On #Healthcare Leadership: You want to know about Ebola? Here’s what you need. Alene Nitzky Ph.D RN @AleneGoneBad

You want to know about Ebola? Here’s what you need to know. We need real leadership and reliable information to stop the panic and misinformation that’s being spread. We need that leadership on all fronts, by policymakers, heads of government agencies, health care executives, and the news media.

We have serious public health issues that need to be addressed by these leaders, such as hospital acquired infections that infect over half a million people a year and kill tens of thousands, and medical errors. All are a result of the chronic understaffing and overworking of health care workers, and inadequate resources directed at public health and education, that erodes our ability to control costs and make a decent level of health attainable by most Americans.

If the media wants to know about Ebola, start by asking the front line health care workers, not the executives. We need leadership in the media to support investigative reporting instead of fear, to dig out the root causes of the problems we have and bring them to light. Instead of looking the other way and distracting viewers so as not to anger health care executives who spend huge dollars on advertising, we need the media to interview the front line health care workers. The only way you will get honest answers is to provide them with anonymity, because the executives threaten their jobs if they speak the truth.

The people who are leading the way now are the problem. They don’t know how to lead unless it involves profit and lining their own pockets. Health care has become a product, not a service. We need the news media to be part of the solution, not adding to the problem of fear, divisiveness and distrust.

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Alene Nitzky, Ph.D, RN is an Oncology nurse and health coach in Colorado who advocates for real health care reform that would truly benefit public health. She blogs at alenegonebad.blogspot.com

Twitter.com can help nurses spread messages quickly, efficiently @nursefriendly @patiyer @abbrody #nurseup

Twitter.com can help nurses spread messages quickly, efficiently:"Ab Brody, RN, PhD, GNP-BC, is an assistant professor at New York University's College of Nursing. Pat Iyer, RN, MSN, LNCC, is president of Avoid Medical Errors, a Flemington, N.J.-based company dedicated to helping consumers stay healthy. Andrew Lopez, RN, is a Mantua, N.J.-based nurse entrepreneur, who has several social media businesses.
Their professional nursing lives might be diverse, but all three use Twitter professionally and personally to connect with people who have similar interests"
http://news.nurse.com/article/20120514/NY01/104300013


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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/

Discover Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_Writer, Author of "The Take Charge-Patient"
http://www.thetakechargepatient.com/

Power Strategies For Nurses:"Do your nursing shifts feel like you’re running full speed ahead on a treadmill that you just can’t stop?
http://revolutionarynurse.com/power-strategies-nurses-program-2/

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Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get the Best Medical Care Paperback by Martine Ehrenclou @Med_writer #nurseup

The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get the Best Medical Care Paperback by Martine Ehrenclou @Med_writer:" Frustrated or confused about how to get good medical care? In her newest book, The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get The Best Medical Care, (Lemon Grove Press, on sale May 15, 2012) award-winning author and patient advocate, Martine Ehrenclou, empowers patients to become proactive, well informed participants in their own care. With advice and personal stories from over 200 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, health psychologists, patients and more, The Take-Charge Patient reveals insider information on how to cut through the red tape and navigate today’s complex health care system with confidence."
http://www.amazon.com/Take-Charge-Patient-Best-Medical-Care/dp/0981524036/

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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/

Power Strategies For Nurses:"Do your nursing shifts feel like you’re running full speed ahead on a treadmill that you just can’t stop?
http://revolutionarynurse.com/power-strategies-nurses-program-2/

******************************************************
Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

This is Preventive Care? Eye health screenings and your health insurance plan, @med_writer #healthinsurance

This is Preventive Care? Eye health screenings and your health insurance plan, @med_writer #healthinsurance:"My new health insurance plan, issued by Anthem Blue Cross, covers certain preventive care services. One is an annual eye health screening. I just had my annual eye exam done by my eye doctor who is an in-network provider. So I’m eligible to order more contact lenses, I am required by law to have my eyes examined once a year.

