC Executive Director Joe Ditré.
The Maine
Campaign for Better Care, is led by Consumers
for Affordable Health Care, who is joined by several partner
organizations and businesses
including the American Heart Association- Founders
Affiliate, City of Portland Minority Health Program,
Direct Care Alliance- Maine Chapter, Eastern Area Agency on
Aging, Law Office of Alice E. Knapp, Maine Equal Justice
Partners, Maine Parent Federation and Maine Women's
Lobby. Nationally, the CBC launches with a Steering Committee
comprised of leaders of some of the nation's most powerful
groups, and a diverse Consumer Coalition with more than 100
national, state and local organizations that are coming
together for the first time ever to work on this set of
issues.
The Campaign's policy agenda aims to ensure
that the reformed health care system provides the
comprehensive, coordinated, patient- and family-centered
care that older adults and individuals with multiple health
problems need. It will advocate for better ways of
delivering care including effective care coordination,
transition management, medication reconciliation, support
for patients and their family caregivers, and care that is
culturally and linguistically appropriate. It will
support payment strategies that enhance primary care
practice and reward better quality, coordination and
communication among providers, patients and family
caregivers. It will press for performance measurement
that holds providers accountable and sets priorities for
quality improvement. It will promote effective use of
health information technologies. It will press for
assessment of patient experience to improve care and tools
that empower patients and caregivers to make fully informed
decisions.
"Health reform is law, but in some
ways the hardest work is just beginning," said National
Partnership President Debra L. Ness. "Reform has given us key building
blocks, but we need to implement it in ways that will
improve care for our sickest patients - those who are the
heaviest users of our health care system, with the highest
costs and the poorest outcomes. Millions of older people with
multiple chronic conditions and their families are counting
on reform to improve coordination and care. It is essential to their
independence, quality of life and financial
security. If we can make the system work for
this population, we can make it work for
everyone. The Campaign for Better
Care will organize a
powerful nationwide network of advocates to advance that
goal."
SURVEY
RESULTS
A national
survey of Americans age 50 or older, conducted by Lake
Research Partners* in March for the Campaign for Better
Care, finds that three in four respondents (74%) want their
doctor to talk and share information with each other. Millions have
experienced problems related to a lack of communication and
coordination among providers, which tend to especially
affect heavy users of the health care system and people of
color:
-
40% of people who take
five or more medications, 47% of heavy users of the health
care system, and one in three people age 50 or older say
their doctors do not talk to them about potential
interactions with other drugs or over-the-counter
medications when prescribing new
medications.
- 35% of respondents
with multiple chronic conditions, and 30% of respondents
overall, have had to themselves bring an X-ray, MRI or
other test result to a doctor's
appointment.
- 45% of heavy users of
the health care system, 40% of those with multiple chronic
conditions, and 29% of respondents overall have had to act
as a communicator between doctors who weren't talking to
each other.
- Three-quarters of
heavy users of the health care system (76%) have left a
doctor's office or hospital confused about what to do at
home.
"These numbers are
appalling, and they translate into debilitating and
avoidable health problems, untold stress on family
caregivers, precious health dollars wasted, unacceptable
disparities, duplicative tests and procedures, and lost
lives," said NHeLP Executive Director Emily Spitzer.
"We can and must do better. Our goal with the Campaign
for Better Care is to empower and engage patients and their
caregivers, so we can ensure that reform delivers on its
promise to vulnerable older patients and their families.
It's simply not right that that older people - who often are
the sickest and most vulnerable - are not getting the health
care they need."
Learn more, and read stories of patients
who need better care, at www.CampaignForBetterCare.org. Other states
taking part in the CBC include Massachusetts, North
Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
*Lake Research Partners
conducted this survey, administered by Knowledge Networks,
among a nationally-representative probability sample of N =
1,066 adults ages 50 and older. The survey was conducted
March 26 through 30, 2010. The margin of sampling error for
the survey is + 3.0 percentage points. The sampling
error is larger for smaller subgroups within the
sample.
Consumers for
Affordable Health Care is a non-profit,
non-partisan organization that has been helping Maine
people get quality, affordable health care for more than
20 years. If you have any public or private
insurance questions please call our toll free consumer
HelpLine at
1-800-965-7476.
# # #
For more information or to schedule interviews
contact: Cherilee Budrick, Communications Coordinator
Consumers for Affordable Health
Care 207-622-7083 cbudrick@mainecahc.org
Consumers for Affordable
Health Care * P.O. Box 2490 *
Augusta, ME *
04330-2490 | |
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