Newswise — HUNT VALLEY, Md., April 27, 2012 — Hospitals are under fire. With heightened regulations and guidelines by the federal government and national health care organizations, the pressure to improve patient outcomes has never been greater. In response, the leading publisher of patient education videos, Milner-Fenwick, has released four new videos within its Hospital Quality of Care Series to help facilities comply with growing regulatory requirements. These videos address key hospital issues such as medication safety, infection control, fall prevention and discharge education.
The expanded video series encompasses three key education areas, including:· Patient safety within the hospital – These videos empower patients to become active participants in their care in preventing errors, accidents and infections, and comply with 2012 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals.
· Patient care after discharge – These videos focus on reducing readmission rates and improving care transitions. They cover discharge education recommended by the Joint Commission, as well as three most-at-risk conditions for readmission identified by the 2012 Hospital Readmission Reduction Program — pneumonia, heart attack and heart failure.
· Other key regulatory issues for education – These videos help patients understand their rights as they relate to end-of-life decisions and pain management.
―Hospitals have always had a responsibility to educate patients during their stay, but with new health care laws, there is an intense effort underway to ensure patients stay healthy once they are home,‖ said David Milner, president of Milner-Fenwick. ―Every year eight million patients have a post-discharge adverse event. Patient education is the key to improving patient care, reducing hospital readmission rates and now regulatory compliance.‖
Under the new federal health care law, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) will use a 30-day cutoff to start penalizing hospitals with higher than expected rates of readmissions. HCACPS requires hospitals to measure patient satisfaction ratings, such as how effectively information was communicated to patients. While the penalties most directly affect hospitals, they also place a new premium on patients as partners in their health care treatment and success.
According to Ray Bullman, executive vice president of the National Council on Patient Information and Education, medication non-adherence is estimated to result in nearly 70 percent of medication-related hospital admissions in the U.S., contributing to 290 billion annually in additional medical costs1.
―A wide range of realistic and informative vignettes make it possible for patients and caregivers to relate to daily medication self-management challenges and to connect with real-world advice and solutions for taking medications safely and appropriately,‖ said Bullman.
Milner-Fenwick’s Hospital Quality of Care Series can be viewed on individual DVD players, TV patient channels, mobile apps, and is available to patients and communities through hospital websites.
The titles are:· GN-61 Using Medications Safely· GN-62 Your Role in Infection Control (upcoming release)· GN-63 Understanding Your Discharge Plan· GN-64 Fall Prevention in the Hospital and at Home (upcoming release)
About Milner-FenwickMilner-Fenwick is a leading publisher of patient education videos. Its mission is to inform and guide patients toward better health through multimedia education. The Milner-Fenwick library contains more than 600 health video programs—from fifteen-minute programs designed for in-facility viewing to three-minute programs designed for web and mobile delivery to multi-hour DVDs for patient home reference. The Milner-Fenwick library is used extensively by hospitals, physicians' offices, health insurance and disease management companies, and public health agencies. Milner-Fenwick videos are not advertiser-supported, which ensures unbiased content and products.###1 http://mobihealthnews.com/3901/poor-medication-adherence-costs-290-billion-a-year
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