Reminder: These foods are dangerous to your dog

Happy Thanksgiving

It will be 9 years without my daughter

Someone posted this quote from Christopher Walken for a friend on FaceBook. I copied it because I think it’s perfect for any of us who’ve suffered a loss...

“Someday you will be faced with the reality of loss. And as life goes on, days rolling into nights, it will become clear that you never really stop missing someone special who’s gone, you just learn to live around the gaping hole of their absence. When you lose someone you can’t imagine living without, your heart breaks wide open, and the bad news is you never completely get over the loss. You will never forget them. However, in a backwards way, this is also the good news. They will live on in the warmth of your broken heart that doesn’t fully heal back up, and you will continue to grow and experience life, even with your wound. It’s like badly breaking an ankle that never heals perfectly, and that still hurts when you dance, but you dance anyway with a slight limp, and this limp just adds to the depth of your performance and the authenticity of your character. 

The people you lose remain a part of you. Remember them and always cherish the good moments spent with them.”

Why It's Important to Get Rid of Unused Medication

The best time to dispose of old meds is Oct. 28: 

National Drug Take Back Day

Consumer Reports /  Ginger Skinner

Last updated: October 26, 2017

When it comes time to dispose of your leftover or expired medicines, you might be tempted to just toss unused pills into the trash—20 percent of people get rid of their meds this way, according to a recent Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 Americans.

But discarded drugs can contaminate landfill soil and the water supply, according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Environmental Science. And pills can be fished out of the garbage by kids and even pets.

A far better way to dispose of old and unused meds is to drop them off at National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, this Saturday, Oct. 28.

Throughout the U.S., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can drop off unused pills and liquid medications at designated police departments, fire stations, health clinics, and other facilities in your community for proper disposal. (This doesn’t include inhalers or syringes; see below for how to dispose of those.)

To find a collection site near you, visit TakeBackDay.DEA.gov or call 800-882-9539. Drop-off is free and anonymous.

A Safer Way to Clear Out Old Opioids

To help reduce prescription drug abuse, the Drug Enforcement Administration, in conjunction with the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, launched Take Back Day seven years ago. Since then, this twice-yearly event has collected more than 900,000 pounds of medications.

Take Back Day goes a long way toward “eliminating the possibility of a family member or stranger removing your drugs from a medicine cabinet with the intent to misuse or abuse them,” says DEA spokesman Melvin S. Patterson.Many people keep old or unused pills such as opioids in their cabinets because they don’t know how to dispose of them, Patterson says.

Recent research bears that out: According to a survey published last June in JAMA Internal Medicine, 60 percent of people who had been recently prescribed an opioid—Vicodin, Percocet, and others—reported holding on to the drugs for future use. Almost half said that they weren’t aware of how to properly store or dispose of the drugs.Meanwhile, deaths from the use of these drugs have reached epidemic levels—91 people die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Anyone participating in Take Back Day is a welcome part of the solution to a significant problem,” Patterson adds. “It gives everyone an opportunity to take part in ridding our communities of old, unwanted, and potentially harmful drugs.”

The drugs you turn in on Take Back Day are all incinerated—never redispensed or put into landfills, Patterson says.

Other Ways to Dispose

If you can’t participate in Take Back Day this Saturday but still have unused meds to get rid of, follow these steps:

Buy an envelope and mail back your meds. Costco, CVS, and Rite Aid pharmacies sell postage-paid envelopes for a few dollars that allow you to mail any prescription pills or liquids, including opioids and over-the-counter medications, to a disposal facility to be incinerated. (Do not send inhalers or syringes.)

Drop off at a free kiosk in CVS or Walgreens. As part of its initiative to address opioid misuse, CVS this week announced that it plans to offer free, anonymous, secure drug disposal kiosks at 750 pharmacy locations across the U.S. Walgreens already also offers safe drop-off at in-store kiosks. (Medications are incinerated.) To use one, remove your personal information from the bottle or packaging and drop your unwanted or expired medication, including controlled substances, in the slot.

