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Initiative Gives Health Care Dose of Transparency

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By giving patients access to their doctors’ notes, the OpenNotes initiative seeks to improve health and health care.  Danville-based Geisinger Medical Center was one of three health systems to participate in a national study, and officials there were so pleased with the results they’ve already expanded the program.

“Patients really seem to love this and physicians – for the most part – really don’t seem to mind all that much,” explains Dr. Jonathan Darer, Geisinger’s Chief Innovation Officer. 

82% of the patients participating in the trial actually opened their notes, and 77 – 87% of them reported that access to their doctors’ notes made them feel more in control of their health care. 

“Here we have an innovation where all we did is share information and patients feel like they’re getting better care,” Dr. Darer tells Radio PA.  “How cool is that?”

In light of the study’s findings, Geisinger has expanded the OpenNotes program to more than 500-doctors and roughly 130,000 patients. 

Darer envisions the day when the initiative will be ubiquitous, not only at Geisinger, but throughout the health care industry.  Adaption will be even faster, Darer says, if future studies can confirm that this sort of information sharing improves clinical outcomes in addition to getting patients more involved in their care.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 05.24.13

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Matt Paul discusses new legislation that would create letter grades (A – F) for all of the state’s public schools, and examines a new law designed to expand community health clinics in the state.  Also, have you ever wanted to actually see your doctor’s notes?  Many Geisinger patients are alreading doing it.

Please have a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend, and remember to take some time to consider the true meaning of the holiday.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable05-24-13.mp3]

AAA Projects a Slight Decline in Memorial Day Travel

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There won’t be as many Americans hitting the road this Memorial Day weekend according to AAA projections, but there will still be a lot of travelers.

Just under 35 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the holiday weekend according to AAA, down about one percent from 2012.  Nearly 90% will travel by vehicle.  Air travel is expected to decrease. Median spending will also be down as travelers look for ways to save.  The Memorial Day travel period runs from May 23-27.

Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid Atlantic says that while gas prices may be lower in most places than they were last Memorial Day weekend, there are economic factors affecting travel. She says the labor force participation rate fell to a 30 year low in March. She says pent up demand also pushed up travel in recent years and much of that demand may have been met.

Visiting friends and family and dining out are the top activities for the holiday weekend. People also plan to go shopping, visit the beach or go touring and sightseeing over the long holiday weekend.

PA School Districts

Should Pennsylvania Schools Get Report Cards Too?

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Schools have always issued report cards grading our students, but new legislation would require the state to issue report cards grading our schools too.  Under HB 1300, schools and school districts would receive a letter grade – A through F – every year.

“Coupled with providing options in education, providing this data to parents just really empowers them to get involved and make those decisions about their child’s education,” explains Ashley DeMauro, state director of StudentsFirst. “So I think as long as we’re empowering parents, obviously, it will have a positive impact.”

All public schools would be subject to the proposed new grading system, including charters and cyber charter schools. 

DeMauro says the letter grades would be based on multiple data measures, including students’ test scores and schools’ progress in closing achievement gaps.  The state already generates the data, but DeMauro recognizes that it’s often difficult to analyze.  She believes a school report card would paint a clear picture for parents, students and taxpayers. 

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) says the group has not conducted a thorough analysis of HB 1300, but suggests it would be unnecessary based on work the state is already doing to implement the PA School Performance Profile website.  DeMauro, however, says the bill was actually crafted to enhance the forthcoming SPP. 

In an email, the state Department of Education press secretary tells Radio PA the governor has been a supporter of making sure that parents understand the quality of the schools their children attend.  “The Governor would like to have a system that is easily understandable to all Pennsylvania families.  The administration will review this proposal,” the statement concludes.  

This is not a new issue, conceptually, but it is the first time such legislation has been introduced in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly.  The bill was just introduced this month and has been referred to the House Education Committee.

Voters Oust Harrisburg Mayor

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Following a first term marked largely by controversies, missteps and flubs, voters in Harrisburg have turned thumbs down to a second term for Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson.

Local businessman Eric Papenfuse won the nod in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination Tuesday. City Controller Dan Miller showed up in second place with incumbent Thompson finishing third. After being charged with vandalizing Papenfuse campaign signs a day before the election, candidate Lewis Butts finished a distant 4th, with fewer than 100 votes.

Papenfuse will face Independent Nevin Mindlin this November.

Harrisburg has been dealing with the fallout of a financial meltdown that triggered a state takeover and has now resulted in charges of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The city’s crippling debt is connected to a disastrous incinerator project started under former Mayor Stephen reed, Thompson’s immediate predecessor. The SEC charges also deal with financial disclosures made during the Reed era.

