With millions of people across the country looking at the Affordable Care Acts health exchange, the federal Health and Human Services secretary wants women to know what is and should be available to them.

As National Breast Cancer Awareness month comes to a close, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, posted a blog entry Thursday about how the Affordable Care Act affects womens health coverage. While the act and the health exchange aim to offer low-cost insurance options for people, Sebelius said the act has already started offering ways for women in the country to receive

preventative screenings and counseling.

Though the health exchanges insurance wont be effective until next year for those who enroll now, the act, which was passed in 2010, has already affected parts of the health care industry. For womens health, one part of the act began in Aug. 1, 2012, to give women free access to a large number of preventative services.

According to the Health and Human Services site, the 22 covered preventative services for women are screenings for anemia, bacteriuria, gestational diabetes, Hepatitis B and Rh incompatibility for pregnant women; screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, chlamydia infection, domestic violence, gonorrhea, HIV, osteoporosis, tobacco use and syphilis for all women; counseling for BRCA, breast cancer chemoprevention, breastfeeding, domestic violence, tobacco use and sexually transmitted infections; access to contraception and folic acid supplements; and annual well-woman visits.

Since 2010, women can also receive mammograms and colonoscopies that are completely covered by insurance companies.

These preventive services are critical to keeping women healthy, Sebelius said in her blog post. For example, breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women and the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S., after lung cancer. But when breast cancer is caught early and treated, survival rates can be near 100 percent.

We believe that the health plan coverage guidelines as developed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will help ensure that the women in our service area will receive a comprehensive set of preventative services without regard to their ability to pay for such services, said Rich Newell, CEO of Carlisle Regional Medical Center.

Screening concerns

Dr. Peter Cardinal, medical director of Holy Spirit Health Systems outpatient offices, said having such coverage will help prevent higher costs later on, but he added that theres a caveat to the free access to screenings. As good as it is to offer them, he said a patient needs a physician to guide them through the screening and talk about whether or not a screening is needed.

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Health Care Checkup: Preventive services already available to women

WORCESTER At a time when most health care organizations are struggling to keep up with the changes sweeping the industry, Reliant Medical Group stands out in one important way.

At Reliant, a Central Massachusetts-based doctors' group, nearly three-quarters of the 180,000 patients are covered by health plans that, to some level, reward doctors for keeping patients healthy and penalize them with lower payments when the quality of care falls.

These plans pay doctors a set amount of money to care for each patient. They encourage primary care physicians to make sure their patients are getting regular checkups and screenings, so illness doesn't grow undetected. They are alternatives to the long-ingrained fee-for-service method of payment, which compensates for the quantity of care over the quality.

Now in an effort to slash costs, improve quality, cut waste and comply with new state and federal laws, the health care industry is moving to these types of alternative payment plans. But few have embraced payment reform to the extent Reliant has.

Systems and millions

A report released this year by the state's Center for Health Information and Analysis said 61 percent of the commercial health insurance market in Massachusetts is fee-for-service. At UMass Memorial Health Care, the biggest hospital system in Central Massachusetts, an overwhelming 95 percent of payments are fee-for-service. At Reliant, that figure is around 25 percent.

Reliant's outlier status can be traced back to its history, when it was called Fallon Clinic and was part of a system that included an insurer, Fallon Community Health Plan, and a hospital, St. Vincent. Fallon Clinic, later renamed Reliant, continued to focus on what are known as global or capitated payment models, even after separating from the health plan and hospital.

"You have to have the systems in place," said Dr. Armin Ernst, president and chief executive of Reliant. "It takes many years to build that."

It also takes many millions of dollars. Reliant spent $24 million to roll out its Epic electronic health record system and has 24 full-time employees dedicated to operating it. The group also has 59 data analysts, many dedicated to monitoring patient data.

Technology, analysis

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Health care fees are shifting gears

Rocky health care rollout raises concerns of low enrollment
With coverage deadlines for the Affordable Care Act nearing, and estimates by Internet experts that it may take weeks to fully fix the glitches plaguing the ...

