Kaiser NUHW Healthcare Workers Strike Against Short Staffing Threatening Health
Hundreds of Kaiser NUHW members launched a statewide strike against short staffing and systemic problems particularly for members with mental health issues. Kaiser which is increasing by hundreds ...
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Kaiser NUHW Healthcare Workers Strike Against Short Staffing Threatening Health - Video
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CAR: A Crisis Far from Over
The security and humanitarian emergency in Central African Republic (CAR) continues. The economy is at a standstill, and the country #39;s health care and education systems have all but collapsed....
By: Doctors Without Borders / MSF-USA
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Health care equipment has been on a tear over the past several years. For instance, every one of the top 10 holdings in SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF (XHE) has appreciated over the past three years. If you owned one of these stocks, or if you owned SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF itself, then theres a good chance that youre reading this with a smile on your face. Yes, money accumulation tends to lead to more smiles. However, past results dont guarantee future success. We need to take a look a detailed look at SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF and determine whether or not its an investment worthy of consideration going forward.
XHE has its selling points (well get to those soon), but there are also causes for concern.
One of those causes for concern is an uptrend on weak volume. XHE averages just 2,219 shares traded per day. If XHE saw selling pressure on heavy volume, it would decline much faster than it appreciated. (For more, see: Essential Strategies for Trading Volume.)
Another cause for concern is that XHE is non-diversified. Therefore, if the health care industry suffered, there would be no hedge. However, this is expected with this type of position, as is an expense ratio, which in this case comes in at 0.35%. XHE does yield 0.31%, which helps ease the pain of the expense ratio.
That covers the basics. Now lets take a look at the top 10 holdings for XHE, followed by breaking them down, which will reveal some interesting information.
The 10 holdings for XHE make up 20.75% of its total assets.
Insulet Corp. (PODD): Sells insulin infusion systems. 2.25% of assets.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW): Provides products and technologies that treat structural heart disease and critically ill patients. 2.19%
CareFusion Corp. (CFN): Medication management, infection prevention, operating room effectiveness, and respiratory care. 2.15%
Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BDX): Develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents worldwide. 2.08%
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Ellie Van Houtte/Town Crier Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which has offices at 370 Distel Circle in Los Altos, warns patients of upcoming health coverage changes in the wake of a contract dispute between Blue Shield and Sutter Health.
Local residents who are insured by Blue Shield and rely on Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) for medical services may be in for a surprise this year.
Blue Shield has announced that it could not come to terms on a new contract with Sutter Health PAMFs parent company by Dec. 31, according to a Santa Cruz Sentinel report last week.
Barring a change in negotiations, people insured by Blue Shield may need to switch doctors and will likely incur some additional out-of-pocket costs for services provided by PAMF and other Sutter Health affiliates, Blue Shield of California representative Lindy Wagner wrote in an email to the Town Crier.
We are continuing our discussions with Sutter with the goal of negotiating a new contract that will allow us to provide our customers affordable access to Sutter providers under fair and reasonable terms, Wagner noted. In the meantime, Blue Shield has taken steps to ensure members will continue to have uninterrupted access to quality medical care, and we are working with our members, brokers and employer groups to ensure a smooth transition to alternate providers.
Wagner said a transition period is in place for Blue Shield members. HMO members can continue receiving Sutter Health services through March 31. Those members, who will be notified of the change later this month, will be reassigned to a new health provider April 1.
EPO and PPO members will be able to receive in-network benefits for Sutter Health services during a six-month transition period (through June 30) with a caveat.
However, during this period, while members percentage cost-share will stay the same, Sutters charges will be higher and this will result in a higher out-of-pocket expense for the member, Wagner noted. If a new agreement is not reached before June 30, 2015, services received from Sutter after that date will be paid for at the out-of-network benefit level.
Jill Antonides, PAMFs director of communications and public affairs, echoed those sentiments. She told the Town Crier that Sutter Health wants to reach a fair and reasonable contract and remain a part of Blue Shield network. Antonides added that the change would affect 240,000 PPO and 57,000 HMO Blue Shield members who use Sutter Health services.
In her email, Wagner pointed the finger at Sutter Health for the negotiation stalemate. She noted that Sutter sought an arbitration provision in contract talks to insulate them from any potential litigation.
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"We all sort of suspected there was quite a big number, but when we came down to the actual figure it was certainly revealing," said Aliya Jiwani, health policy researcher and lead author of the report, which was published by the journal BMC Health Services Research.
Jiwani said that while "the administrative costs have been an issue" in the health-care world for years, "the fixes that have been put in place have only aggravated the issue."
In fact, the paper notes that "administrative costs as a percentage of total care health care spending more than doubled from 1980 to 2010."
