ISN-ESN » health care

Health Care Reform – Passing the Burden From Businesses to Government

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:34:20 +0000

Health Affliction is the better affair getting talked about appropriate now, and it seems like the citizens aren’t for the ameliorate that is getting planned. That may change as time goes on, but appropriate now the humans of the nation assume to be alert of added spending because of how ample the arrears has developed to.

What absolutely bugs me about the affair is the actuality that it shows absolutely area my angle with Obama differ. Both of us see that the allowance companies are the problem, but our methods to fix it are absolutely different.

I see allowance companies as a albatross to the chargeless market. With allowance companies paying the amount doctors and patients are in the aphotic about the absolute amount of what they are receiving. The allowance companies accomplish the decisions instead of the patient.

Right now Obama is aggravating to fix it by demography abroad the allowance companies and abacus the government. What bothers me about this is that it takes the patients best to accept abroad even further, and now the government is who you go to for Bloom Care.

If it connected to be an advantage that is fine, but if it is an advantage that is underwritten by the government every year than it will not be acceptable because it would drive clandestine insurers out of the sector. The added humans to be beneath the government archetypal the added it would accept to be subsidized, which would just accumulate costing the government added and added money.

Obama is adage that that acclimation bloom affliction is how we fix our economy. Appropriate now it is affliction businesses because they accept to pay for advisers insurance. So, instead of beheading businesses we are traveling to asphyxiate the government? That just seems bad.

Why not accomplish it the individuals who accept to save money for procedures and doctors visits? I’m abiding hospitals would attempt for annual affairs and being for accustomed services. It would save money because humans could boutique about for the best price, humans could amount doctors online, and aggregate could be dealt with in the chargeless market.

Author: Brandon Bianco
Source: ezinearticles.com

http://www.transcendit.blogspot.com

It’s Time For a 21st Century Health Revolution

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:30:32 +0000

The cost for ObamaCare has many Americans trying to understand how we can foot the bill. It will connect millions more Americans to a sickness industry gone wild. States are realizing that the mandates within the legislation will force them to spend money through the Medicaid program that they do not have – and unlike the federal government states don’t have a Monopoly-style printing press. States are now making the effort to fight ObamaCare in court on points of constitutionality. I have an additional idea for the states that is certain to work: disband all the medical licensing boards. At once the runaway costs of the current health system as well as ObamaCare would be stopped, the quality of care would improve, the suppression of health-option competition would be eliminated, and a new Golden Era of healing would be ushered in.

Those clutching desperately to undeserved power and profits will cry fowl and warn of danger to the public health. Their arguments are shallow and worn. Truly criminal behavior by doctors, such as sexual abuse, can readily be dealt with by the regular court system. Standards of training and competency for the most dangerous of medical procedures, such as surgery, can be maintained by an alternate system of certification.

The fact of the matter is that medical licensing boards have forced a brand of Big-Pharma medicine on the American public that does not produce the result of health for a majority of people participating. To the contrary, millions are injured every year while costs skyrocket. It should come as no surprise that President Obama struck special deals behind close doors with the key players involved: Big Pharma, hospitals, and the AMA. Yes, the states do have the power to change everything by freeing themselves of the monopolistic rules and fraudulent practices behind the excessive use of drugs that is costing so much money. The federal government can do absolutely nothing to stop them. Without the licensing boards the whole fraudulent system comes tumbling down.

The Failing Paradigm of Western Medicine
Every American appreciates the ability of Western medicine to help them in a time of true need. Accidents, injuries, surgeries, acute illnesses, and other aspects of health will always be assisted by Western medicine – as appropriate. And wouldn’t it be nice if your doctor was actually free to help you with your health concerns rather than cram drugs down your throat.

The drug-based theory of Western medicine fails miserably in the prevention of disease and in the treatment of many common health problems faced by Americans ranging from depression to obesity, bone health, diabetes, and heart disease. There is a reason Americans pay twice as much for health care with far less to show for it compared to any other economically advanced country: our system is riddled with rampant fraud in the day-to-day practice of medicine.

