Welcome to 4 Your Health, the top 4 health stories daily we think you will want to read. We realize that in the health care industry it is often difficult to keep up with the news and information that is quickly affecting our industry. Here at APHCA, we strive to give you the most up to date news, stories and commentaries on the information you need.
If you would like to recieve the Digest in your mailbox each morning, contact Kat Rodman at kat@alphca.com to subscribe.
This Week:
For the Homeless, Federal Changes Promise Better Access to Health Care
The Medicaid expansion will enable agencies that serve the homeless to divert resources now spent on medical care to other services such as finding housing and jobs. The new law provides another boost through a five-year, $11 billion expansion of the community health center system that treats many in this population
Tighter Medical Privacy Rules Sought
The Obama administration is rewriting new rules on medical privacy after an outpouring of criticism from consumer groups and members of Congress who say the rules do not adequately protect the rights of patients.
Broadband Access Up in Black Homes
In every major category, from job opportunities to acquiring health information, more African-American and Hispanic adults regard lack of broadband access as "a major disadvantage" than whites do. Nearly half of African-Americans believe expanding broadband access should be a top government priority, compared with just under two-fifths of whites.
Obesity Rates Higher Among Minority Girls
The study, to be published in the September issue of Pediatrics, finds that black, Hispanic and American Indian girls have two to three times higher odds of having a high body-mass index (BMI) compared to white girls. What's more, although rates of obesity peaked for Hispanic girls in 2005, they have kept on rising for American Indian and black girls
This Month:
Medicaid Shortfall: $64 Million Gap in Alabama Budget Threatens Services
The state Department of Public Health, along with every other non-education agency, relies on the same pot of money that Medicaid does -- the cash strapped General Fund. A loss of funding could mean lean times for some programs.
Alabama's 2009 Infant Mortality Rate Lowest Ever in State
The rate - 8.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births - is down from 9.5 in 2008 and 10 in 2007. While the lowest in Alabama since data began being compiled in 1908, it still is expected to be among the higher rates in the nation.
FCC Asking for Comment on Using Broadband for Quality Health Care
The FCC has a package of reforms to expand the use of broadband in order to improve the quality and delivery of health care. The changes could be implemented in funding year 2011. The FCC is proposing three major changes to the rural health care program.
New U.S. Pandemic Plan Aims to Speed Products
The U.S. government proposed major changes Thursday to the way it works with companies to fight new disease threats such as flu, including reform at the Food and Drug Administration and setting up centers to make vaccines quickly.
Report: Alabama One of Most-Medicated States
Alabama is the third-most medicated state in the country, according to a report from Forbes Magazine. In 2009, Alabama had 16.7 retail prescriptions per capita, compared to a national average of 11.6 prescriptions per capita.
Health Centers to Get $250 Million in Grants to Build Clinics, Boost Services
Health centers across the country are lining up for a shot in the arm from the Obama administration: $250 million in federal grants to build clinics and bolster services at existing clinics for low-income patients such as public housing residents, the homeless, seasonal farmworkers and others who struggle to pay for care.
Healing Rural Patients With A Dose Of Broadband
Millions of Americans who live in rural areas travel long distances to get health care. Or they may go without it. But high-speed Internet connections now make it possible to bring a doctor's expertise to patients in far-off places, if those places are connected.
Study: 1 in 5 US Teenagers Has Slight Hearing Loss
A stunning one in five teens has lost a little bit of hearing, and the problem has increased substantially in recent years, a new national study has found.
BP Spill Health Effects Need to Be Tracked: Experts
Doctors in the Gulf Coast region need to be alert to both the short and long-term health effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, U.S. health experts said on Monday.
Younger Kids In Class May Be Overdiagnosed With ADHD
It's hard to turn around in a school these days without finding a bunch of kids labeled with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Now research being published in the Journal of Health Economics suggests the diagnosis may be overused and may be commonly applied in error to the youngest kids in class, who are simply acting their age.
Data Breach Prevention Top of Mind for IT Decision Makers
Preventing patient data breaches is cited as the number one priority for healthcare IT decision makers, but work remains for complying with security regulations, according to a national survey that examines IT trends in healthcare.
Vaccination Is Steady, but Pertussis Is Surging
In recent years, pertussis has made an alarming comeback - even among adolescents and adults who were vaccinated as children.
Future of Children's Healthcare Program Already Under Debate
Though years away, the expiration of the popular Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is already getting some attention on Capitol Hill.
