Yonsei University Health System: Patient Confidentiality in a Mobile World
For Yonsei University Severance Health System, like most health care providers, patient confidentiality is paramount, with four hospitals and an increasing n...
By: VMware
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Yonsei University Health System: Patient Confidentiality in a Mobile World - Video
Epic Sign Fail!
Epic sign fail, world #39;s worst sign, your tax dollars at work. Just when we learn they are about to jack up the price of gas to cover more highway related pro...
By: Steve Spell II
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Former health care CEO argues America #39;s medical system rewards bad outcomes
Judy Woodruff talks to George Halvorson, former CEO of Kaiser Permanente and author of "Don #39;t Let Health Care Bankrupt America," who argues we spend too much...
By: PBS NewsHour
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Former health care CEO argues America's medical system rewards bad outcomes - Video
On Jan 16, 2014, we reinstated our long-term recommendation on Health Care REIT Inc. ( HCN ) at Neutral. The decision reflects the company's strong third-quarter 2013 results, ongoing accretive strategic investments and promising healthcare industry fundamentals. However, intense competition in the industry is a headwind and continuous acquisition on the company's part is expected to raise upfront operating expenses.
Why Neutral?
Health Care REIT's diversified portfolio allows it to explore opportunities in different markets based on individual market dynamics. The company is focused on capitalizing on growth opportunities in high-barrier-to-entry affluent markets around the world. In relation to that, completion of the Sunrise Senior Living facility acquisition and the Avery Healthcare investments in the U.K. in the third quarter are expected to further enhance the company's high-quality senior housing portfolio.
Health Care REIT's third-quarter 2013 normalized funds from operations (FFO) of 97 cents per share came a cent ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate and 6 cents above the year-over-year figure. The improved results were primarily attributable to better-than-expected revenues and decent same-store net operating income growth.
In addition, rise in senior citizen spending for healthcare reasons bodes well for the company's growth going forward. Also, the introduction of the Affordable Act is expected to brighten growth prospects for Health Care REIT as it will widen the insured people bracket. This will further boost the demand for new outpatient facilities.
Despite these positives, the company faces stiff competition from national and local healthcare operators and its dependency on few tenants for revenue generation exposes it to concentration risks. Moreover, though acquisitions are a strategic fit, such moves involve considerable upfront costs. This remains a drag as new properties usually take time to generate revenues.
Over the last 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2013 FFO per share dipped by a cent to $3.78. Also, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2014 FFO per share moved south by 3 cents to $4.01. Health Care REIT currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Health Care REIT is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter 2013 earnings results on Feb 19, before the market opens. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FFO per share for the upcoming quarter is pegged at 97 cents per share, representing year-over-year growth of 14.66%.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some better ranked stocks in the REIT-Equity Trust - Other industry include PS Business Parks Inc. ( PSB ), Ventas, Inc. ( VTR ) and Public Storage ( PSA ). All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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BOSTON Massachusetts has long held a special status in the debate about President Obama's health care law. It was a 2006 Massachusetts law that provided the inspiration for the 2010 national law, and Massachusetts already had near-universal coverage before the federal law took effect.
Now the state that gave birth to a sweeping expansion of health coverage nationally is trying to knit the two laws together and struggling to make sure no resident falls through the insurance net.
At the center of their frustration is a glitchy website that has forced the state to rely on workarounds to ensure access to coverage.
About 5,400 shoppers were able to enroll in health care plans through the Massachusetts Health Connector by the end of December, according to a report by the federal Health and Human Services Department. Of those, 31 percent were between the ages of 18 and 34.
But state health officials say that the number of new people were able access to subsidized coverage through the Connector and MassHealth programs despite the website problems was higher about 28,000.
Even so, 26,000 other people ran into technical roadblocks and had to be enrolled in temporary subsidized coverage through MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.
Officials say they're focused on improving those numbers before March 31, when the federal health care law's first open enrollment season ends.
Jean Yang, executive director of the Health Connector, said the agency had to come up with creative ways to work around the website failures.
That included increasing call center capacity to help people who were unable to use the website. On Dec. 31, there were about 200 call center staff on hand three times the original capacity on Oct. 1.
Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor said the state is determined to protect the gains made since 2006. Massachusetts has the highest percentage of insured residents of any state.
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RIYADH/DUBAI: Stock market listings planned by two of Saudi Arabias biggest private hospital operators point to a boom in its health care industry, as political pressures prompt the government to pour huge sums into the underdeveloped sector.
Many areas of Saudi consumption, including the retail industry, housing and travel, have ballooned in the past decade because of oil-fueled growth in national income. But health care has lagged, partly because of government inefficiency and bureaucracy.
Now the mediocre quality of state-run health care has become a political liability for the government, especially in the wake of the 2011 uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, which underlined the risks of social discontent. Many Saudis complain about overcrowded hospitals and shortages of medications.