The highly profitable Big Pharma-promoted scheme of an endlessly prescribed cocktail of over-priced drugs is all but dead – taking with it several hundred thousand Americans every year that are killed by its reckless application. Millions more are seriously injured requiring emergency treatment. Tens of millions find themselves consuming an ever-expanding list of dangerous drugs that do little more than suppress some of their symptoms, change numbers, and cause new undesired symptoms and health problems. As aging baby boomers look more critically at a system of health their parents trustingly accepted, the glaring lack of results casts a cloak of suspicion over a profession once revered.

In the early decades of the 20th century the quick-fix invention of antibiotics sealed the fate of the naturally-minded eclectic physicians, setting back principles of natural health an entire century. Today, 48,000 Americans are killed every year by superbugs that have resulted from the overuse of antibiotics.

In the past decade numerous high profile medication disasters have irreparably ruined the image of the Western medicine brand. The first tremor to shake the foundation occurred in August of 2001 when the statin Baycol was pulled from the market after it was found to be injuring and killing excessive numbers patients.

Then, in July of 2002, a major magnitude earthquake rocked Western medicine. It was found that doctors had been seriously injuring and killing their patients with estrogen extracted from horse urine and synthetic progesterone. Data coming from the Women’s Health Initiative showed that this abnormal hormone drug combination increased the risk of invasive breast cancer by 26%, strokes by 41%, heart attacks by 29%, blot clots by 100%, and total cardiovascular disease by 22%. Based on the 6 million women taking these drugs in 2002 (2 billion in sales), the data suggested that during only one year there were an extra 4,800 cases of invasive breast cancer, 4,200 heart attacks, 4,800 strokes, and 10,800 blood clots – including 4,800 life-threatening blood clots in the lungs.

Numerous aftershocks followed: the painkiller Vioxx was estimated by FDA safety expert and whistleblower Dr. David Graham to have killed at least 55,000 Americans from heart attacks and strokes. Bayer’s heart bypass surgery drug Trasylol killed at least 300,000 people around the world including more than 20,000 Americans after the FDA knew it was a killer (while Bayer lied point blank to the FDA to hide dangers). A widely prescribed diabetes drug, Avandia, was found to increase heart attack risk by 43% in a patient population already at high risk for heart attacks (and still remains on the market).

The common use of antidepressants was found to be based on a fraudulent portrayal of benefit, when the facts show they are no better than placebo for the majority of people taking them. In fact, their use has been linked to an increased rate of heart disease and was recently linked to a 67% increased risk of death. The blatant poisoning of disadvantaged children, elderly in nursing homes, and now our military personnel with the off-label use of atypical antipsychotics has caused early death, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes while placating stress-related symptoms. It’s also worth billions to Big Pharma at mostly taxpayer expense and state Medicaid.

The recent ACCORD trial has now shown beyond any doubt that the aggressive use of medications to change numbers in Type 2 diabetic patients so as to reduce cardiovascular mortality is a complete failure, either resulting in increased rates of death or far poorer health. In other words, the paradigm of Western medicine is unable to fix a problem at epidemic levels in America.

Bone drugs given to prevent osteoporosis are now shown to cause spontaneously breaking bones with long term use. And the statin drugs, the true kings of fraud, continue to speed accelerated aging and health decline in the tens of millions of Americans gullible enough to take them.

These are just some of the drug debacles, there are many others. At this point in time there is no reason for any person to trust anything a doctor tells them to take on a long-term basis in the name of health. Indeed, it is common knowledge that the FDA, which has failed to demand after-market safety testing on approved drugs, has no accurate idea of the true risk profile or effectiveness of any medication, including every blockbuster drug in regular use.

