Marketing Tools for Prevention and Care Management: Sample Newsletter Articles

Sample Newsletter Articles

AHRQ's Prevention and Care Management Web Site: An Important Resource for Clinicians

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Prevention and Care Management Web site provides clinicians direct access to the latest scientific evidence, expert recommendations on clinical preventive services and care management, and information on how to implement these recommended preventive services in clinical practice.

The Web site features recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and useful resources based on these recommendations. The Task Force, an independent body that is supported by AHRQ, conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services.

Clinical decision support tools and free resources for improving quality of care include the handy pocket Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, the downloadable PDA application ePSS (electronic Preventive Services Selector), clinician and patient pamphlets and posters, and the interactive Web tool Myhealthfinder.

All of these resources are available free of charge at: .

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Handy Guide Helps Clinicians Decide on Clinical Preventive Services for Patients

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Guide to Clinical Preventive Services helps clinicians implement recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. These evidence-based recommendations for clinicians address preventive services, including screening tests, counseling, and preventive medications in the primary care setting.

The Guide is a spiral-bound pocket-size book that clinicians can consult in their daily practice. The recommendations are presented in an indexed, easy-to-use format, with an at-a-glance table for matching recommended services to patients—men, women, pregnant women, and children.

The Task Force, supported by AHRQ, is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services. It conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for a broad range of preventive services.

Copies of the Guide are available free of charge from the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse at: 1-800-358-9295 or AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.

Recommendation statements and supporting documents from the Task Force are available on the Task Force's Web site at http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/. 

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Myhealthfinder Helps Consumers Stay Healthy

If you don't smoke, do you need to be screened for lung cancer? A visit to Myhealthfinder, a special feature of the Web site http://www.healthfinder.gov, can help you find out. Developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Myhealthfinder helps patients take action on recommendations from the U.S. Preventives Services Task Force.

The free interactive tool provides personalized health recommendations based on age, sex, and, for women, pregnancy status. Users can find out what preventive services or screening tests they or their loved ones might need to stay healthy.

Myhealthfinder also provides concrete, specific steps that users can take to put the recommendations into action. Each personalized list of recommendations can be printed or e-mailed and discussed with their doctor. The application can be accessed through mobile phones or added to any Web site or Blog using the Myhealthfinder widget (available at www.healthfinder.gov/widgets).

For more information on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, visit: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.  The Web site http://www.healthfinder.gov is sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Adult Prevention Checklists Promote Preventive Health at Clinical Visits

Help your patients understand what clinical preventive services they need and why—use the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Prevention Checklists for consumers. These checklists, available for men and women of all ages, inform patients of age-appropriate preventive health services—screenings, counseling and preventive health measures recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The consumer-friendly pamphlets are ideal for distribution in physician's offices and other clinical areas.

In an easy-to-read format, the checklists help consumers answer questions about what daily steps they can take for good health, whether they need medicines to prevent disease, and which screening tests they need and when to get them. Many common conditions are covered, such as heart health, cancer, sexual health, behavior risks, bone health, mental health, and immunizations. Clinicians can use the checklists as a conversation starter for healthier living by talking with their patients about the preventive services they may need and why.

The Task Force is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The Task Force, which is supported by AHRQ, conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services.

There are four pamphlets: Men: Stay Healthy at 50+; Women: Stay Healthy at 50+; Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age; and Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age; the pamphlets are also available in Spanish (available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ppipix.htm#tools).

Single copies of the checklists are available free of charge, and additional copies are available for a nominal fee that covers the cost of printing. To order these pamphlets, contact the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse at: 1-800-358-9295 or AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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PDA Application Helps Clinicians Deliver Preventive Services at the Point of Care

A free, downloadable electronic application from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provides clinicians instant access to recommended clinical preventive services for their patients. The Electronic Preventive Services Selector—or ePSS—is searchable by specific patient characteristics, such as age, sex, and selected behavioral risk factors, aiding in clinical decision making at the point of care.

The ePSS for PDA is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and works on platforms for Palm® and Windows® operating systems. With “real-time” search functions, clinicians can input a patient's age, gender, and selected behavioral risk factors, such as whether or not they smoke. The software cross references the patient characteristics entered with the applicable recommendations and generates a report specifically tailored for that patient.

The ePSS is available both as a PDA application and Web-based tool and is based on recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The Task Force, supported by AHRQ, is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services. It conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for a broad range of preventive services.

The tool can be used online or downloaded to a PDA from the AHRQ Web site: http://www.ePSS.ahrq.gov.

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AHRQ and VA Offer Materials for Primary Care Clinicians and Their Patients

AHRQ and the Veterans Health Administration National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention have joined to develop a line of patient brochures and clinician fact sheets for primary care clinicians and their patients based on the cardiovascular disease recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The Partnership for Health: Heart and Circulation series is designed to help both clinicians and patients talk about cardiovascular preventive services and make informed decisions about which services patients need and when. The patient brochures include: Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm; High Blood Pressure; High Cholesterol; Taking Aspirin to Prevent Heart Attacks (Men); and Taking Aspirin to Prevent Strokes (Women).

The clinician fact sheets include: Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm; Screening for Coronary Heart Disease; Screening for Vascular Disease (including carotid artery stenosis and peripheral arterial disease); and Using Aspirin for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.

The Task Force is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The Task Force, which is supported by AHRQ, conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services.

Single copies of the brochures and fact sheets are available free of charge, and additional copies are available for a nominal fee that covers the cost of printing. To order these materials, contact the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse at: 1-800-358-9295 or AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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