Families USA

Here’s a real-life story about patient safety: “You have to understand, this hospital is losing money.” These are some of the cold words used to dismiss Sally Jo Snyder while she was in a hospital worried for her mother’s life. Caring for an ill parent is a challenging, intense part of life that many people eventually go through. For Sally Jo, the failings of her local health system in Pittsburgh made the loss of her mother much more difficult. Sally Jo’s mother Dorothy spent most of her life in excellent health. Unfortunately, Dorothy was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) later in her life and needed support from several types of doctors. One morning, Dorothy was in a stable condition and was sent home from the hospital. But the same day, she fell gravely ill and was rushed back in. Sally Jo and her family waited anxiously for answers and information from the hospital, but were met with an extremely stressful response: The hospital wanted to send Dorothy to a nursing home, in her poor condition, to save money. After chasing down different doctors for answers and eventually transferring Dorothy to a different hospital, Sally Jo’s family learned Dorothy had Clostridium difficile, the most common cause of health-care-associated infections. Dorothy passed away days later. If the hospital had better communication between doctors, if they prioritized patient safety over profit, if better practices were put in place to avoid health-care-associated infections, Sally Jo and Dorothy’s family may have had a very different experience. Congress needs to create a National Patient Safety Board to help create policies to protect the patient experience, so that families like Sally Jo’s can trust their hospitals to care for their loved ones properly. Learn more here: https://npsb.org/ #PatientSafety #ElderCare

Here’s a real-life story about patient safety: Ron Dinsdale, a veteran from Iowa, went to his dentist to get teeth implants. All was going well — until his dentist accidentally dropped a small wrench and screw down his throat. His dentist was able to get out the screw, but as Ron choked on the tools, he accidentally swallowed the wrench. Ron ended up having to get x-rays, scans and procedures to remove the wrench so that it didn’t cause his internal organs any harm. While to some, swallowing a wrench might be the most shocking part of the story, to Ron the greatest shock came from the lack of care from his provider. “I just couldn’t believe he had no concern about all these x-rays I had to have,” Ron said. “He just didn’t seem to have any personal concern as to my well-being.” Health care, without the care part, can directly harm a person’s health. Accidents happen, but accountability in our health system ensures patients are treated fairly and that their health remains the priority. We need a National Patient Safety Board to help create policies to protect the patient experience. Learn more and join us in calling on Congress to make patient safety a priority: https://npsb.org/ #PatientSafety #VeteranHealth

Families USA was proud to stand with our partners and community at the March to Save Our Health Care rally in D.C. today! Hundreds gathered to tell Congress loud and clear that every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care and we will not stand by as the Trump administration cuts vital programs to give tax cuts to the ultrawealthy.?? ? Medicaid and Medicare save lives. We are proud to help lead the fight to stop cuts that would leave millions of Americans struggling to access life-saving care. We also stand with our partners in the fight to protect health coverage for women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, immigrants and more.? ? We joined rally organizers, Popular Democracy, a coalition of dozens of grassroots organizations protecting Black, brown and low-income communities, who would be disproportionately harmed by Medicaid cuts, and well as National Nurses United, which represents thousands of nurses across the country that work directly with patients covered by Medicaid, CHIP, and the Veterans Health Administration. We stand with them, and countless others, fighting to tell our policymakers: #HandsOffMedicaid?

Here’s a real-life story about patient safety: Tomeka James Issac and her husband were dotting all their i’s and crossing all their t’s when it came to Tomeka’s pregnancy. They had reliable insurance, plenty of access to OB doctors, and were attending all the appointments, even extra ones. But due to several preventable errors made by the health system, Tomeka and her husband lost their child — and Tomeka almost died as well. 1 in 4 patients experience harm during their time navigating the U.S. health care system. Black women are more than 3 times as likely to die from a pregnancy related cause compared to White women. The doctor’s office or hospital is supposed to be a safe place for care, but there are too often errors that put people in danger. Tomeka was supposed to have urine tests during her pregnancy check ups, which could have detected the condition she suffered from — but she didn’t. When she was rushed to the ER during her miscarriage, she should have been seen right away for an emergency C-section? — but she wasn’t. Tomeka had to wait four and a half-hours to get the life saving procedure. After this intense, heartbreaking experience, Tomeka started @Jace’s Journey, a nonprofit that advocates for maternal health. We’re grateful to Tomeka for sharing her story, and for pushing for the kind of medical care she should have received — but she shouldn’t have to do it on her own. There is much to be done to improve patient safety in the U.S., such as creating a National Patient Safety Board to oversee changes in our health system. Learn more here: https://npsb.org/ #PatientSafety #MaternalHealth