The common thread in all these situations is FDA blessings of the treatments by FDA bureaucrats, typically ignoring the warnings of FDA safety scientists. The dysfunctional FDA culture is often in a revolving door with the industries it is supposed to be regulating – to the extreme detriment of the health of Americans. Furthermore, all of the above mentioned drug scams include blatant illegal marketing activities by drug companies using a variety of strategies including ghostwriting studies, making up fictitious studies, bribing doctors, blacklisting naysayers, manipulating research universities, and major promotion of off-label use. The American Medical Association (AMA) is responsible for enforcing the drug sales through its licensing boards, which ensure doctors do the prescribing or else their livelihood is threatened with license revocation. It is a known fact that most doctors live in fear of their licensing boards.

A Brief History of Medical Licensing Boards

The roots of the AMA trace back to a meeting held in New York City in 1846. Twenty-nine elite doctors of the time wanted to establish a monopoly for their brand of medicine – what was to become Western medicine. Of course, the best possible monopoly is one enforced by the government. By the 1870s the AMA was having success within states at setting up medical boards under the fa

Author: Byron Richards
Source: ezinearticles.com

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Achieve Health Reform Now by Controlling Costs in Meaningful Ways

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:30:18 +0000

I’ve been following all the news in the press and on television about health care reform and one of the major issues has been cost containment. One of the elements overlooked in the trillions of dollars being tossed around is the importance of controlling costs in our present system as a means of immediate reform.

This comes to mind because a friend of mine, who is very good at tracking his own health, talked about a book that was a very valuable resource for him. So I borrowed a copy of Taking Charge of Your Own Health by Lisa Hall. The author challenges readers to take responsibility for their own health care and to be accountable for tests doctors order, prescriptions given, and treatments suggested.

Lisa Hall was misdiagnosed 37 times before a doctor discovered she had an autonomic nervous system dysfunction, likely caused when she was struck by lightning at age 15. Through that entire experience she learned the importance of seeking second opinions, understanding her health insurance coverage, and taking steps to avoid duplicate tests, thus reducing costs.

Among the cost-saving suggestions the author makes are to:

* Manage medications to prevent costly and unnecessary medical interventions

* Use outpatient clinics instead of ERs when appropriate

* Avoid costly duplication of tests by maintaining and bringing to the doctor’s office your own diagnostic history.

Hall makes sense to me when she argues that it is the patient’s responsibility to keep records of their health care and be an active partner in reducing the costs of your own care. She suggests forms to use for medical record keeping in the book and offers the forms for download at her website by doing a search on “theproactivepatient.”

If this approach were followed by thousands of patients the cost savings would be astronomical. In this way we could get an effective head-start on health care reform before the government’s complicated package takes effect two and three years from now.

If you are interested in being a participant in health reform now by containing costs in a meaningful way, pick up a copy of Taking Charge of Your Own Health by Lisa Hall. It’s good reading and makes a lot of sense to me, as it will to you also.

By Emory Daniels

Author: Emory Daniels
Source: ezinearticles.com

Z.I.A.D. Healthcare for the Underserved Inc. and Wayne County Public Health Department agree to collaborate in service to working poor.

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:32:10 +0000

Collaboration will better serve working poor in Wayne County,Michigan 8th largest county in the United States.

Z.I.A.D. Healthcare for the Underserved Inc. and Wayne County Health Department have agreed to collaborate to better serve the poor and working poor with primary health care. It is both the Wayne counties goal and Z.I.A.D.’s goal to serve the poor and working poor with primary health care,and both will do this by a collaborative cross referral program between the two.”This is a good way to help those that need it”, said Dr Anaheid Kluwicki, newly appointed Wayne County Public Health Department Director.

ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved Inc. a newly formed 501c3 non-for profit has moved on its mission in the Tri County Detroit area. Z.I.A.D. has provided services to persons in Wayne,Oakland and Macomb counties.

Armed only with some caring doctors, a good executive director, and board members ZIAD set out to explore ways to help the uninsured.

