United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the leading package delivery company, has announced the expansion of its health care distribution facilities in North America. The company is seeking expansion in five major markets including Burlington, Ontario, Louisville, Mira Loma, Atlanta, and Reno that brings its total global health care network to 37 dedicated facilities.

The companys accelerated health care investment positions it well to tap market opportunity in this rapidly expanding health care business for shipping companies.

Over the years, the company has established various distribution facilities dedicated to health care in key markets like Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, Latin America, Australia and the U.S. It sees further opportunities in emerging markets like China, India, Japan and Brazil.

As a result, UPS extended its 8-year long partnership in 2011 with pharma company Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) to expand its distribution and logistics services to certain Asian and Latin American markets. Further, in 2012, the company acquired Italian pharma logistics provider Pieffe Group to enhance its health care distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

In the same year, the company announced the opening of facilities in China and Australia to cater to health care distribution in the Asia-Pacific region.

Besides expanding its health care business, the company plans to invest about $500 million toward new technology and facility expansion over the next few years in markets including France, Latin America, Vietnam, China and Korea. In sync with this expansion spree, the company augmented phase 1 of its European hub operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport in Germany to increase capacity by 65%.

The expansion would cost about $200 million, with the entire project slated to be completed at year-end 2013. Overall, UPS projects capital expenditures of $2.4 billion for the year, which is concurrent with its capital spending target of 4% of revenues over the next five years.

We believe these accelerated investment plans arise from the companys optimism in its earnings power and revenue generating capabilities even in a difficult operating environment. Despite the disappointing end of the $6.8 billion mega acquisition of Dutch shipping company, TNT Express and an economic setback that affected demand trend, UPS managed to grow with top and bottom line increases driven by operational efficiency and an enhanced worldwide network.

However, we remain concerned about the volatile economic conditions that continue to restrict market demand. Further, the company is also exposed to unionized workforce and intense competition from giants like FedEx Corporation (FDX).

Other Stock

Original post:

UPS Expands in Health Care Markets

Premier Wall on Quebec leaving the Health Care Innovation Working Group
Premier Brad Wall joins John Gormley Live to discuss Quebec #39;s decision to leave the Health Care Innovation Working Group set up by the Council of the Federation to find solutions to growing health care costs faced by all provinces on February 6, 2013.

By: Brad Wall

The rest is here:

Premier Wall on Quebec leaving the Health Care Innovation Working Group - Video

Summit Day 2 Modernizing Florida #39;s Health Care Delivery System
Keynote: Marcus Osborne, Vice President, Health Wellness Payer Relations, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "Measurable Improvements: How Successful Business Initiatives Increase Access, Quality and Affordability"

By: HealthCareFLSummit

Continued here:

Summit Day 2 Modernizing Florida's Health Care Delivery System - Video

Summit Day 2 Increasing Health Care Access, Choice and Competition throughout Florida
Increasing Health Care Access, Choice competition throughout Florida panel, moderated by Senator Denie Grimsley - Chair, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health Human Services

By: HealthCareFLSummit

Read this article:

Summit Day 2 Increasing Health Care Access, Choice and Competition throughout Florida - Video

The reaction you may be hearing in the wake of former NDP finance minister Janice MacKinnon's diagnosis of an ailing health-care system seems based on how people feel about Janice MacKinnon.

Those who are conservative-minded love it when a former New Democrat - one who was once thought to be the logical successor to Roy Romanow, no less - comes around to the thinking that public health care is no longer sustainable ... even though this isn't exactly what Janice MacKinnon is saying in her report advocating health-care payments.

But angry New Democrats see her recent health report - commissioned by the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, which social democrats view as akin to Vancouver's right-wing think tank, the Fraser Institute - as just the latest example of MacKinnon shilling for the interests of Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party.