STRIKE NEWS: Earlier this month, nearly 5,000 members of the Oregon Nurses Association reached an agreement with Providence hospital system, ending a month-long strike. The deal includes a wage increase, improved staffing, and enhanced health benefits. These changes are critical to improving working conditions for nurses and ensuring better care for patients. The increased wages will allow for more competitive hiring, and the new staffing plans will allow nurses to spend more time with patients who need it most, improving the quality of their care. The Nurses Association was on strike in protest of corporate cost cutting measures that led to an underpaid and understaffed system that wasn’t able to provide safe, effective care to its patients. Congratulations to ONA! Oregon Nurses Association

Americans want to know what their new government is doing to lower the costs of everyday life — especially when it comes to health care. The answer? Currently, not much. Lucky for them, we’ve identified an “affordability agenda” — a slew of bipartisan policies that would lower health care costs AND save the government money. All Congress has to do is take it and run. Read the full agenda here: https://lnkd.in/eRXd7H9u

FRIDAY FACT ROUNDUP: A thread on Medicaid work reporting requirements Did you know that… ?? Courts or lawmakers in Michigan, New Hampshire and Arkansas halted their state work reporting requirement programs because of the overwhelming amount of people that lost health care coverage. ?? Work reporting requirements are expensive — if the government implements a national work reporting requirement, it could result in $65 billion in new costs to states over 10 years. ?? If implemented nationwide, 44% of Medicaid enrollees are projected to lose coverage. ?? When hospitals’ funding is hurt by a drop in Medicaid enrollees brought on by work reporting requirement policies, the system gets overburdened — meaning longer wait times, fewer appointments, and fewer providers for EVERYONE. Medicaid work reporting requirements simply don’t work — and they harm everyone involved in the health care process, on both the provider side and patient side. Policymakers need to protect people’s Medicaid access and leave work reporting requirements behind. #Medicaid #Medicaidworkreportingrequirements #HealthCare #HealthAccess

TODAY members of the Senate HELP Committee will evaluate Dr. Martin Makary for FDA Commissioner. If confirmed, he will be in a position to shape the future of mifepristone access, a medication with over 20 years of FDA-backed safety data. More than 65 million women in the U.S. are depending on mifepristone access — used not only in reproductive health but also in miscarriage care, postpartum treatment, and other critical women’s health needs. Decisions around access to drugs like mifepristone should continue follow the data and the science, without interference from politicians. The FDA’s role in upholding scientific integrity has never been more important. https://lnkd.in/eZ3QPWBc

The FDA has backed mifepristone’s safety for over 20 years. It’s safer than Tylenol and treats more than just abortion care, millions rely on it for miscarriage management, postpartum care & fibroids. Science, not politics, must guide access. #Mifepristone #ReproRights #HealthCare #HealthAcccess https://lnkd.in/eZ3QPWBc

Work reporting requirements represent a “solution” in search of a problem: 92% of the people who rely on Medicaid for health insurance are already working or attending school — or they are caregivers, ill, or have a disability. There is NO evidence that work reporting requirements increase employment rates in the slightest. What there is evidence of, though, is that Medicaid work reporting requirements add a costly bureaucratic burden to an already challenging Medicaid enrollment process, increasing the chances people are cut off from care due to administrative errors. They negatively impact both state health systems and local economies. Policymakers need to stand up for their constituents that rely on #Medicaid and reject work reporting requirement policies, and any attempts to weaken Medicaid. #Medicaid #MedicaidWorkReportingRequirements #HealthInsurance #HandsOffMedicaid #NoRedTape