So the government has embarked on a drive to reform the sector, building hundreds of hospitals, providing interest-free loans to private companies and changing health insurance rules.
This could make Saudi Arabia the worlds fastest-growing major health care market over the next few years, helping to diversify the economy beyond oil and providing a bonanza to foreign companies selling medicines, equipment and services.
It is a case of chronic underinvestment and reactive over-expenditure, said Mohammad Kamal, an analyst at financial firm Arqaam Capital in Dubai.
The standard of Saudi Arabian health care provision has long contrasted with its wealth. The kingdom, which the IMF ranked 30th in the world by GDP per capita for 2012, has 2.2 hospital beds per 1,000 residents, according to Arqaam, lower than the global average of 3 and far below the average of 5.5 in developed countries.
Local newspapers routinely report complaints about issues such as overcrowding with some patients receiving intravenous drips in hospital corridors and poor hygiene and maintenance, resulting in pest infestations and infections.
Abdul-Karim al-Thobeiti, a Saudi engineer working in the public sector, said he would never set foot in a state-run hospital because they were either fully booked or poorly maintained.
If you want to make an appointment to see a doctor you have to wait for months, unless you have some connection or know someone who can pull a few strings, Thobeiti said.
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CBS Detroit (con't)
Affordable Care Act Updates: CBSDetroit.com/ACA
Health News & Information: CBSDetroit.com/Health
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) National health expenditures for the first 11 months of2013 came in just 4 percent above the first 11 months of 2012, according tothe Center for Sustainable Health Spending of the Ann Arbor-based researchorganization Altarum Institute.
Preliminary spending data for November 2013 showed year over year growth of 4.5 percent in spending from November 2012.
Depending on the December data, 2013 could wind up the fifth consecutive year of health spending growth below 4 percent, a rate that had not been seen before in the 50-plus years of national health expenditure accounting.
The data also showed national health care prices in December, 2013 were 1.1 percent higher than in December 2012, barely above the all-time low of 1 percent recorded in October 2013. The December, 2013 12-month moving average, at 1.3 percent, represents a new all-time low for the study. Year over year, hospital prices grew 1.5 percent in December, physician and clinical services prices rose by 0.2 percent, and home health care prices actually fell 0.5 percent.
The full report is at http://www.altarum.org/HealthIndicators.
The data showed the share of gross domestic product spent on health care was 17.2 percent in November, the lowest reading since September 2012 indicating that health care may be absorbing a smaller share of the economy, especially if GDP growth accelerates in 2014, as is widely predicted.
The data also showed the U.S. health care industry shed 6,000 jobs in December. If this estimate stands, it will be the first monthly drop since July 2003, and only the second since 1989. The health sector added about two-thirds as many jobs in calendar year 2013 (208,000) as in 2012 (321,000), with particular slowing in hospitals and nursing homes. The health sector share of total employment fell to 10.71 percent, below the all-time high of 10.73 percent recorded in August 2013.
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Health Care Price Increases Stay At Historic Lows, Health Job Growth Declines
Health care providers can help smokers quit
As a health care provider, I see the progress that New York State has made with its tobacco control program. I have worked closely with the Western New York Tobacco Cessation Center. Through this program I have received training and materials on treating tobacco dependence for my patients who are trying to quit this deadly addiction.
We often hear that one event or one day can change our lives forever. This is surely true in respect to quitting tobacco. Quitting tobacco has the power to change our individual lives, our families, our community and even our state. It is a great feeling when I have been able to help one of my patients quit. The impact, of course, is good for their health but also for their wallet.
As a reminder to all people who are trying to quit this habit, I urge you to talk to your health care provider. We can be a great resource to assist you with treating this addiction.
Pat Smith, N.P.
Eden
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Canadian health care will wallow in mediocrity and consume wealth until governments allow private insurers and require patients to pay more cost directly out of pocket to providers, a health economist warns.
Writing for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a public policy think tank, the University of Torontos Audrey Laporte steps on a third rail for Canadian politicians who talk of health care as a national icon.
She said she did so with trepidation, concerned shed be dismissed as a radical, her message unheeded.
Were probably not going to get radical change until we run out of money, she said.
In her just-published report, Laporte said health policy-makers ignore economics at their peril.
If they took basic economic theory the least bit seriously, the medical system could be much more efficient, and vitally, much more attuned to the needs of that often neglected and forgotten stakeholder the patient.
For too long, Canadians have been smug about their health care simply because it was more sensible than whats found in the U.S., she argues. Laporte describes American health care as a Rube Goldberg device, in which a series of quick fixes causes more and more chaos and problems.
She argues Canada should look to Europe and Australia, and at home, at dentistry, to see how market forces benefit patients. It begins with having patients pay for a share of their care.