Adding to the palpable animosity that New Democrats already have towards MacKinnon is the fact that she is now treading on the sacred ground of public health care - a forbidden topic for most New Democrats who don't even distinguish between private health-care delivery (common in our health-care system in the form of dental, chiropractic, prescription drugs, home care, etc,) and private payment (which doesn't exist outside the aforementioned existing private elements of healthcare delivery).

MacKinnon's study advocated a form of private payment to offset rising costs - most likely, an income-tax surcharge of as much as three per cent of total income. As such, it might be more than just New Democrats displeased with being hit in the wallet.

That said, there are some very valid points emerging from MacKinnon's study that all of us need to seriously consider.

The premise of her report is based on the need to address the pending problems of an aging baby boomer generation demanding more of a health system that's already crowding out spending for areas like education. There is no doubt that seniors numbers will be increasing. And there's even less doubt that health-care budgets have sky-rocketed. In Saskatchewan, health costs are now a half-billion dollars more than the entire provincial budget 20 years ago. In the last five years alone under the Brad Wall government, health spending has increased by $1.45 billion, or 45 per cent.

And notwithstanding the venom the NDP has towards both MacKinnon and privately paid-for health care, she did reject any kind of user fee or applying the additional payments to those who could not afford them. So isn't she proposing a valid solution to a valid problem? Well, not according to one expert who has extensively studied this issue.

University of Regina head of political science Tom McIntosh - who served on the Romanow commission last decade - thinks MacKinnon has made the wrong diagnosis followed by the wrong prescription.

Read more here:

MANDRYK: MacKinnon misdiagnosed health care

WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care system in Central New England and the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, today announced that Dr. Eric W. Dickson, MHCM, FACEP has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Dickson succeeds John OBrien in those positions. The appointment is effective February 25. Mr. OBrien will remain with UMass Memorial Health Care for several weeks to help ensure a seamless transition to Dr. Dicksons leadership.

Dr. Dickson, 46, currently serves as presidentUMass Memorial Medical Groupand senior associate dean at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.The UMass Memorial Medical Group is a subsidiary of UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. UMass Memorial Medical Group, Inc. is a 1,060-physician, 2,200-employee multidisciplinary medical group located in Central Massachusetts, with revenue of over $460 million. The medical groups physicians currently practice in 12 hospitals and see more than 1,200,000 patients per year in facility-based and office-based outpatient practices.

In addition, Dr. Dickson is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a practicing emergency department physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center. He also is a faculty member at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, MA.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Dickson served in a variety of clinical and senior management roles at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, a 700 bed health care system with nearly a billion dollars in revenue, from 2003 to 2009, including his last position as interim chief operating officer from 2008 to 2009, responsible for about 3,000 employees.

He was an emergency room physician at UMass-Memorial from 1996 to 2003 as well as director of emergency medicine research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 1998 to 2003. Dr. Dickson served in the United States Army Reserve from 1985 to 1992 as a combat medic and respiratory therapist.

David Bennett, chair of UMass Memorial Health Cares Board of Trustees, said: Dr. Dickson is an ideal chief executive for UMass Memorial Health Care at this time in the organizations history, taking the helm as the industry itself is undergoing transformational change. He has all the requisite skills to bring this organization to the next level, including a comprehensive understanding of a new healthcare system predicated on value, not volume of services. His extensive quality improvement and process improvement experience well equips him for a future state that will demand greater efficiency while improving the patient's experience. As a physician, Dr. Dickson understands the importance of constantly striving to provide the highest-quality care for the Central New England communities UMass Memorial serves. And as the president of UMass Memorial Medical Group, Dr. Dickson understands that the organization must continue to take the difficult but necessary steps to ensure that we provide that care in the most efficient, affordable and safest manner possible.

The entire UMass Memorial organization, its physicians, nurses, care givers and staff and, most importantly the communities we serve will benefit from Dr. Dicksons leadership. He is an exceptional individual known for both careful judgment and disciplined action, and we are delighted that he will be serving the health care system in this new and expanded role.