Yesterday I received a phone call from my eye doctor’s office. They submitted my claim for my eye exam and let me know that Anthem Blue Cross denied it. I was told that annual eye exams, according to my health insurance company, are “eye chart vision screenings” performed by my primary care physician at my annual well-woman visit."
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTakeChargePatient
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martineehrenclou
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mehrenclou/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Med_writer
http://martineehrenclou.com/2013/05/this-is-preventive-care-eye-health-screenings-and-your-health-insurance-plan/


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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/

Discover Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_Writer, Author of "The Take Charge-Patient"
http://www.thetakechargepatient.com/

Power Strategies For Nurses:"Do your nursing shifts feel like you’re running full speed ahead on a treadmill that you just can’t stop?
http://revolutionarynurse.com/power-strategies-nurses-program-2/

******************************************************
Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

Surgical Patients Not Getting Information on Alternatives, Wall Street Journal #nurseup #nursefriendly

Surgical Patients Not Getting Information on Alternatives, Wall Street Journal #nurseup #nursefriendly:"It's awfully hard for patients to participate in decisions about their medical care if they don't know all their options.  But that's exactly what seems to be happening, at least with many Medicare patients who received a stent procedure for coronary disease or prostate surgery for cancer, according to a new study. The research, published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine, surveyed 685 patients who had prostate-cancer surgery and 472 who had stents for coronary disease about their decision-making process."
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2012/03/02/surgical-patients-not-getting-information-on-alternatives/


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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/

Discover Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_Writer, Author of "The Take Charge-Patient"
http://www.thetakechargepatient.com/

Power Strategies For Nurses:"Do your nursing shifts feel like you’re running full speed ahead on a treadmill that you just can’t stop?
http://revolutionarynurse.com/power-strategies-nurses-program-2/

******************************************************
Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

Tomorrow's Nurse, Nurse Bytes #13: Carol Gino #RN, @hopefulhealer @cgino8 #nursing #nurses #healthcare #nursefriendly

Tomorrow's Nurse, Nurse Bytes #13: Carol Gino #RN, @hopefulhealer @cgino8 #nursing #nurses #healthcare #nursefriendly 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pWYs_hradQ&list=UUb131DfDhvSz5s51wXOYccg&index=1&feature=plcp

More about Carol Gino:

Carol Gino, RN, BS, MA, Starwater Press, aaha!Books, @hopefulhealer @cgino8 New York, Texas Nurse Authors, Nursing Publishers, Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurse-Owned Businesses:"Star Water Press, LTD. is a publishing company I formed in 1987 in order to publish angel books and other "alternative" titles that would have taken too long to get published (at the time) at a traditional or commercial publishing house.
I incorporated aaha!Books,LLC in 2010 when I moved to Texas to reprint my previously published books as well as other books in ebooks and other digital media. It is also the company from which I run hopefulhealer.com and starwater.com. My team works at both. aaha!books publishes books "Help for Hard Times, clear and simple-small books of big ideas" Star Water Press is for publishing books both in print and new media"
We have two addresses.
Star Water Press LTD. is in Amityville, NY, 11701
aaha! Books, LLC is in Texas
Street Address: 173 KLBJ Rd. Smithville, Texas, 78957
E-mail Address: staff@starwater.com or team@aahabooks.com
Blog: http://www.hopefulhealer.com
URL: http://www.starwater.com
http://hopefulhealer.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/gino

The Nurse's Story by Carol Gino:"Do you still feel the passion to Help? Can you still see the miracles? or Are you exhausted by Burnout? Suffering Compassion Fatigue? National Bestseller! This book is a moving and important affirmation of courage. Of the power of Love and of tragedy redeemed by compassion. Here is a book that will shatter forever your casual assumptions about medicine, doctors, and especially about nurses."
http://starwater.com/?aah-ha-books/the-nurses-story/

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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/ 

Discover Rodan & Fields Dermatologists, Take Their Free Online Skin Consultation.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nurseup/permalink/523614767722544/