Toss meds in the trash (only if you can’t purchase a mail-back envelope or get to a CVS or Walgreens kiosk). Doing so can contaminate the soil and water supply, so this is not an ideal solution. If you must throw drugs away, first conceal pills (from kids and pets) by mixing them in a bag or another container and mix them with an unappealing substance, like used coffee grounds or kitty litter. Then seal up the container and toss the item into the trash.

Last resort: flushing. This is not ideal because trace amounts of flushed meds can end up in drinking water and possibly harm aquatic life. Our survey found that 17 percent of people said this was their typical disposal method.

The Food and Drug Administration suggests flushing certain drugs, like dangerous opioids, when they are no longer needed, because they could be deadly if accidentally taken by someone else, particularly children.

Disposing of Syringes and Inhalers

You won’t be able to dispose of needles, syringes, or inhalers at National Take Back Day. And it’s not recommended that you throw these items into the trash.

For inhalers, contact your local trash and recycling facility for proper disposal instructions.

For needle disposal, go to safeneedledisposal.org or call 800-643-1643 to find drop-off locations near you. You’ll also find information on pharmaceutical company mail-back programs.

Do Expiration Dates Matter?

Drug manufacturers are required by law to stamp an expiration date on medication bottles, cartons, and tubes; it’s the date the manufacturer can guarantee maximum safety and potency based on testing.

Our medical experts say you can keep most prescription and over-the-counter drugs for about 12 months past the expiration date, with critical exceptions. The antibiotic tetracycline should never be taken after that date, because as tablets break down they can become toxic and cause kidney damage. It’s especially important to keep nitroglycerin and other liquid meds, like insulin and epinephrine (i.e., EpiPens) up-to-date. They lose potency after the expiration date, so they might not work as well or at all in an emergency.

Editor’s Note: This article and related materials are made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by the multistate settlement of consumer-fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).

Goodbye summer

If I had my way it would be summer 12 months a year!

More adorable painted rocks

In August Zoey and I found more rocks scattered along the main trail. Some were just too cute to leave behind, although we did leave a few for others to find. Hope someone discovered them.

My favorite one; artist is Laci

Woof, woof, I am exhausted but I love my trail walks!

Dog Town in NJ

Zoey and I are always exploring new paths along the Barnegat trail. There are so many that I bet people aren't even aware all of them.  Last Sunday, while working on breaking Zoey's walking record (currently 7,425 in a little over an hour), we took a detour from one of the side paths and came across this area. I think we found this area last year... Anyway, here is a picture of the homestead. We walked around for a while and we never came across any canines.

Manahawkin Rocks

The other day I noticed a few painted rocks scattered along the Barnegat trail. The rocks weren't there the next day so I assume people took them (they are hard to resist). This morning on our walk, Zoey and I came across this adorable rock and I couldn't resist taking it. Under the rock it says "Manahawkin rocks" I know there was a campaign in Lacey that someone was painting rocks and leaving them around the area. I have no idea if it is the same artist; I just want to thank the artist and I hope I find more treasures this week.

Here is today's find...

How I hope the sun returns...

Solar Eclipse 2017: When To Watch In New Jersey, Best Viewing Tips

How, when and where to see the solar eclipse in New Jersey. Plus, viewing safety tips.

Reprinted from FB / By Tom Davis (Patch Staff)

New Jersey will get plenty of exposure to the solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21. The big questions are: Where can you see it? And when? And what steps do you need to take so the light doesn't damage your eyes?

The zone for seeing it stretches across the country. While the prime exposure areas where a total solar eclipse is expected is in the Southeast and Northwest, New Jersey will have some prime viewing times. Enough of the eclipse will be visible that Rutgers and NASA scientists are urging potential viewers to take precautionary steps.

Here are the prime exposure times and places in New Jersey:

• A partial eclipse will begin at about 1:20 p.m., peak at about 2:45 p.m. and end shortly before 4 p.m. on Aug. 21.
• The moon will block about 70 percent of the sun at the state’s northern border with New York, near High Point in Sussex County.
• The farther south you go, the more you'll be exposed. The moon will be block about 80 percent in Cape May.

