WASHINGTON, April 6 -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Department of Health and Human Services), Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, has awarded a $403288.00 federal contract on Apr. 6 for 'RECOVERY - HITECH Incentive Payments Program for J4 MAC PART A/B.'
Contractor Awardee: TrailBlazer Health For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
A report published by BioOhio reveals the importance of bioscience and health care to Ohio's economic recovery.
In a release, the group noted:
In 2007, the overall economic impact of Ohio-based bioscience was $148.2 billion, representing 15.7 percent of Ohio's total economic output. Bioscience also directly and indirectly generated 1.4 million jobs in Ohio in 2007. BioOhio teamed with consulting firm Tripp Umbach, which employed the IMPLAN input-output model to estimate the impact of bioscience economic events in the state of Ohio.
BioOhio's definition of the bioscience industry includes three integrated sectors: commercial bioscience entities, hospitals and healthcare providers, and medical colleges. The commercial bioscience sector alone accounted for a $33.8 billion overall economic impact and 50,100 direct jobs in 2007, up from $27.3 billion and 48,485 direct jobs in 2006. When indirect and induced jobs are factored, the commercial bioscience employment impact jumps to 135,136.
Analysis of commercial bioscience industry segments revealed research and development as the top employment sector (12,415), while agricultural biotechnology contributed the largest direct economic impact ($10.7 billion) in 2007. Medical device and equipment manufacturers directly employed 9,757 Ohioans.
Bioscience, medical technology, and research organizations continue to thrive in Ohio. As of December 2008, 1,141 bioscience-related entities were operating in the state. While company launches and relocations explain some of the 39.5 percent increase since last year's count (818), the expansion is mostly attributable to a more thorough census of organizations. For instance, 636 Ohio companies are FDA-certified to manufacture medical devices and 88 facilities in the state are FDA-certified to manufacture pharmaceuticals. BioOhio determined that nearly half of these companies are actively involved in the value chain of at least one commercial bioscience product.
Bioscience-related entities include those involved in research, development, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, bioinformatics, medical devices, medical equipment, biotechnology products, and health-related products.
Half of Ohio's bioscience entities (574) are located in northeast Ohio, which includes the Cleveland area, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown. Southwest Ohio, anchored by Cincinnati, and central Ohio, which includes the capital Columbus, are each home to about 200 of the state's bioscience-related entities.
'The Ohio Bioscience Growth Report clearly shows that Ohio continues to make great strides in the biosciences, and our bioscience industry is on the fast track creating jobs of the future for Ohioans,' said Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development. 'We are once again rated as one of the nation's top technological innovators, recognition of the wide diversity of world-class research institutions, medical centers, and visionary companies that call Ohio home.'
BioOhio (formerly Omeris) is a non-profit organization supported by the Thomas Edison Program of the Ohio Department of Development.
Report Information:
www.bioohio.com/pdfs/growthreport08.aspx
Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer
Providence Health expects to expand its local hospital staff by 20 percent this year, and Valley Presbyterian Hospital predicts its payroll will grow.
And medical centers operated by the University of Southern California added 500 employees - mostly nurses - in 2009, and wants to hire 400 more this year.
A forecast released this week by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. predicted that health care will be among the first sectors to rebound from the recession, and an informal survey of local hospitals indicates the recovery may already have begun.
'We're experiencing a hiring growth because our patient census is growing as well as our specialty services,' said Judith Maass, vice president and chief nursing officer at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, where 100 new nurses were hired last year.
'I personally don't think we're going to see a slowdown,' she said. 'The economy has really helped in converting part-time workers to full time.'
And as specialty services grow, hospitals will need more employees with various skills.
'It's not just nurses that are needed,' said Norma Resneder, senior vice president of human resources and organizational development at nonprofit Valley Presbyterian. 'We need lab technicians, X-ray technicians and billing clerks. It's a high priority for us to fill these positions.'
Growth on the horizon
The California region of Providence Health & Services - which includes three hospitals in the San Fernando Valley and two in the South Bay - did not add staff in 2009, but expects that to change this year, said Tom Wiseman, regional director of talent acquisition.
'Assuming the economic and political environments will not further erode, I believe we will see about a 20 percent increase in new hiring over 2009 mainly due to the expansion at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and projected growth in the Providence Medical Institute,' he said.
'If the environment improves, we may experience as much as a 25 percent increase in new hiring for 2010.'
The new wing at Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills will mean an additional 200 to 250 jobs, mostly for registered nurses, officials said.
Other local hospitals continue to have openings. Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Glendale Memorial Hospital have a total of 80 vacancies, with positions ranging from admitting supervisor to speech pathologist.
And hiring soared after the University of Southern California acquired University Hospital and the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital from Tenet Healthcare Corp., officials said.
USC hospitals currently have 424 vacancies, say officials, who expect to see the work force swell by 5 to 10 percent this year.
'In the last 10 months, we have seen significant growth in our patient admissions and overall business,' Chief Human Resources Officer Matt McElrath said in a statement. 'That means our work force needs to expand in order to accommodate the growing demand for services at our facilities.'
Operating at a deficit
Not every medical center is experiencing growth, said Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California.
He noted that more than half of Los Angeles County's 72 hospitals are operating at a deficit, and that two - including Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley - have declared bankruptcy.
In addition, nurses who once had the option of retiring early or transferring to other medical centers are staying put longer, closing those wide doors of opportunity at some medical centers where a nursing shortage was predicted.
'Not all hospitals are recession-proof,' Lott said. 'Many more have a hiring freeze.'
susan.abram@dailynews.com
Providence Health expects to expand its local hospital staff by20 percent this year, and Valley Presbyterian Hospital predicts itspayroll will grow.
And medical centers operated by the University of SouthernCalifornia added 500 employees - mostly nurses - in 2009, and wantsto hire 400 more this year.
A forecast released this week by the Los Angeles County EconomicDevelopment Corp. predicted that health care will be among the firstsectors to rebound from the recession, and an informal survey oflocal hospitals indicates the recovery may already have begun.
'We're experiencing a hiring growth because our patient census isgrowing as well as our specialty services,' said Judith Maass, vicepresident and chief nursing officer at Valley Presbyterian Hospitalin Van Nuys, where 100 new nurses were hired last year.
'I personally don't think we're going to see a slowdown,' shesaid. 'The economy has really helped in converting part-time workersto full time.'
And as specialty services grow, hospitals will need moreemployees with various skills.
'It's not just nurses that are needed,' said Norma Resneder,senior vice president of human resources and organizationaldevelopment at nonprofit Valley Presbyterian. 'We need labtechnicians, X-ray technicians and billing clerks. It's a highpriority for us to fill these positions.'
Growth on the horizon
The California region of Providence Health & Services - whichincludes three hospitals in the San Fernando Valley and two in theSouth Bay - did not add staff in 2009, but expects that to changethis year, said Tom Wiseman, regional director of talentacquisition.
'Assuming the economic and political environments will notfurther erode, I believe we will see about a 20 percent increase innew hiring over 2009 mainly due to the expansion at Providence HolyCross Medical Center and projected growth in the Providence MedicalInstitute,' he said.
'If the environment improves, we may experience as much as a 25percent increase in new hiring for 2010.'
The new wing at Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills will meanan additional 200 to 250 jobs, mostly for registered nurses,officials said.
Other local hospitals continue to have openings. NorthridgeHospital Medical Center and Glendale Memorial Hospital have a totalof 80 vacancies, with positions ranging from admitting supervisor tospeech pathologist.
And hiring soared after the University of Southern Californiaacquired University Hospital and the Kenneth Norris Jr. CancerHospital from Tenet Healthcare Corp., officials said.
USC hospitals currently have 424 vacancies, say officials, whoexpect to see the work force swell by 5 to 10 percent this year.
'In the last 10 months, we have seen significant growth in ourpatient admissions and overall business,' Chief Human ResourcesOfficer Matt McElrath said in a statement. 'That means our workforce needs to expand in order to accommodate the growing demand forservices at our facilities.'
