Hospital Rating Site Launched, RateYourHospitalStay.com

Hospital Rating Site Launched, RateYourHospitalStay.com

RateYourHospitalStay.com is a free site where consumers can both rate a hospital (http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com/rate_hospital) or look up hospitals to see how others have rated them.

Pasadena, CA (PRWEB) March 3, 2009 -- RateYourHospitalStay.com, http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com, is a newly launched website that provides opinions and ratings of hospitals (http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com/search) across the U.S. The site also allows people who have recently undergone a hospital stay to rate their experiences and share their opinions. The site is based on the premise that by providing an online mechanism to unite the opinions of those recently hospitalized with those who may be considering hospitalization, the information can help people make informed decisions about which health care facilities best fits their needs.

"Our mission with RateYourHospitalStay.com is to shine a light on unbiased assessments of patient care for other consumers who are often ill-informed of their choices," says Founder of RateYourHospitalStay.com Joseph Reed. "Through better, more complete and dynamic information, consumers will be able to separate the good hospitals from the bad."

Reed says most of the information about hospitals and healthcare facilities on the web today is provided by companies who are owned or controlled by those in the healthcare industry or groups who benefit from keeping information limited. RateYourHospitalStay.com is completely independent, dedicated to providing the best possible unbiased information to consumers. The site is not funded or supported by any hospital or healthcare corporation. Its support comes solely from the advertising sponsors on the site.

RateYourHospitalStay.com is also committed to being a free service. All that is required is registering in order to complete surveys and post comments. Registration is easy and simply requires having a valid email address. RateYourHospitalStay.com does not sell or give any private information to outside sources and is a member of the Ratings and Reviews Professional Association.

RateYourHospitalStay.com (http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com/) surveys include questions on:

* Admissions Process

* Hospital Facilities

* Food and Nutrition

* Nursing Care

* Visitor Experience

* Discharge Process

The rating system is a five-star system with:

* 1 Star = Unacceptable

* 2 Stars = Poor

* 3 Stars = Average

* 4 Stars = Good

* 5 Stars = Excellent

All ratings for each hospital facility are combined and averaged to arrive at a score.

Currently there are over 4,500 U.S. hospitals listed on the RateYourHospitalStay.com website. If consumers don't find a particular hospital listed, it can easily be added to the database by contacting RateYourHospitalStay.com via the "Contact Us" page with the name, city and state of the hospital they wish to include. Within 72 hours it will be added to the site. People can also search by zip code to view information on all the hospitals in a particular area.

RateYourHospitalStay.com encourages people to include personal comments, both positive and negative, as long as they relate to a hospital experience. The survey is specific to hospital facilities and the treatment received in and by the hospital staff. The information not only helps individuals in choosing a hospital or facility that best fits their needs, but additionally, by making the information public, hospitals may see the need to reevaluate their patient care services. For more information, visit http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com.

Contact:

Joseph Reed

626-356-3231

Joseph(at)JWReedOnLine.com

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Contact Information Joseph Reed

RateYourHospitalStay.com

http://www.rateyourhospitalstay.com

626-356-3231

LifeMasters Introduces Health Activation Tool to Disease Management Participants

LifeMasters Introduces Health Activation Tool to Disease Management Participants

Innovator of the PAM™ Assessment in Chronic Disease Coaching

Irvine, Calif. (Vocus) March 2, 2009 -- In keeping with its commitment to implement the latest advances in behavior change, LifeMasters (https://www.lifemasters.com/innovation/) Supported SelfCare, Inc. is the first disease management company in the country to introduce a powerful health activation tool for use with its chronically ill participants.

The Patient Activation Measure™ (PAM™) was developed by Judith Hibbard, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Oregon to assess an individual's knowledge, skills and confidence in playing a role in one's own health and healthcare. By understanding participants' "activation levels," LifeMasters health professionals can better tailor participant coaching to an individual's level of activation, helping him or her identify and overcome barriers to behavior change.

"We know that higher levels of activation are correlated with improved self-care behaviors," said LifeMasters CEO Christobel Selecky. "By focusing on increasing a participant's activation level, our health coaches can help LifeMasters participants to develop self-efficacy and greater levels of motivation, which ultimately lead to greater confidence in managing their health. We are very excited about the potential that this tool provides us to improve outcomes and enhance sustained engagement."

LifeMasters is a health improvement company with more than 15 years experience in developing scientifically based interventions that target key cost drivers such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, asthma, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, cancer and musculo-skeletal pain. The company began piloting the PAM in 2005. In 2007, it completed a 2-call-center comparison study based on the PAM with Dr. Hibbard and her team and is now widely implementing the use of PAM across all LifeMasters sites and additional research is being considered.

LifeMasters coaches are trained in the use of motivational interviewing techniques - informed by the insight gained from the PAM tool - which allows them to focus on helping participants develop confidence in managing their health (depending on their activation level) rather than on encouraging behaviors they may not be ready to achieve.

