HALIFAX, July 26, 2012 /CNW/ - Canada's front-line health care providers today applauded the Council of the Federation for presenting a new process and plan to transform the health care system to put the needs of patients first. Now the challenge will be to ensure the report lives up to its name.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA), the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and the Health Action Lobby (HEAL) are in Halifax to mark the release of From Innovation to Action: The First Report of the Health Care Innovation Working Group, which was developed in close consultation with the three organizations.

The report features examples of local and specific initiatives that can be used to expand the use of best practices in clinical care and collaboration among health care professionals. In accepting the report, Canada's premiers pointed to the working group model as one with promise for continuing work that will transform the health care system.

"Beyond the important recommendations, this report also shows the benefit of collaborating with front-line health care professionals to improve the health care system for all Canadians," said Dr. John Haggie, president of the Canadian Medical Association. "This represents a sea-change in thinking that could be made even more powerful if the federal government were to join in the process."

"We are committed to working with Canada's premiers and ministers of health on the development of a pan-Canadian implementation plan for the report's recommendations," said Barbara Mildon, president of the Canadian Nurses Association. "We look forward to building on this new foundation for health system transformation that advances patient-centred care."

"With the direct involvement and contributions from a broad spectrum of health providers, this unique pan-Canadian process has identified some important next steps in the areas of clinical practice guidelines, team-based delivery models and health human resource planning, said. Glenn Brimacombe, co-chair of HEAL. "With strong leadership from Premiers Wall and Ghiz, and senior officials, members of HEAL look forward to continue working in partnership to transform the health system to meet the changing health needs of Canadians."

As this work develops, Canada's front-line health care professionals are urging federal and provincial governments to adopt the principles developed by the CNA and the CMA to guide their deliberations. To date, some 120 health, medical and patient organizations have endorsed these principles, which define a health care system that is patient-centred, quality, health promotion and illness prevention, equitable, sustainable and accountable.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is the national voice of Canadian physicians. Founded in 1867, CMA's mission is to serve and unite the physicians of Canada and be the national advocate, in partnership with the people of Canada, for the highest standards of health and health care. The CMA is a voluntary professional organization representing over 74,000 of Canada's physicians and comprising 12 provincial and territorial medical associations and 51 national medical organizations.

CNA is the national professional voice of registered nurses in Canada. A federation of 11 provincial and territorial nursing associations and colleges representing 146,788 registered nurses, CNA advances the practice and profession of nursing to improve health outcomes and strengthen Canada's publicly funded, not-for-profit health system.

HEAL is a coalition of 36 national health and consumer associations and organizations dedicated to protecting and strengthening Canada's health system. It represents more than half a million providers and consumers of health care. HEAL was formed in 1991 out of concern over the erosion of the federal government's role in supporting a national health care system.

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Council of the Federation Points to Need for Action to Transform Health Care

HOUSTON (AP) Disgraced former health care executive Richard Scrushy has been released from federal custody after nearly six years.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke says the former multimillionaire HealthSouth Corp. founder and CEO was freed Wednesday from home confinement in Houston, the final step as he begins three years of supervised release.

Scrushy was acquitted on multiple criminal charges in an accounting scheme in 2005 but was sentenced to almost eight years in prison for a bribery conspiracy involving former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. The term later was trimmed to 70 months.

He served time in a federal prison in Beaumont, then was moved to a halfway house and to home confinement.

Scrushy still faces a $2.9 billion judgment from a separate Alabama civil suit related to the accounting scheme.

2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Disgraced former health care chief Scrushy freed

Related story: University doctors in Laurel hospital this month, two other centers by next year

A recent checkup on the health of Prince Georges residents might affect the setup of health care delivery across the county.

A coalition of state and county leaders and health care professionals unveiled a report July 25 that outlines the health challenges faced by residents. Planners say the report will play a role in developing a comprehensive countywide health system.

Produced by the University of Marylands School of Public Health, the report largely echoes findings made in a 2009 study by the California-based Rand Corp., which found that compared to its neighboring counties, Prince Georges County appears to be in worse shape.

This new study highlights that diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, asthma and cancer are particularly strong chronic diseases in the county and those most likely to be fixed with a better health care system, according to the report.

County residents deal with those ailments at a rate higher than neighboring Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Howard counties, and in some cases at rates higher than the statewide averages, according to the study.

The trouble is particularly stark when it comes to deaths attributed to heart disease and cancer. About 224 county residents out 100,000 will die from a heart-disease-related illness, a number higher than that in Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, as well as higher than the state baseline of about 194 deaths per 100,000 people. Cancer also claims Prince Georges residents at a high rate, as well. About 173 county residents out of 100,000 will die of cancer, a number that is lower than the 195.2 who will succumb to cancer in Anne Arundel County but higher than both Montgomery and Howard counties, and nearly as high as the states average of about 178.

The report findings open the doors for planners to work toward creating a new and effective model for delivering care within Prince Georges, said Joshua Sharfstein, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Most of the time when we talk about the health system, we talk of turning the ship, and its a big ship, he said. This is an opportunity to think differently on health care in the county.