By: PBS NewsHour

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Rocky health care rollout raises concerns of low enrollment - Video

Health care costs causing small businesses big bucks
An Omaha business owner says the Affordable Care Act could puncture his bottom line and the costs associated with the health care act are as bad as taxes.

By: KETV NewsWatch 7

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Health care costs causing small businesses big bucks - Video

Networking for the Future of Health Care
About 700 medical students from across Ontario gathered between October 18 - 20, 2013 for the annual Ontario Medical Students Weekend (OMSW).

By: UofTMed

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Networking for the Future of Health Care - Video

The Ed Show - Hannity gets caught in health care lie
Oct 21, 2013.

By: Licentiathe8th

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The Ed Show - Hannity gets caught in health care lie - Video

#GetCovered Because: There Are Four Ways To Sign Up For Health Care
You can sign up for ObamaCare in four ways. Online at http://healthcare.gov, by mail, in person, or on the phone at 1800-315-2596.

By: The White House

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#GetCovered Because: There Are Four Ways To Sign Up For Health Care - Video

House Democrats Voice Concerns Over Health Care Rollout
House Democrats voice concerns over health care rollout WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats are worried about persistent problems with the rollou...

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House Democrats Voice Concerns Over Health Care Rollout - Video

WASHINGTONNearly a month into the dysfunctional rollout, the Obama administration acknowledged the wide extent of its health care website's problems Friday and abruptly turned to a private company to oversee urgent fixes. Setting a new timetable, officials said most issues will be repaired by the end of November.

It will take a lot of work, but "HealthCare.gov is fixable," declared Jeffrey Zients, a management consultant brought in by the White House. By the end of next month, he said, there will be many fewer signup problems such as computer screen freezesbut he stopped short of saying problems will completely disappear.

The administration also said it is promoting one of the website contractors, a subsidiary of the nation's largest health insurance company, to take on the role of "general contractor" shepherding the fixes.

Quality Software Services Inc.owned by a unit of UnitedHealth Group was responsible for two components of the government's online insurance system. One is the data hub, a linchpin that works relatively well, and the other is an accounts registration feature that initially froze and caused many problems.

Zients reported that his review found dozens of issues across the entire system, which is made up of layers of components meant to interact in real time with consumers, government agencies and insurance company computers.

HealthCare.gov was supposed to be the online portal for uninsured Americans to get coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law. Envisioned as the equivalent of Amazon.com for health insurance, it became a huge bottleneck immediately upon launch Oct. 1. A major embarrassment for the administration, it is likely to end up as a case study of how government technology programs can go awry.

The briefing from Zients came a day after executives of QSSI and the other major contractor, CGI Federal, told Congress that the government didn't fully test the system and ordered up last-minute changes that contributed to logjams. Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill.

Visiting a community health center on Friday in Austin, Texas, Sebelius said that "in an ideal world there would have been a lot more testing." But she added that her department had little flexibility to postpone the launch against the backdrop of Washington's unforgiving politics. Republicans hoping, in the words of their TV ads, to "defund Obamacare" precipitated a government shutdown.

Some Republicans have been calling for her ouster, and she addressed that issue a day earlier in Phoenix. She said, "The majority of people calling for me to resign I would say are people who I don't work for and do not want this program to work in the first place." She added, "I have had frequent conversations with the president, and I've admitted to him that my role is to get the program up and running and we will do just that."

Zients gave some new details about the extent of the problems, but administration officials are still refusing to release any numbers on how many people have successfully enrolled. Although 700,000 have applied for coverage through the new online markets, it's believed only a fraction of that number actually have managed to sign up. Prior to the website going live, an administration estimate projected nearly 500,000 people would sign up in October alone.

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New boss for fixing the balky health care website

Posted on: 6:50 pm, October 24, 2013, by CNN Wire, updated on: 07:04pm, October 24, 2013

WASHINGTON (CNN) It was the governments fault, contractors on the problem-plagued website for President Barack Obamas signature health care reforms told a congressional hearing on Thursday.

In more than four hours of testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, officials of companies hired to create the HealthCare.gov website cited a lack of testing on the full system and last-minute changes by the federal agency overseeing the online enrollment system.

