AAHP-HIAA Launches Web Site to Improve Medication Use

Patient Safety Is the Goal of a Unique Collaboration with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Harvard Medical School, HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics, and AHRQ

(Washington, D.C.) - The American Association of Health Plans-Health Insurance Association of America (AAHP-HIAA) is set to launch a unique web site, "The Tools and Techniques of Improved Medication Use," for those in the health care community who design medication safety programs and/or seek information to enhance existing patient safety efforts. The site includes selected studies, as well as resources needed to replicate strategies known to achieve important results in medication safety and use.

Medication errors are a common problem in hospitals but also outside of them. In fact, according to recent studies, 25% of outpatients taking a prescription medication experienced an adverse drug event, many of them preventable. Of these adverse drug events, 13% were of a serious nature. The goal of programs like "Tools and Techniques" is to ensure that patients are protected from preventable, accidental injury that occurs as a part of the health care experience.

The goal of the new initiative is to increase adoption of safe medication practices. The "Tools and Techniques" web site will promote this goal by disseminating information on proven approaches that lend themselves to a variety of health plan and practice settings. To develop the site, Harvard researchers conducted a systematic review of hundreds of studies, using stringent design requirements, and ultimately selected fewer than 50 for inclusion.

The researchers were led by Stephen B. Soumerai, Sc.D., Harvard Medical School Professor of Ambulatory Care and Prevention in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, a unique research and teaching collaboration between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School.  Stephen Soumerai is also a Director of Dissemination for the HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs), which is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that supported this initiative.

"Nothing is a higher priority for us than sharing broadly the available knowledge on patient safety, especially in an area such as medication use that is growing in importance," said AAHP-HIAA President Karen Ignagni. "We are proud to collaborate with such prestigious institutions on the new medication safety initiative, and will reach out with information about it to professionals across the country who design medication safety programs."

AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., said that this initiative will give health care professionals the evidence-based tools and techniques they need to design or strengthen existing medication safety programs. "We are pleased that these organizations used AHRQ research to create this new tool," she said.

Studies selected for inclusion on the "Tools and Techniques" site are organized into three categories:
 

1.	Disease management interventions: strategies designed to identify, treat, and monitor patients at risk of chronic disease.
2.	Educational Interventions: approaches to educate physicians, patients, and other practitioners.
3.	Monitoring and Feedback: interventions that provide feedback to practitioners regarding their current prescribing practices compared to their peers or accepted standards of practice.

"The Tools and Techniques of Improved Medication Use" project is supported by a grant from AHRQ to the HMO Research Network CERT. The mission of CERTs is to conduct research and provide education that advances the optimal use of drugs, medical devices, and biological products. The AAHP-HIAA provided a grant to develop the website.

Interested health professionals can access "The Tools and Techniques of Improved Medication Use" web site at http://www.aahp.org/redirect/ImprovedMedicationUse.htm or, for more information, call: AAHP-HIAA Vice President for Medical Affairs Carmella Bocchino at 202-778-3278, or Stephen Soumerai, Sc.D. Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.  To contact Stephen Soumerai please contact John Lacey, HMS, 617-432-0442, public_affairs@hms.harvard.edu or Sharon Torgerson, HPHC, 617-509-7458, sharon_torgerson@hphc.org.