In This Section
One Stop Guide to Quality Health Care
This one-stop guide links to a wide range of nonprofit and government websites — divided by the topics listed below — where you can find useful information on improving the quality of your care.
- CHOOSING YOUR DOCTOR
- PREPARING FOR YOUR DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT
- HOW TO TAKE YOUR MEDICATIONS SAFELY
- PREPARING FOR YOUR HOSPITAL STAY
- COMPARING HOSPITALS
- ADVANCE DIRECTIVES/HOSPICE CARE
- GENERAL HEALTH CARE QUALITY
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CHOOSING YOUR DOCTOR
-
How to Choose a Physician
Massachusetts Medical Society
This site provides an outline of techniques and considerations to help you when looking for a new physician.
www.massmed.org -
Physician Search
Massachusetts Medical Society
This search tool allows you to search for a Massachusetts Medical Society Member Physician.
www.massmed.org/conv/referrals/default.asp -
Comparison Rating
Massachusetts Health Quality Partners
This website provides a comparison of quality of care at different medical groups across Massachusetts, as well as ratings on the patient experience with the doctor.
www.mhqp.org -
Background and Training
Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine
A good place for information on your doctor's background and training
www.massmedboard.org/ -
Choosing a Doctor
National Institute on Aging
This website lists the kinds of things you might consider when looking for a new physician. There are also links to other search tools and resources at the bottom of the article.
www.niapublications.org/agepages/choose.asp -
Doctor Finder
American Medical Association
DoctorFinder provides professional information about almost every licensed physician in the United States -- including doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine.
http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/home.html -
Find a Family Doctor
American Academy of Family Physicians
A good resource if you are moving to a new town or city. This is a straightforward search tool. It produces a list American Academy of Family Physicians in a specific location.
http://familydoctor.org/cgi-bin/memdir.pl
PREPARING FOR YOUR DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT
- Questions for the Doctor
The Partnership for Healthcare Excellence / Neighborhood Health Plan
A form in English, Spanish and Portuguese for jotting down your questions before your visit.
www.partnershipforhealthcare.org/resources/NHPThingsToTalkToDr.pdf -
Be Prepared for Medical Appointments
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
This is a thorough list of questions to either ask your doctor or use to help you prepare for an appointment with your physician.
www.ahrq.gov/qual/beprepared.htm -
Questions Are the Answer: Get More Involved with Your Healthcare
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
This easy-to-navigate website contains information on how to improve the quality of your healthcare, including questions to ask your physician and how to talk to your doctor.
www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer/index.html -
Fact Sheet: What You Can Do To Make Healthcare Safer
National Patient Safety Foundation
This practical one-page overview has techniques and considerations for preparing to meet with your doctor. The overview also has recommendations on how to have a good relationship with your physician.
www.npsf.org/pdf/paf/WhatYouCanDo.pdf -
Getting the Most Out of a Visit with Your Doctor
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
If you are preparing for surgery or seeing an orthopedic surgeon for the first time, this is a good resource on how to prepare for the visit. Content covers areas that you may not have considered such as how to dress (in case you need to change into an exam gown for x-rays or physical testing) to what kinds of questions you may be asked when scheduling the appointment.
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=350&topcategory=General Information -
Resources for Patients
New Health Partnerships
This comprehensive site contains information on how to improve your communication
with your health care providers, ways to prevent medication errors and finding help in
the community.
www.newhealthpartnerships.org/RoleIndividuals.aspx -
Making the Most out of Doctor Visits
AARP
Tips for being a good health partner with your doctor.
www.healthwise.net/aarp/Content/StdDocument.aspx?DOCHWID=hw226888&SECHWID=tp17803
HOW TO TAKE YOUR MEDICATIONS SAFELY
-
Know Your Medications For Better Health
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors
Read this helpful guide on how to be medication-savvy and learn smart habits and practices to managing your medication.
www.macoalition.org/Initiatives/docs/RAMEworkList.doc - The Medical Information File
The Massachusetts Medical Society Alliance
Print and fill out this medication form – and put it in your wallet or purse. Have it with you at all times in case of an emergency. Also be sure to share it with your doctor. -
Medication Safety/Information
AARP
A comprehensive guide to managing your medications.
www.aarp.org/health/rx_drugs/ -
Your Medication: Play it Safe
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
You can learn more about how to take medicines safely by reading this guide. It answers common questions about getting and taking medicines and has many handy forms that will help you keep track of information.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/safemeds/safemeds.htm -
Consumers Can Prevent Medication Errors
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
This site offers practical advice and information on how you can maintain safe medication practices and how to protect your family from medication errors.
www.ismp.org/newsletters/consumer/consumeralerts.asp -
Resources for Patients
New Health Partnerships
This comprehensive site contains information on how to improve your communication with your health care providers, ways to prevent medication errors and finding help in the community.
