ACP Foundation Releases New HEALTH TiPS at Internal Medicine 2008

HEALTH TiPS help patients manage chronic conditions

Philadelphia, May 13, 2008 - The American College of Physicians (ACP) Foundation is introducing five new HEALTH TiPS at Internal Medicine 2008, ACP’s annual scientific meeting from May 15-17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

The new topics are depression, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, prostate cancer screening, and rheumatoid arthritis.

“HEALTH TiPS assist physician-patient communication by providing physicians and other health care providers with takeaway sheets for patients and their families that contain easy-to-understand information on common conditions and diseases,” says William B. Applegate, MD, MPH, FACP, chair, ACP Foundation.

The ACP Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation collaborated to develop the content for the rheumatoid arthritis HEALTH TiP. May is Arthritis Awareness Month.

Printed on double-sided 4”x 6” sheets, HEALTH TiPS are written at or below a fifth-grade reading level, are available in English or Spanish, and are designed specifically for the 90 million Americans -- nearly half of all adults -- who have difficulty understanding and acting on health information. The clinical content of HEALTH TiPS is provided by PIER, ACP’s evidence-based electronic decision-support tool.

Other available HEALTH TiPS topics include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, diabetes, flu, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, pain, peripheral artery disease, smoking, and more. Patients and physicians can view the complete list of topics and download HEALTH TiPS at http://foundation.acponline.org/hl/htips.htm.

A survey of ACP members revealed:

  • 92 percent of physicians indicated that they would personally hand HEALH TiPS to their patients.
  • 88 percent of physicians thought that HEALTH TiPS saved them time explaining health issues with their patients.
  • 99 percent of the physicians thought that their patients appreciated HEALTH TiPS.

Physicians can order HEALTH TiPS pads (50 sheets per pad) for free at http://foundation.acponline.org/hl/htips.htm. To date, approximately 16,000,000 sheets have been ordered.

The American College of Physicians (www.acponline.org) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 125,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illness in adults.

The American College of Physicians Foundation (http://foundation.acponline.org/), incorporated in 1999, supports the mission of ACP and strives to improve the health and welfare of patients and society through initiatives that provide patients with the information they need to understand and manage their health.

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