Health junction

Diabetes Current-State and Changes to Come Unless you are Cro-Magnon-man and just emerged from a glacial field you are probably aware of some of the 2010 health care reforms. This article reviews how the United States got to be in such poor shape, health-wise and how some provisions of the 2010 reforms will create incremental changes. Since I am nearly finished with my second book, the Russell Guide for Diabetes: Type I or Type II This Could Happen To You , let me share some mind boggling information about this scourge. The American statistics on this disease have a huge impact on government funded health plans, including Medicare and these metrics from the CDC explain why : � The proportion of diagnosed diabetics in the United States has increased by more than 50% since 2007; 17.7 million in 2007 and 25.5 million in 2010 � Fully one third of the U.S. population is expected to be diabetic by 2025; 115 million � In 2010 18.7% of the 25,564,000 U.S. residents diagnosed as diabetic were ...

Evidence Based Planning: How it Impacts Health Care EBP: What it is Evidence based planning is the catch phrase of the health care reform movement and this article explains what it means and how it is applied in health care processes. The Institute of Medicine or the IOM defines quality of care as �the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge�. Evidence based planning is harnessing the enlightenment gained from sharing scientific and medical practice information and using it to optimize clinical and operational procedures to improve results. The health care reform mandates in 2010 have provisions for increased transparency and optimization of service delivery, which can only be achieved by deploying the best practice protocols by diagnosis, whether it is heart disease or diabetes through the evidence based planning process. Certainly the words �best practice� are no...

Health Care Reform Compliance Guidelines This article addresses the implementation schedule for the health care reforms that apply to private health insurance plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Public Health Service Act stipulations. It is important to note these new provisions impact both self-insured and fully insured group health insurance plans and are incorporated into ERISA and IRS rules. Compliance Mandates for 2010 1. COBRA- this provision has been extended from nine months to fifteen months for eligible participants and their dependents. If you were unemployed before February 28, 2009, you may be eligible for a COBRA benefit extension for your group insurance benefits and a federal subsidy for the insurance premiums. The COBRA subsidy was enacted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and requires eligible employees to pay a minimum of 35% of the COBRA premium expense (as opposed to 100% previously). Employers are required to a...

Listening to some of the law makers you would think the healthcare reform bill, signed by President Obama was an apocalypse now, rather than a process, albeit a messy one, of change in our democracy. Certainly lots of things are missing from the single biggest healthcare reform (cost containment) since the initiation of Medicare in the sixties, but this article reviews how the current Public Health Services Act impacts hospital systems. And you can thank-me-in-advance for compressing the 153-page bill into only 4 pages for you to digest. Medicare Changes Medicare changes will have an impact on hospitals, as the majority of their patients are typically Medicare eligible. 1. Closure of the prescription drug "donut hole" exclusion under Medicare Part D Medicare enrollees who have used all of their prescription drug allowance will be reimbursed up to $250 to close this loophole. This reimbursement will be allowed once per year per enrollee for Medicare Part D drugs. Also, the dif...