Operating at a deficit
Not every medical center is experiencing growth, said Jim Lott,executive vice president of the Hospital Association of SouthernCalifornia.
He noted that more than half of Los Angeles County's 72 hospitalsare operating at a deficit, and that two - including PacificaHospital of the Valley in Sun Valley - have declared bankruptcy.
In addition, nurses who once had the option of retiring early ortransferring to other medical centers are staying put longer,closing those wide doors of opportunity at some medical centerswhere a nursing shortage was predicted.
'Not all hospitals are recession-proof,' Lott said. 'Many morehave a hiring freeze.'
susan.abram@dailynews.com
EXPERT ANALYSIS FROM THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
SAN ANTONIO -- Preventing or treating depression after a stroke can help patients with varying degrees of disability and adaptive skills recover functional ability.
Treatment for depression can help patients develop the plasticity they need to recover physical function, or in the case of more serious poststroke disabilities, help them more readily adapt to their limitations, Dr. Ellen M. Whyte said at the meeting.
Both the brain's plasticity and adaptation rely on the ability of patients to practice and learn new skills to help themselves recover or adapt after a major medical illness such as a stroke. But evidence from several studies shows that 'depression after a stroke is associated with poor functional recovery and decreased efficiency of recovery,' said Dr. Whyte, a geriatric psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh.
Decreased Participation
Depression may impede recovery from a stroke by decreasing a patient's participation in rehabilitation activities, she said. Depression is also associated with cognitive problems, such as executive impairment, that can interfere with recovery or adaptation, and with motor impairment, such as decreased gait speed, which may also hinder rehabilitation.
A 2004 study from the University of Pittsburgh of 242 patients admitted for rehabilitation showed that patients who were 'frequent poor participators' in rehabilitation activities had less physical recovery and longer length of stay, and were more likely to be institutionalized than either occasionally poor participators or good participators (Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2004; 85:1599-601).
A separate study by Dr. Whyte and her colleagues looked at the effects of mood, apathy, memory, attention, executive function, and level of disability on participation in rehabilitation. The patients all had evidence of cognitive impairment, but they were without major depression.
The investigators found that among the 44 stroke survivors aged 60 years and older who were admitted for inpatient rehabilitation, baseline disability and impairment of executive function were independent predictors of participation. They also found that 'while level of depressive symptoms was not an independent predictor of rehabilitation participation in this sample, it was strongly correlated with executive functions. Depressive symptoms and impairment in executive functions frequently overlap in late life and after stroke, and potentially represent ischemic injury to frontal-subcortical pathways' (Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2010;91:203-7).
Falls and Depression Linked
Other studies found that depression, as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90, was associated with a doubling of fails in community-dwelling adults aged 70 years or older (J. Clin. Epidemiol. 2002;55:108-894), and that poor self-rated health, poor cognitive status, impaired activities of daily living, two or more clinic visits in the past month, and slow walking speed predicted both an elderly patient's risk of falling and depressive symptoms (J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2002;56:631-6), she said.
Additionally, investigators looking at the effect of depression remission after a stroke found that patients with remission of a depressive disorder at follow-up had significantly greater recovery in activities of daily living (ADL) functions than did patients without remission. The authors also found that patients with remission of either major or minor depression showed greater improvement in ADL than did patients without remission, some of whom had received the antidepressant nortriptyline, and some of whom had received placebo. The finding suggests that nondrug mechanisms of recovery from depression may have accounted for the improvements in ADL among patients with remission (J. Nerv. Merit. Dis. 2001;189:421-5).
The evidence points to a stroke-recovery model in which preventing or treating depression would lead to increased motivation and participation in rehabilitation programs, reduced depression-related cognitive impairments, and decreases in depression-related motor impairments, Dr. Whyte said.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced the creation of the Office of Recovery Act Coordination. This will help ensure the timely, organized and transparent distribution of an estimated $137.0 billion in Recovery Act Funds managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
'HHS is committed to moving quickly and carefully to distribute Recovery Act funds in an open and transparent manner,' said agency spokeswoman Jenny Backus. 'We have already worked to put more than $3.0 billion in Recovery Act funds into states and the new Office of Recovery Act Coordination will enhance and streamline our efforts to get critical resources and potential new job opportunities to the American people during tough times,' she added.a
Dennis Williams will lead the new office and serve as HHS' Deputy Assistant Secretary for Recovery Act Coordination.a Mr Williams has served in the department for more than 20 years in offices including the Health Resources Services Administration and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget.
WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin:
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced that INConcertCare, Inc. of Urbandale has been awarded $1,371,125 to implement electronic health records and other health information innovations. The funding was awarded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, the Economic Recovery Act, and distributed by the Department of Health and Human Service's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
'As America moves towards health reform, converting medical records into electronic format will help to improve efficiency and rein in costs,' said Harkin. 'It will allow doctors to make faster, smarter decisions about their patients' care and eliminate waste. This is a wise investment of recovery dollars that will help us make health care work for every American.'
WASHINGTON, March 2 -- Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Ill. (12th CD), issued the following news release:
U.S. Congressmen Jerry Costello (D-IL) announced today that Community Health and Emergency Services, Inc., located in Cairo, will receive a $1.3 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funds are part of $2 billion in the bill set aside for community health centers that provide quality care in inner city or rural areas.
The grant will be used to restore full hours to all employees and rehire several others. In addition, replacement vehicles will be purchased and other equipment upgraded. Renovations will be completed at three facilities - Cairo, Harrisburg and Tamms. Service growth at the Harrisburg facility is expected to create 15-20 new jobs.
'This is a great example of how the Recovery Act is getting money into our communities quickly to create jobs and improve quality of life,' said Costello, a member of the Steering Committee of the Rural Health Care Coalition. 'Reliable medical services are an essential part of economic development, and this funding will help meet the challenges of providing health care in a rural area.'For more information about US Fed News contract awards please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, US Fed News, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.
The Voice of America issued the following story:
By Greg Flakus
The island city of Galveston and other areas along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas and Louisiana are struggling to begin their recovery from Hurricane Ike, which struck late last week. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, Texas, people who remain in some stricken areas without clean water or sewage systems could face major health risks.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has called them 'knuckleheads,' but the several thousand people who defied evacuation orders last week and rode out the storm in the state's most vulnerable coastal communities see themselves as hardy survivors.
Officials estimate there are still between 250 and 300 people on Galveston Island in spite of dire conditions that include lack of sanitation, lack of clean water and an infestation of mosquitoes that could carry infectious diseases.
Texas State Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey says those who stay on the island face significant health risks.
'This community is challenged right now on the health and medical side,' said Dr. Lakey. 'We do not have an outbreak right now, but there have been a few cases. When you are unable to flush your toilet and you cannot wash your hands, when you do not have electricity to keep a refrigerator running and you cannot boil your water, that is a prime setup to have an infectious disease event.'
One elderly man was evacuated from the island with mosquito bites all over his body. Since the hurricane passed through, rescue crews have assisted some 2,000 people who were stranded in the area. Officials say they will now urge everyone remaining to leave and may use legal force to remove them, if it necessary.
Galveston officials say they will allow people who evacuated before the storm to return during daylight hours to check their property, but they must leave before sunset or face a $2,000 fine.
In other parts of the Houston metropolitan area, people are struggling with lack of electrical power and disruption of normal communications. Local power companies have brought in thousands of line crews from other states to help restore electricity, and they are making progress in some areas. Most large office buildings remain closed downtown and in other business zones. Retail stores also remain closed, except for a few operating with emergency generators and offering only limited merchandise for sale.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is supplying personnel, food, water, materiel and financial support to the recovery effort. Working with local and state officials, FEMA has established about 60 distribution centers around the Houston area where thousands of people are now lining up for drinking water, bags of ice and other items. In the first two days after the storm, officials gave out 600,000 bags of ice and more than one million bottles of water.
Officials say it may take months to clean up and restore basic services in some devastated areas around Houston. But they say normal business should start returning to at least some parts of this fourth largest city in the United States by next week.