See more specific viewing times below

Carlton “Tad” Pryor, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, says New Jersey should know when the eclipse is here, as long as the weather cooperates, even if it's not a total eclipse.

“A total solar eclipse is always very dramatic,” Pryor said in a release. “The sky gets dark, animals and birds go quiet as if it’s nighttime and it’s a little bit cooler outside. The partial solar eclipse that will be visible in New Jersey is much more subtle, but will be noticeable if you know what to look for.”

Tips for Safe Eclipse Viewing

Because it is unsafe to look directly at the sun, Pryor said anyone wishing to see the phenomenon must protect their eyes with specially made and certified filters or by observing the eclipse indirectly.

Direct viewing can be done safely with "No. 14 arc welder glass" or with eclipse viewing glasses that meet the following criteria outlined by NASA:

• Have certification information with a designated ISO 12312-2 international standard
• Have the manufacturer’s name and address printed on the product
• Not be used if more than three years old or with scratched or wrinkled lenses

Homemade filters or sunglasses – even very dark ones – are never safe for looking directly at the sun, according to Pryor. There are reports of potentially unsafe eclipse glasses appearing for sale, so be sure to buy eclipse viewers from reputable vendors (click here to find them).

Pryor offered a few suggestions for safe, indirect viewing.

• If the sky is clear at around 2:45 p.m. on the day of the eclipse, stand in a leafy tree’s shadow and look at the ground. The smallest spots of sunlight will make little crescent shapes, showing the sun’s apparent shape as the moon crosses in front.
• Another method is to make a small hole in a piece of cardboard with the tip of a pencil or pen and project the light onto a white piece of paper, he said. For a better view, put the hole over a mirror and reflect the light onto a more distant white piece of paper or white surface.

Why You Need Informed Consent

Here's how to handle this important conversation
about the tests and treatments your doctor recommends

Consumer Reports / By Orly Avitzur, M.D. / August 07, 2017

A fter seeing an ear, nose, and throat doctor for ear pain and congestion, my 21-year-old son was told to come back 2 hours later for “some testing.”

When he returned, no physician was present, and he received no explanation of why the testing (which turned out to be allergy testing) was ordered, how it would be conducted, possible side effects, or available alternatives.

Had that discussion—which is called informed consent—taken place, my son would have simply told them that he’d had allergy testing two weeks earlier.

Informed consent is important to consumers' health for many reasons. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most abused and misunderstood concepts in medical care today. That's why it's important to be truly informed about informed consent.

What Is Informed Consent?

It's intended to be a conversational process when your clinician explains the risks and benefits of a specific test, procedure, surgery, or other treatment.

During this talk, your doctor should also outline other available options and make it clear that you are helping make decisions about your care. You then confirm your understanding of what you’ve been told and agree to—or reject—the doctor's recommendation.

Today, however, some doctors have become far too casual about this process. Instead of a shared discussion, the goal in some cases has shifted to getting you to sign a piece of paper called a release. With your signing, a doctor or hospital feels legally protected in case something goes wrong.

For your consent to be considered valid, it must be voluntary. But most people feel uncomfortable—even intimidated or coerced—when a doctor asks them to sign a release. So they might not speak up, even if they have concerns.

When It Should Happen

Your doctor should initiate an informed consent discussion if he or she recommends anesthesia, surgery, or any invasive procedure (one that “invades” the body, usually by piercing the skin), or if you are asked to be in a clinical research trial.

There is no national consensus on when informed consent is required. It varies from state to state and can be influenced by a doctor or hospital’s interpretation of recommendations from professional and specialty groups.

Those interpretations are not always correct. For example, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s sample informed consent form for allergy skin testing notes that a physician or other healthcare professional will be on hand because “occasional reactions may require immediate therapy.” That didn’t happen in my son’s situation.

How the Discussion Should Go

During informed consent, your doctor should explain the procedure, test, or treatment in plain words and without medical jargon—and tell you which roles each healthcare provider plays.