Mr. Bennett continued: The Board would like to thank John OBrien for his dedication and service to UMass Memorial Health Care over the past decade. John has been unafraid to take on the challenge of transforming UMass Memorial for the future. We will continue to build on that work under Dr. Dicksons leadership. We wish John the best as he focuses on a variety of new commitments in the non-profit and public service sectors.

Michael F. Collins, MD, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said: The appointment of Dr. Dickson ushers in a new era for UMass Memorial Health Care and its partnership with our great public medical school. We look forward to working with Dr. Dickson to build on our academic health science centers unyielding commitment to research, education, and exceptional care for our patients. As a graduate of our medical school, and an accomplished physician leader, Dr. Dickson is well suited to lead UMass Memorial Health Care into the future.

Continued here:

Eric W. Dickson MD, MHCM, FACEP Named as UMass Memorial Health Care President and Chief Executive Officer

Published: Wednesday, February 6, 2013, 2:30p.m. Updated 2 hours ago

Community health care navigators at three Western Pennsylvania hospitals will work to improve quality of care, under a pilot program paid for by the Highmark Foundation.

The foundation will donate $254,500 to the program and team with consulting firm Accenture to train 16 people for St. Vincent Health System in Erie, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, and a third undetermined hospital.

The navigators, who are not medical professionals, would help connect patients with primary care services. That can reduce no-shows for doctor appointments, decrease hospital admissions and cut unnecessary emergency department visits, the foundation said.

Allegheny and Erie counties need such services because some people have limited access to care, and county statistics show health disparities and low-income and racial or ethnic diversity within the patient population, the foundation said.

Patient navigation not only creates a one-on-one connection for the patient, it serves as a low-cost investment that delivers significant value to care delivery, said Jean-Pierre Stephan, who leads health consumer and services strategy for Accenture.

The Highmark Foundation is the charitable arm of Highmark Inc., the state's largest health insurer, which has deals to buy St. Vincent Health System and West Penn Allegheny Health System, the owner of Allegheny Valley.

Alex Nixon is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7928 or anixon@tribweb.com.

To comment, click the Sign in or sign up at the very top of this page.

Here is the original post:

Health care “navigators” to help patients

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb 6, 2013) - When the Canadian Core Competency Profile for Case Management Providers is unveiled this month, a new standard for health care management will be set. "With the release of this ground breaking document, we will be raising the bar for Case Management," says Joan Park, President of the National Case Management Network (NCMN), "but more importantly, it will put the spotlight on the increasingly important part Case Management now plays in the effective delivery of health care and social services in Canada.

"Case Management really is the future and the promise for the care that we will all need as we age," says Park, who describes Case Management as a strategy, process and role that helps people navigate through our health and social service systems in a timely, compassionate and cost efficient manner.

Case Management is practiced by a diverse array of individuals in the health and social service domains including physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational and physiotherapists, and other regulated and unregulated health care providers.

In 2010, NCMN received funding from Health Canada to publish the Canadian Standards of Practice for Case Management. Additional funding from the Federal government in 2012 allowed the association to develop the newly released Core Competencies. Both documents are available in English and French.

The Core Competencies define the various roles of Case Management providers - communicators, collaborators, navigators, advocates and managers - and recommend competency guidelines for client driven care.

Who benefits? "The need is greatest for those who struggle with complex health and social issues, suffer from chronic disease, or cannot advocate for themselves," says Park. "Episodes of care often involve multiple providers as well as transfers across care settings - and that speaks to how complex and fragmented our healthcare and social service systems have become."

Case Management helps to break down accessibility barriers between health and social services. "Case Management providers ensure the patient/client gets the right care at the right place and the right time from the right provider - and that amounts to the right cost," says Park.

"With the release of the Canadian Case Management Competencies, NCMN is ready to consider creating a credentialing process, which is the next step in helping us meet Health Canada''s goal of optimizing the health care workforce."

For your copy of the Canadian Core Competency Profile for Case Management Providers or the Canadian Standards of Practice for Case Management visit http://www.ncmn.ca.