Flakus report - Download (MP3): http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2008_09/Audio/Mp3/LCR%20Flakus%20Hurricane%20Recovery%202349610%20091608%20vb.Mp3
CAMBRIDGE, Md., Aug. 10 -- The office of Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., has issued the following news release:
U.
S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), a leading supporter of efforts to expand federally qualified health centers (FQHC), today visited the CambridgeDentalCenter and the Fassett-MageeHealthCenter to congratulate the Choptank Community Health System (CCHS) on receiving $1 million in funding through the Federal Investment Program (FIP) grant program to expand dental services. CCHS was the only community health center in Maryland to receive FIP funding, which was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
'Expanding our system of community health care centers is an investment in the health of our citizens and our economy,' said Senator Cardin. 'In 2007, 12-year-old Deamonte Driver's tragic death illustrated how important dental care is to overall health care. Preventative health care and dental care saves lives and costs less than treating advanced diseases or injuries.'
CCHS is a fully accredited community health center providing comprehensive medical, dental and behavioral health care services at eight locations in Caroline, Dorchester and Talbot counties. In 2008, more than 27,000 patients were seen through the combined programs of CCHS for a total of more than 93,000 visits. The Recovery funds will enable CCHS to renovate the Fassett-MageeHealthCenter to include a new seven chair dental center.
Investments in health centers pay for themselves. Overall medical expenses for health center patients are 41 percent lower than for patients who receive care elsewhere. Senator Cardin has co-sponsored the Access for All Americans Act, S. 486, which would expand funding for FHQCs nationwide. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Pa. (11th CD), issued the following news release:
Today, Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) announced $311,090 from the recovery package for the Rural Health Corporation of Northeastern Pennsylvania (RHC) which will allow the organization to reach out to more uninsured individuals. The announcement was made at Freeland Health Center, one of the RHC's medical sites. The RHC hopes to help over 1,000 more Northeastern Pennsylvanians with needed medical services as a result of the funding. The federal funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a result of the recovery package that Congress passed on February 13 with Congressman Kanjorski's support. The HHS distributed funding to community health centers nationwide enabling them to expand their services.
'This funding from the recovery package will help the RHC expand its services to more individuals and families in the area in need of affordable, quality heath services,' said Congressman Kanjorski. 'I applaud RHC for the valuable work they do for Northeastern Pennsylvania's residents. Too many people live without health insurance, and then when they need medical and dental services, the costs are too high. RHC makes it possible for many of these individuals and families to get the quality care they need at an affordable price. And with this new funding, RHC will be able to help many more people access these services.'
'I would like to thank Congressman Kanjorski for supporting the recovery package,' said Ed Michael, President of the RHC. 'With this additional funding, we will now be able to extend our medical and dental services to even more people, enabling them to access care that they might not otherwise be able to afford. Our centers throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania provide valuable services to residents, and I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to spread those services to more people. We greatly appreciate Congressman Kanjorski's support.'
The RHC provides primary and preventive medical and dental services to residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania - regardless of income levels. The organization has seven medical centers and three dental centers throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, including a pediatric site and a homeless planning site. The RHC offers health care at an affordable cost and at a discount for eligible individuals. Anyone in need of medical or dental services is able to access services at RHC's centers.
The RHC is a member of the National Association of Community Health Centers, which are non-profit, community-directed health care providers that offer high quality, affordable primary and preventative care.
WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the office of California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard:
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) made the following statement today (2/12/10) in response to the below announcement (scroll down for full release) by the Administration of additional Recovery grant funding:
'The Obama Administration's announcement of the latest round of Recovery Act awards is great news for Angelenos and all Californians who stand to benefit from enhanced job training opportunities in the health care field and more efficient and accessible electronic medical record technology,' Congresswoman Roybal-Allard said. 'I'm especially excited about the $3.6 million federal grant for a program in Los Angeles County to provide participants with job training to become Medical Assistants, Pharmacy Technicians and Certified Nursing Assistants. Upon completing the coursework, more than 300 people are expected to enter jobs that fill critical health care needs in the community.'
In Los Angeles, the Youth Policy Institute received $3,623,473. Additional information about the award and the Institute, including local contact information, is as follows:
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
Industry and Sector: Health Care (Nursing)
Autoa Impacted Counties: Los Angeles County, CA
Highlighted Participants Served: Unemployed, dislocated, and incumbent workers
Amount: $3,623,473
Key Partner Highlights: Youth Policy Institute (YPI), the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board, Los Angeles Valley College, and UCLA
Project Description: The YPI Health Sector Program, founded on a robust community partnership, will train and place participants as Medical Assistants, Pharmacy Technicians, and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Their comprehensive approach will combine individualized learning plans with 100 hours of basic knowledge classes, adult education, supportive services, and LAUSD vocational tracks in order to ensure that participants progress along a defined career path. At the completion of their training, participants will be eligible to sit for and become certified in their specialty. Additionally, all program completers will have access to career counselors who will
facilitate job placement and retention.
Proposed Outcomes: Over the course of the three year project, 376 individuals will complete vocational training for Medical Assistant, CAN, and Pharmacy Assistant tracks. 320 of those individuals will enter employment positions. Additionally, YPI will develop curriculum and outreach material; to be added to existing LAUSD courses.
Contact: Stan Saunders, 634 South Spring Street, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014
ssaunders@ypiusa.org
###
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2010
Sebelius, Solis Announce Nearly $1 Billion Recovery Act Investment in Advancing Use of Health IT, Training Workers for Health Jobs of the Future
Grant Awards to Help Make Health IT Available to Over 100,000 Health Providers by 2014, Support Tens of Thousands of Jobs Nationwide
WASHINGTON, DC - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (IT) and train workers for the health care jobs of the future. The awards will help make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in health care and information technology. This Recovery Act investment will help grow the emerging health IT industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.
The over $750 million in HHS grant awards Secretary Sebelius announced today are part of a federal initiative to build capacity to enable widespread meaningful use of health IT. This assistance at the state and regional level will facilitate health care providers' efforts to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful manner that has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for all Americans. Of the over $750 million investment, $386 million will go to 40 states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) at the state level, while $375 million will go to an initial 32 non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs) that will aid health professionals as they work to implement and use health information technology - with additional HIE and REC awards to be announced in the near future. RECs are expected to provide outreach and support services to at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals within two years.
'Health information technology can make our health care system more efficient and improve the quality of care we all receive,' said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. 'These grant awards, the first of their kind, will help develop our electronic infrastructure and give doctors and other health care providers the support they need as they adopt this powerful technology.'
The more than $225 million in DOL grant awards Secretary Solis announced will be used to train 15,000 people in job skills needed to access careers in health care, IT and other high growth fields. Through existing partnerships with local employers, the recipients of these grants have already identified roughly 10,000 job openings for skilled workers that likely will become available in the next two years in areas like nursing, pharmacy technology and information technology. The grants will fund 55 separate training programs in 30 states to help train people for secure, well-paid health jobs and meet the growing employment demand for health workers. Employment services will be available via the Department of Labor's local One Stop Career Centers, and training will be offered at community colleges and other local education providers.
'The Recovery Act's investments are making a positive difference in the lives of America's working families,' said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. 'The investments announced today will ensure thousands of workers across the nation can receive high-quality training and employment services, which will lead to good jobs in healthcare and other industries offering career-track employment and good pay and benefits.'
The HHS and DOL awards are part of an overall $100 billion investment in science, innovation and technology the Administration is making through the Recovery Act to spur domestic job creation in growing industries and lay a long-term foundation for economic growth. In addition to the 10,000 jobs the DOL grantees expect to fill with freshly trained workers, the health IT extension centers are expected to hire over 3,000 technology workers nationwide in the months ahead. Overall, the Administration investments in health IT and training will help significantly expand an emerging industry expected to support tens of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs nationwide.