www.newhealthpartnerships.org/RoleIndividuals.aspx -
What You Can Do To Prevent Medication Errors
Institute of Medicine
A downloadable fact sheet on ways how you, the patient, can prevent medical errors.
www.iom.edu/CMS/3809/22526/35939/35945.aspx - Ask a Pharmcist
MassMedLine
This site offers Massachusetts and New Hampshire residents an opportunity to "Ask a Pharmacist" questions about medications.
www.massmedline.com/for_patients/ask_the_pharmacist.html
PREPARING FOR YOUR HOSPITAL STAY
-
Preparation for Hospital Stay
Betsy Lehman for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction
Suggestions if you anticipate needing medical hospital care.
www.mass.gov/dph/betsylehman - Having surgery: What you need to know
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
A good resource if you are preparing for non-emergency surgery and ways to improve communications with your surgeon. Questions in this document may help you and your family understand more about your surgery, whether it has to be done right away or can be done later.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/surgery/surgery.htm - Preventing Infections in the Hospital
National Patient Safety Foundation
Information and tips on what you can do to prevent hospital infections.
www.npsf.org/paf/i/ - Surgery: What To Expect
Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses
A guide for consumers who are preparing for surgery — what to expect, and ways to improve communication with your surgeon.
www.patientsafetyfirst.org/consumers/what-to-expect.html - Speak Up: Infection Prevention
The Joint Commission
Simple and straightforward fact sheets on how you can prevent infections. English and Spanish downloadable fact sheets available.
www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/SpeakUp/speak_up_ic.htm - Surgical Infection
The Joint Commission
A resource for consumers to learn more about surgical infections and why infections occur.
www.jointcommissionreport.org/conditions/surgicalinfection.aspx
COMPARING HOSPITALS
- Choosing a Hospital
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
This site includes a checklist of items to cover when looking for a hospital. It also contains considerations and a list of additional resources to help you in your search.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qnt/qnthosp.htm - Comparing Hospital Care
Hospital Compare
This government-sponsored site provides information on how well hospitals care for adult patients with certain medical conditions.
www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov - Leapfrog Group: Hospital Quality Ratings
Leapfrog Group
Leapfrog provides information on hospital quality and patient safety efforts to help you make informed decisions about where to receive hospital care. You can use the search function below to get information on hospitals in your area by zip code, city & state, just state or hospital name.
www.leapfroggroup.org/cp - Massachusetts Hospitals
Health and Human Services
This page organizes information on Massachusetts hospitals into practical areas like hospital characteristics and services, regional maps, surgical procedure volume by doctor and by hospital, as well as a hospital comparison tool.
www.mass.gov - My Health Care Options
Massachusetts Health Care Cost and Quality Council
This site offers consumers comparative cost and quality information about medical procedures performed at Massachusetts hospitals and outpatient facilities. You can use the search function to find the hospitals in your area that provide the services and treatments you are seeking. Ratings for both quality and cost measures are organized to make "comparison shopping" easy.
www.mass.gov/myhealthcareoptions - Patients First
Massachusetts Hospital Association
This site shows how each hospital in Massachusetts meets agreed-upon national guidelines for 26 different measures, including infection prevention, patient falls, pneumonia care and heart attack care.
www.patientsfirstma.org/measures.cfm - Why Not the Best?
Commonwealth Fund
This website is sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, a well respected private foundation working towards a high performance health system. This site allows you to compare hospitals from across the country on the basis of quality measures and patient satisfaction.
www.whynotthebest.org
ADVANCE DIRECTIVES/HOSPICE CARE
- Get Palliative Care
Sponsored by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the site provides information for patients and families about palliative care and about which hospitals have palliative care programs.
www.getpalliativecare.org
- Caring Connections
Provides free resources and information to help people make decisions about end-of-life care and services before a crisis.
www.caringinfo.org - Hospice & Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts
Offers resources on hospice and palliative care as well as advance care planning. In addition, this site features a searchable directory of hospice programs in Massachusetts.
www.hospicefed.org - National Healthcare Decisions Day
National Healthcare Decisions Day is a national initiative to encourage patients to express their wishes regarding healthcare through conversations with loved ones and the completion of advance directives.
www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org
GENERAL HEALTH CARE QUALITY
- Information on Health Care Quality in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council
This site provides information about the quality and cost of health care in Massachusetts.
www.mass.gov/healthcare - Guide to Healthcare Quality
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
An easy-to-read guide with tips on how you can receive quality health care.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/guidetoq/ - Five Steps to Safer Healthcare
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Five simple steps you can take to make your health care safer.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/5steps.htm - “Speak Up” Brochures
The Joint Commission
A series of brochures to help you play a role in preventing health care errors by becoming a more active and informed patient.
www.jointcommission.org/patientsafety/speakup/ - Navigating the Health Care System
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, M.D., has prepared brief advice columns on how to be an informed health care consumer and how best to navigate the health care system. New columns will be posted every few weeks.
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/cc.htm