About the National Case Management Network

View original post here:

The Future of Health Care in Canada: Case Management Sets a New Standard

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The issue of health care access has never been more important. To develop industry-focused, innovative solutions to the challenges of creating access, the Health Care Industry Access Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action across the health care industry to improve health care access, will host Summit 2013: Beyond Health Reform to Health Care Access: Solving Access Challenges to Achieve Success in Health Reform. The Summit will be held Feb. 13-15, 2013, at the FHI 360 Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Experts will address a range of topics, including fostering consumer engagement in health insurance exchanges (now re-dubbed "marketplaces"); how health care organizations are using social media to connect with consumers; the return of the house call; and the latest innovations in care transitions.

"Ensuring individuals have access to the coverage and care they need is a thornier problem than we could have imagined just a few years ago. If simply 'building it' were sufficient, millions more Americans would have coverage and access to primary care," said Carrie Valiant, founder and president of the Health Care Industry Access Initiative. She is a Member of the Firm in Epstein Becker Green's Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in Washington, D.C. "At this summit, we are bringing together some of the sharpest minds in the country to discuss this and other pressing challenges around access. I am confident we will all leave with a better understanding of what we must do to move the Triple Aim from aspiration to reality."

Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, IBM's global director of healthcare transformation and president of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), will deliver the keynote address Thursday morning: "How Patient-Centered Medical Homes Can Transform Patient Access to Healthcare." Grundy champions the notion that patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) can provide a foundation for a high-performing health care system. His work has been widely reported in leading magazines, journals, and broadcast outlets. In 2012, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Wednesday's dinner speaker, Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, dean, Jefferson School of Nursing, will share the challenges she faced as a health professional and caregiver, while navigating the health care system on behalf of her husband. The account was recently published in Health Affairs.

Access to care is the most basic step to achieving the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aimimprove the health of the population; enhance the patient experience of care; and reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of care. Health care reform or more accurately, its transformation depends on reaching the consumer: People must sign up for coverage, and then access needed care. But offering or even mandating coverage is not enough. Many individuals fail to sign up for programs for which they are eligible, even when those programs are free. More troubling, most uninsured people lack relationships with primary care physicians the entry point for obtaining cost-effective health care services.

"Access a core PCMH tenet is a topic close to my heart. Improving patient access to primary care is central to improving the quality and efficiency of health care and we have substantial evidence to prove that,[1]" said Grundy. "Our success connecting with patients especially those without a primary care provider will determine the fate of our health care system. Health reform takes us part of the way there, but to make a lasting difference, we need more than reformation. We need transformation. I believe this Summit will help us accomplish the latter."

For the full agenda and to register, click here. Please direct non-media inquiries to Amy Simmons at ASimmons@ebglaw.com or 202-861-1811.

The Health Care Industry Access Initiative is a non-profit, tax exempt organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action by health care industry stakeholders to improve health care access both coverage and services in the United States. It is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to access that is industry-focused across all segments of health care.

[1] Benefits of Implementing the Primary Care Patient-Centered Medical Home: Cost and Quality Results, PCPCC 2012. (http://www.pcpcc.net/content/pcmh-outcome-evidence-quality)

See the rest here:

Health Care Industry Access Initiative Summit 2013 Slated for Next Week

In agreeing to a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, the House attached several conditions. One was a commitment to pass a budget that will balance within 10 years. Meeting that goal is important not only for the countrys fiscal future but also for the future of the countrys health care.

Health care entitlements are a major driver of federal spending. In 2011, Medicare and Medicaid alone accounted for nearly a quarter (more than 23 percent) of all federal spending.

In his Inaugural Address President Obama stated, We must make hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of the debt. The President is right. But his own health care law has made the situation worse, not better.