Read MoreDeals, data at JPMorgan health conference
The authors of the paper write that the savings from eliminating trillions of dollars in administrative waste over the years "could cover all of the uninsured" people currently in the U.S. if a single-payer system were adopted. They estimate the cost of covering all of the roughly 40 million Americans still lacking health insurance would be equal to just about half of the $375 billion in projected savings.
The balance of those savings, they write, could "upgrade coverage for the tens of millions who are under-insured."
While the paper identified a very big number of wasted dollars, it remains a big question of whether that could lead to a single-payer system anytime soon.
Congress has not seriously considered a single-payer system for the entire nation, such as one that could take the form of Medicare, the federally run program that covers Americans age 65 and over. Vermont recently scrapped its plan to move to the entire state to a single-payer system because the estimated costs were too high.
And the Affordable Care Act remains relatively unpopular in national opinion polls even as it offers federal subsidies, or tax credits, to help people sign up in private individual insurance plans sold on government-run exchanges.
Ed Haislmaier, a senior research fellow of health policy studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said "there's a whole lot of reasons" not to move to a single-payer model.
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Diabetes Miracle Cure Review | The Hidden Gem Of Diabetes Miracle Cure
http://tiny.cc/DiabetesCure2015 Diabetes treatment can include numerous aspects, consisting of traditional medications, alternative medication, and natural treatments. Alternative treatments...
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Diabetes Miracle Cure Dr. Robert Evans |
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ONE MAN #39;S WAR Trailer
Available on DVD through http://www.umbrellaent.com.au Respected by his peers, tireless health care professional Dr. Joel Filartga (Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins) runs a free clinic in the...
By: UmbrellaEntAU
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Diabetes Miracle Cure Free Download | Diabetes Miracle Cure HUGE DISCOUNT
http://tiny.cc/DiabetesCure2015 Diabetes treatment can include lots of aspects, consisting of traditional medications, natural medicine, and natural remedies. Alternative treatments encompass...
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Diabetes Miracle Cure Free Download | Diabetes Miracle Cure HUGE DISCOUNT - Video
Lose weight, reduce fat and cure diabetes/cancer, be organic/vegan.
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How to Cure Diabetes Naturally With Exercise
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Debate over necessity of annual physical exams
If becoming healthier is one of your New Year #39;s resolutions, you might be among the 45 million Americans expected to get a routine physical this year. But the doctor who helped create President...
By: CBS This Morning
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Countdown to Zero: A Case Study in South Sudan
What does it take to defeat infectious diseases in the most remote areas of the world? See Carter Center-supported health care workers and community educators on the front lines in South Sudan,...
By: The Carter Center
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WASHINGTON (AP) - If you're among the millions of consumers who got financial help for health insurance last year under President Barack Obama's law, better keep an eye on your mailbox.
The administration said Monday it has started sending out tax reporting forms that you'll need to fill out your 2014 return. Like W-2s for health care, they're for people who got health insurance tax credits provided under the law.
Because this is the first time Americans will experience the complex connections between the health care law and taxes, there's concern that some people may not realize the new forms are important, and that they do need to open that envelope. Some consumers may not know what to do with the paperwork.
Called 1095-A, the forms come filled out with information from HealthCare.gov or your state's insurance exchange. They list who in each household got subsidized coverage, and how much the government paid each month to help with premiums.
You don't actually file the form with your tax return, but you can't complete your return without the information it contains.
Taxpayers, or their tax preparers, will use the financial details to fill out yet another form - 8962. That one is used to determine whether people received the right amount of assistance that they were legally entitled to.
The amount of the tax credit is based on a formula that takes into account income, household size, and health insurance costs in your community.
Those who got too much of a subsidy will get their tax refunds reduced by the IRS. For example, you can get dinged if your income went up during the year, and you didn't realize you had to report that to HealthCare.gov or your state insurance exchange.
If you received less of a subsidy than you were entitled to, the IRS will owe you instead.
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People in the U.S. go to the doctor less frequently and have much shorter hospital stays than people in other countries thatspend far less per capita on health care. But health services are consistently more expensive here than in comparably wealthy countries. Consider:
*The average price of angioplasty in the U.S. was $27,907 in 2013. In Switzerland, it was $10,897; in the Netherlands, it was $5,295.
*For coronary bypass, the average price in this country was $75,345 in 2013. compared with $36,509 in Switzerland and $15,742 in the Netherlands.
*For MRIs, the average price here was $1,145, compared with $461 in the Netherlands and just $138 in Switzerland.
