Is that Medication Insert Accurate?

Jglapidus — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:42:42 +0000

The Washington Post published an article on August 29, 2011 drawn from research conducted by Consumer Reports staff. Consumer Reports staff carefully examined the medication inserts that are tucked inside the bag when you have a prescription filled. The results were startling and disappointing.

The article cautioned that some pharmacies failed to provide customers with accurate, thorough and readable information regarding the prescriptions they dispense. According to the article there are some half million “preventable outpatient medication errors” every year. They can’t prove that incomplete or difficult to read safety information inserts contribute to these errors, but they don’t help.

Consumer Reports staff filled prescriptions at a number of pharmacies and found that “critical information was confusing, misleading, buried or absent.” In fact, the pharmacies didn’t adhere to the FDA-approved medication guide. The FDA found that “only 75 percent of the leaflets included with prescriptions meet the agency’s minimum recommended criteria for usefulness.”

The article caution that consumers should not rely on the inserts alone, but rather they speak directly with the pharmacist or their own physician.

While nothing takes the place of talking to your physician or pharmacist, two “user friendly” websites can help you frame your questions:

MedLine Plus

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html

WebMD

http://www.webmd.com/

The entire Washington Post article may be read on-line at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/consumer-reports-pharmacies-dont-always-provide-required-drug-warnings/2011/07/18/gIQAdIminJ_story.html

What’s the Best Assisted Living Facility to Use?

Jglapidus — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:30:44 +0000

Care Managers are asked this question all the time (even by friends). We almost always give the same answer, “It depends.” This is not meant to be evasive; it just reflects the complexity of that seemingly simple question. It’s a little like trying to determine the best college for your teenager. It depends ……… on a whole host of factors.

Both choices require knowing the person and family considering the options as well as the characteristics of the various residences under consideration. Among the factors we would consider when recommending options for assisted living facilities are: the current and future care needs of the prospective client; cultural, social, spiritual issues, and of course, his/her or their financial wherewithal.

On the other side of the equation are the characteristics of the various facilities under consideration, such as:

location,
size,
services,
staffing,
culture, and
cost

These are some of the obvious factors to consider, but we join that information to the collective experiences of our care managers and associate care managers as they – over time – evaluate a facility’s actual “performance,” that is, does the facility do what the sales staff say they can do?

How do I begin the seach for the which assisted living facility to use for my family member? You can start by putting together a comprehensive list of the care needs and medical history. What help does he/she need? What are the cultural needs? The interests? And you can pull together information about finances so that you know the approximate monthly income.

You know your circumstances; we know the options.

If you are planning to investigate assisted living facilities or just need to talk through what questions to ask? Give us a call at 301 320-9617 or toll free on 1-855-320-9617 to see how you can make this process easier.

Your call to talk about our services is free.

CMA Cares

Is that Medication Insert Accurate?

What’s the Best Assisted Living Facility to Use?