Main Content

Member Safety

Independent Care Health Plan has taken steps to educate and actively involve members with their health care. We believe that a frequent and consistent message on patient safety will help you to reduce the potential for error in your health care. The Five Steps to Safer Health Care was developed by the federal government with this goal in mind.

5 Steps to Safer Healthcare

Speak up if you have questions or concerns.
Keep a list of all the medicines you take.
Make sure you get the results of any test or procedure.
Talk with your doctor and health care team about your options if you need hospital care.
Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery.

Speak up if you have questions or concerns.

Choose a doctor whom you feel comfortable talking to about your health and treatment. Take a relative or friend with you if this will help you ask questions and understand the answers. It's okay to ask questions and to expect answers you can understand.

Keep a list of all the medicines you take.

Tell your doctor and pharmacist about the medicines that you take, including over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and dietary supplements like vitamins and herbals. Tell them about any drug allergies you have. Ask the pharmacist about side effects and what foods or other things to avoid while taking the medicine. When you get your medicine, read the label, including warnings. Make sure it is what your doctor ordered, and you know how to use it. If the medicine looks different than you expected, ask the pharmacist about it.

Make sure you get the results of any test or procedure.

Ask your doctor or nurse when and how you will get the results of tests or procedures. If you do not get them when expected -- in person, on the phone, or in the mail – don’t assume the results are fine. Call your doctor and ask for them. Ask what the results mean for your care.

Talk with your doctor and health care team about your options if you need hospital care.

If you have more than one hospital to choose from, ask your doctor which one has the best care and results for your condition. Hospitals do a good job of treating a wide range of problems. However, for some procedures (such as heart bypass surgery), research shows results often are better at hospitals doing a lot of these procedures. Also, before you leave the hospital, be sure to ask about follow-up care, and be sure you understand the instructions.

Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery.

Ask your doctor and surgeon: Who will take charge of my care while I'm in the hospital? Exactly what will you be doing? How long will it take? What will happen after the surgery? How can I expect to feel during recovery? Tell the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses if you have allergies or have ever had a bad reaction to anesthesia. Make sure you, your doctor, and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done during the operation.

Disaster Support

iCare ensures that our members have seemless and uninterrupted medical care in a public health emergency.

When the president, governor or secretary of Health and Human Services declares a disaster or a public health emergency, iCare takes the following actions so that our members in the affected areas can get the medical care they need.

The actions we take include:

Covering Medicare Parts A and B services and supplemental Part C plan benefits at non-network hospitals and other medical facilities
Waiving all requirements for primary care physician (PCP) referrals
Providing enrollees with the same cost-sharing they would receive at an in-network facility
Removing prescription drug limitations such as “Refill too soon” rejection notices that prevent replacing lost medications

All of these changes become effective immediately.

These actions remain in effect until:

the president, governor or secretary of Health and Human Services declares the public health emergency or disaster has ended; or,
30 days have passed since the disaster or emergency was declared, and no end date was identified.

If iCare is also affected by the disaster and cannot resume operations by the end of the disaster or public health emergency, we will notify the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and will update the iCare website, when and if we are able, to provide information about iCare’s operational capabilities.