A complete listing of the state HIE, REC and job training grant recipients in CA is as follows:
California Health and Human Services Agency $38,752,536
Regional Extension Center Awards: RECs Awardee Award Amount
Southern California Regional Extension Center $13,961,339
Job Training Awards:
Healthcare/High Growth Grant Recipient Award Amount
Kern Community College District (KCCD) $2,768,572
Los Rios Community College District $4,988,561
Mt. San Antonio Community College District $2,239,714
San Diego State University Research Foundation $4,953,575
San Jose State University Research Foundation $5,000,000
San Bernardino Community College District $4,260,863
Youth Policy Institute $3,623,473
Spanish Speaking Unity Council $3,559,139
Additional information about the state HIE and RECs may be found at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov/statehie and http://healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram.
Information about other health IT programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found here: http://HealthIT.HHS.gov
Information about Healthcare/High Growth Grants, and other DOL training programs is available at http://www.doleta.gov/.
For more information about the Recovery Act, please visit: www.hhs.gov/recovery, www.dol.gov/recovery, and www.recovery.gov.
WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the White House:
Vice President Biden and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the selection of 15 communities across the country to serve as pilot communities for eventual wide-scale use of health information technology through the Beacon Community program. The $220 million in Recovery Act awards will not only help achieve meaningful and measurable improvements in health care quality, safety and efficiency in the selected communities, but also help lay the groundwork for an emerging health IT industry that is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs.
'These pioneering communities are going to lead the way in bringing smarter, lower-cost health care to all Americans through use of electronic health records. Because of their early efforts, doctors across the country will one day be able to coordinate patient care with the stroke of a key or pull up life-saving health information instantly in an emergency -- and for the residents of these communities, that future is about to become a reality,' said Vice President Biden. 'Thanks to the Recovery Act's historic investment in health IT, we're not only advancing the way health care is delivered in this country, we're also building a whole new industry along with it -- one that will shape our 21st Century economy for generations to come and employ tens of thousands of American workers.'
'The most important health care innovations are those that are designed and tested by providers and community leaders all across the country. Beacon Communities will offer insight into how health IT can make a real difference in the delivery of health care,' said Secretary Sebelius. 'The Beacon Community Program will tap the best ideas across America and demonstrate the enormous benefit health IT will have to improving health and care within our communities.'
The selected Beacon Communities will use health IT resources within their community as a foundation for bringing doctors, hospitals, community health programs, federal programs and patients together to design new ways of improving quality and efficiency to benefit patients and taxpayers. Each Beacon Community has elected specific and measurable improvement goals in each of three vital areas for health systems improvement: quality, cost-efficiency, and population health. The goals vary according to the needs and priorities of each community.
For example, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a community dealing with an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes that has the highest rate of cardiovascular disease deaths in the nation, the award will help 1,600 physicians and other providers participate in a new community-wide health information system that will help them better monitor and improve care transitions as patients move from one care setting to another. The award is expected to help increase appropriate referrals for cancer screenings, increase access to care for patients with diabetes with telemedicine, and reduce preventable hospitalizations and emergency department visits by 10 percent for conditions that could be better handled in clinical settings, yielding a potential cost savings of $11M per year in the Tulsa area for taxpayers and patients.
Other communities will use their Beacon Community awards to provide better control of blood pressure for diabetic and hypertensive patients, improvements in care coordination and chronic disease management, reductions in preventable emergency department visits and re-hospitalizations, reductions in health disparities, better rates of immunization for children and adults, and better adherence to smoking cessation and appropriate cancer screening guidelines. The Beacon projects are expected to initially create dozens of new jobs in each community paying an average of $70,000 per year for a total of 1,100 jobs up-front, while accelerating development of a nationwide health IT infrastructure that will eventually employ tens of thousands of Americans.
Additionally, Beacon Communities will be expected to access existing federal programs that are working to promote health information exchange at the community level. Close coordination with the Regional Extension Center Program, State Health Information Exchange Program, and the National Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC), will ensure lessons learned are shared for the benefit of all. Over time, they will also work to leverage other existing federal programs and resources that are working to promote health information exchange at the community level, including the Department of Defense's and the Department of Veterans Affairs' development of a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) for all active duty, Guard and Reserve, retired military personnel, and eligible separated Veterans.
'Communities will be expected to build on an existing infrastructure of interoperable health IT and standards-based information exchange to show the promise for health IT. The Beacon Communities will offer evidence that widespread adoption of health IT and exchange of health information is both feasible and improves care delivery and health outcomes. The lessons learned through the program will be a roadmap for other communities to achieve meaningful use on a community-wide basis,' stated David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, national coordinator for health IT.'
The Beacon Community awards are part of an overall $100 billion federal government investment in science, innovation and technology the Administration is making through the Recovery Act to spur domestic job creation in emerging industries and create a long-term foundation for economic growth. The program was significantly oversubscribed with over 130 applications submitted for the initial 15 awards. Today's awards are part of the $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and provide for the use of an electronic health record (EHR) for each person in the United States by 2014. An additional $30 million is currently available to fund additional Beacon Community cooperative agreement awards. An announcement to apply will be made in the near future.
The 15 Beacon communities, their awards, and key strategies for success follow:
Beacon Community AwardeeFunding AmountBeacon Community Goals for Population Health in Service Area
Community Services Council of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.$12,043,948Leverage broad community partnerships with hospitals, providers, payers, and government agencies to expand a community-wide care coordination system, which will increase appropriate referrals for cancer screenings, decrease unnecessary specialist visits and (with telemedicine) increase access to care for patients with diabetes
Delta Health Alliance, Inc., Stoneville, Miss.$14,666,156Focus on achieving improvements for diabetic patients by electronically linking isolated systems and practices for care management, medication therapy management and patient education
Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, Brewer Maine$12,749,740Expand community connectivity, including long-term care, primary care and specialist providers, to existing Health Information Exchange and promote the use of telemedicine and patient self-management in order to improve care for elderly patients and individuals needing long-term or home care
Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA$16,069,110Enhance care for patients with pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure by creating a community-wide medical home, promoting Health Information Exchange and extending Geisinger's proven model for practice redesign to independent healthcare organizations throughout region
HealthInsight, Salt Lake City, Utah$15,790,181Improve Diabetes management performance measures by increasing availability, accuracy and transparency of quality reporting, leverage Intermountain Healthcare's strategies to reduce health systems costs throughout the region, and improve public health reporting
Indiana Health Information Exchange, INC., Indianapolis, Ind.$16,008,431Expand the country's largest Health Information Exchange to new community providers in order to improve cholesterol and blood sugar control for diabetic patients and reduce preventable re-admissions through telemonitoring of high risk chronic disease patients after hospital discharge
Inland Northwest Health Services, Spokane, Wash.$15,702,479Focus on increasing preventive services for diabetic patients in rural areas by extending Health Information Exchange and establishing anchor institutions in close proximity to remote clinics that will promulgate successes in health IT supported care coordination
Louisiana Public Health Institute, New Orleans, La.$13,525,434Reduce racial health disparities and improve control of diabetes and smoking cessation rates by linking technically isolated health systems, providers, and hospitals; and empower patients by increasing their access to Personal Health Records
Mayo Clinic Rochester, d/b/a Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn.$12,284,770Enhance patient management and, reduce costs associated with hospitalization and emergency services for patients with diabetes and childhood asthma and address reduce health disparities for underserved populations and rural communities
Rhode Island Quality Institute, Providence, R.I.$15,914,787Improve the management of patients with diabetes through several health IT initiatives to support Rhode Island's transition to the Patient Centered Medical Home model and adapt infrastructure proven to improve childhood immunizations in order to achieve improvements in adult immunization rates
Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization, Grand Junction, Colo.$11,878,279Enable robust collection of clinical data from health systems, providers, and hospitals in order to inform practice redesign to improve blood pressure control in patients with diabetes and hypertension, increase smoking cessation counseling, and reduce unnecessary emergency department utilization and hospital re-admissions
Southern Piedmont Community Care Plan, Inc., Concord, N.C.$15,907,622Improve care coordination for patients with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and asthma by engaging patients and providers in bidirectional data sharing through a Health Record Bank, empowering patients and family members to participate in self-management through patient portals, and expanding access to care managers to facilitate post-discharge planning
The Regents of the University of California, San Diego, San Diego, Calif.$15,275,115Expand pre-hospital emergency field care and electronic information transmission to improve outcomes for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, empower patients to engage in their own health management through web portal and cellular telephone technology, and improve continuity of care for veterans and military personnel through the Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record initiative
University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii$16,091,390Implement a region-wide Health Information Exchange and Patient Health Record solution and utilize secure, internet-based care coordination and tele-monitoring tools to increase access to specialty care for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in this rural, health-professional shortage area
Western New York Clinical Information Exchange, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.$16,092,485Utilize clinical decision support tools such as registries and point-of-care alerts and reminders and innovative telemedicine solutions to improve primary and specialty care for diabetic patients, decrease preventable emergency room visits, hospitalizations and re-admissions for patients with diabetes and congestive heart failure or pneumonia, and improve immunization rates among diabetic patients
More information about Beacon Communities can be found at: http://Healthit.hhs.gov/Programs/Beacon.