Angry exchanges between Republicans who oppose Obamacare and Democrats defending it erupted repeatedly, while the contractors insisted their work went fine even though the software buckled when the system went online on October 1.

Complaints about logging in, lengthy delays, incorrect information relayed to insurance companies and other problems have fueled continued GOP attacks on the 2010 Affordable Care Act that was upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

The White House and administration officials say the enrollment problems are being fixed. On Thursday, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) that oversees the new programs under the health care reforms said almost 700,000 applications have been submitted online on either the federal or state websites.

While the applications dont mean that many people have fully enrolled for health insurance under the new system, the figure represents a significant increase in those who have been able to start the process in recent days.

However, Julie Bataille, the CMS director of communications, was unable to say how many of the 700,000 applications were submitted on the federal website.

Bataille seemed to agree with some of the criticism by contractors at the hearing, saying that due to a compressed time frame, the system just wasnt tested enough, especially for high volume.

At Thursdays hearing, committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan called the launch of the website nothing short of a disaster, noting that contractors at the hearing previously looked us in the eye and assured us repeatedly that everything was on track, except that it wasnt.

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Contractors blame government for health care website woes

It was the government's fault, contractors on the problem-plagued website for President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms told a congressional hearing on Thursday.

In more than four hours of testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, officials of companies hired to create the HealthCare.gov website cited a lack of testing on the full system and last-minute changes by the federal agency overseeing the online enrollment system.

Angry exchanges between Republicans who oppose the Affordable Care Act and Democrats defending it erupted repeatedly, while the contractors insisted their work went fine even though the software buckled when the system went online on Oct. 1.

Complaints about logging in, lengthy delays, incorrect information relayed to insurance companies and other problems have fueled continued GOP attacks on the 2010 Affordable Care Act that was upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

The White House and administration officials say the enrollment problems are being fixed. On Thursday, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) that oversees the new programs under the health care reforms said almost 700,000 applications have been submitted online on either the federal or state websites.

While the applications don't mean that many people have fully enrolled for health insurance under the new system, the figure represents a significant increase in those who have been able to start the process in recent days.

However, Julie Bataille, the CMS director of communications, was unable to say how many of the 700,000 applications were submitted on the federal website.

At Thursday's hearing, committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan called the launch of the website "nothing short of a disaster," noting that contractors at the hearing previously "looked us in the eye and assured us repeatedly that everything was on track, except that it wasn't."

Upton and other Republicans said it heralded problems with the rest of the health car reforms.

"I am more nervous today than I was when I got here," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigan said of security concerns raised by Thursday's testimony, such as code changes being made to fix the problems without undergoing normal testing.

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Health care website contractors deny culpability

Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 24, 2013

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is announcing its first-ever Climate Change and Health Contest for Nurses. The contest, which offers a $10,000 grand prize, and an opportunity to present at the annual CleanMed conference, is intended to help encourage nurses to play an active role in mitigating the health threats of climate change through local and national projects.

The World Health Organization has called climate change the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Nurses are at the front lines of managing health effects of climate change, such as acute asthma attacks, encroaching infectious diseases such as Lyme Disease and Dengue Fever, heat strokes, and injuries from severe weather events. Many nurses have taken on climate change in an activist role in their professions and their communities because they have seen these effects.

As trusted health professionals, nurses can make a difference in how communities, health systems, and governments react to climate change, said Eric Lerner, director of the HCWH Climate program. Nurses can help communities address and prepare for the health threats associated with climate change, and can help influence public policies that address related issues, such as carbon pollution, and the development of alternative energies.

Many nurses are engaged in climate change activities ranging from bike rides to raise awareness to testimony before state legislatures and utility boards, stated Mary Margaret Thomas, co-chair of the HCWH Nurses Work Group. Because the nursing profession is so multi-faceted and focused on health promotion, their potential to reach people in all walks of life is unparalleled and makes nurses excellent advocates for climate change solutions.

The Climate Change and Health contest is open to nurses in the United States and Canada. To apply, nurses describe a project that they are involved in currently that they want to expand, or a new project, that addresses one of three areas: Climate Resiliency and Preparedness, Climate Mitigation, or Climate Leadership. Nurses can participate individually or in groups of five or less. Applications and more details are to be found here. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 16, 2013.