When Obamacare was passed, its supporters insisted the law would bend the cost curve down and reduce the deficit. Today, reality has set in. The Congressional Budget Office estimates Obamacare will add almost $1.6 trillion in new spending over the next 10 years. It obligates an estimated $1 trillion for subsidies to individuals for purchasing coverage through the government exchanges and $644 billion for states agreeing to expand their Medicaid programs. To help pay for the new entitlements, it takes over $700 billion out of an old oneMedicare, a program already teetering on the brink of insolvency. It also relies on unsound and unreliable savings, shifty Washington budget gimmicks, and imposes over $800 billion in new penalties and taxes that affect all Americans.

America cant afford health reform done this way. The House should start with repeal of Obamacare. But most urgent is to stop the most costly provisions of Obamacare slated to take effect next year. Specifically, Congress should eliminate the exchange subsidies and the enhanced federal match for the Medicaid expansion. Stopping these provisions would save the federal government more than $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years.

Politically, restraining these future obligations should be easy. There are no current beneficiaries, hence ending it would affect no one.

Although the thrust of the law is still a year away, the flaws of Obamacare are well documented and continue to grow. Most recently, news that insurance premiums were growing by double digits raised new questions about whether this health care law can actually work as the authors intended.

Desperate to deflect attention away from its failures and shortcomings, defenders of Obamacare are rolling out the next phase of Obamacare. Ideas such as strengthening the individual mandate penalty, expanding the powers of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and squeezing out more efficiencies by adding even more government regulations. Evidently, they think the way to fix Obamacare is to double-down.

That approach, of course, assumes that to more price controls and more regulations will solve the countrys fiscal and health care crisis.

On paper, price controls and regulations may appear to reduce spending. The appearance of savings often lures support for such policies. But, price controls and government regulations dont necessarily curb health care costs and have an inescapable real-world cost that doesnt appear on paper: rationing of medical care.

Go here to read the rest:

Health Care and the Debt Deal

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH) today reported consolidated operating results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. Operating revenues totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter with net earnings of $119.3 million, or earnings per diluted share (EPS) of $0.88. For the year ended December 31, 2012, total operating revenues were $14.1 billion with net earnings of $487.1 million, or $3.52 EPS.

I am very pleased with the Companys strong fourth quarter and full year 2012 results, significantly exceeding our previous guidance, said Allen F. Wise, chairman and chief executive officer of Coventry. We continue to make progress in our Kentucky Medicaid business as evidenced by the sequential improvement in fourth quarter results. In addition, the Company recently completed the 2013 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period with an outstanding organic growth result in our Medicare Advantage Coordinated Care Plans. We look forward to combining our strengths with those of Aetna to further our shared commitment to improving the health and well-being of our members.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Consolidated Highlights

Selected Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Highlights

Medicare Advantage

Medicare Part D

Medicaid

Commercial Risk

Balance Sheet

More here:

Coventry Health Care Reports Fourth Quarter Earnings

"Measuring the Sources and Types of Funding on Health Care Outcomes for Children..."
Crystal Ward Allen, MSW; Catherine Cerulli, JD, PhD; Rhonda Reagh, Susan Mangold, JD, presented their research during the Social Welfare Criminal Justice Systems Session at the 2013 Public Health Law Research Annual Meeting in New Orleans, January 17, 2013.

By: phlrrwjf

Original post:

"Measuring the Sources and Types of Funding on Health Care Outcomes for Children..." - Video

For Brokers: Educating Health Care Consumers About Controlling Thier Health Care Costs

By: Jennie Edgerton

Read this article:

For Brokers: Educating Health Care Consumers About Controlling Thier Health Care Costs - Video

JEFFERSON CITY Missouri health care providers stand to see a significant boost in payments for treating Medicaid patients under Gov. Jay Nixons proposal to expand the health care program for the poor.

The budget proposal Nixon released last week would close a long-standing gap between what Medicaid pays for health care and what providers get on the private market, but it would also add millions to the federal governments tab for the expansion.

Supporters of the governors plan say increased Medicaid payments will encourage more doctors to accept patients from the Medicaid program, as several thousand people enter the system.