IN the coming months, some of the first West Virginia health careproviders will start to receive federal financial payments to helpcover the costs of implementing electronic health record systems.
These incentive payments, which can be substantial for eligiblehospitals, rural clinics and physician practices, were included aspart of the 2008 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The act authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servicesto provide this electronic heal record reimbursement incentive foreligible Medicare and Medicaid providers - physicians and hospitals.
The first eligible providers in West Virginia to get thesepayments will do so because they have been using a certified systemand have met the program's new 'meaningful use' requirements.
This will be a significant milestone in the federal government'songoing efforts to encourage health care providers across thisnation to move toward a digital medical environment.
To further assist with implementation of electronic health recordsystems, and to aid providers in qualifying for these federalincentive payments, the act also provided funding to establishhealth information technology resource centers across the UnitedStates. Here in West Virginia, this is the West Virginia RegionalHealth Information Technology Extension Center.
The West Virginia center has been working for the past year as astatewide, independent resource center for primary care providers,rural health centers and critical access hospitals.
The center is helping these providers with certified healthinformation technology and achieving health improvement outcomesthrough 'meaningful use.'
The center involves a collaboration of several stateorganizations focused on improving health care quality and access.Key partners are the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute, theWest Virginia Medical Institute, the Community Health Network ofWest Virginia and the Upper Ohio Valley IPA.
The center's efforts to reach medical providers also haveinvolved close collaboration with numerous state agencies, healthcare groups, medical professional societies and other entities - allworking to improve health care through innovation.
The consistent, nationwide adoption and use of secure electronichealth records will ultimately enhance the quality and value ofhealth care. The center's outreach, education and technicalassistance services will accelerate these outcomes.
Greater use of electronic health record systems and other healthinformation technologies also will make it possible for health careproviders to better manage patient care through the secure use andsharing of health information. Health IT includes the use ofelectronic health records instead of paper medical records tomaintain people's health information.
Electronic records will provide a number of benefits to patientsand their families:
* Reduced need to fill out the same forms at each office visit.
* Reliable point-of-care information and reminders notifyingproviders of important health interventions.
* Benefits of managing digital medical record data vs. paper.
* Convenience of e-prescriptions
* Patient portals for online interaction with providers.
* Electronic referrals for easier access to follow-up care withspecialists.
* Facilitation of electronic health exchange no matter where youare
* With the help of health information technologies, doctors willhave:
* Accurate and complete information about a patient's health.That way they can give the best possible care, whether during aroutine visit or a medical emergency.
* The ability to better coordinate the care they give. This isespecially important if a patient has a serious medical condition.
* A way to securely share information with patients and theirfamily caregivers over the Internet, for patients who opt for thisconvenience. This means patients and their families can more fullytake part in decisions about their health care.
* Information to help doctors diagnose health problems sooner,reduce medical errors, and provide safer care at lower costs.
Regional extension centers also will help providers achieve,through appropriate available infrastructures, exchange of healthinformation in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatoryrequirements and patient preferences.
The center will be working with the West Virginia HealthInformation Network.
Finally, this initiative will leverage the ongoing work tointegrate the medical home model activities already underway in WestVirginia. These aim to transform our state's health care deliverysystem and substantially improve the health of our rural population,which has a high prevalence of chronic disease, lack of access tocare, and high health care costs.
For more information about federal electronic health recordstimulus payments or the West Virginia Regional Health InformationTechnology Extension Center, please visit www.wvrhitec.org orrequest information by calling 1-877-775-7535.
WASHINGTON, June 30 -- The office of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued the following news release:
Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced more than $3 million from the economic recovery package will be going to Health Access Washoe County in Reno and Nevada Health Centers in Carson City to address immediate and pressing health center and equipment needs. The grants of more than $1 million for Reno and more than $2 million for Carson City, respectively, will pay for construction, repair, and renovation of the facilities and will allow the purchase of cutting edge health information technology systems.
Byline: HILARY WALDMAN Hartford Courant
Two days after Abigail Carney had her tonsils out, the 3-year-old ate a grilled-cheese sandwich.
Her doctor credits a new, gentler surgical technique for Abigail's comparatively speedy recovery.
Ronald Saxon, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Bloomfield and Enfield, Conn., who removed Abigail's enlarged tonsils March 18, said the newer technique can cut recovery time in half. It also leaves patients more comfortable with less post-surgical bleeding.
Instead of using a hot electrical wand to burn away tonsil tissue, the newer technique surrounds the tonsil area with a salt-water solution, allowing removal of tissue at a lower temperature.
The newer technique, called coblation, is also designed to protect surrounding healthy tissue from damage.
``With the old technique, everything looked black,'' Saxon said. He has used coblation to remove the tonsils from children and adults for about a year. ``In this, everything looks pink.''
Since the FDA approved coblation -- short for controlled ablation -- almost three years ago, some doctors have raved about its superiority. But there still has been no large head-to-head test to determine if it really is better than more traditional methods of tonsillectomy, said Scott Schoem, a pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.
``It's still at the point where some people really like it, and some people say it's not really better at all,'' said Schoem, who still generally removes tonsils using the hot electrical wand.
Cost and recovery
Special equipment makes the cost of coblation roughly $75 to $100 more than that of older approaches. But Schoem and others agreed that a speedier recovery could justify the higher cost.
``It is more expensive in the short term, but the question is: If kids recover more quickly, and parents can go back to work quicker, is the cost for the family less?'' said Udayan Shah, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
``What it really needs is a good study,'' said Shah, who also is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Saxon said he's convinced that coblation is better, especially for patients such as Abigail. Abigail's tonsils had grown so large that they blocked her airway when she slept, causing a condition called sleep apnea.
While nobody is sure exactly how many children in the United States have sleep apnea, it is the leading reason for surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids. Each year, more than 263,000 children have tonsillectomies, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Lymphatic system
The tonsils and adenoids are part of the lymphatic system and help the body fight infection. But if they are enlarged or prone to frequent infection, they can be more trouble than they're worth.
For patients such as Abigail, whose tonsils are healthy, coblation allows the surgeon to remove most of the enlarged tissue but leave behind a thin film, preserving deeper blood vessels and muscle, Saxon said. The entire tonsils must be removed if patients have chronic infections.
Heather Carney, Abigail's mom, said she did not research the tonsillectomy options before her daughter's surgery, but was glad she wound up with a doctor who chose coblation.
Abigail had surgery on a Thursday morning and was back at home in Suffield, Conn., by late afternoon. She needed a few doses of Tylenol with codeine for pain the following day, but was eating normally by Saturday.
Shah said coblation can be a good option. But the most important factor in a good recovery from tonsillectomy or any other surgery is a skilled and experienced doctor.
CHICAGO, Ill. -- The following information was released by the American Bar Association:
The American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution will hold its 12th Annual Spring Conference April 7-10 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, located at 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco.
Panels will focus on a variety of topics including government transparency, class action suits, international negotiations, issues in health care, online dispute resolution, same-sex dissolution, construction industry mediation in the time of the recession and others, with more than 100 programs in all.
