Newsletters

April 2017
• New Guideline Will Allow First-Year Doctors...to Work 24-Hour Shifts
• March was National Nutrition Month
• Volunteers wanted for a Research Study
• The Puzzling Popularity of Back Surgery in Certain Regions
• Those Indecipherable...Medical Bills
• Do you have something to share with our members?

March 2017
• Five Hints to Make the Most of Your Office Visit
• Do Doctors say "I'm Sorry"?
• A patient's patient safety story
• Talking About Advanced Care Planning
• Interesting Headlines and Info. You May Have Missed.

January 2017
• Why are Top Republicans Saying that there's a Medical Malpractice Crisis?
• Patient Satisfaction vs Quality Ratings
• January Health Hint:...Winter Preparedness.
• The FDA - Oversight of Medications
• "Dead in Bed" Cases are Rising

December 2016
• 2016 Year in Review

November 2016
• CT's 2016 Department of Public Health Report on Adverse Medical Events
• Where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Stand on Seven Health Care Issues
• Connecticut Hospital Inspection Reports
• Is it allergies or the flu?
• Shared Decision Making and Patient Reported Outcomes
• Fair Health... A tool to help consumers understand the COSTS of Health Care

October 2016
• Medication Safety Tips.
• Having your health data at your fingertips
• Drug Prices are Still Raging Out of Control.
• Consumers, Conflict of Interest, and the FDA

August 2016
• Is GlaxcoSmithKline untouchable?
• August Health Hint...New FDA Nutrition Labels
• CMS releases Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings
• Medicare and Medicaid changes

July 2016
• July Health Hint...Bee Stings
• What we have been talking about on Facebook
• What are Fluoroquinolones and why do they matter?
• Disposing of Prescription Medicines and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Products...& Sharps
• Resolution, When Medical Harm Occurs
• How Retail Health Clinics are Changing the Face of Health Care Delivery

June 2016
• Value of Care
• Measuring Hospital Value of Care
• Measuring Medication Value of Care
• June Health Hint
• Choosing A Healthcare Proxy
• When prediction models don't work
• Medical Error: Third Leading Cause of Death

May 2016
• Drug Trials - The results are not always what they seem.
• A Throwback to the Days of House Calls
• May Health Hint..Hand Hygiene Day May 5 2016
• Anne's Story
• The Most Important Conversation You'll Ever Have
• How People Differ from Airplanes

April 2016
• Introducing our cartoonist
• Out-of-Pocket Sticker Shock
• April Health Hint:...Cold or Allergy
• Following the Money Trail
• CR Hospital Ratings...and their article...What You Don't Know About Your Doc Could Hurt You
• Dietary supplements and non-prescription products

March 2016
• Taking Control of you Medical Costs
• March is Patient Safety Month
• The law of unintended consequences
• Is your medical data YOUR medical data?
• Introducing Shannon Church, CTCPS intern

February 2016
• Computers are in the way!
• February Health Hint
• Sen Blumenthal's Generic Drug Bill
• What's All That Noise?
• Problem Paying My bills

January 2016
• Important Questions to ask before you go to the hospital
• Rate of decline in Hospital-Acquired Conditions leveled in 2014
• Twelve Questions
• 18 Connecticut Hospitals Penalized
• January Health Hint
• Young Children are being given antipsychotics
• What are Patient Advisory Councils?

December 2015
• Looking for Guest Writers
• CT Adverse Medical Events & the Leapfrog Hospital Ratings
• The Health of our Healthcare System
• Brand Name v. Generic Drugs
• Open Enrollment is Underway
• December Health Hint

November 2015
• Making the Case for Medication Reviews
• November Health Hint
• How to find (reliable) medical information online
• How do consumers choose a hospital?
• What Patients Want
• Why Handwashing is so important for your health

October 2015
• Community Paramedicine
• Healthcare's Brave New World:...Patient-Centered Care
• The CARE Act. Follow-Up
• Community Healthcare Provider Home Visit Safety Tips
• Under Pressure, Physicians are Improving Their Bedside Manner
• The New Universal Patient Safety Flag
• The Need for Better Health Literacy
• October Health Hint

September 2015
• September Health Hint... Sepsis
• The Peggy Lillis Foundation:...Raising Awareness of C.Diff
• BCBS of N. Carolina and their Price Transparency
• Patients First

August 2015
• August Health Hint...Vacations and Your Health Insurance.
• 21st Century Cures Act
• Two Patient Tools for Evaluating Hospitals and Surgeons
• What is Written in the Stars?...Advancing Safety for Elders
• Finding the Funny

