Comparison Reports

Guidelines and Recommendations

Collaboration

The Puget Sound Health Alliance is identifying guidelines and developing recommendations for changing behaviors, activities and processes in health care to improve effectiveness, affordability and value in health care. The changes that the Alliance will recommend are intended to align incentives so that everyone involved -- consumers, employers and other purchasers, physicians, hospitals, health plans, and other health-related professionals and organizations -- are more likely to engage in activities that promote good health, reduce waste, and improve the affordability of health care.

Recommendations

Clinical Guidelines

Recommendations

Principles for Written Communication     

The Puget Sound Health Alliance adopted communication principles to help   make health information clear and easy for people to use. The Alliance uses these guidelines and recommends that health providers, employers and others also use them. (Unanimously adopted by the Alliance Board on October 31, 2006)

Related resources:

      The Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) Readability Toolkit (PDF)

     Tips for communicating clearly.

      Plain Talk

     Washington State's help for writing in plain terms.

     Plain Language

     Federal Agencies' work on clear communication.

Pharmaceutical Company Sales Representatives in Clinics and Hospitals

The Puget Sound Health Alliance strongly recommends that doctors, other providers and clinics or physician groups not meet with pharmaceutical sales representatives in facilities where patient care is provided.  The Health Alliance encourages doctors and other providers to adopt policies that significantly limit or eliminate access of pharmaceutical sales representatives in clinic or hospital locations. This limitation of access should include distribution of food, gifts, branded office supplies, drug promotional materials, and pre-printed prescription pads. (Unanimously adopted by the Alliance Board on May 30, 2006)

Use of Free Drug Samples in Clinics and Hospitals

The Puget Sound Health Alliance strongly recommends that doctors and other providers and clinics or physician groups not accept or distribute pharmaceutical samples in their practices.  (Unanimously adopted by the Alliance Board on May 30, 2006)

Supporting materials for both position statements:

Position Statement on Drug Company Sales Rep Visits in Clinics and Hospitals

Position Statement on Distribution of Drug Samples in Clinics and Hospitals

Consumer Advice on Rx Sales Visits and Distribution of Drug Samples

Programs to Help with Access to Prescription Drugs for Low-Income Patients

Alliance News Release: Open Door Policies for Drug Sales Reps and Free Samples Should be Altered

Polyclinic News Release

WA Academy of Family Physicians Letter of Support

WA State Medical Association Statement

Related Resource:

The American Medical Association enables providers to opt out of the databases that pharmaceutical sales representatives use to track individual providers’ prescribing practices. The AMA does not collect prescribing data, but health information organizations use the AMA’s Physician Masterfile to match providers with prescription data from other sources. In response to concerns about these practices, the AMA has developed a program that makes it possible for physicians to opt out of having their Masterfile information released for sales purposes. To learn more or opt out, go to the AMA’s Physician Data Restriction Program.

Clinical Guidelines

The Alliance Board of Directors has identified several areas of focus for clinical improvement: heart disease, diabetes, back pain, depression, asthma, prevention, and the use of pharmaceuticals. The work in most of these areas has been completed by expert teams. These clinical improvement teams are each charged with reviewing the research and identifying appropriate evidence-based clinical guidelines that will create the foundation for the regional Quality Performance Reports and the recommended toolkits for improved clinical performance and greater efficiency in health care.

Clinical Improvement Reports for diabetes, heart disease, prescription drugs, back pain and depression have been completed. We encourage everyone to read and use the important information in each of these reports.