The Patient Activation Measure, which is licensed and marketed by Insignia Health, consists of a 10 or 13-question survey that asks people about their beliefs, knowledge and confidence for engaging in a wide range of health behaviors. Based on responses to the survey, each person is assigned an activation score and level. The PAM segments participants into one of four progressively higher activation levels.

At the low end of the spectrum, individuals tend to be passive with regard to managing their health, and may fail to see the connection between their own behaviors and health outcomes. At the high end, individuals understand that relationship and have become good self-managers across a constellation of behaviors. However, even high activation level individuals may benefit from coaching to stay on course when stress occurs.

Answers to the PAM survey give the health professional insight into a participant's frame of reference and help facilitate tailored discussion about what a participant wants to work on. By periodically re-administering the survey and reviewing responses to individual items over time, changes in a participant's activation level can be reassessed and used as a guide for ongoing coaching.

"In using the PAM, LifeMasters is supporting consumers on a journey to improve the self-management competencies that drive health status, and in so doing, helping consumers unlock their potential to flourish," said Chris Delaney, Insignia's Chief Executive Officer.

The level of patient activation varies considerably in the U.S. population, with less than half of the adult population at the highest level of activation, according to a recent study by the Center for Studying Health System Change. More than 85 studies have documented the PAM's ability to effectively measure patient activation and to predict a range of behaviors in wide demographic variability. These include preventive behaviors such as exercise, diet, and smoking cessation, disease-specific self-management behaviors such as medication compliance and health monitoring, and consumer behaviors such as successful interaction with a healthcare provider.

Because of the strong correlation between activation and self-care behaviors, the PAM scores can also greatly enhance the credibility of reported outcomes. While return on investment and closing clinical gaps in care will always be important outcomes measures, the ability to demonstrate a concurrent improvement in activation increases the likelihood that those positive outcomes can be attributed to the health improvement program.

A research project between LifeMasters and Dr. Hibbard's team demonstrated that activation levels and health outcomes can be improved by tailoring participant care plans to the individual's activation level. The full results of this study are expected to be published in June of 2009.

About LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc.

LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc. is a leading provider of health improvement and condition management programs and services that create health partnerships among individuals and their physicians. The programs improve the quality of care for populations with risk factors and

chronic conditions and reduce healthcare cost trends for the nation's leading health plans, employers, retirement systems, labor unions/trusts and governmental organizations. LifeMasters offers programs for individuals with diabetes, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, asthma, cancer, depression and musculo-skeletal pain. LifeMasters' programs are holistically focused, support co-morbidities like depression, and facilitate lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation and weight loss. LifeMasters is accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and URAC. More information can be found at innovation.lifemasters.com (https://www.lifemasters.com/innovation/).

About Insignia Health

Insigna Health is committed to helping consumers develop the behaviors that are crucial to becoming more active and effective members of their own healthcare team. These efforts are anchored by the Patient Activation Measure and the self-management competencies revealed by this assessment tool. With this knowledge, Insignia's tailored coaching resources and self-care products can be leveraged to help individuals begin to master new positive behaviors that are realistic given one's current level of activation. Research has shown consistently that with increased activation comes better health and the more effective and efficient use of healthcare resources. More information can be found at www.insigniahealth.com.

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Contact Information Abbie Pauley

http://innovation.lifemasters.com

412-926-7093

Common Approaches to Member Retention by Health Insurance Plans are Ineffective, New Study Shows

Common Approaches to Member Retention by Health Insurance Plans are Ineffective, New Study Shows

Most Health Plan Members Drop Coverage for multiple Reasons; Integrated Retention Strategy and Senior Management Commitment Are Necessary to Reduce Disenrollment and Improve Balance Sheet.

Orlando, FL (Vocus) March 2, 2009 -- Market research conducted on behalf of ConnextionsHealth provides both good and bad news for health insurance providers. The good news: properly managing member disenrollment delivers a significant, positive impact on net enrollment and revenue generation. The bad news: member retention is increasingly difficult for health plans to achieve, and most plans are doing it poorly. A host of economic factors are currently driving unprecedented membership losses at most health insurance plans.

Results of a proprietary study conducted by a leading management consulting firm show:

o    Two-thirds of members in individual health insurance plans have multiple reasons for leaving; these include 6 broad categories, 32 subcategories and nearly 300 distinct root causes for dropping coverage.

o    Root causes of member disenrollment vary widely, based on factors such as plan type, geographic region, sales channel, and most notably a member's tenure with the health plan - which can be identified and addressed by specific stages in the member lifecycle.

o    Traditional phone-based campaigns to capture and analyze disenrollment reasons are ineffective. Exit interviews that lack clear focus and tenacious questioning regarding root causes do not provide health plans with meaningful insight into disenrollement.

o    The majority of disenrollment drivers are controllable. But success in member retention involves sophisticated research into disenrollment drivers; careful design of proactive and reactive retention initiatives; and most importantly, a sustained commitment to member retention from senior management.

o    The most successful disenrollment initiatives by health plans do not approach member retention as an isolated strategy, but also integrate the discipline into their member acquisition and member service programs.