July 2015
• Jean Rexford, 2015 Carlson Honoree
• Surprise Medical Charges
• July Health Hints
• Not everyone defines a health emergency the same
• How are Connecticut residents affected by the Supreme Court ruling on subsidies?
• Care Partner Programs: Advancing Advocacy at the Bedside
• The staggering differences in Hospital Charges

June 2015
• Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment
• June Health Hint
• Billing Transparency
• Research done for the patients!
• Patients..... The Most Underutilized Resource in Healthcare

May 2015
• Ther Power of Having Access to Your Own Medical Records
• Telehealth...A new way of delivering health care
• May Health Hints
• Who is Who in your Doctor's office?
• Who owns that Surgical Center?
• The Problem With Patient Satisfaction Based Reimbursement

April 2015
• Hospital Rating Scales
• April is National Minority Health Month
• The lighter side of Healthcare
• Patient Safety Roundtable
• Treatments - Benefits vs. Risks
• Do You Really Need to Stick Me

March 2015
• How much do insurers pay for common health services?
• The Anthem data breach
• March Health Hint
• The evolving role of your pharmacist
• Oral health and your overall well-being
• Connecticut’s Changing Hospital Landscape

February 2015
• Patient Engagement using the Patient Passport
• February Health Hint
• Big Pharma Plays Hide-the-Ball With Data
• Treating Agitation in Seniors without using Antipsychotics

November 2014
• Caregiver Action Network
• Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Rating Scores
• Doctor, Please Pee in this Cup
• November Health Hint
• The Patient Passport

October 2014
• Medication Safety Conference
• The painkiller epidemic
• New Frontiers In Medical Screening
• 21st Century Snake Oil
• October Health Hints
• MED QIPS takes off at Georgetown Medical School

September 2014
• Disclosure and Apology: A Win-Win for Patient Safety and Medical Liability?
• When Patients Read What Their Doctors Write
• Livanta recently named as Connecticut's Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Medicare Patients...
• September Health Hint: Flu Shots
• Newly Insured, Many Now Face Learning Curve
• Like Priceline for patients: Doctors compete for business via online bids for surgery

August 2014
• An Appeal for Safe and Appropriate Imaging of Children
• New Legislation on Safe Staffing and "duty of candor"
• Some Generic Drug Prices are Increasing
• Avoid Hospitalizations in ... July and August
• CU Letter to Congress
• Hospital Mergers ... When is big too big?
• Are Patient Satisfaction and Quality of Care Linked?

July 2014
• The Cleveland Clinic ... and the power of one determined advocate
• The Connecticut Partnership for Patient Safety
• What About Cost and Quality
• Healthcare Billing - does anyone understand it?

June, 2014
• National Practitioner Data Bank
• Big Pharma - Big Money: The Cost of Doing Business
• Eleven Clicks Away - Getting to your insurer's formulary
• C-Hit: An unusual resource for Connecticut Residents

May, 2014
• Empowering Connecticut's Newly Insured...Identifying the Gaps in Accessing Health Care
• Cost of Treatment
• Summary of OIG Reports on Adverse Events
• Drug Abuse in the Medical Community
• Misdiagnosed: Docs' Mistakes Affect 12 Million a Year

April, 2014
• Handwashing
• Opioids Addiction and Heroin
• Coming UP
• Our Legislation went Nowhere

March, 2014
• Patient Safety Resources
• Facility Fees
• State Report Card on Physician Quality
• Electronic Medical Records

February, 2014
• Greed...Charles Denham
• Legislative Issues
• Prescription Drug Factoid

January, 2014
• Questioning Protocol
• Best Disruptive Writings
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• CTCPS Conducts Workshop

October, 2013
• How Many Die from Medical Mistakes
• Help with Obamacare
• Road Map to Eliminate HAI
• FDA calls for device IDs

September, 2013
• Introducing Lavinia Cristescu CTCPS Intern
• State Innovation Model
• Imaging - Doctors Who Profit
• Hospital Compare
• Consumers United for Evidence Based Healthcare
• Healthcare Lobbying Tab in CT

Summer, 2013
• Jean Rexford Named in CDC Award
• Breaking the Wall of Silence
• Patient and Family Advisory Councils
• The Many Facets of CTCPS
• Communication -...It Can Save Your Life!

June, 2013
• The Safe Hospital Room
• WhyNotTheBest.org
• CTCPS Resource Center
• Please Support our Efforts at CTCPS
• The Carlson Forum

May, 2013
• Medical Error as a leading cause of death
• IPFCC Partnerships for Quality and Safety Seminar
• Medicare Meltdown
• All Payer Claim Database

April, 2013
• Improving Cancer Care
• New isn't necessarily better
• Health insurers spent less than 1% of their premium dollars on care improvement
• Connecticut gets an F!

March, 2013
• Less is More
• RxISK - the Drug Safety Website
• Two Important Books
• Other Excellent Resources

February, 2013
• First do no harm
• Amgen gets a gift
• FDA will take action
• Johnson & Johnson Hid Data

January, 2013
• The Patients Changing Role
• Transparancy and Accountability
• Legislative Report on Adverse Events
• Lapses in Medication Care

November, 2012
• Dear Members - A shift in the way the medical establishment views patients
• An independent panel finds that Medtronic edited Studies
• PCORI (Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute) Conference
• The Economics of Health Care Quality and Medical Errors
• Medical Harm Complaint System Could be Quality Data Gold Mine

October, 2012
• Jennifer Jaff Advocate For The Chronically Ill 1957 - 2012
• Joint Commission report on Top Performers (Hospitals) on Key Quality Measures™ in 2011
• New IOM Report: Waste in the health care system and even more importantly - harm
• Profit over Patient
• CTCPS's Outreach Education Program is Growing

September, 2012
• Change is Coming
• NEJM on Ethical Guidelines
• NEVER is Up and Running

August, 2012
• Health Care Law Stands: What it Means for CT and You
• Congressional hearing on Patient Safety in Hartford: July 2, 2012
• In the Past Four Years....Consumers Beware! An article about Big Pharma
• Medicare announces updated, enhanced tools for patients to compare hospitals and nursing homes
• Health and Human Services Report that Hospitals are Ignoring Requirements to Report Errors.
• ProPublica Journalists' New Initiative

July, 2012
• Disturbing Facts
• Congressional Hearing on Patient Safety
• Choosing Wisely - American College of Radiology
• The Leapfrog Group has released their Hospital Safety Score Website

June, 2012
• Americans' Perceptions of the Costs and Quality of Medical Care
• When the FDA reached out to consumers and patient representatives
• Choosing Wisely
• Getting the Right Health Care: No More No Less - June 12, 2012

May, 2012
• Observation Status: a new money making ploy
• CTCPS launches new area of interest: the unique healthcare needs of Connecticut's Seniors
• Doctors Fall Short In Helping Many Seniors
• Hip and Knee Replacement Registries are Needed
• Treatment of Dementia in the Elderly with Antipsychotics

April, 2012
• Report from the Legislative Office Building
      ▫ Tort reform issues
      ▫ Regulations affecting nursing homes and home health agencies,
      ▫ Renewing medical licenses Online
      ▫ We are opposing a bill that would exempt emergency room physicians from liability
• April 7, 2012 Day of Patient Safety at St. Francis Hospital
• Outreach to Nursing Students
• 2011 Healthcare Fraud
• Nursing home and home health agency quality of care issues 

March, 2012
• Patient Safety Starts with "Me" - March 7, 2012 Learn about patient safety and your role as your own advocate.
• On Dr. Berwick's departure from CMS
• Medical Device Makers in DC
• CTCPS and this year's legislative session:
      ▫ ER Doctors, on line licensure of all doctors, dentist and nurses, Medical Examining Boards, Nursing Home reform

February, 2012
• U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has joined two other senators introducing Medical Device Safety Legislation
• Study finds more than 130.000 Medicare beneficiaries experienced one or more adverse events in hospitals in a single month
• Transparency and Accountability Needed NOW!
• SAVE THE DATE: March 7, 2012 Learn about patient safety and your role as your own advocate.

January, 2012
• Medical Device Safety Legislation introduced by Senator Blumenthal (D) of Connecticut
• Payments from Drug and Medical Device Manufacturers to Doctors must now be reported
• Drugs Prices Rise Faster Than Other Health Care Costs
• Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, 2012

December, 2011
• New practice of placing hospital patients on observation status can leave Medicare patients with big bills.
• Prescription Painkiller Overdoses in the U. S.
• Velez Family Fund Challenge
• Medical Device adverse events grew by 17% while the industry itself grew by only 9%.

