Be informed. Be involved.
Know your healthcare choices.
California's Valued Trust's "Be Informed. Be Involved. Know Your Healthcare Choices" is a series that includes tips and information designed to help CVT members be better informed and be more actively involved in their own health care. This includes recognizing and insisting upon getting quality, cost effective care and understanding "evidence-based care." Please feel free to download the documents listed below for your use.
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Basics of Quality
The following informational documents help the reader to understand the basics of health care quality and the importance of evidence-based information.
- Good quality health care: What it is and why you can't take it for granted.
Defines "good quality" care. Explains how studies show that quality care varies and therefore quality cannot be taken for granted. Discusses what health care providers are doing to help safeguard and improve quality of care as well as what you can do to make sure you are getting good quality care. To learn more click here.
- How do we know which types of health care work best?
Tells how medical research is done to find out which types of care work best. Explains how research evidence can be used to set standards for quality of care. Discusses how health care providers can use quality standards as guidelines for good patient care. To learn more click here.
- Information about health care quality: What it is and where to find it.
Describes different sources of information about health care quality. Suggests general strategies for finding information about quality. Includes links to other resources. To learn more click here.
- How you can use information about health care quality to get better care.
Vignettes and links that show how people can use information about quality. To learn more click here.
Cost and Quality
The following informational documents address how to choose quality and make wise use of money spent on health care.
- Making wise use of money spent on health care: Let's put quality first.
Briefly discusses quality of health care and how it varies. Explains how spending money on poor quality care hurts employees and hurts the company. Invites employees to join with the company in putting quality first as a way to help keep health care spending under control without sacrificing quality of care. To learn more click here.
- To get better health care, be informed and involved.
Explains three ways employees can help safeguard the quality of their health care. This includes being better informed, becoming more involved in making health care decisions, and managing their health. Discusses ways to help prevent medication mistakes. To learn more click here.
- Tips for getting the care that works best for your condition.
Describes findings from studies that show how people do not always receive the care that works best. Gives tips on what employees can do to help make sure they are getting the best care. Includes an example of using medical research findings to find the best treatment for a back injury. Discusses the relationship between cost and quality of care. To learn more click here.
- Tips for getting the right amount of care (as much care as you need but no unnecessary care).
Defines the "right amount" of care. Explains how getting as much care as you need is crucial to good health. Gives tips on getting the most effective care and the right amount of care (not too much and not too little). To learn more click here.
Tips for Quality Care
The following informational documents provide tips for getting good quality care before, during, and after a health care appointment.
- Summary of tips for getting good quality health care before, during, and after a health care appointment.
A one-page overview of what patients can do to make their health care appointments more successful. Includes links to the three companion documents (listed below) that provide more detailed discussion of these tips. To learn more click here.
- Tips on what to do before your health care appointment.
Gives practical tips to help patients prepare for an appointment. To learn more click here.
- Tips on what to do during your health care appointment.
Gives tips on what to bring along to an appointment and how to communicate effectively with a health care provider. Urges the reader to be assertive about asking questions and getting answers. To learn more click here.
- Tips for following through on treatment and managing your health.
Discusses the need to be careful when starting a new treatment or medication. Offers tips on learning more about a health condition or treatment. Discusses how people who have chronic health conditions can learn about ways to stay healthy and get support that they need. To learn more click here.
Using the Internet
The following informational documents relate to using the internet to find health information you can trust.
- Health information on the internet: A checklist to help you judge which web sites to trust.
Gives a checklist of eight features to look for in evaluating health web sites. Identifies four government web sites that are good places to start an internet search. Includes general tips about using information from web sites. To view the checklist click here.
- A list of recommended web sites that have trustworthy health information
Describes web sites that offer accurate, up-to-date health information that is based on evidence from medical research. To view the list click here.
Source: These materials were adapted from the Communication Toolkit: Using information to get high quality care. The American Institutes for Research developed the Toolkit materials with funding from the California HealthCare Foundation. The National Business Group on Health maintains and host the Toolkit web site.