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Blue Cross Blue Shield employees charged with taking and sharing data screen shots

Eleven people have been charged after a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) employee allegedly printed and shared screen shots of more than 5,000 subscriber profiles. The 11 people are charged with identity theft and credit card fraud, in what some observers are calling an example of how criminals can get past even the best HIPAA security measures.

Education, follow-up reduce readmissions

A pilot project providing coaching and follow up for heart failure (HF) patients who are readmitted frequently resulted in a 50% drop in the readmission rate at Indiana University (IU) Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, IN.

Communicating with patients encouraged

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has launched an initiative with the Ad Council to encourage clinicians and patients to engage in effective two-way communication to ensure safer care and better health outcomes.

Palliative care comprehension

Patients and caregivers are not often familiar with palliative care, or they misunderstand its purpose. Therefore, education on the reasons to make use of a multidisciplinary palliative care team and the benefits provided is important.

For healthy behavior change, take the message into the community

In September 2011, world leaders held the first General Assembly at the United Nations to address chronic disease, which caused an estimated 36 million deaths world wide in 2008.

Relevant messages made relevant

To reach the public with education messages, avoid lectures, says Barbara B. Mintz, MS, RD, assistant vice president of wellness at Newark (NJ) Beth Israel Medical Center.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel

Technology is beneficial to people designing programs to impact the health behaviors of their patient population base, says Jason L. Bittle, community health improvement coordinator at Hanover (PA) Hospital Wellness and Education Center.

Palliative care teams enhance education

Physicians and nurses helping patients learn to manage disease such as heart failure often have no time to talk about patients' preferences for care; if continued interventions are consistent with their goals, and what is hampering their quality of life.

Templates don't ensure copy is easy to read

Templates often are created to help make sure patients with low health literacy understand information. The National Cancer Institute published a template for consent documents with an eighth-grade reading level for participants in clinical trials.

National training center targets LGBT care

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently awarded $248,000 to the Fenway Institute in Boston to create a National Training and Technical Assistance Center to help community health centers improve the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations.