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OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by
and welcome to the "AHRQ Continuing Education Resources
for Safety Net Health Professionals" Webinar,
presented by HRSA and AHRQ.
During the presentation, all participants will be
in a "Listen Only" mode.
However, you may submit questions to the speaker
at any time during the Webinar in writing using the chat
feature located on the left side of your screen.
Questions will be addressed as time allows
following the second presentation.
As a reminder, today's Webinar is being recorded.
It is now 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on July 12, 2013.
There will be one presentation during today's Webinar,
given by three presenters: Ms. Natalie Brevard Perry,
and Lieutenant Michael Banyas of HRSA,
and Ms. Jean Slutsky of AHRQ.
In a moment, we will be sending all attendees a link through
the chat feature that they can click on to download copies
of the slide presentation for today's Webinar.
Additionally, all registrants will receive an email following
today's Webinar that will include an email address
where you can send requests for copies of the presentation.
I would now like to turn the call over to Lt. Banyas
from HRSA's Bureau of Primary Healthcare.
Please go ahead, Lt. Banyas.
LT. BANYAS: Good afternoon everyone and thank you
for joining us during today's Webinar presentation.
Before I introduce Admiral Sarah Linde of the US Public Health
Service and HRSA's Chief Public Health Officer to introduce
today's speakers, I would like to point today's presenters
toward some resources and announcements
both from HRSA and AHRQ.
First, the Health Resources and Services Administration has a
variety of Health IT and Quality toolboxes and resources and
all the past Webinars can be found at HRSA's Health IT
website and also at HRSA's Quality Improvement website.
Those links are displayed on the slide on the screen.
Second, the resources displayed during today's Webinar for
safety net health professionals can be found at the HRSA quality
page as well as a variety of other HRSA web pages and outlets
which we will describe later during the presentation.
In addition, the web page for this resource is also
on the front page at HRSA.gov.
Any additional questions can be sent to HealthIT@HRSA.gov.
Next just some Health IT and Quality announcements from HRSA;
as I mentioned, all of HRSA's past Webinars can be found at
www.HRSA.gov/HealthIT,
and also on the Quality Improvement website.
Three recently posted Webinars that gained a significant
attendance from the safety net community include: "Using
an Electronic Health Record to Create Patient Problem Lists,"
"Using an Electronic Health Record for Health Information
Exchange and Interoperability for Safety Net Providers,"
and, "Using Clinical Decision Support
in Safety Net Provider Settings."
In addition, two new recent grantee spotlights have been
posted to the Health IT and Quality grantee website.
They include a technical assistance article on
the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and how they built
a patient-centered medical home for patients with *** and AIDS.
As well as an article on the Health Care Systems Bureau's
approach to data driven quality improvement
which increases organ donation.
These articles, as well as the previous grantee spotlight
articles are wonderful technical assistance resources
for grantees to find out how their peers and fellow
safety net providers have overcome numerous Health IT
and Quality Improvement challenges on the ground
in order to deliver high quality patient care.
Next, just a few announcements from AHRQ
and their Effective Health Care program.
First, access to new treatment options and resources
can be accessed through the web link on the slide deck
on the page right now.
In addition, any participants that are interested in ordering
free patient and caregiver education resources can dial
the number listed on the screen, these patient and caregiver
education resources are based on the comparative effectiveness
research from the AHRQ Effective Healthcare program.
In addition, AHRQ's EHC program welcomes any one to join
the national partnership network and to access the free resources
and templates available on the website.
In addition, they also welcome any input into the EHC program
research as well as comments on the research or to participate
in a survey on the tools featured on the website.
And lastly, there's a funding opportunity available
focusing on disseminating patient-centered outcomes
research to improve healthcare delivery.
All of these resources and information can be accessed
through AHRQ's Effective Health Care site.
I would now like to turn the Webinar over to
Admiral Sarah Linde of the U.S. Public Health Service and HRSA's
Chief Public Health Officer to introduce the speakers.
Admiral Linde?
-- Thank you, Lt. Banyas.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Rear Admiral Sarah Linde and as Lt. Banyas said,
I'm in the Public Health Service.
I'm also the Chief Public Health Officer of the Health Resources
and Services Administration, also known as HRSA.
I'd like to welcome today's participants to July's
Health Information Technology and Quality Webinar.
This event will provide you an overview of three evidence-based
continuing education resources to safety net health care
professionals and HRSA grantees through a recent collaboration
between HRSA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
AHRQ, or "ARK."
No doubt many of you are familiar with HRSA and our
mission to improve health and achieve health equity through
access to quality services, a skilled health work force and
innovative programs, but in case you are not familiar with AHRQ,
they are one of our sister agencies within
the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.
AHRQ works to improve the quality, safety, efficiency,
and effectiveness of healthcare for all Americans
through partnerships and research.
Today's Webinar is an example of one successful partnership.
These free clinical training resources, which include
online training modules, are derived from
the comparative effectiveness research funded by
AHRQ's Effective Healthcare Program.
This research, then translated into training resources,
helps healthcare providers, especially those who care for
vulnerable populations, use evidence to make informed
patient treatment decisions, and improve the quality of care
in their day to day clinical work.
Providing high quality evidence-based healthcare
is a vital component of the Affordable Care Act,
the National Quality Strategy, and Healthy People 2020.
Today, HRSA staff will be introducing the collaboration
with AHRQ and how these resources can help HRSA grantees
train their clinical staff to provide high quality healthcare
using evidence-based medicine.
AHRQ will provide an overview of the Effective Healthcare Program
and its resources, and finally, HRSA will present the website
created to provide safety net providers and HRSA grantees
access to these AHRQ resources in numerous areas
such as chronic diseases.
I now would like to give you a little bit more information
about today's speakers.
Natalie Brevard Perry is the Deputy Regional Administrator
of HRSA's Atlanta Regional Office, which improves
health care systems, strengthens America's healthcare safety net,
increases access to quality care, reduces disparities,
and advances public health in the following states:
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Prior to joining HRSA, Ms. Perry served as the Deputy Associate
Director for Policy in the Public Health Program Office
at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jean Slutsky directs the Center for Outcomes and Evidence at
AHRQ, and oversees the evidence- based practice center program,
also the technology assessment program,
extramural and intramural research portfolios,
and the national guidelines, national quality measures,
and quality tools clearinghouses.
Prior to this position, Ms. Slutsky directed
the development of the National Guideline Clearinghouse Project,
and served as the project director of
the US Preventive Services Task Force.
Finally, Lt. Michael Banyas is a commissioned officer
in the public health service and is currently a public health
analyst in HRSA's Bureau of Primary Healthcare
which operates the health center program.
There he assists approximately 80 grantees in Idaho,
Oregon, Colorado, and Utah.
Previously he was the team lead for communications in HRSA's
Office of Health Information Technology and Quality,
and he has experience in policy and management analysis with
the US Senate Health Education Labor and Pension Committee's
Health Policy Office,
and also, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services,
and several institutes within the National
Institutes of Health.
I'd now like to turn the presentation over to
Natalie Perry, the deputy regional administrator
of the Atlanta Regional Office of HRSA. Natalie?
-- Thank you, Admiral Linde.
Good afternoon, and again, welcome to an overview
of the Medical Education Initiative.
This Webinar features AHRQ continuing education resources
for safety net health professionals.
This is a joint presentation sponsored by the Health
Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA,
and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ.
Today's Webinar is designed to introduce free, on demand,
continuing education resources for essential community
providers or health professionals who provide
healthcare and services to underserved populations.
For the first time, HRSA and AHRQ have linked information
technology environments to create a web portal and provide
direct access to accredited continuing education
and other evidence-based resources.
These resources can be used for professional development,
in staff development activities, quality improvement
and risk management programs, and to improve
organizational performance on clinical measures.
The key objective of today's session are to first encourage
safety net providers to access free accredited, evidence-based
continuing education activities, and secondly, to increase
utilization of these resources to improve patient outcomes.
We would like for you to begin using the new HRSA Internet
portal as a primary source of accredited
continuing education and continuing medical education.
Today's Webinar will progress from an overview of the AHRQ
Effective Healthcare Program, through a discussion of the
evolution of the initiative and it will end with a demonstration
of the HRSA Medical Education Initiative web portal.
On this slide, we have outlined the four segments
of today's presentation.
First, I will provide an overview of the conceptual
framework or the foundation of the initiative.
Next, Jean will present an overview of the AHRQ Effective
Health Care program, and finally, Michael will present
an overview of the Medical Education Initiative
and a web portal demonstration.
You may ask, so why is this initiative important?
Well, there's several reasons.
First, an essential component of implementing
the Affordable Care Act is delivering high quality care.
Title Six of the act includes provisions related to
patient-centered outcomes research.
In general, the Affordable Care Act will precipitate changes
in the way that healthcare is paid for and delivered.
The overarching goals are to first reduce costs
and improve quality.
Second, shift from paying for volume to paying for outcome.
And third, improve care coordination.
The Medical Education Initiative supports these goals
as well as two of Secretary Sebelius's strategic priorities.
First it supports the priority to promote high value, safe,
and effective healthcare, and secondly, it supports
the priority to accelerate the process of scientific discovery
to improve patient care.
As you may know, the pathway from basic scientific discovery
to methods and technologies that improve patient care
can be lengthy and complex.
HHS is committed to promoting faster translation of research
into practice, and ensuring that it meets the varying
needs of diverse communities in culturally and linguistically
appropriate ways.
Accelerating this process can help HHS meet its goals,
including promoting high value safe and effective healthcare,
eliminating health disparities, supporting informed
decision-making, and ultimately improving health outcomes.
So what does this mean for you as an essential
community provider or a safety net provider?
Well, it means that many evidence-based resources are now
readily available to support the development of patient-centered
medical homes, to improve healthcare delivery
in accountable care organizations,
and to enhance your quality improvement programs.
These resources are now at your fingertips
inside the HRSA IT environment.
Now as many of you know, HRSA is a part of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services.
We manage a $7.8 billion portfolio
of 80 different grant programs.
Most of these programs focus on expanding primary care
and extending health services to those who are poor,
medically vulnerable, or geographically isolated.
An important component of HRSA's mission is to
strengthen the workforce.
Through the Bureau of Health Professions, grants are awarded
to health professional schools and training programs
to expand workforce training.
The Medical Education Initiative is a complementary component of
HRSA's overall efforts to ensure that the health workforce
is trained to provide high quality care.
In essence, by bringing AHRQ resources into a familiar
web-based environment, we virtually stretch
the classroom to the point of care.
In 2009, the Institute of Medicine published a report
entitled, "Redesigning Continuing Education
in the Health Professions."
One of the five broad messages outlined in this report
asserts that continuing education efforts should bring
health professionals from various disciplines
together in a carefully tailored learning environment.
The Medical Education Initiative creates a direct Internet link
from HRSA to evidence-based resources developed by AHRQ
for multiple disciplines.
So if you are a nurse, a nurse practitioner, a health educator,
medical assistant, case manager, dietician, pharmacist,
or a physician, there are accredited continuing education
modules designed for your discipline
within this initiative.
You will find a variety of formats including
video discussions, case studies, feedback based videos,
simulations, journal articles, and monographs.
Each activity is designed to include an overview,
learning objective, and faculty biography.
To receive credit for each module, you must score
70 percent or greater on the post-test.
The shared priorities of HRSA and AHRQ serve as
the foundation for this initiative.
Both agencies have programs that prioritize underserved
and minority populations.
Both agencies also have programs that focus on
making health care more patient-centered.
HRSA and AHRQ programs ensure that patients and families
are engaged as partners in their care,
and finally, HRSA and AHRQ programs support proven
evidence-based health care interventions.
So these priorities clearly demonstrate how the mission
of these two agencies intersect and support the creation
of a joint initiative.
Both agencies share the common goal of emphasizing clinical
and service quality in healthcare.
Finally, in terms of the foundation of the initiative,
here's some background information that we put together
that illustrates how we solidified the rationale
for creating the initiative.
According to the Institute of Medicine, 58 percent of
continuing education comes from industry,
and out-of-pocket costs to physicians is approximately
$1200 per physician per year, which is quite a bit.
The Medical Education Initiative is a free online resource
specifically developed to help ensure that the safety net
workforce is consistently prepared to provide
high quality care and ensure patient safety.
We know that health professionals are overwhelmed
by the proliferation of clinical information.
This results in a gap between available evidence-based
clinical information and actual practice.
Almost a decade ago, the ILM observed that an average of
17 years elapses between the discovery of a new treatment
to the integration of that treatment into routine practice.
Now think of how many people could benefit if new discoveries
were translated into practice more rapidly.
Clinical information must be disseminated in a timely manner
using new and innovative ways.
This will enable health professionals to keep pace
with the rapid development of evidence-based information.
The Medical Education Initiative is designed to shorten the time
between scientific discovery and integration into practice
by providing evidence-based continuing education
directly on the HRSA homepage.
And now, Jean will tell you more about AHRQ,
comparative effectiveness research, and the wealth of
resources available through the Effective Health Care Program,
which is the origin of the Medical Education Initiative.
Jean?
-- Thank you.
Next slide please.
And next slide.
It's my pleasure to be here today and for those of you
who don't know about AHRQ's mission, I'll just simply say
on this slide, it's to improve the quality, safety, efficiency,
and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.
While that's a very large and audacious mission, we take it
quite seriously and we hope that you'll find the materials that
we're going to talk about today will help us all achieve this.
Next slide please.
So you as frontline health care providers
and safety net providers know that the health care landscape
is changing very rapidly.
Health care reform has already begun and we know
that integrating evidence into this new environment
is going to be challenging.
We want to know how the nature of evidence changes over time
and how these changes affect you as providers, payers,
and patients and their families and how do we ensure that these
changes are beneficial and don't have unintended consequences.
Next slide please.
So the evidence of the Effective Health Care program is charged
with providing current, unbiased evidence on the effectiveness
of different health care intervention and it focuses on
patient-centered outcomes so the patient is the center of
the focus of this research, it's also intended to help patients,
providers, and policy-makers, make informed,
evidence-based, informed choices.
While we don't make treatment recommendations, we hope that
the materials that we provide to the public will help them
in developing clinical practice guidelines,
clinical decision support,
and making everyday decisions on health care options.
Next slide please.
So what is comparative effectiveness research?
This is research that compares the benefits and harms
of different health care interventions and strategies
for providing health care to prevent and diagnose
and treat and monitor health conditions.
It focuses, as I said, on patient-centered outcomes.
It can compare drugs, medical devices,
tests, surgeries, behavioral interventions,
or actual strategies to deliver health care.
It's intended to be descriptive and not prescriptive.
This is not a research program that actually makes funding
recommendations, but it does provide information
for people to use in the health care arena.
Next slide please.
This is the framework for the work we do
under the Effective Health Care Program.
I want you to concentrate on the light blue or purple box which
is translation, dissemination, and implementation.
This is really the box that gets the information that comes
out of our research portfolio into the hands of people
who need it and that includes the safety net providers,
patients, and their families.
Hopefully this will lead to improvements in health care
which will further inform what type of research we undertake.
Next slide please.
So why is translation needed?
This is a quote from the third director of Agency for
Health Care, Research, and Quality -- John Eisenberg,
and he was very passionate about making sure that evidence
gets into practice.
So he said, "Evidence may be necessary,
but it's certainly not sufficient.
The findings of research need to be translated into information
that is useful for each health care decision maker."
Next slide please.
So the Effective Health Care program has developed quite a
few program tools and resources to help not only
frontline providers, patients and their families,
but other researchers conduct this type of research.
What I am going to be talking about today is the continuing
education modules and case presentations that we hope
you will find to be quite useful in your day to day practice.
Next slide please.
Anyone can use AHRQ's Effective Health Care CE/CME modules.
They provide accredited credits for a variety of health care
providers including physicians, as well as health education
specialists, case managers, medical assistants,
pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners.
It's meant to be a broad program for CE and CME.
Next slide please.
The modules are clustered around 14 common clinical areas
which I call "cradle to grave."
An example of the clinical areas which may be quite familiar to
you in your day to day practice is diabetes management,
developmental delays -- including ADHD, Autism --
digestive system conditions,
infectious diseases -- including *** and AIDS.
It's been my pleasure being able to talk to you today
about this exciting program.
I really hope you'll find it useful and I'll be happy to
answer any questions at the end of all the presentations.
Thank you very much.
-- Hi everyone, this is Lt. Michael Banyas
from the Bureau of Primary Health Care and I'm just going
to give a quick overview on the Medical Initiative's website
and how safety net providers can organize and can access
these materials from AHRQ.
First, I just want to point out this badge that HRSA's
Office of Communications designed for the initiative.
This badge is seen on several other HRSA Bureau and Office
websites and it also is an indication of,
if you click on the badge, you can enter in
to find the portal through this badge.
As my colleague Ms. Brevard Perry stated beforehand,
the purpose of the Continuing Medical Education Initiative
was to support the workforce in quality improvement priorities,
the Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA,
as well as the Affordable Care Act,
the National Quality Strategy,
and the mission of HRSA's other bureaus and offices.
As we stated before, this website that we created provides
safety net providers and HRSA grantees with access to free --
and I want to emphasize that, FREE -- clinically relevant
quality training resources developed by AHRQ.
In addition, these modules encourage and facilitate the use
of evidence-based research in medicine, which is extremely
important for providing safety net provider or safety net
patients with up-to-date high quality care,
but also for their providers to be able to have access
to the best and most current research available
in order to achieve greater health outcomes.
Next, before I demonstrate the HRSA portal, the website
features 36 modules selected by HRSA clinical staff.
So the 36 modules that you see displayed on the website that
I will show in just a little bit are chosen by HRSA's clinical
staff that are familiar with the care that is provided by
safety net providers in the underserved community.
These modules were chosen based on their relevance towards
meeting the clinical training needs of the types of care
provided within the safety net provider's settings.
In addition, these types of care,
these training modules, all include but are not limited to
rural critical access hospitals, ***/AIDS providers,
maternal and child health issues, health centers,
and many more areas relevant to HRSA grantees
and the safety net provider community.
The website, which will be demonstrated in just a few
minutes, utilizes filters that allow users to select
the modules relevant to their needs.
So just as if you were shopping on say an Amazon.com website
or another shopping website, users and providers
will be able to filter the providers --
be able to filter out what they are looking for,
either by provider type and/or disease category.
In addition, please be on the lookout for additional
announcements on additional modules from AHRQ's Effective
Health Care program that will be forthcoming and that could be
easily accommodated to this website.
Next, I'm just going to share my desktop
and I will quickly demonstrate the website.
If people can't see my web browser,
please just let me know.
First, just to show off the HRSA front page, so as I mentioned
in the announcements, the CE/CME Medical Initiative website
can be accessed through the second flash slide
on the HRSA front page.
In addition, a number of our other sister bureaus and offices
have been placing the website badge on their website
to direct their grantees and stakeholders to this resource.
For example, right now, I'm on the Bureau of Health
Professions' website, and if you go down to the bottom to
where the technical assistance portion is, you see the badge.
Clicking on the badge brings you to the Medical Initiative's
website, and as I stated beforehand,
it lists all 36 modules.
Each module is one CE, one CME credit each, and one hour
in length and this is perfect for physicians and providers who
might not have time to dedicate to classroom hours or might not
have funding to attend conferences to procure these
credits, or these continuing medical education materials
towards their state or board licenses.
In addition, they can be done between patients or after hours
or in the morning or at their convenience, but just as I said,
we set the website up just as it would be a shopping website.
So for example, if I'm a pharmacist,
there's all 15 modules that are relevant to me, but say,
I'm a pharmacist who wants to know about diabetes care.
There are the five modules right there that are relevant
to pharmacists seeking modules on diabetes care.
Just one more other quick demonstration and one of the
great things about these modules as Ms. Slutsky pointed out,
they encompass a wide variety of provider groups.
It's not just physicians and nurses.
It's also health education specialists.
So if you're a health education specialist who's interested
in -- oh, none there, but if you're interested in say,
developmental delays, there's the module
that's relevant for you.
In addition the webpage provides links that will allow providers
to go to AHRQ's Effective Health Care program if they want
to seek out the additional modules, as well as
other research and reports relevant to these tools.
I'm just going to go back to where -- ok, here I am.
So I am back.
So once again, for additional information on this resource,
please email AHRQ Center for Outcomes and Evidence.
You can email the HRSA staff listed below
or to find additional resources on this initiative,
please go to the HRSA front page.
You can go to the National Health Service Corps Facebook
page, the National Association of Community Health Centers
Facebook page, or as I said, below, you can look for
the badge which is on the Bureau of Health Professions' website,
the *** Bureau's Target Center website,
as well as the HRSA Quality Improvement website.
Or, to get a full grasp of the wonderful tools and programs
and additional modules, you can visit
the AHRQ Effective Health Care program website.
Thank you very much.
I would now like to turn it over to the moderator for questions.
MODERATOR: Alright, there have actually not been very many
questions so far so I want to encourage anybody to submit them
via the chat function on the Webinar if you have any.
One person did ask whether CE's are provided for respiratory
therapists, as they deal a lot with infectious diseases.
JEAN: We can check on that.
This is Jean Slutsky.
We can check on that and get back to you, if you can have
that individual give you their contact information
so that we can get that information to them.
MODERATOR: Okay...I'm sorry, hold on.
Is there any content on Telehealth?
JEAN: Excuse me, can you repeat that?
MODERATOR: There is a question about any content on Telehealth?
JEAN: Oh Telehealth, yeah.
No, we do not, through the Effective Health Care program,
have information on Telehealth, but through our HIT program,
there is information on Telehealth,
but HRSA probably has more information on Telehealth
in actually practice than AHRQ would.
LT. BANYAS: I can answer that.
HRSA has an office to the advancement of Telehealth
which can be accessed either through the HRSA Health IT site
or through the Office of Rural Health Policies website.
And any questions about Telehealth can be sent to
HealthIT@HRSA.gov and I will forward that over to
the relevant staff to answer your questions.
MODERATOR: Excellent.