The concept that ZIAD began with was to begin to recruit other good intentioned providers that have clinics in the tri-county area to agree to see those without insurance on a sliding scale. An individual could pay from 0 to 100% of their bill based on their ability to pay. Federal poverty levels were used to set the scale.

Doctors in the program are well-intentioned doctors and are willing to give back to the communities they serve. Starting out with 4 clinics in September 2002, ZIAD is now up to 28 clinics. 16 clinics in Detroit, 1 in Novi, 1 in Clinton Township, 1 in Trenton, 4 in Dearborn, 3in Warren and 1 in Romulus. All providing care to the uninsured on a sliding scale. ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved Inc. has seen over 4,000 patients in need in just 8 months.

ZIAD hopes to be able to see 15,000 plus patients and have at least 50 locations by late 2004. At present ZIAD is not funded by anyone. The Executive Director Dr Ibraham Ahmed RN โhopes for some major funders to recognize the importance of this project and a resource directory to help the many uninsured personsโ. The cause is right and we would hope those funders would step forward. In the meantime ZIAD will do all it can in partnership with Physicians,and others across the counties that are willing to make a difference.

ZIAD Healthcare for the Underserved Inc. is holding a collaborative Silent Auction at the Michigan Coalition of Human Rights Annual Dinner that will be held in Detroit on May 18th. Governor Jennifer Granholm will be the Keynote speaker. ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved Inc. will also be holding its Annual dinner at Burton Manor in Livonia on September 19th

According to the most recent data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of uninsured increased by 1.4 million and is now approaching 41.2 million Americans. Working adults account for 59%-almost two thirds of the uninsured population. In Michigan, there are approximately 1 million residents without health coverageโ”the majority of these individuals are from working families.

To contact ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved Inc., please call Dr Ibraham Ahmed RN- Executive Director at 313-815-8767 Web address: www.ziadhealthcare.org

Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles

Health Care Facilities: A Profitable Niche for Your Cleaning Business

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:30:25 +0000

A growing area that offers plenty of opportunity and potential profit for building service contractors is cleaning health care facilities. Besides hospitals, there are nursing homes, doctor’s offices, clinics, hospices, and dental offices that all need cleaning. With the aging baby boomer population, the number of medical facilities will continue to increase in the next few years. Most hospitals employ in-house cleaning crews, but there is a growing trend towards outsourcing cleaning services. Even if a hospital or medical facility has their own in-house cleaning crew, they will sometimes hire a cleaning service for offices, public areas or specialty cleaning (carpets, floors, windows). This presents an opportunity for janitorial cleaning companies who are willing to invest some time and effort into learning the ins and outs of cleaning medical facilities.
Begin by realizing that cleaning in the medical world is regulated and you must follow specific rules and guidelines. In many instances, you will need to document your cleaning procedures. There will be extra training required for your employees and you must provide close supervision to assure that everything is cleaned correctly. You may have to invest in more equipment, chemicals, and supplies to meet the requirements of a particular facility. In addition, laws in your state may require you, as an employer in the health care industry, to provide your employees with hazard communication training, hepatitis shots, and instructions in the proper disposal of biohazard materials.
There are many types of medical facilities, so take some time to study the market in your area before deciding to add this niche to your business. First decide which type of facility your company is best suited to clean. When you are just starting out, it’s better to begin with smaller clinics and doctor offices. Another choice when just starting out is to provide specialized services such as floor care, carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, and window cleaning. Smaller facilities and specialized cleaning gives you a chance to learn the ropes and build up a reputation in this area. This is also worthwhile, because owners of janitorial cleaning services say that it’s from word of mouth referrals that they gain new health care clients.
It is important to know there are different definitions of “clean” when considering the needs of medical facilities. When you traditionally think of cleaning, it implies removing all visible soil. However, when it comes to health care buildings, clean can also mean disinfecting, sterilizing, and decontaminating surfaces. If you are thinking of presenting a proposal to a medical facility, it is important to know the difference between these three terms. You are often dealing with more than just soil removal — you are removing soil that can be highly contaminated. It is important that your employees follow documented procedures and don’t take any shortcuts.
Sterilization or disinfection is common in most areas of a medical facility. Sterilization refers to cleaning with powerful chemicals that destroy all known microbial life. Disinfection is different in that it means killing specific types of pathogens and microorganisms. If you are involved with either procedure you will be using hospital grade disinfectants.
In addition, you must pay special attention to mops, cleaning cloths, and buckets. These items should be cleaned every day, and sometimes after each use. Most medical facilities are now using microfiber cleaning cloths and flat mops, as there is less chance of cross-contamination. It may also be a requirement to use a true HEPA filtered vacuum. A HEPA vacuum cleaner is necessary to protect indoor air quality and prevent microorganisms from becoming airborne.
When cleaning in a medical facility, workers must assume that every surface they clean can pose a potential risk to themselves, employees, patients, and visitors. Janitorial staff needs to be follow the regulations established by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) about exposure to blood borne pathogens.
It is essential that cleaning staff have the proper personal protective equipment (PPE), which includes gloves and eye protection. Wearing the right PPE helps to assure that your cleaning staff will not touch contaminated surfaces and protects them from splashes and spills.
One of the challenges of cleaning hospitals is that they are often open 24 hours a day, so there are unique situations you may have to work around. Large projects, such as cleaning hard floors or carpets, may involve blocking off areas until the project is completed. The same holds true for public rest rooms. Another challenge you might face in this setting is the noise caused by vacuum cleaners. You may need to buy “quiet” vacuum cleaners, which may cost more than conventional vacuum cleaners. In addition, many facilities are now requiring that you vacuum hard surface floors opposed to dust mopping because vacuuming reduces the amount of dust and other particulates that can become airborne.
There are constant changes and innovations in the equipment and supplies that are used or are required to be used in health care facilities. Some of the new products in the marketplace include:
* Vapor Cleaning — These are compact and low moisture steam cleaning machines. They can be used on various surfaces including hard floors, carpeting, fabric partitions and toilets. These machines can sanitize surfaces without the use of harsh chemicals.
* Electrostatic Sprayer — This is a new product that uses an air assisted electrostatic sprayer to apply disinfectants, deodorizes, cleaners, sealants, and various coatings. According to the manufacturer, it is much more efficient and effective than traditional sprayers.
* New disinfectants and hydrogen peroxide cleaners — New non-toxic cleaners are continually being introduced.
If you want to expand into cleaning health care facilities, you must be willing to spend time learning about the best ways to keep facilities clean while using the least toxic chemicals.
Breaking into cleaning health care facilities can be difficult. Many are hesitant to use outside contractors for their cleaning services. In addition, it can be tough to get in touch with the right person at a health care facility. You need to break the barrier and find the decision maker who realizes that hiring an outside cleaning staff can reduce their overall costs.
In the health care field there are constant changes and advances. This includes the supplies and equipment that are used in cleaning facilities. If you decide to venture into this area you must be willing to do your homework and keep up with technological changes and housekeeping practices. If you have a thoroughly trained staff and offer quality services at a fair price the field will be wide open.
It is almost a certainty that the medical industry will grow significantly. This can be a boom and a profit maker for janitorial cleaning services that have trained their staff to properly clean health care facilities. Specializing in cleaning health care facilities can help a cleaning service owner stay on top of current trends and equipment in the industry. Becoming known as a medical facility cleaning specialist can open many doors and lead to higher profits.
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store
Steve Hanson is co-founding member of TheJanitorialStore.com, an online community for owners and managers of cleaning companies who want to build a more profitable and successful cleaning business. Sign up for Trash Talk: Tip of the Week at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com and receive a Free Gift. Read cleaning success stories from owners of cleaning companies at http://www.cleaning-success.com/

Author: Steve Hanson
Source: articleage.com

Affordable Health Care Insurance – Three Tips to Find the Cheapest One

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:30:05 +0000

We can’t advice but admiration what the next tragedy will appear to us and how abundant will it amount us to balance from whatever it is. A lot of humans accept been adversity both the affliction due to their affliction and the affliction in their wallets who can alone acquiesce to pay for so much.