This should be a thorough verbal discussion—a release form should serve as a supplement to this, not a replacement. In fact, the form should merely confirm that the discussion took place.

A good informed consent discussion also uses decision aids, interactive media, or digital tools. It should include information from medical studies, best practices, and clinical guidelines. Your doctor should pull in a qualified medical interpreter, if needed, and allow for assistance for limited English proficiency or hearing or visual impairment.

Making Sure You Understand
During an informed consent talk, you should be able to take notes, bring along a friend or family member, ask questions, get clarifications on anything that’s unclear, and have time to consider your options before you decide. Afterward, it’s useful to summarize back the highlights of what you heard.

If you feel rushed or ignored, ask whether the decision on the proposed test or treatment can be delayed until your doctor can answer your questions fully. (In emergencies, or if you are unable to communicate, informed consent may not be necessary.)

Remember, if you’re uncomfortable, you have the right to say no.

Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the September 2017 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.

What Trump's Proposed Medicaid Cuts Could Mean For You

They could force states to limit benefits and cap the number of people enrolled

Consumers Union / Consumer Reports /  Donna Rosato / May 23, 2017

President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget blueprint calls for huge reductions to social safety net programs. In particular, it targets Medicaid, the program that provides health insurance for millions of poor, disabled, and elderly people, about 1 in 5 Americans. 

Republican plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act already has proposed hitting people on Medicaid hard. The Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA) legislation, which the House passed earlier this month, called for $880 billion in cuts to the program. Trump’s budget calls for cutting another $615 billion from Medicaid. Together, the $1.5 trillion in cuts would slash federal Medicaid funds by nearly 50 percent in 10 years.

“This cuts quite a bit more in federal funding than the AHCA alone,” says John Holahan, a fellow in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a non-partisan research organization. “States are going to have to figure out how to make up the difference."

The budget proposal must be approved by Congress and much could change in the meantime. The Senate is working on a healthcare overhaul of its own. Democrats are opposed to steep Medicaid cuts, as are some moderate Senate Republicans, particularly those in states that expanded Medicaid. 

Still, the prospect of such a massive change to the government's largest health insurance program is troubling to consumer advocates.

“The proposed cuts to Medicaid would decimate the program, dramatically reducing the number of people covered and the quality of coverage for the most vulnerable Americans,” says Betsy Imholz, director of special projects for Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports.

The budget proposal comes at a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about their ability to afford health insurance.

More than half (57 percent) of those surveyed for Consumer Reports second CR Consumer Voices Survey in March said they lack confidence they and their loved ones will be able to afford health insurance.

And 41 percent now say they're not confident they'll have access to quality care to get the doctors, tests, treatments and medications they need. That’s up from 35 percent in the first CR Consumer Voices Survey in January.

How Medicaid Could Change

Here are five things you need to know about how the possible Medicaid cuts proposed by Trump and House Republican leadership would affect you.


1. The proposed cuts in the Trump budget and AHCA wouldn't take place until 2020.

2. How you are affected will depend on where you live. That's because under the current system, the federal government gives states money based on costs no matter how many are enrolled. The Trump budget blueprint reduces the amount given to states but lets each choose how they receive the money. States could opt to receive a limited and capped amount per person enrolled, or take a “block grant” and decide how to spend it. Trump and other Republicans say block grants give states more flexibility to design their own programs. But experts say it will be difficult for states to make up the shortfall from lost federal funds.

3. If enrolled in Medicaid, you might face stricter work requirements and have to cover more costs, such as higher co-pays, out of pocket. That's because the Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging states to experiment with ways to curtail costs. Under current law, several states, including Maine and Wisconsin, have already applied for waivers to make such changes, says Robin Rudowitz, an associate director for the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It's unclear how much money such changes would save, says Rudowitz. For example, only 15 percent of Medicaid dollars are currently spent on able-bodied adults who might be subject to new work requirements, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute.

