Healthcare101
Healthcare101 is a statewide educational initiative designed to improve the overall quality of care by promoting greater sharing of decisions and information about medicines by health professionals and patients. Better access to information will raise consumer awareness and reduce the probability of medication errors.
California Health Decisions' (CHD's) Healthcare 101 initiative, will reach up to 12.4 million Californians with widespread media outreach targeting consumers from Medi-Cal, Medicare and commercial populations and their providers. Healthcare 101 will deliver the following key messages:
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How a simple medication/supplement pocket record can prevent medication errors and improve compliance.
- How medication misuse, underuse, and overuse impact health.
- What you need to know about your coverage: your health plan's drug formulary, generic vs. brand name.
- Resources for consumers and providers (toll-free numbers, web sites).
CHD, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the consumer's voice to healthcare decisions, has organized this initiative, which will bring together leaders from the private and public sectors in a consumer-centered coalition.
Demonstrated Need
Each year, up to half of the nearly 2 billion prescriptions taken in the U.S. are used improperly.
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96 percent of patients nationwide do not ask any questions about their medications.
- Approximately 100,000 Americans die every year from adverse drug reactions and 20 times more are hospitalized as a result of simple drug allergies or from the unintentionally lethal combination of prescription or over the counter (OTC) drugs.
- National health expenditures for prescription drugs totaled $91 billion in 1998, and are projected to reach about $243 billion in 2008.
As prescription demand and volume rises and medication errors continue, so will the need for the type of education Healthcare 101 will deliver. A comprehensive and proactive campaign on safe and appropriate drug use represents an unmet need. Healthcare 101 will address this need with consumer-driven information and has the potential to reach over 12 million healthcare consumers in the state of California.
Targeted groups
"Healthcare 101" will target the following population groups:
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Medi-Cal members - who have particular and specific needs regarding prescription drug education.
- Seniors - who take an average of 4.5 prescription medications, and 2 non-prescription medications per week.
- Adults aged 45-64 - are the fastest growing users of prescription medicines and can be a valuable source of prescription medication support for an aging parent or relative.
- Physicians, pharmacists and other health professionals - will benefit from improved communication with consumers so that they can play a more active role in decisions regarding medication use.
For more information, please go to:
http://www.cahd.org/health101.html
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