Quality Health Care Resources

Guides to Health Care Quality

• "Guide to Health Care Quality" - a free booklet from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• The Partnership for Healthcare Excellence website provides education, information and tools to help you improve the quality of your health care
• Massachusetts Health Quality Partners list of Massachusetts statewide rates and national benchmarks in primary care for different medical conditions.

Choosing a Quality Doctor

• Tips on how to choose a quality primary care doctor from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Quality reports, patient experiences, and practice performance for physicians from Massachusetts Health Quality Partners
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine Physician profiles, giving education, training, and experience of Massachusetts physicians

Choosing a Quality Hospital

• Tips on how to choose a quality hospital from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Information on safety ratings and safety of procedures in hospitals from the Leapfrog Group
• The Joint Commission's nationwide quality and safety accreditation/certification for facilities
• Comparing quality and cost at Massachusetts hospitals - Provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Health Care quality and Cost Council
• Report on Serious Reportable Events at MA Hospitals - A report by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Health and Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality

NHP's Online Health Information and Interactive Tools

NHP offers its members a comprehensive suite of health information and interactive tools on nhp.org:

• For information and tools on a wide range of topics, visit Your Health.
• Our Health Risk Assessment is an easy-to-use online tool that can help you determine your health risks for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or depression.

Safe Medication Practices

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices recommends that you know what medications you are taking and to ask your pharmacist the following questions when filling a new prescription:

• When and how should I take this medication?
• What do I do if I miss a dose?
• Are there any potential side effects?
• How will this medication interact with other drugs I am taking?
• How do I safely dispose of unused medication?

When you use your NHP card to fill a prescription, your prescriptions are checked for interactions with other medications that you have filled with NHP. If you fill a prescription without using your NHP card, that prescription is not part of the safety check.

The more information you have, the better able you will be to use your medications correctly, prevent errors, and protect your health. For more information, visit the Institute for Safe Medications Practices website.

e-Prescribing

The eRx Collaborative is a joint effort of Neighborhood Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Tufts Health Plan, and their technology partners DrFirst and ZixCorp®, to promote e-prescribing adoption in Massachusetts. The eRx Collaborative believes that e-prescribing can improve patient safety and provider efficiency by enabling providers to:

• Access patient-specific drug histories to determine the patient’s current and past prescriptions
• Write new and renewal prescriptions electronically
• Send prescriptions for non-controlled substances directly to the pharmacy via fax or by Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and/or print the prescription to paper
• Check for drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions
• Check for formulary coverage
• Access a drug reference guide

Learn more about the benefits of e-prescribing.

Advance Directives

An Advance Directive is a legal document that protects you if you become unable to make decisions about your health care. It is a statement written by you which tells your doctor or hospital what to do if you are not able to make decisions about your health care. Anyone who is 18 years of age or older should have an Advance Directive.

Health Care Proxy

This document allows you to write down what you would like to happen for your health care if you cannot make the decision about your health care. A Health Care Proxy allows you to choose someone to follow your wishes. You can choose someone that you trust and is willing to take the responsibility for following your wishes. You should not choose your doctor because a different doctor would have to take care of your health. Doctors and hospitals must follow your wishes in a Health Care Proxy. There are special Health Care Proxy forms that you must use. Talk to your doctor and he or she can give you information and help you get the forms. You can find Health Care Proxy forms and information on www.massmed.org. You can also call NHP at 800-433-5556 to get these forms or to get more information about Advance Directives. Be sure that your doctor and your hospital have a copy of your signed Health Care Proxy.

Living Will

This document allows you to describe the medical treatment you would agree to or not agree to if you were unable to tell someone your choices. However, doctors and hospitals do not have to follow your wishes in a Living Will. If you want a Living Will, you should contact an attorney.

Organ and Tissue Donation

You can record your wishes about Organ and Tissue Donation by filling out an organ donor card. If you want to know more, please contact:

New England Organ Bank

One Gateway Center

Newton, MA 02158-2803

Telephone: 800-446-6362