4. The disabled and the elderly will be hit the hardest. The disabled account for 42 percent of Medicaid spending, while the elderly account for 21 percent, to pay for services such as long-term care and nursing homes. Another 21 percent of Medicaid spending provides health insurance for children.

5. It's still unknown how many Medicaid recipients might lose coverage in the end. The Congressional Budget Office's initial analysis of the AHCA passed by the House, estimated that 14 million people would drop out of the program if the bill became law. The CBO plans to issue a new analysis Wednesday meant to reflect amendments to the initial AHCA legislation. But that analysis won't take into account the proposed cuts in the Trump budget.

As a result, it's unknown how many people might lose coverage overall, says Dee Mahan, director of Medicaid Initiatives at Families USA, a non-profit focused on consumer healthcare issues. "But this is a massive cost shift from the federal government to states. States won't be able to make up all this money," says Mahan. "A lot of people will lose their coverage."

Santoku knife

I received a set of knives for Christmas and never took the time to Google "santoku" knife. Now I know what the knife's purpose is and will use it. I am sure I am not the only person who didn't recognize the knife so I am posting the information I found from Donna Currie.  

What's the Difference Between Santoku Knives and Chef's Knives?

Find out the difference between these two common kitchen knives

BY DONNA CURRIE / Updated 02/21/17

Santoku knives are a Japanese-style knife that is becoming more popular in the United States, with many versions being made in America as well as abroad. Santoku translates as “three virtues” or “three uses” and refers to the three types of cuts the knife is made for: slicing, dicing, and mincing.

The blade has a flat cutting edge and the handle is in line with the top edge of the blade. The end of the blade has a rounded curve called a sheep’s foot, rather than a sharp point that’s more common with western blades.

Because of the flat blade, the santoku doesn’t rock on the cutting surface the way that the blade of a chef’s knife does, so it might take some practice to get used to the style.

Santoku knives are shorter, lighter, and thinner than Western-style chef’s knives. Because of the thinness, they tend to be more hardened than Western knives, to add strength. Many santoku knives have flat divots on the sides of the blade near the cutting edge, which is known as a granton edge. These divots help keep food from sticking to the knife. It’s not foolproof, but it does make a difference, particularly when slicing hard vegetables like potatoes.

Most santoku knives have a 6- or 7-inch blade, compared to the more common 8-inch length for many chef’s knives. While most Japanese blades are sharpened on just one side with, compared to Western blades that are sharpened on both sides, traditional santoku blades are sharpened on both sides, but with a more extreme angle, similar to other Japanese blades.

There are traditional-style Japanese santoku knives sold in the US, and there are also santoku knives that have some attributes more common to Western-style knives.

Santoku knives aren’t better or worse than chef’s knives—they’re simply a different style of knife that performs similar tasks.

Chef’s knives were originally designed for slicing and for disjointing large cuts of beef, but they are now a general use knife that’s good for slicing, chopping, or any other basic cooking task.

Chef’s knives come in two basic styles, either French or German. The French knives have a somewhat straight edge that curves more at the tip, while the German style is more continuously curved along the entire cutting edge. The blades of both styles are typically eight inches long.

While there are basic styles of chef’s knives and santoku knives, there are a number of variations of both styles. Blades can be made from metal or ceramic, and metal blades can be forged or stamped. Forged blades are considered to be superior, while stamped blades are lighter and less expensive. Handles can be wood, composite, or plastic.

Some knives have a large bolster (the thick transitional piece between the handle and the knife blade) that strengthens the knife and helps the knife’s balance. Other knives have no bolster or a very thin one.

Full-tang knives are made from one piece of metal with two pieces of the handle material riveted through to hold the handle in place. These are the strongest knives, but also more expensive.

The best way to determine whether a knife is right for you is to hold it in your hand and see if it feels comfortable and balanced. Try cutting something with the knife, or if that’s not possible, mimic cutting action and see if it feels right. You might find that you prefer a chef’s knife for some tasks while you prefer the santoku for others.