Work At Home, RN Jobs, Do You Know Where To Find Them? Ask Nursing Career Coach Carmen Kosicek
https://www.facebook.com/nursefriendly/posts/10202345780396833

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Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us 


Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive 
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

All in the balance: Nurse practitioners are ready to help meet baby boomers’ growing needs. #nurseup #aprn #healthcare

All in the balance: Nurse practitioners are ready to help meet baby boomers’ growing needs:"As they grow older, about 70 million baby boomers will test the mettle of the nation’s healthcare system — particularly its supply of primary care providers — like never before. Will there be enough PCPs to meet boomers’ chronic care needs? Some say no and are working toward securing nurse practitioners’ expanded scope of practice across the county, which will allow NPs to meet the growing need for more providers.

Members of America’s massive generation of baby boomers — people born from Jan. 1, 1946, through Dec. 31, 1964 — are now reaching age 65 at a rate of roughly 10,000 a day. The combination of aging baby boomers and an expected influx of patients seeking healthcare in 2014 under provisions of the Affordable Care Act may provide fodder for nurse practitioners seeking to expand scope-of-practice laws in the 34 states that limit it."
https://www.nurse.com/blog/2013/06/03/all-in-the-balance-nurse-practitioners-are-ready-to-help-meet-baby-boomers%C2%92-growing-needs/

See also: Nurse Practitioners:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing/advanced.practice.nurses/nurse.practitioners.htm


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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/

Discover Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_Writer, Author of "The Take Charge-Patient"
http://www.thetakechargepatient.com/

Power Strategies For Nurses:"Do your nursing shifts feel like you’re running full speed ahead on a treadmill that you just can’t stop?
http://revolutionarynurse.com/power-strategies-nurses-program-2/

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Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us

Join the discussions, ask questions

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Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

Faced with a New Diagnosis? 10 tips to be your own best advocate, Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_writer #nurseup

Faced with a New Diagnosis? 10 tips to be your own best advocate, +Martine Ehrenclou, @Med_writer:"You’re sitting in your physician’s exam room, clothed in a gown. Your test results are in and you are about to discuss them with your doctor.  You’ve had symptoms that prompted those tests and worst-case scenarios are flooring the accelerator on your fears. Your doctor walks in and greets you with a smile and asks how you are, a question you’d be happy to answer after she discloses the results.

Your physician introduces a diagnosis that requires treatment, perhaps a few more tests or even a procedure. While your thoughts are tripping over the medical information, the image of your kids at school comes to mind along with the question, “Who will pick them up if I’m undergoing treatment?” You’re now ten steps ahead of the doctor, plotting what to do next. Should you surrender and simply let the doctor handle everything? Not exactly."
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTakeChargePatient
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martineehrenclou
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mehrenclou/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Med_writer
http://martineehrenclou.com/2013/12/faced-with-a-new-diagnosis-10-tips-to-be-your-own-best-advocate/

Do you #publish a #nursing, #medical #healthcare daily through Paper.Li? Add it! #nurseup

Do you #publish a #nursing, #medical #healthcare daily through Paper.Li? Add it! 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nurseup/permalink/272537169496973/ #nurseup

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New!

Discover! "Unconventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss" Michelle Podlesni, RN @MPodlesni
http://unconventionalnurse.com/al/ 

Discover Rodan & Fields Dermatologists, Take Their Free Online Skin Consultation.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nurseup/permalink/523614767722544/

Work At Home, RN Jobs, Do You Know Where To Find Them? Ask Nursing Career Coach Carmen Kosicek
https://www.facebook.com/nursefriendly/posts/10202345780396833

******************************************************
Did you know? Our team of nurses has been researching, indexing healthcare resources for over a decade? If you have questions, need resources, stop here first and search our index. If we don't have it, ask us 

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Ning Network: http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

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Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly National Directories
38 Tattersall Drive 
West Deptford, New Jersey 08051
856-415-9617, Fax: 856-415-9618, info@nursefriendly.com, @nursefriendly
http://www.nursefriendly.com/

Slowing health costs requires answering 3 simple questions

by Donald H. Taylor, Jr., PhD

If we ever slow health care cost inflation to a sustainable pace, it will be because we learn how to ask 3 simple questions when thinking about a medical treatment.