Are the CE courses accepted by all state boards of nursing?
JEAN: It is my understanding that the ones that come from
the Effective Health Care program are.
They receive a national accreditation
which tends to trump state accreditation.
MODERATOR: And another question was, how often new content
and new topics are posted and how frequently they should
check back for new resources.
JEAN: Yes, you should check back frequently because all of
our products are updated on a regular basis.
So what we do is continually scan the literature and when
there is a trigger to update any of the research because of
new study findings, the core research gets updated and that
triggers an update with the continuing education modules.
MODERATOR: Excellent, thank you.
Are there any educational resources on ICD10
and the documentation needed for coding it?
LT. BANYAS: I can answer that question.
Currently HRSA, right off of the HRSA Health IT website,
has an ICD10 webpage.
It's a technical assistance webpage which also includes
the September 2011 Webinar which had about over 4,000 people
participate in and that page is maintained with staff from both
HRSA's Offices and Programs, but as well as in cooperation with
the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
And once again, any ICD10 related questions,
please just email the HealthIT@HRSA.gov website
and I will direct those questions to the primary person
responsible for ICD10 within the agency, but once again,
please check out the ICD10 webpage based right off of
the HRSA Health IT website and it has the most current
information on there for safety net providers relevant to ICD10.
MODERATOR: Thank you.
We had a question about whether there is content
related to health disparities.
Can anyone speak to that?
JEAN: None of the continuing education modules
deal specifically with health disparities.
They deal with clinical conditions, and they may,
depending on what the topic is, talk about different populations
where the treatment approach may be different
and that would reflect cardiovascular disease,
let's say, in women as opposed to men, and so forth.
MODERATOR: Thank you.
What about the development of the modules?
Have you partnered with any other agencies or programs
to develop the content?
JEAN: No, we have not.
They really are developed off of the products that are
funded under our Effective Health Care program,
so they're directly related to those evidence reviews.
MODERATOR: All right.
Is there any discussion about providing any of these
resources and materials in languages other than English?
JEAN: Currently, what we do is we have patient guides which are
summaries of the evidence that are in other languages,
predominately Spanish, although we have funded the development
of some Cantonese translations of our product.
MODERATOR: If people are interested in taking a CE
that is not within their professional capacity and
it's just for knowledge and not for credit, is that permitted?
JEAN: Yes, and I do want to say for the previous questioner
that wanted to know about other language translations.
If they go to www.EffectiveHealthCare.AHRQ.gov
they're able to pull up patient guides that are
in English audio files and Spanish.
They can order them or pull them off the web.
MODERATOR: We've received a number of questions about
whether there are any programs or resources for dentists
and other oral health professionals.
Can you speak to that?
JEAN: Not from the Effective Health Care program.
MODERATOR: Okay...I'm still going through the questions.
Where is the educational evidence-based information
derived from?
JEAN: It's derived from systematic reviews of existing
literature that are done by 11 evidence-based practice centers
that are funded through AHRQ.
They follow a very strict methodology
for doing the systematic reviews.
The reviews are posted for public comment and peer reviewed
and then they are posted in final format and the groups
that we commission to develop the CE and CME modules
use these documents to develop the modules.
and these, in turn, are reviewed by the developers
of the original systematic review.
MODERATOR: Do the modules incorporate any information
or educational materials on alternative medicine models?
JEAN: Yes, some of the information on the Effective
Health Care website do deal with alternative treatment options.
I'm not sure if any of the modules actually have been
developed on those options.
I also want to let listeners know that you can get regular
updates online via the Effective Health Care program LISTSERV.
So you can sign up for an email notification that will tell you
when any new product is developed and published
and you can also sign up for the Effective Health Care program's
Inside Track newsletter.
All you have to do is click the red envelope on the website.
MODERATOR: Excellent.
While you're talking about what's available in the format
of the website, what do people need to be able to access
the website and engage in the class offerings?
Do they need to establish a log on
or is a password needed of any sort?
JEAN: They need to give information in order to get
their certificate of completion, so when they do the post-test,
in order to get their certificate,
they need to sign in.
The Effective Health Care website is not
a password protected website.
All of the material is free of charge.
We also have faculty in the room slides so if any of your
listeners today want to do grand rounds or have informational
meetings with their staff, there are already slides developed
that they can just pull off the website
on a variety of different topics.
MODERATOR: Excellent.
Are there any plans to add physician assistants
as one of the disciplines?
JEAN: Well, that's interesting.
I'm a physician assistant myself and as those of you who are PA's
might know, physician assistants can use either
CME or CE credits.