Keynote speakers include Lawrence E. Susskind, Ford professor of urban development and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will speak about strategies in settling disagreements involving values - such as those related to abortion or gun control. Also speaking will be Thomas J. Stipanowich, William H. Webster chair in dispute resolution and professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law, and Dr. Frederic Luskin of Stanford University.
The conference will also feature panelists from organizations such as the World Bank; the American Arbitration Association; Mediators Without Borders; eBay/PayPal; The University of Pennsylvania Law School; the National Institutes of Health; the National Archives; Massachusetts General Hospital; Vietnam Ministry of Justice; California's Center for Families, Children and the Courts; the U.S. Federal Credit Union; and the U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit.
An 'Annual Symposium on Court ADR' will be held April 7 from 10:30 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. The symposium will focus on innovations and technology, as well as ways to improve alternative dispute resolution. There will also be a panel that focuses specifically on the impact of the California Dispute Resolution Council on conflict resolution in California on April 8. Additionally a Legal Educator's Colloquium will take place April 10, which will bring together a variety of law professors to debate and discuss teaching tactics and the future of ADR practice. The event is co-sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Northern California Legal Educators.
For more information on the 12th Annual Spring Conference, please click here.
The Section of Dispute Resolution, established in 1993, is one of the ABA's newest and fastest growing Sections with over 19,000 members already. The Section's objectives include maintaining the ABA's national leadership role in the dispute resolution field; providing information and technical assistance to members, legislators, government departments and the general public on all aspects of dispute resolution; studying existing methods for the prompt and effective resolution of disputes; adapting current legal procedures to accommodate court-annexed and court-directed dispute resolution processes; activating state and local bar involvement in dispute resolution, conducting public and professional education programs such as the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Courthouse Centers Project and conducting a program of research and development including programmatic and legislative models.
Byline: Josh Goldstein
Aug. 2--Joseph W. Marshall 3d, chairman and CEO of Temple University Health System, says he is proud that Temple's solution to its financial troubles was 'very different from the standard response of closing hospitals and laying off workers.'
The Temple University Health System unveiled yesterday the new Episcopal Hospital, a milestone in the network's two-year effort to reconfigure health services among its North Philadelphia hospitals.
Episcopal, a 150-year-old community hospital in the city's Kensington neighborhood, was transformed from a 285-bed general hospital into a 114-bed behavioral health center. With a bustling full-service emergency room, an active school of nursing, and ambulatory care services, the Episcopal campus is busier than it has been in years.
Following the same strategy, Neumann Medical Center in Fishtown has gotten out of acute care and houses an adult day-care center and doctors' offices. It soon will open subsidized housing for the elderly.
Admissions figures from the state suggest that many of the patients who would have gone to Episcopal or Neumann are now being treated at Temple University Hospital on North Broad Street, or at Northeastern Hospital in the city's Port Richmond section. That is an early indication that Temple's reconfiguration strategy is working.
'We realized that we had a delivery system made up of a collection of facilities that could not be sustained financially,' said Joseph W. 'Chip' Marshall 3d, the Temple system's chairman and chief executive officer.
With four hospitals plus the newly constructed Temple University Children's Medical Center in a relatively small area between Broad Street and the Delaware River, the system's facilities were essentially competing against each other for the same patients.
'Redundancy is something that can kill you in this business,' Marshall said in an interview at Episcopal yesterday.
'We are very proud of the fact that in the face of significant financial challenges two years ago, the Temple solution was very different from the standard response of closing hospitals and laying off workers,' Marshall said. 'We found a way to keep [Episcopal] open and functioning as an economic engine in this community.'
Episcopal now has about 220 more full-time employees than it had before the changes.
'When you have an unregulated competitive market, as we do, it is up to the health systems to organize and rationalize services in a way that meets the needs of the community and provides care in a financially viable way,' Daniel M. Grauman, a health-care consultant in Bala Cynwyd, said.
Also, because the hospitals were so close to each other, Temple has been able to make the changes without losing patients.
Since 1998, admissions at Temple University Hospital have grown by nearly 19 percent to 24,853 in the year that ended June 30, 2001, according to state data. Over the same period, Northeastern's admissions have gone from 6,336 to 10,176.
The system also improved its finances over that time with patient revenue increasing nearly 30 percent to $676 million, while expenses rose at a more modest 18.5 percent.
Still, the Temple system faces daunting financial challenges.
As with other hospitals in the region, labor costs are rising at Temple. So are the costs of new drugs and medical technologies as well as medical-malpractice insurance.
The same geography that allowed Temple to reconfigure its hospital and keep patients also adds to the system's financial difficulties.
'The challenge that they will always have is directly a function of that fact that many of their patients are either uninsured or covered by the Medicaid program, which pays at the lowest level,' Grauman said.
Uncompensated and undercompensated care provided by Temple costs the system about $65 million a year.
The Temple system also includes Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase and a single suburban facility, Lower Bucks Hospital.
But Temple recently has loosened its ties with Lower Bucks Hospital, which has a heavy debt load and had negative operating margins in each of the last five years.
Marshall remains on the Lower Bucks board of directors, which is now dominated by community leaders. He said the change 'reflects my view that we have to be more focused.'
To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com
As the nation faced the continued threat of terrorist attacks in2002, Los Angeles County officials scrambled to prepare while theirhealth care system was crumbling.
Originally facing an $800 million deficit by 2005, the Board ofSupervisors voted in the early summer to close 11 health clinics,convert High Desert Hospital in Lancaster to an outpatient clinicand close Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center inDowney.
This action saved enough money to reduce the deficit to $404million, but the supervisors faced stiff opposition from thecounty's unions and health care advocates, who staged protests.
In a long-shot bid to bolster the ailing health system,Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky proposed a parcel tax to inject thesystem with $168 million a year, targeted to preserve the county'strauma centers, emergency rooms and for bioterrorism preparations.
Measure B - The Preservation of Trauma Centers and EmergencyMedical Services; Bioterrorism Response - was placed on the Nov. 5ballot, and 73 percent of voters approved, giving the measure themost votes any initiative or candidate on the ballot received.
The passage of Measure B, along with optimistic comments by stateand federal officials, convinced the supervisors they would be ableto keep open two hospitals, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmarand Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Boosted by the success of the measure, the supervisors persuadedGov. Gray Davis to ask the Bush administration for waivers offederal health funding rules to help the cash-strapped county healthsystem.
The plan, released in late November, would provide the countywith $150 million to $200 million a year, leaving the county lessthan $100 million to cut from its $2.4 billion health budget.
Meanwhile, with the help of a nearly $30 million federal grant toprepare for biological or chemical terrorist attack, the countybegan purchasing protective suits for health care workers and gavemoney to the county's 81 hospitals to construct decontaminationfacilities for chemical or radiological terrorist attacks.
The county was also struck with its first few cases of the WestNile virus and an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease at the downtownGood Samaritan Hospital, where nine patients became ill, includingtwo who died.
In early December, county Public Health Officer Dr. JonathanFielding announced plans to vaccinate up to 20,000 public healthworkers and hospital emergency employees against smallpox as thefirst step for potential bioterrorism attacks.
The plan eventually calls for the vaccination of a broader groupof health workers and firefighters, paramedics and law enforcementpersonnel. The U.S. government may offer the vaccinations to thepublic in late 2003 or early 2004.
Despite these preparations, critics said the county is still ill-prepared for a biological attack, noting that hospitals are alreadyexceeding 80 percent of capacity and wouldn't be able to handle alarge number of ill people seeking treatment.
Coming at an awkward moment in the midst of the health crisis,the supervisors voted in early December to give final approval to an$820 million project to rebuild County/USC Medical Center, theearthquake-damaged landmark that gained fame on the soap opera,'General Hospital.' The project is the largest in county history.
Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer
As the nation faced the continued threat of terrorist attacks in 2002, Los Angeles County officials scrambled to prepare while their health care system was crumbling.
