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HealthPartners revises prescription labels to improve safety
 August 28, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - HealthPartners introduced a new pharmacy label that is designed to increase safety and convenience. Improvements include less text and larger font size. In addition, the patients name, type of medication and instructions are now posted clearly at the top of the label. The labels are being used at HealthPartners 16 pharmacies which dispense more than 1.5 million medications each year.
"To improve safety, we tried to call-out important information," said Richard Bruzek, vice president of pharmacy services. Bruzek noted that HealthPartners conducted focus groups to ask patients what is important and what information should be highlighted. A 2006 report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that medication errors, including taking the wrong medication or the wrong dose, injure or kill at least 1.5 million Americans each year. The IOM recommended changes including clearer prescription labels.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of healthcare companies serve more than one million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community. For the third year in a row, HealthPartners is rated one of the best commercial health plans in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, NCQA's "America's Best Health Plans 2007" and is ranked "Highest in Member Satisfaction among Commercial Health Plans in the Minnesota-Wisconsin Region" by J.D. Power and Associates.
Contact: 952-883-5308
Pager: 612-527-1921
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