That it is why accepting a acceptable bloom allowance action is getting encouraged nowadays to awning for medical absorption and needs that may appear in the approaching after costing you an arm and a leg. In accomplishing so, there are lots of things and factors to consider. Here are a few tips on how you can get the a lot of affordable one with the best advantage and allowances in agreement of bloom affliction insurance.

1. Acquisition out what the accessible affairs are and apperceive your options. Once you accept done analysis on the allowance aggregation that you accept and they assume to be a dependable and absolute company, you charge to ask for affordable and bloom affliction bales that you can afford. Better yet, accommodate them aboriginal with your preferences and again they can appear up with affairs abutting to your account and again you can accept from there. Just accomplish abiding that you analysis the quotes after missing out on a individual detail.

2. Anticipate it over several times afore advancing to a accommodation on which bloom affliction allowance citation to take. The allowance aggregation should not force you to accomplish a accommodation appropriate abroad just to abutting the accord if they are professionals. They will acquiesce you to anticipate it over, in fact, they should animate you to anticipate it over aboriginal to accomplish abiding that the best you’ll accomplish is what you absolutely charge and want. Try to analyze it aboriginal with the added quotes you accept and accord it several thoughts afore you accomplish up your mind.

3. Accomplish abiding that the bloom allowance you get is not alone affordable, but it should aswell awning the important factors that you ability charge in the future, should the charge for medical absorption arises. Sometimes, it pays to accept the bloom affliction plan that costs a little added than what you are accommodating to pay for because it will awning a lot of of what you charge for a baby difference.

Looking for the best and a lot of affordable bloom affliction allowance can absolutely be a backbreaking assignment that everybody doesn’t wish to take. However, if you chase the aloft mentioned tips, you will see how it simple it is to acquisition the bloom allowance plan that will both fit your needs and your pocket.

Author: Andy Ryan
Source: ezinearticles.com

Want to Save Money on Your Health Insurance?

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:30:13 +0000

Most people pay too much for their health insurance. The problem is that there are so many different companies and types of policy and they can vary greatly in price.

Many people will end up choosing a policy by getting a quote from a few different providers and then choosing the best one that they’ve got.

It’s rarely the best price available. The only way a person can ensure that they’ve got the best price is to get quotes from all the different health care providers in the industry and then compare them all.

In reality people just don’t have the time or the energy to even try and attempt this. It would just take too long and it’s unlikely people could find all the different companies in the first place.

However, thanks to recent developments in the industry there is now an excellent way that people can check through all the different possible providers in the industry, in just a few minutes.

The method is by using a price comparison website. It is the job of these price comparison sites to go out into the marketplace and collect details of all the different providers and then store them in their database.

A user goes to one of the websites and enters a few details, like the state and type of policy they need to get. The database then collects details from all the potential providers and requests quotes.

It’s then down to the user to pick the best one. It is very quick and best of all, completely free. So users can only gain.

Although, people do need to make sure that they use an independent website to get the most out of this method and not one that is affiliated to any insurance companies. This is because the affiliated sites won’t be able to offer quotes from all the different providers in the market and so the level of discounts will be much less.

Author: Paul B Stevens
Source: ezinearticles.com

Inova Health System Uses CRM Training to Ensure Success with CPM Solution

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:28:50 +0000

For Further Information Contact:

Ginger Benz

CPMโ”Customer Potential Management Marketing Group, Inc.

608-831-7880/800-332-2631 Ext. 237

www.cpm.com

gbenz@cpm.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Inova Health System Uses CRM Training to Ensure Success with CPM Solution

Middleton, Wisconsin October 10, 2003โ”To ensure success of its customer relationship management (CRM) system in an industry just beginning to adopt this strategy, Inova Health System turned to a tried and true tactic to ease fear and skepticism of the unknown: training. Inova has used CPM Marketing Group’s CRM system designed specifically for healthcare, for about three years.