While some knives are rated as dishwasher safe, it’s best to hand-wash any good knife to preserve its life and for safety when loading and unloading knives from the dishwasher. Some dishwasher soaps can also speed the dulling of the blade, and banging against other cutlery can also cause damage.

All knives need to be sharpened occasionally. How often depends partially on the blade material, but also on how often the knife is used, what surface you cut on, and how the knife is taken care of. While sharpening is an occasional task, it’s good to hone the blade regularly. This doesn’t cut material off the knife, but straightens the edge.

Consumers deserve full transparency about the performance of the hospitals they choose

Consumer Reports / By Catherine Roberts / April 06, 2017
www.consumerreports.org

More than 1,000 U.S. hospitals perform heart surgery, and about half voluntarily share their complication and mortality rates with Consumer Reports.  

That’s a good start, and up 16 percent from 2014, when we first published heart hospital ratings. But it also means that many hospitals still don’t make heart surgery success rates readily available to patients.

That’s a problem, says David Shahian, M.D., who oversees data and quality measures at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), the organization that gathers the numbers from hospitals and shares them with Consumer Reports.

Public reporting not only provides vital information to patients about where to get heart surgery but also encourages hospitals to improve, “by comparing them to their peers and showing them where they are falling short,” he says. “We believe transparency and sharing your outcomes is a professional ethical responsibility.”

We contacted these 23 hospitals that perform a large number of heart surgeries but don’t publically report through STS or Consumer Reports to ask why not—and if they would share results with us, and with patients.

• Arkansas Heart Hospital, Little Rock, AR
• Baptist Memorial Hospital, Memphis, TN
• Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH *
• Florida Hospital, Orlando, FL*
• Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg, MS
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ*
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA*
• Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX
• Kansas Heart Hospital, Wichita, KS
• Leesburg Regional Medical Center, Leesburg, FL
• Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, MN*
• Methodist Hospital, San Antonio, TX
• Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL
• New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, NC
• Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville, GA*
• NorthShore University Health System, Evanston, IL
• OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, OH
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA*
• Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, CT
• St. Vincent's Medical Center Riverside, Jacksonville, FL
• The University of Vermont Health Network University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT
• University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD*

* This hospital does not currently make its data publicly available but has committed to doing so in the next update.

More on Heart Health

• Take Charge of Your Heart Health
• Understanding the Stages of Heart Disease
• The Healing Power of a Heart-Healthy Diet
• How Heart Attacks in Women and Men Are Different
• Slowing Down the Rush to Open Heart Surgery
• Top Hospitals for Congenital Heart Disease
• Who Really Needs Cholesterol and Blood Pressure Drugs
• Blood Pressure Monitor Buying Guide  

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What Hospitals Say About Heart Surgery Success Rates

Some hospitals, such as the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said they missed the deadline. One, Kansas Heart Hospital in Wichita, told us that it doesn’t report due to the costs of belonging to the STS database, which usually come to several thousand dollars per year.

Note that some hospitals, including prominent hospitals such as  Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, do provide heart surgery success rates to STS, and make it available on the STS website, but don't consent to publish that information through Consumer Reports.

Providing patients with that information should be a priority for any facility, especially those with national standing, says Doris Peter, Ph.D., director of Consumer Reports’ Health Ratings Center. “Hospitals that do these procedures likely profit nicely from them, and I would expect them to invest some of that into improving quality and sharing data with the public.”

How to Get the Data You Need

Shahian says that if the hospital you’re considering doesn’t share its data with Consumer Reports or STS, try to get that information on your own.

But calling the hospital directly isn’t the best bet: When we tried that at several hospitals, the staff wasn’t able to connect us with the right person to answer our questions.

Instead, Shahian recommends asking your surgeon these questions:

• Does the hospital where you perform surgery participate in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database?
• If so, how does it perform in the STS ratings, and would you be willing to go over their most recent report with me?

If the surgeon won’t have that discussion or says the hospital doesn’t collect the data, Shahian says to consider another doctor and medical center.

Are you willing to be a Choosing Wisely Champion?

http://consumerhealthchoices.org/champion/

Nominate Yourself or Someone Else to Become a

Choosing Wisely Champion!