Pharmacists Take Larger Role on Health Team
Pharmacists are being enlisted by some health insurers and large employers to address one of the fundamental problems in health care: as many as half of the nation's patients do not take their medications as prescribed, costing nearly $300 billion a year in emergency room visits, hospital stays and other medical expenditures, by some estimates.
Disparity Marks Child Obesity Trends
Childhood overweight and obesity rates have started to stabilize or decline for most ethnic groups, although not for black or American Indian girls, according to a population-based study.
Mild Mania Often Accompanies Major Depression
A high proportion of people with major depression may actually have a "hidden" form of bipolar disorder, according to a population-based study.
HHS Strategic Plan
HHS Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2010-2015. It reflects the contributions of every operating and staff division, and it sets forth the Department's overarching goals for the next five years. Comments are accepted.
CMS: EHR Frequently Asked Questions
A collection of questions and answers regarding the EHR Incentive Program.
Newly Insured Expected to Crowd Emergency Rooms
The new health-reform law means more Americans will have health insurance in four years, but it doesn't ensure that they'll have a doctor to see when they have a medical problem. Emergency-room physicians predict that many of the newly insured will end up in already overcrowded ERs because they won't have easy access to family doctors, whose numbers are dwindling.
Is Obesity Contributing to High C-Section Rates?
The larger a pregnant woman is when she checks in on delivery day, the greater her risk of having a cesarean section, suggests a large new study.
National View: Expanding the Primary Care Workforce
Today 60 million Americans live in areas without a primary care physician. And communities don't just need doctors; they need mental health providers, dentists, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, too.
Medicaid Program and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); Revisions to the Medicaid Eligibility Quality Control and Payment Error Rate Measurement Programs
This final rule implements provisions from the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) with regard to the Medicaid Eligibility Quality Control (MEQC) and Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) programs. This final rule also codifies several procedural aspects of the process for estimating improper payments in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Mobile Clinics Seen as Way to Cut U.S. Health Bill
There are about 2,000 mobile clinics in the United States. Advocates say the approach can help control the rising cost of health care by helping people with chronic diseases to stay out of the emergency room, often the first recourse for inner-city residents.
Rate of Diabetic Vision Impairment Down, Study Finds
An estimated 23.6 million Americans have diabetes, and diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among adults in the United States. With diabetics living longer because of better care, the number of cases can be expected to grow even further.
Jobs Bill Benefits Alabama's Medicaid, Schools
The jobs bill passed by the U.S. House on Tuesday gives Alabama an unanticipated $149 million boost to rehire support staff for public schools, but it does not provide the Medicaid program with enough to fully fund medical care for Alabama's needy.
EHRs Neglecting Preventative Care, Health Promotion
Current e-health record software fails to help clinicians identify patients who need additional services, finds government report.
Children and Young Adults Often Go Unscreened for Heart Disease Risk
Signs of heart disease - generally thought to be a disease of middle age - can be seen even in children, cardiologists now know. But risk factors in children and young adults run the risk of being undetected and untreated, largely because of confusion as to who among the young should get screened, and when.
WHO Declares End to H1N1 Pandemic
Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, has declared an end to the H1N1 influenza pandemic, following the advice of an emergency committee convened to address the issue.
Obama Signs $26 Billion Jobs Bill
The measure provides governors with an additional six months of federal assistance: $10 billion in education aid and about $16 billion to fill gaps opened in state Medicaid budgets by increasing demand on the health program for the poor.
Renewed Effort to Lure Doctors to Rural Areas Faces Obstacles
Nearly 5,000 recent medical school graduates accepted federal grants to pay off tuition and school loans averaging $150,000 per student. The awards come with contracts that obligate the young doctors to remain in what are typically rural areas for three to five years. The corps hopes to recruit another 2,800 students next year.
Statistics: Who Visits the Emergency Room? 20 Percent of Americans, Insured or Not
Americans, insured and not, make ample use of hospital emergency rooms: One out of every five visited an E.R. at least once in 2007, the latest year for which the National Center for Health Statistics has data.
Puberty Comes Earlier For Today's Girls
The rates of early puberty for girls have doubled in a little more than a decade, a new study of girls between 6 and 8 years old finds.
Plugging of Gulf Oil Spill Doesn't Dispel Anxiety, Uncertainty
Oil disasters often lead to spikes in depression, anxiety, divorce and post-traumatic stress, even years after the event is resolved, says Steve Picou, an environmental sociologist at the University of South Alabama.