Opponents say the plan will increase costs charged to the federal government for implementing the optional provision of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Nixon, a Democrat, made the Medicaid expansion plan a key focus of his State of the State speech, but GOP leaders have largely balked at the proposal.

Its all a process, Nixon said Monday. My sense is were clearly moving in a positive direction.

The expansion would add some 260,000 Missourians to the program in the coming year, according to estimates from the governors budget office. The federal government already pays part of Missouris Medicaid costs. Under the federal health care law, it would pick up the full tab for new recipients in the first three years and continue paying most of the costs beyond that.

Nixons budget proposal calls for $907.5 million in federal spending for the influx of new Medicaid enrollees. That includes about $82 million to bring Medicaid payment rates up to commercial levels.

State budget director Linda Luebbering said the payment increase could ultimately make the program more efficient by drawing more doctors into the system, which could make cheaper preventive care more accessible.

By using rates that are closer to the commercial rates, we hope to encourage more active participation by doctors and other care providers, she said. If this proves to be a cost-effective strategy, we could broaden the concept to the rest of the Medicaid population.

Here is the original post:

Gov. Jay Nixon's Medicaid proposal would mean millions for health care industry

Todays boomers and senior citizens want to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, causing a surge in the home health-care industry.

An AAPR study shows that 89% of seniors want to stay at home at all costs, says David Goodman, president of Companion Connection Senior Care. Someone who has been in their home for 50 years its very hard to make the transition to go into a facility.

Home health care can be a cheaper alternative to a nursing home and more comfortable to aging homeowners.

The familiarity and consolation of remaining in a home offers many perks, but its vital to find a professional caregiver that is not only certified, but is also a good personality match.

Very little senior care is hired direct like a babysitter, says Julie Northcutt, founder of Caregiverlist. Senior care is more complicated. Youve got to know how to administer medication, you have to interact with memory loss. It requires training.

Horror stories of caregivers being negligent, stealing or not being certified continue to make headlines, making the selection and vetting process crucial. And industry players say the best way to find a caregiver to use an agency.

Experts suggest using an agency that is licensed in each state it offers services. Although not all states require a license to place home healthcare professionals, Goodman says the number of states that require a license has increased over the past few years. The minimum requirement is usually pretty stringent, he says of the licensing process.

Using an agency will also protect you from any liabilities since the agency will be responsible for payroll taxes, workers compensation and the actions of the healthcare professionals. If the caregiver hurts his or her back, workers comp will pay for that, says Northcutt.

Agencies also conduct national background checks on all the workers to prevent any theft or fraud. The biggest aspect is the insurance protection. You dont want to lose a lifetime worth of assets because you dont have a professional, Northcutt says. Agencies also offer substitutes for when the normal caregiver is sick or off.

You should also evaluate the training of a caregiver, and Goodman says candidates that are properly trained will have more than 130 hours of training and have passed the Caregiver Quality Assurance or CQA testing, which is the benchmark for the industry to test the soft skills of the caregiver. The CQA tests dependability, honesty, aggression, conscientiousness and cognitive reasoning that allows agencies and consumers to know how a caregiver will react in certain situations.

Read more here:

How to Pick a Home Health Care Provider

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

HighRoads, the industry leader in health care compliance and benefits management, today launched the HighRoads Benefits Plan Management System. The new, SaaS-based solution automates plan design management and eases the compliance burden for todays health insurance payers.

Health Care Reform has created new complexities for health care payers who have been charged with communicating new regulations in an easy-to-understand language to their customers, said Michael Byers, CEO, HighRoads. The challenge is that typical payer technologies have not been built to accommodate the plan management requirements needed to easily deliver these critical compliance documents. HighRoads has been a leader in managing health plan data for complex environments and employers for over a decade. We are now bringing this technology to the payer market with a customized solution designed to ease the burden of developing compliant materials for the health insurance consumer.

Todays health insurance payer has complex plan data residing in multiple systems and in multiple formats. To combine this information to deliver health care reform-compliant SBC materials, often requires massive manual processes with limited or no automated workflow.

