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Welcome to Quality Buzz. Quality Buzz is dedicated to bringing you all the latest news and information to help you improve the quality of your health care. We update this section weekly and hope that it will become an important resource for you.

October 20, 2009 — Speaking Out about Patient Care

On Wednesday, Oct 21, the Partnership is at the Worcester Greendale YMCA co-hosting Crisis in Health Care Quality. What's a Consumer to Do? with AARP Massachusetts. Please join us, and tell your friends and family about the event. For more details click here.

Joining us for a discussion on improving patient care will be:
 

• Harriette Chandler, State Senator, First Worcester, Joint Committee on Public Health
• Martha Hayward, Founder of Women's Health Exchange, breast cancer survivor, & Member of Dana Farber's Patient Family Advisory Council
• Robert Klugman, MD Chief Quality Officer, UMass Memorial Medical Center & Associate Professor of Medicine UMass Medical School
• Denise Skrocki, MS, RN, Director of Patient Experience, UMass Memorial Medical Center

The panelists will discuss variations in quality of care and highlight efforts underway to improve the quality of care. Attendees can learn more about quality of care and what they can do to get better care for their families and themselves.

Lessons on Being an Engaged Patient

Kari learned valuable lessons in how to be a more engaged patient after she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Looking back Kari says, "I put myself in the hands of the provider. All my decisions came from them to me. I readily accepted all the information because they were the experts." Read our latest engaged patient interview here.

Patient Family Advisory Councils in Massachusetts

Massachusetts hospitals were to have posted plans for their Patient Family Advisory Task Forces (PFACs) by September 30th. We have done some random checking on websites of various hospitals. In many cases, the PFAC information is difficult to find. However, once youfind it, most hospitals are providing some details of their plans and contact information. It you have recently been a patient and what to give back — like Kari does at Dana Farber — please be in touch. If you have a story to share about PFACs or other patient task forces, we'd love to hear from you.

Upcoming dates for our forums with AARP MA on Crisis in Health Care Quality. What's a Consumer to Do? are scheduled in New Bedford on November 16 and Salem on November 30. Details to be released soon.
 

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