โThere are two essential ingredients to CRM success,โ said Erin Styles, CRM operations manager at Inova. โThe first is a commitment from upper management, and second is the education of all appropriate staff to effectively implement CRM throughout the organization.โ

She also noted โCRM fundamentally changes the way we build relationships with our customers and patients, so it’s not surprising that CRM met some resistance. For example, contacting fewer people to get better results is a hard concept to grasp at first. However, developing tools that simplify and spell out the concepts and steps of CRM removes some of the anxiety. Ultimately, the staff needs to be given ownership and accountability for CRM.โ

At Inova, training for a wide range of staffโ”including marketing directors, strategic planning, account managers, web and call center personnelโ”focuses on learning about the CRM process, developing a CRM marketing strategy, running simple queries and reports with analytical software, and measuring return on investment (ROI).

Styles developed both a CRM User Guide and CRM Tools for Organization Implementation program. The User Guide is a hands-on resource with everything from case studies and HIPAA policy to CRM nuts and bolts explanations. The CRM Tools include the User Guide and also feature internal CRM news via email, Web seminars, guest speakers, and strategy training. โThese tools have significantly aided the adoption of our CRM system,โ Styles noted. โThey have helped the staff gain knowledge and a comfort factor regarding our new methods of marketing.โ

Inova has used its CRM system for planning and campaign management. For example, using CRM, Inova can identify services with the most market and financial potential. Following a 12-month obstetrics campaign, Inova achieved its goal of increased volume with 45 new patients and more than $2.6 million in generated charges. Inova used a control group to compare non-solicited market activity with the activity of those who received the campaign materials.

Inova chose CPM Marketing Group’s CRM solution after extensive research on CRM and healthcare models as a response to rising competition in its primary service area. โTo be competitive, we needed to be able to meet individual health needs and to grow volume through measurable marketing efforts,โ Styles said. โThe ability to see the needs/risks of those individuals in our market and to gear our messages and programs to meet those needs is a hallmark of CRM as is the integration of all data to measure true ROI. This can only be done with CRM.โ

About Inova Health System

Inova Health System is a not-for-profit health care system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services including emergency and urgent care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to provide quality care and improve the health of the diverse communities we serve.

Inova Health System began in 1956 in response to Northern Virginia’s growing need for convenient, accessible health care. Known as the Fairfax Hospital Association, the not-for-profit health care system grew from one hospital to a network of hospitals and other health care services. In the late 1980s, the organization changed its name to Inova Health System.