The HighRoads Benefits Plan Management System is a patented technology that enables payers to become more competitive and adapt to the frequent changes expected in the consumer-focused health care market. By helping payers manage data holistically rather than managing individual documents HighRoads enables payers to generate benefits documents more easily, based on their unique business rules. Ultimately, the HighRoads Benefits Plan Management System will help payers thrive in a consumer-centric environment by helping them to adapt quickly to changing requirements and policies.

AHIP is pleased that innovative solution providers such as HighRoads are addressing the critical need of payers to achieve compliance in a cost-effective and efficient manner, said Brendan Miller, Vice President, Business Development, Americas Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). HighRoads SaaS-based solution for plan management, communication and compliance is an example of how the health care industry is embracing technology to manage a considerably more complex health care environment.

HighRoads serves as the plan design system of record for some of the largest organizations in the world. Using patented technology to automate the collection, centralization and re-purpose of plan data, HighRoads eliminates manual manipulation, reducing errors and minimizing management cost and time. HighRoads technology is used by over 1,000 insurance vendors, outsourced administrators, employers and HR consulting firms.

For more information on the HighRoads Benefits Plan Management System, please visit: http://www.highroads.com/payers/

About HighRoads

The worlds leading organizations choose HighRoads to gain complete control over their health care costs and compliance. HighRoads SaaS-based solutions provide organizations with complete benefits plan management capability, including benefits plan information and pricing, competitive benefits benchmarks, and compliance management. The privately-held company is headquartered in Woburn, MA. For more information, visitwww.HighRoads.com,become a fan on Facebook,follow us on Twitter(@HighRoadsHR), or read ourHR Compliance Connection Blog.

See the original post:

HighRoads Solves Health Plan Data Management for Health Care Payers

SALEM Hundreds of people from all over Oregon rallied in Salem on the first day of the legislative session to call attention to what they claim is a broken health care system and call on lawmakers to enact reforms.

An estimated 1,000 protesters, many brandishing signs and wearing red Health Care Is a Human Right T-shirts, packed the Capitol steps to hear a dozen speakers tell horror stories of out-of-control medical costs and urge support for a single-payer health care bill.

Ten buses including two from the mid-valley delivered people from as far away as La Grande and Bandon, Ashland and Prineville for the lunchtime rally, organized by Health Care for All Oregon.

Rep. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, got a hearty cheer as he took the stage to talk about his plans to reintroduce the Affordable Health Care for All Oregon Act, which foundered in the 2011 session.

This time, he said, the notion of a comprehensive taxpayer-supported health care system for all Oregonians has broader support, with 19 co-sponsors already on board, compared to 11 last time.

But he also predicted that a statewide ballot measure would ultimately be required to enact a single-payer system in Oregon. Using emotionally charged language, he exhorted the audience to work toward passing an initiative in the 2016 election.

Brothers and sisters, Dembrow said, the real work here is not going to be done inside this building. Its going to be done outside this building, in all parts of Oregon, by all of you.

Two of his co-sponsors, Reps. Jennifer Williamson of Portland and Dave Gomberg of Lincoln City, also spoke in support of the bill.

Mondays rally had a festive air, with musicians performing protest songs, a 10-foot-tall puppet dubbed Big Nurse, and activists wearing open-backed hospital gowns that exposed padded foam derrierres to illustrate what private insurance just wont cover.

The crowd, roughly six times the size of a similar gathering two years ago to support Dembrows previous single-payer bill, chanted and sang, cheered and shouted for a parade of speakers lamenting the ills of private heath insurance.

Read the original:

Health care rally draws hundreds

Sunday, February 3, 2013 10:59 PM EST

By Daniel O. Tully Attorney

Both adult day care and adult day health care can give caregivers an occasional or a regular respite from caretaking. In the case of caretakers who work outside jobs, it delays permanent long-term care.