Details on this new research, as well as other valuable market insight on the subject of member retention will be presented at the World Congress Leadership Summit on Member Retention for Health Plans, scheduled for March 18-19 at Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando.

Co-sponsored by ConnextionsHealth, the agenda for this first-of-its-kind forum will feature presentations from leading consulting and research firms, including McKinsey, Gartner and Forrester. Opening keynote Michael Leavitt, the outgoing Department of Health and Human Services cabinet secretary heads a distinguished Summit faculty that includes several health plan executives who will share insights and best practices on member retention, including; Ingrid Lindberg, Chief Experience Officer at CIGNA; John Cheng, VP of Strategic Marketing at Aetna; Steve Nelson, VP of Consumerism and Retail Marketing at Highmark; Thomas Rekart, EVP and Chief Administrative Officer at Bravo Health; and Steven Auerbach, who recently left his EVP role at UnitedHealth Group to serve as President of Connextions Inc.

Through interactive workshops, best practices showcases, keynotes from recognized authorities and panel discussions, attendees will learn how to build, apply and measure member retention strategies designed to yield results similar to those in the new research on the impact of disenrollment programs. For additional information, visit www.worldcongress.com/retention.

About Connextions Inc.:

Founded in 1992, Connextions and its ConnextionsHealth unit provide technology, people and industry expertise that enables its clients to grow, retain and serve customers. Connextions client list includes America's best-known corporate and healthcare organizations, including Kaiser-Permanente, Caremark, FedEx and Sprint. For information, see www.connextions.com

About World Health Care Congress Leadership Summits:

The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit Series addresses the most cutting edge issues for health care executives across a wide range of industry sectors. Designed to expand on topics discussed at invitation-only summits during the World Health Care Congress, this series offers new perspectives on established methodologies, and details solutions to foster innovation and change. For more information, please visit www.worldcongress.com.

For additional information:

Gordon G. Andrew

Senior Vice President

Connextions, Inc.

(407) 563-4440

Cell: (609) 987-0200

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Contact Information Gordon Andrew

Connextions

http://www.connextions.com

407-563-4440

Patient Placement Systems Unveils Referral Automation Vision Center

Patient Placement Systems Unveils Referral Automation Vision Center

Innovative facility lets continuing care providers and hospitals observe and explore Web-based technologies that accelerate discharge planning for hospitals and referral and admissions processes for long-term care

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 2, 2009 -- Patient Placement Systems announced the opening of its high-tech simulated hospital and long-term care facility, the Vision Center. Located at its company headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga., the Vision Center provides an innovative real-world environment to showcase the newest Web-based software technologies for automating hospital discharge referrals (http://www.patientplacement.com/healthcare-software/discharge-planning.aspx), as well as admissions and intake for continuing care providers.

"We are pleased to establish the Vision Center to help hospitals and continuing care providers see the benefits of automated referrals and admissions (http://www.patientplacement.com/rms-free-trial.aspx)in a real-life environment," said Eric Christ, president of Patient Placement Systems. "Seeing our software in a live setting is a unique way for healthcare professionals to better understand the technologies that improve their efficiency, productivity and performance."

The 1,828-square-foot Vision Center replicates a hospital and post-acute care facility. Built in the northwest wing of parent company Jackson Healthcare's corporate headquarters, the center allows visitors and healthcare leaders to observe innovative healthcare systems and experience a live display of efficient, paperless patient discharge and intake. The center showcases everything from waiting room areas, a nursing unit space, a bed management hub, an emergency department, and an operating room suite. Ten plasma screens provide clear visibility into the complete functionality of the systems in use.

The Patient Placement Systems Vision Center depicts a typical day for hospital case managers and continuing care provider admissions teams. Recent visitors to the Vision Center watched live demonstrations of Patient Placement Web-based software technologies automating and enabling:

* Patient discharge planning, referral communications and placements

* Receipt, status tracking, and approval of inbound continuing care referrals

* Conversion from paper referral documents to complete electronic document management

* Alerts, task management and referral creation using mobile devices

* Marketing activity and campaign tracking

* Instant insurance verification

* Creation of standard forms and admissions documents

* Comprehensive live reports of outbound and inbound referral activity

About Patient Placement Systems: Patient Placement Systems Web-based solutions automate and accelerate discharge planning and admissions management for hospitals and continuing healthcare providers (http://www.patientplacement.com/). Hospitals eliminate delayed discharges, and continuing care providers respond immediately to referral inquiries while accepting more qualified patients. Discharge planners and admissions managers securely send, track and archive referrals live online, with full reporting for better business decisions. For more information, visit www.PatientPlacement.com or to schedule a tour of the Vision Center, call 877-748-6656.

About Jackson Healthcare: Founded by healthcare pioneer Richard L. Jackson, Jackson Healthcare addresses the two biggest challenges facing healthcare today: finding the right people and delivering the right information at the right time. The JH family of companies provides clinician staffing, anesthesia management and healthcare information technology solutions proven to improve clinical and financial outcomes and increase operational efficiency.

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Contact Information Doug Walker

Patient Placement Systems

http://www.patientplacement.com

7706435692