You have to have some skin in the game, Laporte said.
Governments should set minimum standards but allow the private sector to set prices and services. They are the individuals with the greatest incentive for getting it right, Laporte said.
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Johnson defends health care lawsuit
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, says his lawsuit claiming members of Congress get special treatment under health care reform is not a stunt.
By: WISN 12 News
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PhD. Richard Grol. The generalization of evidence in Primary Health care
Ponencia Magistral del Dr. Richard Grol, centrada en la evidencia de las buenas prcticas en la atencin a personas mayores. He creado este vdeo con el Edit...
By: SARquavitae
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PhD. Richard Grol. The generalization of evidence in Primary Health care - Video
Heroes of health care
Dr. B.S. Ajai Kumar, Founder and Chairman of Healthcare Global Enterprises Limited, conveyed an rousing lecture as part of Heroes of Healthcare Lecture Serie...
By: thumbaytv
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Stem Cell Transplant at Aurora Health Care Robert F Taylor, MD
By: QQQ Health
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Stem Cell Transplant at Aurora Health Care Robert F Taylor, MD - Video
Congressman Terry #39;s Statement for the Exchange Information Disclosure Act
As the disastrous roll out of healthcare.gov continues, Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) fights for transparency and accountability of your health care coverage ...
By: NebraskaTerry
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Congressman Terry's Statement for the Exchange Information Disclosure Act - Video
Health Care Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of Hearing: Dr. Peter Hauser
By: RIT NTID
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Health Care Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of Hearing: Dr. Peter Hauser - Video
Street children and health care centers totally 10 at a ceremony held Thursday
Established in 1982, SweSone media group is publishing 7 journals and magazines concerning news, health, fashion and general knowledge and educative books oc...
By: Mrtv English Channel
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Street children and health care centers totally 10 at a ceremony held Thursday - Video
Drought wakes up California working class to fight the 1%.
UN executive Christiana Figueres, of the UN Framework convention on climate change says China is building the future of energy. Why? Because culturally, Chin...
By: paul8kangas
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Drought wakes up California working class to fight the 1%. - Video
YUJ GUANG GERONTOLOGIST CHOICES MENTAL MARTIAL ART MEDICAL HEALTH CARE MISSIONARY
CALL 544 66 41 AND 0916 43688 75 AMEN.
By: jesus ogayre
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YUJ GUANG GERONTOLOGIST CHOICES MENTAL MARTIAL ART MEDICAL HEALTH CARE MISSIONARY - Video
Progress on Immigration Reform, Another Vote to Repeal Health Care, and Obama #39;s Cabinet809
By: Olive Streicher
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Progress on Immigration Reform, Another Vote to Repeal Health Care, and Obama's Cabinet809 - Video
By Daniel Schaffer M.D.
By now, almost everyone has developed an opinion about the status of health care in our country, and it usually divides along ideological lines, with the word Obamacare in the middle. This is unfortunate if it ends the discussion, because both advocates and opponents agree that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not the final solution to our current health caredilemma.
We are still left with the fact that up to 10 percent of our population will continue to lack health care coverage. Some would rather pay the tax penalty than sign up for insurance; some because they cannot
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By now, almost everyone has developed an opinion about the status of health care in our country, and it usually divides along ideological lines, with the word Obamacare in the middle. This is unfortunate if it ends the discussion, because both advocates and opponents agree that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not the final solution to our current health caredilemma.
We are still left with the fact that up to 10 percent of our population will continue to lack health care coverage. Some would rather pay the tax penalty than sign up for insurance; some because they cannot afford the rates even with a subsidy, some because their employers have cut their hours to part time, and others because their states have elected not to expand Medicaid. We also have not addressed the inevitable increased cost of fully enacting the ACA but once again have kicked the can down theroad.
There are many factors that will determine what our health care system will eventually look like, but one of the most important is the mechanism of paying for those services. Unlike the other industrialized nations, our payment system for those under age 65 has evolved using private insurance companies, both for-profit and nonprofit. The result is that health care and insurance have unfortunately become fused into a singleterm.
Insurance is designed to protect people from events that will rarely occur, such as an automobile accident or a house fire. The system works because the majority of people paying their premiums will never collect any benefit, so there is a substantial cash reserve to pay for those whodo.
Health care, however, is something that everyone will utilize at some time and, in fact, should be utilizing even more than they currently do to obtain preventive services. To create a large enough cash reserve, in addition to paying for administrative costs and dividends to shareholders, insurance rates continue to escalate. This is made even worse when only the people with health problems that require expensive treatment are the ones who have insurance. This system is unsustainable in the long term because at some point premiums will exceed what individuals and employers are willing to pay, or co-pays and deductibles will reach the point where having insurance will be beyond the means of mostpeople.
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