Consumer Reports is launching a nationwide search to recruit and recognize Choosing Wisely Patient Champions, some of whom we will train to become volunteer activists for the Choosing Wisely campaign. Think you might be one or know one? If so, the details are below, and we’d love to hear from you!

1. Why Choosing Wisely, and what is it?

• Some medical tests and treatments provide little benefit to patients. And in some cases, they even cause harm. Choosing Wisely, a long-running national campaign, promotes conversations between providers and patients with a goal of making sure everyone’s care is as safe, useful, and affordable as possible.

2. Who is a Choosing Wisely Patient Champion?

• Someone who asks their healthcare provider questions to find out if certain medical tests or treatments really are needed – or if there are other options;
• Someone who encourages their friends and family to do the same; and
• Someone who understands that more care is not always better care.

3. Who can be a Patient Champion?

• Almost anyone, including a patient, parent, or caregiver – though you must be at least 18 years old. We are looking for everyday people.
• You cannot be a Patient Champion if you are a healthcare professional (such as a doctor, nurse, or medical student).

4. What does a Patient Champion do?

• Works with Consumer Reports to publicize your story online, in our magazine, via social media, and/or possibly in other ways, such as regional and national conferences; and
• Spreads the message of Choosing Wisely and the importance of talking about overuse with others, and encourages them to share their stories with Consumer Reports; and possibly,
• Considers joining a team of activists by attending and completing the Consumer Reports Consumer Leadership Academy (online and by phone), to learn how to effectively change our culture of medical overuse.

5. What is the nomination process?

• Nominate yourself or someone else by filling out the nomination form. We may contact selected individuals for more information.
• Nominations will be reviewed by a doctor, a patient advocate, and staff from Consumer Reports and the ABIM Foundation to choose 25 champions to be trained as the first group of activists.
• Nominations must be submitted by April 30, 2017.

Please use the form below to nominate yourself or someone else to become a Choosing Wisely Champion. You can also print and complete this form and mail it to us.

More questions? Contact us at HealthImpact@cr.consumer.org.

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Choosing Wisely turns 5!

Happy 5th anniversary to the

#ChoosingWisely campaign

The Choosing Wisely campaign turned 5 on April 4, 2017, and we’re doing all we can to celebrate smart conversations between patients and providers:

1. Seeking Choosing Wisely patient champions.
2. Publishing stories from healthcare providers.
3. Releasing a new video.
4. Tweeting about it.
5. Doing a little dance.

Meet the Consumer Reports' Choosing Wisely team (left to right):  
David Ansley, Yelena Dasher (no longer with us), Dom Lorusso,
Claudia Citarella, Beccah Rothschild

For 5 years Daniel Wolfson (ABIMF) @WolfsonD 
& Tara Montgomery @TaraCivicHealth 
have provided stellar #choosingwisely leadership. 

About the Choosing Wisely campaign

Family doctors know that many patients get unneeded prescriptions. Obstetricians know that too many babies are delivered by C-section. Radiologists have seen a lot of pointless chest X-rays. Blood tests, EKGs, Pap tests and MRIs all are overused.

In fact, when doctors sit down with the medical evidence within their specialties, hundreds of tests and treatments turn out to be frequently unnecessary, duplicative or even harmful.

For the U.S. health system as a whole, it means 30 percent of medical spending is wasted.

For patients? It means their time, energy and money could have been focused on smarter, safer, and more effective care.

The Choosing Wisely campaign aims to help patients and doctors talk about what’s truly needed. The ABIM Foundation has joined with more than 70 medical specialty societies to develop evidence-based lists of tests and procedures that should be questioned.

And as a partner in that effort, Consumer Reports has created more than 120 free brochures for patients and their families, addressing the most common of these concerns. We also have free posters, videos, rack cards, and wallet cards that help people ask their healthcare providers the right questions.

To distribute this material, CR has engaged with more than 50 organizations across the country, who help share it with yet more patients and families.