They need a certain amount of CME credits so de facto they are
one of the audiences that are included because they can use
either the CME or CE modules but they have to have a certain
percentage of the hours over a two-year period to be
continuing medical education as well, or category one.
MODERATOR: Are there any patient education materials that
are available that complement the information and topics
on your website?
JEAN: Yes, there's tons of patient information available
free of charge, both in the form of web based decision aides,
but also online audio casts, as well as downloadable files that
are patient pamphlets that can be used with physician pamphlets
in shared decision-making.
So there's probably over 100 of these that exist
on the website at www.EffectiveHealthCare.AHRQ.gov
and all you have to do is click on patient summary.
MODERATOR: Great, do any of you have a recommendation for
the best resource available for best practice guidelines?
JEAN: Well, this is Jean again.
AHRQ hosts the National Guideline Clearinghouse
which is a clearinghouse of evidence-based
clinical practice guidelines.
It is located at www.guideline.gov.
What is significant about that website is it currently has
a little over 2100 guidelines from around the world.
We've recently updated our inclusion criteria
for guidelines that are posted on the site to reflect
the new IOM criteria for trustworthy guidelines.
MODERATOR: We had a question about whether the CE
and CME courses can be linked to NetLearning.
JEAN: Yeah, I'm not sure what NetLearning is, but I do know
that our CE modules are free of charge and can be used by anyone
so if this is a Health IT issue,
I don't think that would be a problem.
MODERATOR: Are there any plans to develop modules
on behavioral health or substance abuse disorders?
JEAN: Of that I am not sure, but we do have systematic reviews,
patient guides and clinician guides on both substance abuse
as well as mental health disorders
and on behavioral intervention.
MODERATOR: What about materials and resources that would be
associated with social work?
JEAN: Not through the Effective Health Care program.
MODERATOR: We had a question on whether the material
in the modules are more interested in outcomes
or more process focused.
Can anyone speak to that?
JEAN: Improved health outcomes are certainly an important focus
of all the work that we do.
Process measures may be a way to get to improved health outcomes
so I think it's fair to say that the modules will deal with
both performance and process and outcome.
MODERATOR: And one of the speakers mentioned that we're
all in the midst of a rapidly changing health care environment
and one participant asked whether there would be any
specific resources on models for accountable health organizations
and best practices for ACOs?
JEAN: Yes, so AHRQ also sponsors the Health Care Innovation
Exchange, which is a website that does have information on
ACOs and medical homes and it recently held two Webinars,
one on accountable care organization and another on
medical homes, and you can access the Health Care
Innovations Exchange by either Googling Health Care
Innovations Exchange, or going to the AHRQ website,
which is www.ahrq.gov and clicking on the link.
MODERATOR: Are these materials available to the general public
or non-healthcare professionals
that might be interested in the materials?
JEAN: Yes, absolutely.
They are available to the general public as well.
MODERATOR: Excellent.
Can anyone speak to the AHRQ publications clearinghouse
and the clinician and patient guides?
JEAN: Yes, so you can order the physician or the clinician and
patient guides in bulk through the AHRQ clearinghouse, either
online or through an 800 number and I will give you the number.
The number is 1-800-358-9295 and the code is CO-1.
MODERATOR: A few questions have come in about being able to
share with others, are participants allowed to put
links to any of these modules or resources on their own website
or include references to these materials in their publications?
JEAN: We would be delighted if you did that.
MODERATOR: And is there a process for obtaining permission
or clearance or anything?
JEAN: No, we just ask for appropriate reference.
MODERATOR: Excellent.
A number of questions have come in about content that addresses
specific health areas, for example,
are there any modules on tobacco dependence treatments?
JEAN: Not currently, no.
MODERATOR: Or on bariatric surgery?
JEAN: Yes, so we have several systematic reviews but no
continuing education modules, as of yet, on bariatric surgery.
MODERATOR: Okay.
That is currently just about the full list of questions
I have received.
I don't know if we want to wait another minute to see
if any others are submitted or we want to end the Webinar
a little bit before the hour?
JEAN: I'm happy to wait a few minutes to see if anyone else
has any questions.
NATALIE: Jean, can you talk about faculty slide decks and
how they can be incorporated in quality improvement programs
in a health care organization?
JEAN: Sure, so we have developed a fair number of, we call them,
"faculty in the room" slide decks so that they can
be used either in grand rounds or brown bags at clinics
in teaching situations and they really walk individuals
through what the condition is, how the research was done,
what the findings were, and so, they're quite useful
because they include notes for the leader.