• Does it improve quality of life for the patient?
• Does it extend the patient’s life?
• How much does it cost?

Asking the questions are of course much simpler than figuring out the answer, and far far simpler than deciding what to do with the answer.

The first step is not demonizing even the asking of the questions. This would represent a profound shift in our culture

via kevinmd.com

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Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
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http://www.nursingexperts.com

$4 drug programs could save economy billions: study | Reuters

U.S. consumers could save billions of dollars by filling prescriptions for inexpensive generic drugs at stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, according to a new report.

A growing number of national chain pharmacies offer the generic form of a range of drugs - including anti-allergy medications, antidepressants, antibiotics and cholesterol-lowering drugs - for $4 for a 30 day supply. However, researchers found that less than 6 percent of people who could use such a program take advantage of it - costing both consumers and the government extra bucks.

All told, the US could save as much as $5.8 billion, according to the study

via reuters.com

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Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
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disruptivewomen (disruptivewomen) on Twitter

disruptivewomen

@disruptivewomen Washington, DC

A blog that aims to serve as a platform for provocative ideas, thoughts, and solutions in the health sphere.

http://www.disruptivewomen.net/

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Haley Barbour Draws Fire For Medicaid Changes In Mississippi - Kaiser Health News http://bit.ly/em9hnc

8 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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disruptivewomen disruptivewomen

Text: CBO's Options On Health Spending - Kaiser Health News http://bit.ly/hSijsg

8 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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disruptivewomen disruptivewomen

WHO's response to swine flu pandemic flawed http://wapo.st/i68Z4g

10 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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disruptivewomen disruptivewomen

Teen Birthrate Hit Historic Low in 2009 - US News and World Report http://bit.ly/dGpXmj

10 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

»

via twitter.com

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Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
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http://www.nursingexperts.com

FDA takes over Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol plants - Mar. 10, 2011

The government is taking over three Tylenol plants following a blizzard of drug recalls and a Food and Drug Administration criminal investigation into safety issues at the factories.

The FDA and the Justice Department on Thursday took action against McNeil PPC and two of its executives -- its vice president of quality and its vice president of operations for over-the-counter products -- for failing to comply with federally-mandated manufacturing practice.

McNeil, a division of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500), said it had agreed to put its plants -- one in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, one in Fort Washington, Pa. and one in Lancaster, Pa., under FDA supervision.

The agreement, known as a "consent decree," is subject to approval by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.

via money.cnn.com

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Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
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150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

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Governors: Medicaid More A Budget Buster Than Ever : NPR

The federal government and the states have shared the cost of Medicaid, the health insurance program for some 60 million low-income Americans, since it was created in 1965.

They've shared something else almost that long — arguments about who should foot how much of the ever-escalating bill.

"Medicaid cost growth has been a problem for time immemorial," says Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.

But this time, he says, things are different.

For one thing, "the program is bigger, so growth on a larger base is more real dollars that's harder to find."

via npr.org

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Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

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http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Medicaid chief: Single payer may be better than ‘devil-may-be’ market

A senior Patrick administration health care official said Friday that a single payer system may work more effectively and efficiently than Massachusetts’s existing insurance market, a high-profile endorsement that raised eyebrows at a legislative hearing.

“I like the market, but the more and more I stay in it, the more and more I think that maybe a single payer would be better,” said Terry Dougherty, director of MassHealth – the state-run Medicaid plan that insures nearly 1.3 million Massachusetts residents – when lawmakers asked for his “personal view” on a single payer system.

Dougherty’s comment, made during a budget hearing at the Boston Public Library, prompted his boss, Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby, to interject: “That’s his personal opinion.”