Health Care Reform Legislation Will Drive Adoption of Medical Home Projects, Officials Say
Recent enactment of health care reform legislation will accelerate the adoption of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, in the public and private sectors by making key investments in the nation's primary care infrastructure while also giving CMS greater latitude in launching and sustaining innovative models, which then may be implemented by the private sector.
GAO: Medicaid Managed Care Contracts Need Better CMS Oversight
The Government Accountability Office released a report Wednesday that says the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs better oversight of Medicaid managed care contracts.
States Respond in Health Care Overhaul Lawsuit
Twenty states and the nation's most influential small business lobby plan Friday to file their response to the government's attempt to dismiss their lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
For-Profit Insurers Threaten Access to Care, Doctors Charge
A private health insurance plan contracted by the state of Massachusetts to provide care for 30,000 legal immigrants is falling short, which may hold an important lesson as the nation begins to implement healthcare reform, according to three primary care physicians.
Hungry Kids More Likely to Be Sick Kids
Childhood hunger leaves a legacy of ill health, particularly when the household repeatedly runs out of food, according to a longitudinal study.
Senate Clears Way for $26 Billion in State Aid
The Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for a $26 billion package of aid to states and school districts, and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said she would summon members from their summer recess to grant final approval to the bill.
Filling the Demand for Mental Health Specialists
We repeatedly hear warnings about the looming shortage of doctors, a crisis intensifying by 2014 when reform provisions allow 30 million people who now lack health insurance to afford medical care.
Missouri Voters Approve Challenge to Federal Healthcare Law
Striking a largely symbolic blow at President Obama's healthcare overhaul, Missouri voters approved a ballot measure Tuesday challenging the new law's requirement that Americans buy health insurance starting in 2014.
Republicans Highlight New Provisions in the Medicaid Assistance Bill
The Republican Policy Committee on Tuesday morning sent out a memo to staffers highlighting the major changes in the Senate bill that extends enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states for six months.
Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials
Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday.
At Least 130 Treated in Alabama for Health Conditions Believed to be Related to Oil Spill
At least 130 people have gone to local emergency rooms, clinics and urgent care centers since May 14 complaining of ailments thought to be related to the oil spill, Alabama Department of Public Health officials reported today.
Senate Vote on Medicaid, Education Funds Delayed
The Senate tabled a jobs measure Monday because Democrats underestimated the package's cost. Democrats had scheduled a vote to end debate on their proposal to send $10 billion in funding to states and local governments to prevent public teacher layoffs. The package contains another $16.1 billion to help states with Medicaid obligations.
Foreign-Born Doctors Give Equal Care in U.S.
Patients treated by foreign-born doctors who trained in other countries fare just as well as people treated by doctors educated in the United States, a new study has found.
EMR Bonus Program Poses Tight Deadline for Physicians
While the final rule determining what constitutes "meaningful use" of electronic medical records provides some needed leeway for physicians, barriers to EMR adoption and implementation remain for doctors, according to the American Medical Association.
Your New Flu Vaccine Is On The Way, A Little Early
Usually flu vaccine starts shipping in August, manufacturers say. So they're a little ahead of schedule this year. Perhaps that's a result of the beefing-up of flu vaccine production capacity that's happened over the past couple of years.
National Health Week to be Recognized at Capstone Rural Health Center
The celebration will feature free health screenings, along with blood pressure, blood sugar and height/weight checks for everyone in attendance. Refreshments and door prizes will be available, along with several onsite vendors.
Local Doctors Begin Charging Fees, Cutting Patients for "Concierge" Medical Care, Some Severing Ties with Medicare
As more local physicians adopt the concierge model, or simply stop treating Medicare patients unless they pay an annual fee, patients who cannot afford the steep fees could have trouble finding other doctors. Most established family physicians and internists in the Rocket City won't accept new Medicare or Medicaid patients.
The ER Myth
One of the major myths attached to the new health reform law is that it will lead to fewer emergency room visits. Instead of having to go to the ER, the claim goes, more efficient care will be administered to the newly insured in doctors offices by primary care physicians like me.
A Timeline for Implementing Healthcare Reform
The key date is really 2014, when many of the provisions of the legislation will begin. As it stands right now, three questions remain. What will happen? When will it happen? Who is responsible?