Rove, Dean spar over health care at PSU

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:28:41 +0000

Karl Rove and Howard Dean brought the national health care debate to Penn State on Tuesday night. There was little agreement, but a good bit of name calling, during the event which ranged in tone from heated to humorous.“That’s a made up statistic, Karl Rove. …For the first time tonight, I’m calling you on it,” said Dean, a medical physician and the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “You made that up.”Rove had said that Medicare rejects claims twice as often as the overall health insurance industry, and he promised to put the proof in his Wall Street Journal column next week. “And I would appreciate it if you didn’t question my integrity. ..Mr. Dean, you just called me a liar and I don’t appreciate it,” replied Rove, former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor. Later, Rove called Dean “adolescent” after the former Democratic National Committee chairman interrupted one of his answers.The exchange was part of a debate in front of more than 2,000 people at the Eisenhower Auditorium. The two participated in a similar event at DePauw University in September.Tuesday night’s event was part of the Student Programming Association’s distinguished speaker series. All but one question dealt directly with health care, currently being debated in Congress.Dean defended the public option, a government-sponsored insurance plan, saying it would provide more insurance opportunity for citizens.“We have a choice (now) that is between one predatory insurance company, another predatory insurance company and a third predatory insurance company,” Dean said. “Give us the same choice that people over 65 have, give us the same choice that our brave soldiers that came back from Iraq and Afghanistan have, give us the same choice that the Congress of the United States has. Give us that choice.”Rove replied, “Every one of those programs is subsidized by everybody else. …So let’s duplicate them for everybody, except we’re gonna run out of money. …Somebody has to pay the bills.”Rove said the health care industry does not need large scale overhaul. Instead, he proposed medical tort reform and allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines, allowing people to take their health care with them when they switch jobs, allowing small business to pool together.Earlier in the debate, Rove said 17 million of the 47 million uninsured Americans earn more than $50,000 a year.“With all due respect, I don’t want to pick up Bill Gates’ health insurance costs,” Rove said. “These are people who ought to be able to find a way to pick up their own.”Dean said that $50,000 worker would end up spending $13,000 on health insurance in the current system. “Only a Republican could like this kind of thing,” he said.Throughout the debate, audience members mixed their applause and cheers for both speakers.But Rove received boos and catcalls from the audience on three occasions. When he claimed the United States health care system was the best in the world, heralded the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 of as an example of bipartisanship, and criticized people for saying George W. Bush “wasn’t a legitimately elected president.”At one point, in quick succession one spectator yelled out “war criminal” and another cursed at Rove.“These people must be from Michigan,” Rove said.The reference to Penn State’s football rival earned Rove some laughs. “Or maybe … Ohio State.” he added.

Employers Committed to Control Health Insurance Costs (E.C.C.H.I.C.) to Hold Seminar in Topeka

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:31:45 +0000

via MobilityNewswire) March 1, 2004–Employers Committed to Control Health Insurance Costs (ECCHIC), a network of insurance brokers and employers committed to stabilizing medical benefit costs through proactive and creative cost management methods, will present a free seminar on “Health Insurance Cost Management” in Topeka on Wednesday, March 10 beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, 1717 SW Topeka Boulevard. Lunch will be provided. Small business owners and individuals with health insurance concerns are invited to attend these informative seminars.

Health insurance benefits are the fastest growing cost center for employers today. At the same time, these costs are also often the least evaluated, managed, analyzed and understood by employers. Often, employers know the total cost of co-pays and premiums but not the amount actually spent on health care, which could potentially be quite a bit less than is spent on pre-paying for health care through insurance companies. At the same time, doctors and providers are being paid the same for their services today as they were five years ago, even though health insurance premiums escalated over 70 percent during this same period of time.

โThe vast majority of medical payments that are processed by insurance companies are less than $100.00, costs for which insurance was not originally meant to cover,โ said Howard Danzig, the St. Louis-based cost management expert who founded ECCHIC. โAuto insurance doesn’t cover the cost of replacing tires or batteries and homeowners’ insurance doesn’t cover the cost of fixing a faulty furnace, yet the reason medical insurance has become so cost prohibitive is because it is used for affordable, predictable expenses that should be paid directly to healthcare providers.โ

ECCHIC is advocating a program that is based on cost efficiency and evaluation of actual claims costs. By helping employers contain costs and only pay for the health care that is provided to employees, ECCHIC has substantially stabilized costs for participating employers, including a number of hospitals, school districts and private companies. Several ECCHIC employers have experienced unchanged budget and cost contribution levels for benefits for three or more years in a row with no decrease in benefits. Further, after detailed cost analysis, all participating employer groups are spending less than they would have using their old methods of shopping around for the lowest rates and adjusting benefit packages for employees.

ECCHIC emphasizes that employer groups must access medical services at a non-inflationary discounted rate thus reducing the cost of benefits by approximately 30%. The group also educates employees on how to purchase major medical insurance efficiently to meet need and risk.

Those interested in attending the ECCHIC seminar should register by calling 800-280-0010.

Media contact:

Jill Bronaugh

TalonPR, Inc.

785-224-1851

jill@talonpr.com