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is an international coalition of more than 500 organizations in 53 countries, working to transform the health care sector, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. To learn more about Health Care Without Harm, visit http://www.noharm.org. ###

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Health Care Without Harm Kicks Off Climate Change and Health Contest for Nurses

Maryland #39;s health care website still working out glitches
The state #39;s online exchange system has also been rattled with glitches that may not be resolved right away.

By: WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore

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Maryland's health care website still working out glitches - Video

The health care laws honeymoon period is over.

For several years, Obamacare provided new benefits: Children could stay on their parents plans longer, insurance companies couldnt impose lifetime benefit caps, and seniors got extra help in buying prescription drugs. But during the past two months, some consumers have been kicked off plans, and they and others are having to navigate the complexities of health care exchanges.

SEE ALSO: More Democrats push for delay in Obamacare mandate

House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Wednesday that more people have been kicked out of their health care plans thanks to recently activated provisions than have been able to sign up in the exchanges an equation he said underscored the problems with the law.

When you begin to look at these hundreds of thousands of people, I think what youre going to see at the end of October are more Americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges, Mr. Boehner told reporters.

Consumers have reported tremendous difficulties in signing up through the federal online portal, HealthCare.gov. That has led Republicans and even some Democrats to urge President Obama to extend the enrollment period and/or delay imposing tax penalties on those who fail to sign up thus violating the laws individual mandate requiring most Americans to get insurance.

As those difficulties emerge, meanwhile, Kaiser Health News reported this week that hundreds of thousands of Americans have received notices from their insurers canceling their policies: 300,000 from Florida Blue and 160,000 from Kaiser Permanente in California, in addition to thousands from other major insurers.

Analysts following the health care law said those are anecdotal figures and there is no way to know for sure whether Mr. Boehners claim is correct about cancellations outnumbering enrollees.

Professor Timothy S. Jost, a health care law researcher, said Mr. Boehners concerns should change as people whose plans have been canceled go to the exchanges and, in many cases, find they can get better, cheaper coverage.

SPECIAL COVERAGE: Health Care Reform

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Obamacare concern: Health care users start to get kicked off insurance plans

Rheumatologist Beth Simpson, D.O., poses with her Samsung tablet running NextGen software in the Arthritis Associates medical records room Wednesday afternoon. Medical practices are transitioning form analog paper records to digital ones stored on computers.

In health care, there are patients and doctors; machines and medicines; office staffs and insurance companies.

And binding them all together is paper.

In a given day, thousands of sheets -- lab results, referrals, billing information -- will change hands at a facility like University Surgical Associates in Chattanooga. The facility, home to 32 surgeons, spends close to $1,200 a month on paper.

That's why, for health care providers, entering the digital age is no small feat.

The shift from paper to digital has happened more slowly in medicine than in other industries.

But a federal program established under the 2009 economic stimulus law has provided billions in incentives for hospitals and physicians to make the switch to electronic records -- and in the next two years, it will begin penalizing providers that have not.

Overall, 291,325 doctors and 3,880 hospitals have made the switch, according to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this year.

The idea of digital health records comes with many goals: Greater efficiency, improved accuracy, more patients, faster billing, prompter payments.

But doctors' offices and hospitals say the transition has not been smooth.

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Doubts plague health care industry's mandatory switch to digital records

Patin-Ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur Concerned about the proper care of thousands highland village people, the provincial government of Agusan del Sur launched the health care for mothers and children of indigenous people (IPAs).

The signing of a landmark manifesto to institutionalize the health care program of the IPs was witnessed by top officials of the province early this week at the provincial training center here.

The historic launched was called Indigenous People-Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health and Nutrition (IP MNCHN), where Agusan del Sur Gov. Adolph Edward G. Plaza was the leading officials in the signing of the manifesto.

The IP MNCHN delved on the main thrust of giving primary health care to IP pregnant women and the child after giving birth.