The slides are very sophisticated and it can really
help keep staff of different clinics up to speed on what's
been happening most recently in different clinical areas
and these are all freely downloadable from
the Effective Health Care website.
NATALIE: And it would certainly save a lot of time
not having to pull all that together yourself.
JEAN: It does.
I've used them myself in teaching situations
and it saves me hours and hours of time.
NATALIE: And I understand that there is a patient guide
that's a companion for the clinician guide, correct?
JEAN: That's correct.
They're intended to either be used separately or together
so they are written so that you can sit down with your nurse
or health care provider or pharmacist
and go through the guide.
They have their copy and you have your copy
or you can use it separately.
The clinical decision aides can be set up in a waiting room
on an iPad or some other laptop for patients to go through
so that they can get a grounding in what their condition is
before they actually go in to see their provider.
MODERATOR: We received some more comments on the chat feature.
Are there any modules that speak to health literacy?
JEAN: Actually, AHRQ has quite a bit of information
on health literacy.
It's not actually though the Effective Health Care program,
although our products are intended to be very friendly
to folks that have problems understanding numbers and
relative rates, but if you go into our main website,
www.AHRQ.gov, we have a section on health literacy.
-- This is Lt. Banyas.
HRSA also has resources on health literacy through
the Office of Health Equity and another area I would suggest
participants checking out is also the National Library of
Medicine has a lot of resources and modules and training
on health literacy as well.
MODERATOR: Is there a plan to add public health professionals
to the list of disciplines?
JEAN: Not more explicitly than the professions that are listed
now, but they could certainly take the modules and I don't
see any restriction for public health professionals
participating in the education modules.
MODERATOR: We've had a few questions asking about whether
there would eventually be a way to subscribe to a particular
topic or discipline so that interested parties could receive
a message when relevant new content would be posted?
JEAN: Yes, so if you go to the Effective Health Care website,
on the left side of the website, you can join an email update
list, which you can list your preferences for what type
of information you would like to receive.
-- This is Lt. Banyas.
Just in regards to the health literacy questions.
I'm on the webpage on the HRSA site and I would just Google
healthliteracy.HRSA.gov and it shows all of HRSA's
health literacy tools, including two CE/CME modules
that participants can get for credit for health literacy.
Thank you.
MODERATOR: One of the participants on the Webinar
noticed that many of the resources on the sites
give guidance on medical treatments for chronic condition
and was wondering if there was also information about
non-medical treatment of chronic condition,
for example, lifestyle approaches?
JEAN: Yes, so for many of the reports we do,
they look across a spectrum of treatment options.
For example, for treatment for osteoporosis,
weight-bearing exercise along with pharmaceutical intervention
or calcium intake is used, so we do look across
non-pharmaceutical or device interventions
and look at behavioral or lifestyle interventions as well.
MODERATOR: Can anyone speak to the format of the modules?
Are they slides?
Is it reading materials?
JEAN: They have a variety of formats.
Some of them are video, some of them are slides,
some of them are a combination of both.
So they try to really be engaging of the individual
who's taking the module.
MODERATOR: Excellent, and does the CME credit goes toward
formal or informal credit?
JEAN: Just one comment, we do have a clinician summary of
a report on mitigating the effects of low health literacy
which reviews the evidence that exists for health information.
I'm sorry, could you just repeat that last question?
MODERATOR: Does the CME credit count towards formal
or informal credit?
JEAN: Formal.
MODERATOR: Okay.
If somebody takes a module and does not pass the initial test,
can the test be taken again?
JEAN: I believe so, yeah.
I don't think it's like a driver's test where
you have to go back and get in the car again.
MODERATOR: We have run through the list once again.
JEAN: Great.
From AHRQ'S perspective, I just want to say
these were fabulous questions.
I'm sorry that we may have been a little slow.
We don't have all the non-Effective Health Care
information right at our tips, but there were fabulous
questions and I really appreciate being able to
talk to all of you today.
MODERATOR: We would like to thank everyone who submitted
questions during the Webinar.
Selected questions that were submitted will be addressed
by the presenters following this event.
The questions and responses will be posted on the HRSA Health IT
and Quality Website, along with a recording of this Webinar.
We would like to thank everyone again for attending the Webinar.
We value your feedback and use it to plan upcoming Webinars,
so please take a moment to provide your feedback
on today's event by completing the questionnaire
that will appear on your screen shortly.
This Webinar has now concluded and we thank you for attending.
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude
the conference call for today.
We thank you for your participation and ask that
you please disconnect your line.