Tell Your Colleagues You Love Their Work
When we demonstrate the State Refor(u)m site at health-policy conferences, some of the best things we hear are “I love your site! I use information from it all the time!” or “That site is full of great stuff!” We love this kind of feedback, and it made us think, “Wouldn’t it be great if all the site users could tell each other when they find excellent resources?” Now you can! We came up with the “useful” button and its visual marker, the star. They are your new content-rating tools.
What is content rating?: Content rating is your chance to designate documents and comments as useful. Your click on the “useful” button will earn the content an additional star, and will inform the next site visitor that somebody found that piece of content useful.
How does content rating work?: It’s probably the easiest way to actively participate in the State Refor(u)m community. It takes just a click, and it’s anonymous. When you browse around the site, just pause a moment when you read something valuable to your work. Look for the button that carries a small star and the word “useful.”
It’s on every comment in the discussions and on each document’s entry on the documents page. You’ll also see the button on our charts, infographics, webinar pages, and blog posts. Click that button to register your appreciation for the content’s usefulness. You’ll need to be logged in to have your rating count, but both sign up and sign in are easy.
Why rate content?: Site visitors can see the number of “useful” designations that a piece of content has earned, and use it to guide their research, homing in on the best content first. Users can even sort the documents list by rating, moving all the highly useful content to the top. They will not, however, see who awarded “useful” stars to documents and comments, so don’t be shy about rating content! Plus, if you are like us and are putting in long days trying to figure health reform out, why not let a colleague know that their contribution to our forum was valuable?
Get started now! Scan some of the most recent documents posted to State Refor(u)m, and click the button on those you’ve appreciated. If you have trouble logging in, contact us atstatereforum@oldsite.nashp.org.
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