Originally facing an $800 million deficit by 2005, the Board of Supervisors voted in the early summer to close 11 health clinics, convert High Desert Hospital in Lancaster to an outpatient clinic and close Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey.
This action saved enough money to reduce the deficit to $404 million, but the supervisors faced stiff opposition from the county's unions and health care advocates, who staged protests.
In a long-shot bid to bolster the ailing health system, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky proposed a parcel tax to inject the system with $168 million a year, targeted to preserve the county's trauma centers, emergency rooms and for bioterrorism preparations.
Measure B - The Preservation of Trauma Centers and Emergency Medical Services; Bioterrorism Response - was placed on the Nov. 5 ballot, and 73 percent of voters approved, giving the measure the most votes any initiative or candidate on the ballot received.
The passage of Measure B, along with optimistic comments by state and federal officials, convinced the supervisors they would be able to keep open two hospitals, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Boosted by the success of the measure, the supervisors persuaded Gov. Gray Davis to ask the Bush administration for waivers of federal health funding rules to help the cash-strapped county health system.
The plan, released in late November, would provide the county with $150 million to $200 million a year, leaving the county less than $100 million to cut from its $2.4 billion health budget.
Meanwhile, with the help of a nearly $30 million federal grant to prepare for biological or chemical terrorist attack, the county began purchasing protective suits for health care workers and gave money to the county's 81 hospitals to construct decontamination facilities for chemical or radiological terrorist attacks.
The county was also struck with its first few cases of the West Nile virus and an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease at the downtown Good Samaritan Hospital, where nine patients became ill, including two who died.
In early December, county Public Health Officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding announced plans to vaccinate up to 20,000 public health workers and hospital emergency employees against smallpox as the first step for potential bioterrorism attacks.
The plan eventually calls for the vaccination of a broader group of health workers and firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement personnel. The U.S. government may offer the vaccinations to the public in late 2003 or early 2004.
Despite these preparations, critics said the county is still ill-prepared for a biological attack, noting that hospitals are already exceeding 80 percent of capacity and wouldn't be able to handle a large number of ill people seeking treatment.
Coming at an awkward moment in the midst of the health crisis, the supervisors voted in early December to give final approval to an $820 million project to rebuild County/USC Medical Center, the earthquake-damaged landmark that gained fame on the soap opera, ``General Hospital.'' The project is the largest in county history.
Byline: CHEN MAY YEE; STAFF WRITER
After six months without a leader, Hazelden Foundation on Monday named hospital executive Mark Mishek to head the famed drug and alcohol addiction treatment center.
Mishek is president of United Hospital in St. Paul. He takes over as president and chief executive of Hazelden after the stormy tenure of Ellen Breyer, who modernized Hazelden but ultimately alienated many in the close-knit recovery community.
A 57-year-old St. Paul native, Mishek has more than 20 years' experience with Allina Hospitals and Clinics, the biggest provider group in the Twin Cities area.
Mishek 'has demonstrated his ability to manage complex health care organizations,' said Norb Conzemius, chairman of Hazelden's Board of Trustees. 'His contribution and level of commitment to service and quality patient care will be a valuable asset to Hazelden as we grow and innovate.'
Just as weighty in the insular treatment world is Mishek's other credential: He is in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction and has been sober for 13 years.
He comes on board at a time of change in the industry. The recovery movement, which started at Hazelden 60 years ago and spread around the country, was battered by managed care in the 1990s as health insurers favored cheaper short stays and outpatient treatment over the Minnesota Model of costly, inpatient care.
More recently, Hazelden and other standard-bearers of abstinence have grappled with whether to embrace new pharmaceuticals that treat addiction. They also face competition from new spa-like treatment centers favored by Hollywood celebrities.
While no longer the go-to place it once was, Hazelden remains a giant in its field. In 2007, it had operating revenue of $109.3 million and a record 10,754 patients. Donors gave a record $12 million.
Money and mission
As chief executive, Breyer brought big changes during her five years at Hazelden, including opening a women's center and launching a branding makeover.
But some of her moves were controversial, such as signing a major contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and moving Hazelden's corporate headquarters from its main campus in Center City to downtown Minneapolis. In her final months at Hazelden, there was an exodus in the executive ranks before Breyer resigned in February and left in April.
Mishek won't start until November, but those who await his arrival hope he'll succeed in forging a happier marriage between money and mission.
'Professionally, he has the business acumen crucial to meeting the challenges Hazelden faces,' said William Moyers, executive director of Hazelden's Center for Public Advocacy. 'On the other hand, as a person in long-term recovery, he understands the heart and soul of what the mission is.'
Mishek has deep experience managing conflict. Before becoming president of United Hospital, he was general counsel at Allina when it and then sister-company Medica were under investigation by then-Attorney General Mike Hatch over administrative expenses.
Asked about career highlights, Mishek cites seeing the organization through Hatch's audit as his 'biggest achievement' in 27 years at Allina.
In five years at United Hospital, Mishek has raised funds to rebuild and equip an aging campus, revamped the neurosciences program and is building a new Emergency Department. The hospital had $450 million in revenue last year, four times that of Hazelden.
When he heard the top job at Hazelden was open, Mishek said, he was not looking to move. But Hazelden's reputation and his own experience with addiction swayed him.
'The mission at Hazelden is very important to me personally,' he said. 'I could see it was a great fit.'
Chen May Yee - 612-673-7434
MARK G. MISHEK
Age: 57
Home: St. Paul
Education: Bachelor's degree (1974) and law degree (1977) from the University of Minnesota.
Current job: President of United Hospital, St. Paul, part of Allina Hospitals and Clinics.
Starting Nov. 3: President and chief executive of Hazelden Foundation, Center City, Minn.
Other interests: Chair of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and on the boards of Capital City Partnership and ClearWay Minnesota. Past board member of Portico Healthnet.
WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy:
Posted by Tom Hill on October 05, 2011 at 10:51 AM EDT
Two key pieces of legislation offer new hope for people struggling with addiction, their families, and their communities: the Affordable Care Act, which put in place strong consumer protections, provides new coverage options, and gives you the tools you need to make informed choices about your health; and the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (Wellstone-Domenici Act), which ensures that, when mental health and addictions services are offered under an insurance plan, they must be covered as fully as other services, meaning special caps, access barriers, or service limits cannot be applied.
Together, these two laws have the potential to greatly expand access to badly needed addiction treatment and recovery support services. Which is why Faces and Voices of Recovery is working with key stakeholders on the details of how folks will access services, what services will be available, who will deliver them, and how they will be reimbursed. We are part of a broad coalition that is advocating for a continuum of services and supports that will help individuals initiate, stabilize, and manage their own recovery. This range of services includes peer recovery coaching, recovery community centers, and peer-led organizations that offer recovery support services. Work is also being done to include similar services in primary care settings.
These are exciting times. We are on the cusp of a substantial expansion of addiction treatment and recovery support services, and potentially revolutionary changes in how, where, and by whom services are delivered. Faces and Voices of Recovery is proud to be working with others in the addiction and healthcare fields to ensure that individuals who need help can find recovery services, and improve their overall health.This way, health reform will be able to support recovery and wellness in individuals, families, and communities.
Time and again over the past year, patients at East BostonNeighborhood Health Center have asked Dr. Berestrand Williams, 'Areyou going to be here next year?'
It was a fair question because the center, a mainstay in acommunity isolated from the city, filed for federal bankruptcyprotection in January, facing an estimated $15 million deficit. TheSOS came three months after it finished an expansion of itsfacilities.
At the time, many doubted the financially beleaguered center wouldsurvive. Jack Cradock, the health center's chief executive officer,said he felt like a carnival target duck when he had to respond to aroomful of creditors.
'It seemed like we just came up from under water almost drowning,and then someone would throw a baseball,' Cradock said.
Today, the health center, known for its innovative work,especially in its care for the elderly, is operating in the black. Ithas cut its operating budget from $63 million to $50 million.
