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healthcarejournalbr.com | July / August 2008 Issue |
Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge
67
The news is better regarding breast cancer, the most frequently
occurring invasive cancer among women in the United States. The
2006 Louisiana Health Report Card states that nationwide, the death
rate of breast cancer has decreased steadily since the mid-1990s, and
this decline is attributed to both early detection and improved treat-
ment. According to BRFSS data, currently in Louisiana, more than
78 percent of women aged 50-plus report receiving a mammogram,
which exceeds the Healthy Louisiana 2010 goal of having at least 70
percent of these women screened within the preceding two years.
However, according to Medicare claims data, in the Medicare pop-
ulation of females 65 plus, the screening rates are much lower. Only
49.16 percent in years 2005-2006, and most of the screenings
occurred in the Caucasian female population (51 percent), while
only 43.2 percent of African-American females received mammo-
grams.
Louisiana does very well immunizing its seniors with the pneumo-
nia vaccine. We rate first in the nation for pneumonia immunizations
according to the 2006 State Snapshots report from the Agency for
Health Care Research and Quality released in March 2008. Yet some
of our most vulnerable citizens still suffer from respiratory diseases
such as flu and pneumonia. 1,750 Louisiana residents are hospital-
ized and 500 die because of the flu each year, according to the
Louisiana Office of Public Health Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Section 2006 Annual Report. Louisiana is still 13th in the nation for
deaths due to influenza and pneumonia, according to the Centers for
Disease Control. A physician's recommendation has the most influ-
ence on a patient's use of preventive services. EHR reminder sys-
tems can assist physicians by ensuring that their patients receive the
full array of preventive, acute, and chronic healthcare services.
Louisiana Health Care Review plans to recruit 60 physician prac-
tices in the next year that are prepared to use electronic health
records technology to improve the efficiency and productivity of
their practice while simultaneously improving the quality of care.
• Physicians will be introduced to the DOQ-IT University and other
online tools for optimizing care management processes.
• LHCR will develop presentations and educational materials on
using EHR capabilities and QIO interventions to improve preven-
tive rates.
• Mail reminders can be generated by EHRs to generate reports on
preventive services and to trigger healthy screening behaviors by
patients.
• LHCR QI specialists will help practices organize nurse-led group
meetings for targeted patient populations to provide beneficiary
education on preventive measures and encourage the use of EHR-
generated personal patient profiles (patient-specific care plans).
By helping practices design and use patient-specific care plans and
EHR reminder systems for targeted populations, physicians will be
able to improve the rate of health behaviors undertaken in their
patient populations.
For more information about the 9th Scope of Work Prevention
Activities, contact Linda Harkey or Dr. Tony Sun at Louisiana
Health Care Review, 225-926-6353.
v
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Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Committee on Data Standards for
Patient Safety, Board on Health Care Services (2003). Key Capabilities of an
Electronic Health Record System (Letter Report to Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
This material was produced by Louisiana Health Care Review, Inc. (LHCR), the
Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Louisiana, under contract with the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not neces-
sarily reflect CMS policy. LA8SoW1D108-O1726.
1968:
First doctoral program for clinical psychology.
1973:
American Psychiatric Association
removes classification of homosexuality as a
disease except when it is profoundly
disturbing to the individual.