November, 2011
• U.S. Health Care System Gets Low Grade From Commonwealth Fund
• Consumers Union Safe Patient Summit

October, 2011
• Costs shift to workers as health insurance expenses rise
• Federal Government steps up demand for more comprehensive and more transparent infection reporting
• Medical Errors Among Lapses Cited By Medical Board
• Health Insurers Deny Up To A Third Of State Applicants

September, 2011
• NEVER - Northeast Voices for Error Reduction
• Medical Devices - Lives and Money are at stake
• Medicare Fraud

July, 2011
• Legislative Wrap Up
• Top Four Don'ts for Doctors in Primary Care

June, 2011
• Public Citizen analyzes disciplinary actions taken against physicians – Connecticut once again ranks in the bottom ten.
• NEVER (Northeast Voices for Error Reduction)
• ProPublica continues to expose conflicts of interest.
• Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers

April, 2011
• Hospital Acquired Infection Legislation.
• Mary Ellen Ladd raises our awareness of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month
• Letter to Legislators Re: A patient perspective on liability PROTECTION.

March, 2011
• SustiNet - a Connecticut health care plan passed into law in July, 2009. Its goal is to provide affordable health care coverage to 98% of Connecticut residents by 2014.
• More errors result of physicians not listening
• A personal story written by John Torello

February, 2011
• Preventable deaths They will continue until there is a national strategy to stop them
• Negligent Physicians Connecticut Medical Examining Board needs to toughen up
• Medical errors take an horrendous toll

January, 2011
• Patient Advocacy Resources
• The Connecticut Health Investigative Team (www.C-HIT.ORG)
• Governor-Elect Dan Malloy has selected Dr. Jewel Mullen to lead the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
• Negligent Physicians - Connecticut Medical Examining Board needs to toughen up

December, 2010
• Federal database for consumer complaints approved
• Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals
• $3.1 Billion Recovered Through the False Claims Act During Fiscal Year 2010: Largest Recoveries From Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
• Consumer Reports Insights: Get the facts about drugs that are recalled

November, 2010
• Patient Advocacy: ways to get involved
• Prescription Drug Use Soared in the Past Decade
• Glaxo to Pay $750 Million for Sale of Bad Products
• Surgical errors continue despite protocols
• discussion on Healthcare Associated Infections Prevention Outcomes

October, 2010
• Carpe Diem, buyer beware – not just for used cars, but for healthcare as well
• Connecticut Doctors Slow to Adopt Electronic Record-Keeping
• Report: Drug Costs for Seniors to Skyrocket Next Year

September, 2010
• A discussion about the importance of informed decisions regarding one’s own healthcare
• New York Times Report: Very powerful antipsychotic drugs being used to treat very young children.
• Pennsylvania cost containment makes a business case for eliminating infections...

August, 2010
• Articles about Avandia
• Obama appoints Berwick CMS administrator
• Study Examines Sepsis and Septic Shock After Surgery
• Survey: doctors have direct, personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician
• New Survey Launched to Query Patients/Consumers on Overtreatment

July, 2010
• Letters we won't send but have always wanted to write

June, 2010
• The cost of infections
• Trip to the CDC
• Estimates of Healthcare-Associated Infections
• Infectious diseases that may be acquired in healthcare facilities

May, 2010
• the increased use of anti-depressants in our society
• S.B. 248 – An Act Concerning Adverse Events at Hospitals and Outpatient Surgical Facilities
• S.B. 270 – An Act Concerning the Prohibition of Certain Gifts from Pharmaceutical and Medical Device manufacturing Companies to Health Care Providers
• The Empowered Patient Coalition
• Patient reporting site for medical errors is now online
• list of resources for you to access to better understand health reform and what it might mean to you

April, 2010
• The Physicians Sunshine Act
• Study Sees a Slant in Articles on Avandia
• Lack of communication – it’s a big deal

March, 2010
• The Lilly heist and the need for e-pedigree
• New Adverse Events Study is more than troubling
• 1956 hospital expose

March, 2010 – Legislative Update Edition
• Senate Bill 270 would restrict the gifts provided to health care workers
• Senate Bill 248 would require hospital specific reports of adverse events
• Senate Bill 103 concerning access to comprehensive factual information regarding long- term care facilities
• Senate Bill 222 would allow a person who had filed a complaint a great role and access to information about the status of the complaint, and notice of the final outcome.

February, 2010
• Real life stories that are unacceptable
• Harvard Doc Steps Down to Keep Drug-Industry Speaking Gig
• Growing Connecticut Coalition willing to take on the Pharmaceutical Industry
• The Treatment Trap
• The Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making

January, 2010
chiropractic examining board hearing- Patients Should Know Risks
• Hospitals Affiliated with Harvard Limit Outside Pay - conflicting roles of some medical leaders
• Health Lobbying Explodes in 2009

December, 2009
• CT Scans and Unnecessary Imaging
• How Can We Prevent Having to Undergo Too Many Tests?
• Study questions safety of mammograms for young women at high risk of cancer.