 

Bald Eagle Fatally Shot in Western PA

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ATV riders contacted the state Game Commission when they found an injured bald eagle in a rural part of northern Cambria County on May 10th.  Wildlife conservation officers arrived on scene to find an injured mature bird with blood coming from its mouth.  The eagle died on the way to the state veterinary laboratory in State College. 

“The lab confirmed that it suffered at least gunshot wound,” explains Tom Fazi, Southwest Region information and education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.  “It’s a rural area, but maybe somebody saw something or heard something, and we’re looking for any leads… to find out who may have done this.” 

The Game Commission’s Tip Hotline is 1-888-PGC-8001.  You can also call the Southwest Region office directly at 724-238-9523.  A cash reward may be offered for information leading to an arrest, and tipsters may remain anonymous.  It is believed the bird was found on or around the day of the shooting. 

Pennsylvania’s bald eagle population is growing, but they are still classified as a threatened species.  Bald eagles are also protected under state and federal law. 

(photo courtesy of Hal Korber, Pennsylvania Game Commission)

Trees to Honor Fallen Soldiers, Mark Sesquicentennial

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The Civil War was largely fought on the 180-mile swath of land that stretches from Monticello to Gettysburg.  That’s the same area in which the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership wants to plant 620,000-trees; one in honor of each soldier who died in the Civil War.  “And [we’ll] do so by creating a more beautiful place in what was otherwise the largest concentration of battlefields in the country,” partnership president Cate Magennis Wyatt tells Radio PA.    

A special tree-planting ceremony is scheduled to take place on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg on Tuesday, where a battlefield Witness Tree will be dedicated and two Living Legacy Trees will be planted.  Wyatt says it’s the second major ceremony of the Living Legacy Project, which was established to mark the Sesquicentennial. 

The planting and the fundraising will continue over the next few years, as the partnership seeks to raise $65-million dollars for the project.  “We’re raising $100-dollars to honor each of the 620,000 men who died, and that is nothing.  It’s quite achievable,” Wyatt says of the task that lies ahead.

PA Employment Picture Brightens in April

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The statewide unemployment rate fell by three-tenths of a percentage point in April, to 7.6%.  Employment numbers climbed 13,000, while unemployment dipped by 17,000.  “April was a tremendous month for job growth and the state’s employment situation,” Secretary of Labor & Industry Julia Hearthway said in a statement released on Friday. “Pennsylvania has added 125,700 private sector jobs to the economy since Governor Corbett took office.” 

But a spokesman for the House Democrats, who are among the governor’s harshest critics, calls the growth anemic compared to the nearly half-million Pennsylvanians who are still looking for work.

Pennsylvania’s jobless rate remains at or above the national average for a ninth consecutive month.  The national unemployment rate now stands at 7.5%.

Radio PA Roundtable 05.17.13

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul bring you another liquor privatization hearing, the push for Keystone exams and Governor Corbett’s reaction to the fallout from his last “Ask the Governor” appearance. The guys also bid adieu to Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, PA’s favorite fictional paper company.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable05-17-13.mp3]

Busy June on Tap in Harrisburg

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The House and Senate are due back in session on June 3rd.  From there only 15-or so session days separate lawmakers form the state budget deadline.  But Governor Tom Corbett views every day as a working day, and there are plenty of policy issues he’d like to see addressed alongside a third consecutive on-time budget. 

“We need to focus on [liquor privatization], we need to focus on pensions, we need to focus on transportation, we need to focus on the budget,” Corbett said on the May edition of Ask the Governor.  “There has been work done behind the scenes.  I believe we can get this done.” 

Most capitol observers, however, would classify passage of two of the three big policy issues as a major victory for the Corbett administration. 

Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) identifies transportation as the issue most likely to be completed before lawmakers’ summer break.  “We have very, very strong bipartisan interest in transportation infrastructure funding,” he says.  “I think that can certainly be done.” 

Trailing the pack of policy issues, Pileggi says, is pension reform.  “We have not even seen committee action on that plan to date and the bills have just been introduced… that is an incredibly complex and technically difficult task.”   

Following this week’s hearing on liquor privatization, Senate Law & Justice Committee Chairman Charles McIlhinney (R-Bucks) made it clear that he won’t start drafting a bill until after all three public hearings have been completed.  He does not view it as an issue that must be finalized this budget season.  The House version of a privatization bill (HB 790) is viewed as a non-starter in the Senate.