Vivacare offers free online patient handouts to FPs

Patient education company Vivacare has expanded its free, online library of patient handouts to include a wider range of specialties, including family medicine.

The company offers physicians their own online patient education libraries, which are populated with specialty-specific patient handouts that physicians can edit, according to a statement from Berkeley, California-based Vivacare.

Vivacare has added handouts for family practitioners, allergists, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, pediatricians, and internists. Previously, it offered patient education libraries to neurologists and dermatologists. The company was founded by pediatrician Mark Becker, MD, in 2005.

Physicians can use Vivacare’s handouts to supplement their existing websites or use the company’s patient library as the starting point for new practice sites that include staff photos, biographies and maps, according to the statement. Physicians can turn each topic in the patient library on or off, rewrite the content and add their own clinical images.

Helen Torok, MD, a dermatologist with Trillium Creek Dermatology & Surgery Center in Medina, Ohio, uses Vivacare’s patient handouts for conditions such as acne, psoriasis, and warts.

“I really value Vivacare because once patients are diagnosed and prescribed a treatment plan, Vivacare provides the up-to-date education information they can access at their convenience,” Torok says. “I need these tools to educate my patients without creating a burden on myself or my staff.”

Vivacare says it doesn’t allow pop-ups, logos, or product advertisements to appear in patient libraries, according to the statement.