Adult day health care provides medical services in addition to activities. Adults with physical and mental disabilities are the primary targets of the program, and the care is intended to help patients relearn the ability to care for themselves. Nursing home care, therapeutic activities, meals and transportation are provided in a safe environment. The activities provided can help improve the mental, physical and emotional well-being of the patient.

Caregivers receive peace of mind that their loved one is having a good experience while they can take a break.

You may be eligible for a home or community-based Medicaid waiver. An experienced elder care attorney can advise you on this and the other issues involved in integrating adult day care and adult day health care into your or a loved ones long-term care plan.

Dementia

Dementia is a progressive brain dysfunction caused by Alzheimers disease, as well as other illnesses such as brain tumors and strokes. Poor nutrition can also be a cause. The frequency of dementia increases with age, with one-third of those older than 90 suffering from it. About one-half of the cases are caused by Alzheimers.

Signs of dementia include forgetfulness (especially short-term memory loss), lack of concentration (including problems with familiar activities), poor judgment, problems communicating (including substituting nonsensical words and phrases) and personality changes (including mood swings, disruptive behavior and loss of initiative).

To help prevent dementia, stimulate your mind regularly by learning new things, doing puzzles and staying mentally and physically active.

See original here:

Senior Signals: The benefits of adult day care and adult day health care

Sunday, February 3, 2013 11:22 PM EST

Daniel O. Tully

Both adult day care and adult day health care can give caregivers an occasional or a regular respite from caretaking. In the case of caretakers who work outside jobs, it delays permanent long-term care.

Adult day health care provides medical services in addition to activities. Adults with physical and mental disabilities are the primary targets of the program, and the care is intended to help patients relearn the ability to care for themselves. Nursing home care, therapeutic activities, meals and transportation are provided in a safe environment. The activities provided can help improve the mental, physical and emotional well-being of the patient.

Caregivers receive peace of mind that their loved one is having a good experience while they can take a break.

You may be eligible for a home or community-based Medicaid waiver. An experienced elder care attorney can advise you on this and the other issues involved in integrating adult day care and adult day health care into your or a loved ones long-term care plan.

Dementia

Dementia is a progressive brain dysfunction caused by Alzheimers disease, as well as other illnesses such as brain tumors and strokes. Poor nutrition can also be a cause. The frequency of dementia increases with age, with one-third of those older than 90 suffering from it. About one-half of the cases are caused by Alzheimers.

Signs of dementia include forgetfulness (especially short-term memory loss), lack of concentration (including problems with familiar activities), poor judgment, problems communicating (including substituting nonsensical words and phrases) and personality changes (including mood swings, disruptive behavior and loss of initiative).

To help prevent dementia, stimulate your mind regularly by learning new things, doing puzzles and staying mentally and physically active.

View post:

SENIOR SIGNALS: Considering Adult day care/adult day health care

'Exchanges' coming this fall

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

February 03, 2013 2:00 AM

Editor's note: This is the first story in a two-part series that provides an overview of the major changes in health insurance facing Americans under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

WASHINGTON Buying your own health insurance will never be the same.

This fall, new insurance markets called exchanges will open in each state, marking the long-awaited and much-debated debut of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The goal is quality coverage for millions of uninsured people in the United States. What the reality will look like is anybody's guess from bureaucracy, confusion and indifference to seamless service and satisfied customers.

Exchanges will offer individuals and their families a choice of private health plans resembling what workers at major companies already get. The government will help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while low-income people will be referred to safety-net programs they might qualify for.

Most people will go online to pick a plan when open enrollment starts Oct. 1. Counselors will be available at call centers and in local communities, too. Some areas will get a storefront operation or kiosks at the mall. Translation to Spanish and other languages spoken by immigrants will be provided.

When you pick a plan, you'll no longer have to worry about getting turned down or charged more because of a medical problem. If you're a woman, you can't be charged a higher premium because of gender. Middle-aged people and those nearing retirement will get a price break: They can't be charged more than three times what younger customers pay, compared with six times or seven times today.

See more here:

Health care reform effort accelerating