November, 2009 – Special Mid-Month Edition
• Doctor uses wrong man's sperm to produce twins.
• St Francis Hospital in Hartford is on Probation for one year.
• Hidden Mistakes

November, 2009
• Money Driven Medicine
• Save the date! Consumers Union Safe Patient Project live forum webcast -- November 17, 2010
• Senior Pastor, Rev. Michael J. Moran, First Congregational Church, New Milford speaks on Understanding the Ethical Issues Behind Negligence
• How Clean Is That Hand You Are Shaking

October, 2009
• How clean is your soap?
• CTCPS in Our Nation’s Capitol
• Illegal Marketing of Zyprexa

September, 2009
• Jean Rexford appointed to the Connecticut State Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
• The Bankruptcy Toll or Medical Bankruptcy
• Pfizer Gets a Well Deserved Fine

August, 2009 – Mid-Month Update
• Dead by Mistake – Preventable Deaths
• PR – Not Science: Wyeth paid ghostwriters to pen journal articles on hormone replacement therapy
• Pfizer Investigator Stalked Neurontin Witness - Who Paid Off the Plaintiffs?
• Doctors Reap Benefits By Doing Own Tests
• Not even a Hospital President is immune to MRSA
• 10 Steps to Better Health Care

August, 2009
• The SustiNet Bill is now law
• Conflicts of interest common in cancer research
• Focus on Nursing Home Care
• MYTH: A new public health plan will only drive-up health care costs

July, 2009 – Mid-Month Update
• Nursing Home Bill of Rights
• SB325: An Act Concerning Pharmacy Errors and Pharmacy Commission Meeting Minutes
• Only 1% of pharmacy errors are ever reported.

July, 2009
• Proposed time line for Health care reform
• H.R. 2937: Congress Takes On MRSA
• FDA panel backs ban on painkillers

June, 2009 – Mid-Month Update
• Report from our nation's capitol – Our lobbying efforts on consumer principles for health reform.
• 1 in 4 Nursing Home Residents Carries MRSA
• Myths about healthcare reform

June, 2009
• agreement requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose all payments over $1000 made to doctors falls through
• Study finds limited reporting of disciplinary actions
• A Celebrity Patient Sells His Soul to the Pharma Devil

May, 2009
• Real Age...think twice before you answer those questions. Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers.
• Senate Bill 1049, a Pharma gift ban to physicians is alive and well
• Cutting Surgical Infections

April, 2009
• Senate Bill 1091: An Act Concerning Complaints Pending in the Department of Public Health Against Physicians and Other Health Care Providers
• What In The World Is AMSA?
• Limiting Pharma

March, 2009
• Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry
• testimony on Medical accountability and responsibility at a Public Health hearing in Hartford – in spite of the blizzard.
• Call to Act - Contact Members of the Public Health Committee and urge them to support Senate Bill 1049
• Reporter looking for the people behind the statistics.

February, 2009 – Taking Action, Making a Difference
• SB 1049: supporting a gift ban

February, 2009
• Powerful Testimony of Janet Levy pushing for full disclosure in Support of SB 90
• This week in Hartford

February, 2009
• Public Access to Pharmacy Prescription Errors
• AHRQ Director Helps Consumers Navigate the Health Care System in a Web Advice Column
• November 2009 will mark the tenth anniversary of the IOM report - To Err is Human

January, 2009 Update
• Our Legislative Agenda
• MRSA infections rising in children’s' ear, nose, throat
• Bills we are watching: Proposed Bill No. 216: An act providing a cap on noneconomic damages in Medical Malpractice Action; Proposed Bill No 5291: An act concerning Department of Public Health Oversight Over gifts provided by the Pharmaceutical Industry to Health care providers; Proposed Bill No 108: An act concerning the Nursing Home facility Patients' Bill of Rights; Proposed Bill No 135: An act prohibiting the sale of physician prescription drug records for the purpose of pharmaceutical marketing; Proposed Bill No 45: Prohibition of certain gifts from pharmaceutical sales reps to health care providers; Proposed Bill No 90: An Act requiring chiropractors to obtain informed written consent from a patient prior to performing certain procedures involving treatment of the cervical spine; Proposed Bill No 5030:An act concerning the establishment of a prescription drug academic detailing pilot project.

January, 2009
• Changes at the FDA: Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner to head the federal agency
• Millions weighing medical costs to find savings
• MRSA fight extends into the community

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