But the turnaround has come at a price. To reduce its budget, thehealth center closed its Winthrop clinic, elderly service programs inJamaica Plain and Brighton, an occupational health program, atravelers' clinic at Logan Airport, a home-health service andphysical therapy and podiatry services. It has pared its work forcefrom 1,100 to 759.
Health center officials have proposed a reorganization andfinancial plan. At a court hearing this week, Judge Carol Kennerscheduled a Feb. 1 hearing that could bring the health center out ofbankruptcy, if creditors approve the plan.
Janet Bostwick, the health center's attorney, said a year is'pretty fast for a debtor to come out of reorganization.' Usually, anorganization with the amount of debt that the health center has takesat least 18 months to two years to come out of bankruptcy, Bostwicksaid.
Reversing its past practice of expanding care to satellitecenters, the health center has decided to focus on 'givingspectacular patient care' on the main site on Gove Street, said Dr.James Taylor, the medical director since the center's inception in1970. Taylor also practices at the clinic 3 1/2 days a week.
With the space gained by the 1998 expansion, the health center hasbrought in specialists once housed in Winthrop, brought theobstetrics care into the building from the original center, improvedthe 24-hour urgent care area, and expanded X-ray and laboratoryareas.
What brought the center down, Cradock said, was the expansion ofservices at satellite sites at the time cash flow was hurt byfederal cuts in Medicare and $8 million in disallowed claims from thestate's free-care pool.
Williams said that relying on patchwork funding is difficult,since community health centers, which mainly care for the under- anduninsured, do not have their own reserves when financial disastershappen. 'Society hasn't decided yet if they want to create some kindof funding to care for the uninsured, underinsured and recentemigres. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in bankruptcy,' Williams said.
Escaping the brunt of the cuts are the center's senior citizenprograms, including resident apartments and day programs at threesites within walking distance of the health center. The programsserve 300 seniors who would otherwise qualify for nursing homes, saidDr. James Pedulla, medical director for the elder services.
For John Ribeiro, 60, a probation officer in East Boston who wentto the health center for a physical this week, the East Bostonphysicians and nurses are 'part of our family.'
Financial troubles and an increased patient load have taken a tollon staff, who now must plug away for longer hours and for less payand benefits, said Williams. He has been at the East Boston clinicsince 1987 and was seeing patients until 9 p.m. on a recent night.
A survey conducted by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) found that two-thirds of health care organizations place the responsibility of Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) audits in the Compliance Department. This survey, which took place in the last quarter of 2011, was conducted to determine how health care providers are responding to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) RAC audits (see also Health Care Compliance Association).
In addition, the survey found that the RAC audits require the time of one full-time employee to manage the audits and, in some cases, two full-time employees. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents from organizations with 250 employees or less commit one employee to RAC audits and 56% respondents from organizations of 1,000-5,000 employees reported the same. Among health care organizations with 5,000 or more employees, the majority (64%) report three or fewer employees were dedicated to the RAC audits.
For other government initiatives the survey found that staffing levels were similar. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported having one full-time employee to work on other initiatives such as MIC, ZPIC, CERT, POR, and ADR responses.
The government initiatives appear to have had no or little effect on compliance department budgets. Half of the respondents reported no increase in their compliance department budget, while 5% reported budgets had decreased slightly. Just 10% reported a significant increase.
The survey found that 60% of respondents from the largest health care companies use external consultants during the RAC appeals process compared to 77% of organizations with 250 or fewer employees never used an external consultant for RAC appeals.
To review the survey report click on the provided below: http://www.hcca-info.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Surveys&Template=/surveyform.cfm&survey=2011RACAudit
Keywords: Legal Issues.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Department of Health and Human Services), Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, has awarded a $15,187 federal recovery contract on Aug. 7 for 'RECOVERY - HITECH Incentive Payment Program for J4 MAC Part A/B-Operational Extension.'
Contractor Awardee: TrailBlazer Health Enterprises LLC, Executive Center III, 8330 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, Texas 75243 United States For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
By Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2007 (IPS/GIN) -- Record numbers of people lack health insurance, and poverty remains largely unchanged, even though the U.S. economy began recovering from its recession five years ago.
Modest gains in household income have failed to lift significant numbers out of poverty, the latest U.S. government data show.
The national poverty rate fell to 12.3 percent in 2006, down from 12.6 percent the year before, but it remains well above the 11.3 percent mark recorded in 2000, the last year in which it dropped, representatives from the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday. Family earnings have risen modestly because more members were working and contributing to household income, according to the bureau.
Not everyone has benefited, however.
In the countryside, poverty has stagnated at 15.2 percent, three percentage points above the national average. In all, nearly 7.2 million inhabitants of rural areas fell below the poverty line last year, despite rising agricultural prices.
The elderly accounted for much of last year's improvement and, as a group, are better off than they were in 2001. By contrast, poverty rates for children and for adults of working age remained statistically unchanged from 2005 and higher than in 2001, when the last recession bottomed out.
Overall, some 36.5 million people were deemed poor in 2006, about as many as in 2005.
'Five years into an economic recovery, the country has yet to make progress in reducing poverty, raising the typical working-age family's income, or stemming the rise in the ranks of the uninsured, compared even to where we were in the last recession,' said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the nongovernmental Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Median income, found at midpoint on the U.S. earnings scale, rose to $48,200 last year, a gain of 0.7 percent or $356 for households in general.
Median income among non-elderly households -- those deemed most sensitive to changes in the economy because they are headed by working-age people younger than 65 -- also rose, by 1.3 percent or $725, to $54,726. This represents a loss of 2.4 percent or $1,336 from the recession year of 2001 and a loss of $2,375 from 2000, when the business cycle last reached a peak.
Asian households recorded the highest median income, $64,200, followed by non-Hispanic whites with $52,400, Hispanics with $37,800 and blacks with $32,000. Incomes levels for these groups were statistically no different in 2005 and 2006.
The official definition of poverty varies with family size and composition. For a family made up of two adults and two children, the poverty level is set at around $20,400. People living in official poverty become eligible for health, housing, food and child care entitlements from the federal government.
Academics and advocates long have complained that the poverty level is set too low because the government uses a formula based on food costs and ignores other significant expenses.
Indeed, the Census Bureau cited the rising cost of medical attention in reporting Tuesday that a record number of U.S. residents lack health insurance.
Faced with rising health insurance costs, employers have trimmed or terminated coverage or insisted that workers find the money to pay higher premiums and deductibles, the Census Bureau said. Low-wage employees simply have been unable to keep up: more than one in six full-time workers now lack health insurance.
Government health insurance provisions also have been reduced slightly.
As a result, the number of people without health insurance increased from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million in 2006. The percentage without coverage rose to 15.8 percent in 2006 from 15.3 percent the previous year. Both figures rose for the second consecutive year and were the highest since the government established comparable records dating back to 1998.
The problem was worst among children and minorities.
Some 8.7 million or 11.7 percent of children younger than 18 lacked insurance in 2006. The figures rose from 8 million or 10.9 percent in 2005. Among poor children, 19.3 percent had no health insurance.
Children make up 25 percent of the U.S. population but 35 percent of those living in poverty.
Last year 34.1 percent of Hispanics lacked insurance, as did 20.5 percent of blacks and 10.8 percent of whites.
Despite the dwindling coverage offered by employers, the number and percentage of uninsured children fell between 1998 and 2004. Much of the progress was attributed to a nationwide initiative launched in 1998 and designed for families too wealthy to qualify for the federal government's Medicaid program but too poor to afford private insurance.
Those gains stalled after 2004 as money for the State Children's Health Insurance Program began to decline. Additionally, federal documentation requirements introduced last year resulted in delays or the denial of Medicaid coverage for tens of thousands of low-income U.S. citizen children whose parents lacked ready access to their offspring's birth certificates or passports.
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed bills last month that would dramatically increase financing for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The measures could reduce the number of uninsured children by between 3 million and 4 million by 2012, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
President George W. Bush has said he would veto the measures because they would lead people to drop out of private coverage in favor of children's coverage financed with public money.