Dougherty noted that MassHealth, by far the largest program in state government, spends just 1.5 percent of its $10-billion-a-year budget on administrative costs – compared to about 9.5 percent by the private market, according to studies by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. That figure won plaudits from several lawmakers on the panel, including some who have supported implementing a statewide single payer system.

After his remarks, Dougherty told the News Service that he’s learned to appreciate “elements of single payer” during his 30 years in health care.

“It’s got to be better than this devil-may-be marketplace,” he said. “We don’t build big buildings. We don’t have high salaries. We don’t have a lot of marketing, which makes, to some extent, some of the things that we do easier and less costly than some things that happen in the marketplace. Overall, my point is, we have individuals who work in state government in MassHealth ... who are just as smart, just as tactile, just as creative as people who work in the private sector, but they work for a lot less money.”

A single payer system would replace the state’s patchwork of nonprofit and private insurers with a single, public insurer through which all health care dollars would flow to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers. Supporters say it would eliminate administrative waste and ensure that all residents receive adequate coverage.

But while supporters point to single payer models used by other countries and tout the idea as a cost saver, critics warn the system would result in government bureaucrats deciding what services to cover and how to pay for them, would reduce the quality of care and would disrupt relationships between doctors and patients.

Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents have endorsed the approach. In fact voters in 14 House districts –including five that backed Scott Brown for U.S. Senate – voted overwhelmingly last year to support a non-binding ballot question that asked, “Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to support legislation that would establish health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health or employment status, by creating a single payer health insurance system like Medicare that is comprehensive, cost effective, and publicly provided to all residents of Massachusetts?”

A similar question passed in 10 other House districts in 2008.

Although last session 50 members of the Legislature supported a single payer model, the issue has lacked support from the upper echelons of the Legislature and the Patrick administration.

A single payer plan would scrap Massachusetts’s landmark health care system, which relies on the private insurance marketplace, and that backers have credited with helping insure about 98 percent of the population. Backers of the existing structure, while acknowledging that health care costs have continued to climb, note that the state has covered about 430,000 residents since the inception of health care reform in 2006. Individuals are required to purchase health insurance, and low-income residents without access to health care through their employers may obtain partially or fully-subsidized care through the state’s Connector Authority, an exchange that pairs consumers with private plans, or through MassHealth.

This session, only 32 members signed on to the single payer proposal, although the sponsors include several high-ranking lawmakers: Rep. Stephen Kulik, vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee; Rep. Martha Walz, assistant vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee; Reps. Ellen Story and Byron Rushing, members of Speaker Robert DeLeo’s upper leadership team; and eight House committee chairs. The bill’s lead sponsors are Rep. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) and Sen. James Eldridge (D-Acton). Last session’s lead sponsor, Rep. Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) was ousted at the polls by Republican David Vieira.

Benjamin Day, executive director of Mass Care, a single payer advocacy group, noted that only six of the lawmakers in the 14 House districts whose voters endorsed single payer health care signed onto the bill. He asserted that many members of state government’s health care hierarchy support single payer health care but keep it to themselves.

“Everyone is making political considerations, tactical considerations,” he said.

Day said supporters of a single payer system are eyeing Vermont, which recently elected a Democratic governor who ran on a platform that included a single payer system.

via bostonherald.com

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GOP Counts The Ways To Defund Health Law : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Did House Republicans keep their promise to defund the health care overhaul as part of their bill to cut more than $60 billion from the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year?

You betcha. They've come up with more than half a dozen ways to throttle spending on overhaul, in fact.

 

Most of the attention went to the amendment to the spending bill offered by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT). Rehberg, who chairs the spending subcommittee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, offered language to the bill that would bar the use of funds to pay the salaries of any HHS "employee, officer, contractor, or grantee" to implement the health law. It passed on a 239-187 vote, almost exclusively along party lines.

But just in case that doesn't work, House Republicans passed several other amendments as well.

via npr.org

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5 rising trends in health care | PennLive.com

David Stoner notices that his opinion has recently become a lot more important to the staff who treats him at the Dillsburg Family Health Center.