The IP MNCHN will run until 2016. However, officials of the province and concerned line agencies of the government assured that they will not stop their health services assistance even after 2016.

The manifesto signing was also witnessed by officials from the Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Army, Police, Department of Health, Provincial Health Office, Municipal Health Office of San Luis and Philhealth.

To immediately implement the program, the provincial government and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and United Nations Population Fund will initially serve the lumads of Tagbuligan ku Banwaon Manobo daw Talaandig dini ta Adgawan (TagBaMaTaad) Ancestral Domain in the far-flung areas in San Luis, also this province.

Meanwhile, one of the concerns of this new health program for the IPs is the lack of midwife in highland village communities. Though currently the organization is sponsoring five midwifery grads on their review for the upcoming licensure exam and all of them came from San Luis but still this is not enough to compensate their number.

Gov. Plaza has assured that midwifery will be included to the covered courses for the Provincial Scholarship Program, so that all the women will be safe in times of their pregnancy and delivery.

The said project is also aligned to the Joint Memorandum Circular No.2013-01 Guidelines on the delivery of Basic Health Services for Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous People signed by the Secretaries of Department of Health (DOH), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

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Health care for indigenous people

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The health care sector has been ground zero in the ongoing ideological battle that shut down the U.S. government this month. Regardless of anyone's politics, the health care sector will become an increasingly important part of the market as global demographics provide a positive catalyst while domestic politics create a negative catalyst or at the very least create uncertainty.

The more than 70 million baby boomers are, of course, moving into retirement which provides the expectation of needing more medical attention. Other economically developed countries also have aging populations and while emerging markets tend to have younger populations, increased economic prosperity in those countries should mean more demand for advanced health care options.

Investors who agree on a future of increased importance for the sector but who do not want to get blindsided by picking "losers" in how the industry evolves under the Affordable Care Act can of course consider exchange traded funds as a solution.

Index Universe tracks 24 funds in the sector excluding levered and inverse funds. The simplest exposure is the broadest exposure through a fund like the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) or the Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT).

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A Look at Affordable Health Care ETFs

Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Discuss Health Care Insurance Coverage (2013)
Health care in the United States is provided by many distinct organizations. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by private sector business...

By: The Film Archives

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Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Discuss Health Care Insurance Coverage (2013) - Video

Originally Published: October 23, 2013 2:38 PMModified: October 23, 2013 3:55 PM

Innovation in the health care industry is the theme of this year's Crain's Health Care Leadership Summit and keynote speaker Maureen Bisognano, CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, will present several examples of innovative health care organizations that are leading the way.

In her book, Pursuing the Triple Aim, Bisognano tells the stories of seven health care organizations that have improved the health of populations they serve, enhanced patient care experiences and reduced per capita costs.

"Population health is a challenge for hospitals and physicians because they have to shift their thinking from (delivering) procedures to understanding the health needs of the patients they serve," said Bisognano in an interview with Crain's Detroit.

"Innovation comes from health organizations taking a local perspective" and finding ways to deliver high quality care at lower costs, said Bisognano.

The Triple Aim actually is a strategy developed by Cambridge, Mass.-based IHI to improve health system performance. It encourages organizations to improve quality, identify waste, improve chronic disease care, develop systems to reduce duplication of services and deliver effective patient care.

Along with co-author Charles Kenney, Bisognano described in her book such innovators as:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts created provider contracts that encourage hospitals and physicians to work more closely together to improve quality and reduce costs while delivering value to employers.

HealthPartners, a Bloomington, Minn.-based integrated delivery system, developed a number of quality improvement programs in response to the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking report, To Err is Human.

Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle adopted Toyota Production System methods to streamline medical and administrative processes that led to increased employee efficiencies, lower costs and higher quality.

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Crain's Health Summit: Keynote speaker Maureen Bisognano to highlight health care innovators

Salesman In Cheif, If You Like Your Health Care You Can Keep It Maybe? - Hannity
Salesman In Cheif, If You Like Your Health Care You Can Keep It Maybe? - Hannity.

By: Mass Tea Party

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Salesman In Cheif, If You Like Your Health Care You Can Keep It Maybe? - Hannity - Video