Price is the major factor that distinguishes the cost of our system from those in other developed nations. The sticker shock of some medical services and drugs is also the dimension of the health-cost problem most visible to the public. So its interesting that most efforts in this country to address health-care costs dont focus on price much at all. Instead, they focus on reforming the delivery of health care and provider reimbursement to reduce the volume of health care Americans use and to weed out unnecessary procedures and hospitals days. There is a simple equation: price times volume equals spending. A comprehensive strategy would focus on both sides of the equation: volume, including eliminating unnecessary care, and price.
To be sure, high medical prices aretalked about a lot. One reason there is more talk than action is the anti-government environment, which would inhibit regulatory action to constrain prices. Taking on price also means taking on health cares powerful industry interests. More effective competition between providers would help reduce prices, but the health-care industry appears to be consolidating more than competing, as is the health insurance industry. Greater price transparency would enable consumers facing higher and higher deductibles to make more price sensitive choices, but price information is very limited and price may not be uppermost in peoples minds when they are in the middle of a medical crisis and their doctor writes a referral to get a procedure or test at a particular place.
It would be a mistake to make price the only focus of a cost-reduction strategy. But its striking that while price is such an important reason our system appears to cost so much more than others, efforts to reduce the high prices of medical care are not a meaningful part of current cost-reduction efforts.
Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of theKaiser Family Foundation. He is on Twitter:@drewaltman.
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Which Path for Health-Care Politics in 2015?
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WASHINGTON (AP) If you're among the millions of consumers who got financial help for health insurance last year under President Barack Obama's law, better keep an eye on your mailbox.
The administration said Monday it has started sending out tax reporting forms that you'll need to fill out your 2014 return. Like W-2s for health care, they're for people who got health insurance tax credits provided under the law.
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IMAGE:Jennifer Reingle, Ph.D., studied the mental health care of state and federal prisoners. view more
Credit: UTHealth School of Public Health
HOUSTON - (Jan. 12, 2015) - A significant portion of state and federal prisoners are not receiving treatment for mental health conditions, according to research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. The study was published recently in the American Journal of Public Health.
Mental health disorders among prisoners have consistently exceeded rates of disorders in the general population. Twenty six percent of prisoners reported a mental health diagnosis in the study, compared to 18 percent in the general population in 2012, according to the National Institutes of Health.
State and federal courts mandate that inmates must have access to adequate health services in prison. However, that mandate usually covers only "severe or serious" mental illnesses, according to the paper.
"Individuals with untreated mental health conditions may be at higher risk for correctional rehabilitation treatment failure and future recidivism after release from prison," said Jennifer Reingle, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health Dallas Regional Campus.
Data was obtained from a 2004 national sample of state and federal prisoners, which included 14,499 participants in state prisons and 3,686 in federal prisons. Participants self-reported whether they had been taking medication for a mental health condition upon entering the facility and whether they were still taking medication while in prison, marking treatment continuity.
At the time of admission, 18 percent of each sample was taking medication for a mental health condition, but only 52 percent of that subset of the population in federal prisons and 42 percent in state prisons received medication during their sentence.
Depression was the most prevalent mental health condition, reported by 20 percent of inmates, followed by mania, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Screening tools are not consistent across prisons and inmates could be diagnosed with different conditions or not diagnosed at all when they get transferred to a new location," said Reingle. "A standardized mental health screening process could benefit the inmates and the prison system as a whole."
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UTHealth research: Mental health care lacking in state and federal prisons
RECENT HEALTH CARE STRIKES
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center: Hundreds of nurses staged a three-day walkout at the Colton hospital and other sites in San Bernardino County Dec. 9-11. Negotiations have resumed.
Riverside Community Hospital: Nurses staged an informational protest in front of the facility in mid-December, saying they were working in unsafe conditions with a high patient-to-nurse ratio. Negotiations were expected to resume this month.
Dozens of protesters marched against Kaiser Permanente in Fontana on Monday, claiming the nonprofit was understaffing its mental health facilities.
The strikers were members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, who say they have too little time for patients.
Kaiser keeps piling on more work to do in a standard clinical hour. Its now to the point where instead of giving a patient a clinical hour, you give them maybe 30 minutes, said psychiatric therapist Marty Needleman, a union member on the picket line.
He said the nations new health care law has caused an influx of patients, compounding an already bad situation.
The walkout affects about 2,600 workers statewide and 250-300 workers in Inland Southern California, according to Needleman. It began at 6 a.m. and will last until 6 a.m. Jan. 19. Negotiations are on hold this week, he said.
Needleman said that 70 people were walking the picket line this morning.
Kaiser officials deny the nonprofit is failing its mental health patients and says it has increased the number of therapists in the state by 25 percent, a claim the union disputes.
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FONTANA: Health care workers protest at Kaiser Permanente hospital