Before, I was pretty passive, just doing what the doctor said. I can tell they are trying to get me more involved,” said the 64-year-old Lower Allen Twp. man who has diabetes.

The Dillsburg Family Health Center, a service of Holy Spirit Health System, is the site for the health system’s first “medical home” — a patient-centered, comprehensive approach to care that coordinates all facets of a patient’s care and medical history. This approach makes patients active participants in treatment decisions and improves communication between a patient’s health care providers.

It’s working for Stoner, who said he now takes his goal of losing weight and exercising more seriously, perhaps because he is the one who came up with it.

The concept of a medical home is one of several emerging trends in medicine as the industry seeks to prepare itself for aging baby boomers, take advantage of cost-effective technology and, ultimately, deliver safer, better care for patients.

Here’s a look at the effects of some of those trends in the midstate.

via pennlive.com

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Obama administration asks states to cut costs without dropping Medicaid coverage

By Marilyn Werber Serafini

Kaiser Health News
Tuesday, February 22, 2011; 12:58 PM

The Obama administration is deploying squadrons of in-house experts to help budget-strapped states figure out how to save money on Medicaid, the health program for the poor that has been a source of rising tensions between state capitals and Washington.

In recent weeks, both Democratic and Republican governors have been pressing the administration to be flexible in enforcing a requirement in the new health-care law that bars states from tightening eligibility for the program between now and 2014, when an additional 16 million people will be eligible for the program. Some states want to tighten eligibility now to curb spending.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has a difficult balancing act. The former governor of Kansas wants to improve relations with the governors, who are due Saturday in Washington for a big meeting. But she also wants to expand Medicaid, not shrink it.

via washingtonpost.com

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Women and the Affordable Care Act - Health Care for You | HealthCare.gov

Health Care for You

Women have unique health care needs, and often make health care decisions for their families. The law offers important benefits for women and their families. 

The Affordable Care Act ensures that:

Insurance Companies Can’t Deny Coverage to Women.  Before the Affordable Care Act became law, insurance companies selling individual policies could deny coverage to women due to pre-existing conditions, such as cancer and having been pregnant. Under the law, insurance companies are already banned from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition.   In 2014, it will be illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against anyone with a pre-existing condition. 

Women Have a Choice of Doctor. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, all Americans joining new insurance plans have the freedom to choose from any primary care provider, OB-GYN, or pediatrician in their health plan’s network, or emergency care outside of the plan’s network, without a referral.

Women Can Receive Preventive Care Without Copays. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, all Americans joining a new health care plan can receive recommended preventive services, like mammograms, new baby care and well-child visits, with no out-of-pocket costs. See a list of preventive services for women. (Preventive services benefits apply if you’re in a new health plan that you joined after March 23, 2010.)

Women Pay Lower Health Care Costs. Before the law, women could be charged more for individual insurance policies simply because of their gender. A 22-year-old woman could be charged 150% the premium that a 22-year-old man paid. In 2014, insurers will not be able to charge women higher premiums than they charge men. The law takes strong action to control health care costs, including helping states crack down on excessive premium increases and making sure most of your premium dollars go for your health care.

next page >>

via healthcare.gov

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Our health is worsening at a time when medicine has never been better, KevinMD.com

by David Gratzer, MD

With little notice, UnitedHealth released a major paper recently considering diabetes in America.

First the bad news: a large portion of our population either has the disease or is pre-diabetic.

Now, the really bad news: diabetes and pre-diabetes rates are going to soar in the coming decade, according to the analysis, in part driven by the obesity crisis.

I’ll return back to the study in a moment, but it underscores a paradox: medicine has never been better; our overall health, however, is worsening.

Indeed, after seventy years of staggering medical progress — whereby medicine has evolved from passive care to miraculous cure — we seem to have entered into a new age, one in which personal decision will increasingly influence our health and the cost of our health care.

via kevinmd.com

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