Healthcare Course Library for Continuing Education

Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act is transforming healthcare delivery in the United States and has many provisions that organizations and staff must implement to maintain compliance.
The landmark passage of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obama Care or ACA, was enacted in 2009, with various parts of the law being phased in through 2014. If you are a care provider, it is important to understand the major changes in healthcare insurance regulations and how they impact patients and the care and services that you are providing. This course will provide an overview of the ACA and its effect on coverage, costs, and care. In addition, you will cover the preventative care benefits covered under the ACA, referrals and out-of-area emergency care.

An Overview of the CAHPS Analysis Program 5.0

This AHRQ webcast provided an opportunity to hear about recent updates to the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Analysis Program, commonly known as the CAHPS macro. Naomi Yount, Senior Study Director at Westat, provided an overview of the CAHPS macro, explain its new analysis options, and review the materials available to support users.

What is patient experience and how does CAHPS measure it?

This AHRQ webcast provided an overview of CAHPS surveys and explain how they focus on patients priorities and build on current research in survey development and administration. Speakers discussed the ways in which organizations are using survey results.

Introducing the CAHPS Clinician & Group Visit Survey 4.0

AHRQs new CAHPS Clinician and Group Visit Survey 4.0 (beta) asks patients about their most recent ambulatory care visit. The tool helps providers understand and improve patients experiences with any visit format, including telehealth visits. Speakers discussed the purpose and use of the new survey, its development and testing, topics covered by the survey, and how it differs from the Clinician and Group Survey 3.0.

The Patient Centered Medical Home: Principles and Recognition Process

The patient centered medical home (PCMH) model has become a cornerstone of primary care redesign. While the concept of the medical home was first introduced for pediatric settings by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1967, the major primary care physician associations developed and endorsed the joint principles of the PCMH in 2007. Since then, the PCMH concept has become increasingly important as Medicare, Medicaid agencies, health plans, and other payers seek to improve the quality of care they purchase and control their costs. Based on recent information collected by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), there are nearly 500 public and private medical home initiatives across the United States. Payers and others are working to gather evidence of the effects of different approaches to implementing the medical home model, so the model can be refined and adapted to the varied needs of patients, practices, and regions.

This course will provide information and resources for working with practices as they seek and attain PCMH recognition, which is the process through which a practice achieves its status as a medical home. This process is also sometimes referred to as accreditation or certification. Understanding the principles of the PCMH will help you support practices through the recognition process while ensuring that the objectives of true practice transformation to a PCMH do not get lost as practices document the processes needed to achieve PCMH status.

Motivational Interviewing in the Health Care Setting

Motivational interviewing, or MI, has been in the field of behavioral health for the past 30 years, and now it is being used more often in the healthcare setting to help patients with chronic medical conditions. It is a set of skills that help healthcare providers clearly listen to their patients in the effort to become more attentive to their needs. This course will examine the importance of motivational interviewing, explain why some patients are sometimes resistant to change, and cover important concepts to understand when treating patients. Course expiration date: 10/7/2025

Medicaid y el Programa de Seguro Médico para Niños (CHIP)

Este curso fue desarrollado y aprobado por los Centros de Servicios de Medicare y Medicaid (CMS), la agencia federal que administra Medicare, Medicaid y el Programa de Seguro M?dico para Ni?os (CHIP) y el Mercado de Seguros M?dicos. Este curso proporciona una vision general de las consideraciones de Medicaid, Medicaid y Medicare (doblemente elegibles), la vision general de CHIP, y la elegibilidad de los no ciudadanos en Medicaid y CHIP.

Medicare Advantage y otros planes de salud Medicare

A Medicare Advantage Plan is another way to get your Medicare Part A and Part B coverage. MA Plans, sometimes called Part C or MA Plans are offered by Medicare-approved private companies that must follow rules set by Medicare.
If an individual joins an MA Plan, he or she will still have Medicare but get most of your Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance) coverage from the MA Plan, not Original Medicare. Most plans include Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D).
In most cases, individuals will need to use health care providers who participate in the plans network. However, many plans offer out-of-network coverage, but usually at a higher cost.

This course provides basic information about Medicare health plan options other than Original Medicare.

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for certain individuals and families with limited income and resources. Medicaid is not a cash support program; it pays medical providers directly for care.
Like Medicaid, Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a partnership between the states and the federal government that provides health coverage to eligible children, through both Medicaid and separate CHIP. States administer CHIP within broad guidelines established by CMS, and the federal government provides matching funds to states to provide the coverage.