The report comes as July 21 marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Prince Georges government, the state and leaders from the University of Maryland Medical System and Dimensions Healthcare System to work to improve the health of residents and the quality of care they receive at hospitals.

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Gazette.Net: New report to help guide changes to county health system

NEW YORK (BankingMyWay) -- Ever hear of short-term health insurance? It's an increasingly hot topic as consumers and businesses weigh the impact of health care reform, and as the job market remains volatile. By and large, short-term insurance helps consumers in transition. For example, someone who is temporarily out of work, new employees waiting to get on their company's health care plan, and recent college graduates looking for their first career job all may need short-term health care. Policies aren't difficult to get. Most insurers provide them, with some policies offering health care consumers up to $5 million coverage. Typical short-term health care plans last from anywhere between one-and-six months, and they typically come with low -- in some cases, extremely low -- payment premiums. That's the consensus from a study by Mountain View, California-based eHealth, an online health care services provider. The report, entitled "Cost & Benefits of Short-term Health Insurance Plans," says that individual consumers paid, on average, $67 per month for short-term health insurance, with an average $1,821 deductible. Families paid more -- about $153 per month with a $1,877 deductible. What is really interesting from the eHealth study is the opposite directions in which short-term health care premiums and deductibles are headed. The study says that from October 2009 through October 2011, the average short-term policy premium decreased 4.2% for individuals and decreased 5% for families. The average deductible increased 19.6% for individuals and 20.4% for families, according to eHealth. Another unique finding of ther study involved gender and health insurance. Women pay more than men for short-term health care, at $69 per month versus $64 per month for men on an an individual policy. But deductibles didn't follow this gender trend either. The eHealth study says that in 2011, men paid $1,874 per month for short-term health care deductibles, an increase of 17% from 2009. Women, on the other hand, paid $1,792 in deductibles, an increase of 16% over the same time period. On average, eHealth says that the average duration of a short-term health care plan is 184 days, just about six months, although some plans go as high as one year in duration. Here are some other takeaways from the study: 3.3% of enrollees retained coverage under their short-term policy for 300 days or more. Younger consumers tend to use short-term plans the most. eHealth says that in October 2011, 59% of all active short-term health insurance policyholders were between the ages of 25 and 44. In October 2011, policyholders between the ages of 45 and 64 made up 25% of active policies. 16% of active policies covered people ages 24 or younger. The average coinsurance for a short-term health insurance policy was 22%. By definition, co-insurance is a policy provision where the consumer and the health insurance provider share the total cost of covered medical services after the deductible has been cleared. About two-thirds of all plans offer prescription drug coverage. eHealth says that 67% of all active short-term health insurance policies offered prescription drug coverage. One caveat on short-term health care plans. Don't assume you can just roll over your plan after the six-months are up. Most health care providers will ratchet up your premiums if you try to go back-to-back with consecutive short-term heath plans, or steer you into a full-blown health care plan, which typically cost more than short-term plans. But if you are in a life transition, short-term health care is a viable and affordable option. Since more and more providers offer them, these plans are now easier to get, as well. More on health insurance:

Age impacts insurance premiums, but how?

Health insurance tips for the unemployed: Part 1

Health insurance tips for the unemployed: Part 2 --By Brian O'Connell Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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How to Get Covered Without Obamacare, or a Job

States that expand their Medicaid programs under President Barack Obama's health care law may end up saving thousands of lives, a medical journal report released Wednesday indicates.

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Study: New Medicaid expansion could be a lifesaver

24-07-2012 12:10 The Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives held a hearing entitled, "Meth Revisited: Review of State and Federal Efforts to Solve the Domestic Methamphetamine Production Resurgence" on July 24, 2012.

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Review of State

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will reduce, rather than increase, the nation's huge federal deficits during the next decade, Congress' nonpartisan budget scorekeepers said Tuesday, supporting Obama's contention in a major election-year dispute with Republicans.

Republicans insist the plan will raise deficits -- by trillions, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says.

But that's not true, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The CBO gave no updated estimate for deficit reductions from the law, approved by Congress and signed by Obama in 2010. But it did estimate that Republican legislation to repeal the overhaul -- passed recently by the House -- would itself increase the deficit by $109 billion from 2013 to 2022.

"Repealing the (health care law) will lead to an increase in budget deficits over the coming decade, though a smaller one than previously reported," budget office Director Douglas Elmendorf said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Tuesday's budget projections were the first since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the law last month. The CBO said the law's mix of spending cuts and tax increases would more than offset new spending to cover uninsured people.

As expected, the budget office said the law will cover fewer uninsured people because the Supreme Court ruled that states won't have to sign on to a planned expansion of Medicaid for their low-income residents.

Thirty million uninsured people will be covered by 2022, or about 3 million fewer than projected this spring before the court ruling, the report said.

As a result, taxpayers will save about $84 billion from 2012 to 2022. That brings the total cost of expanding coverage down to $1.2 trillion, from about $1.3 trillion in the last estimate.

Democrats immediately hailed the findings as vindication for the president. "This confirms what we've been saying all along: The Affordable Care Act saves lots of money," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

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Health care overhaul will reduce deficits, Congressional Budget Office finds

JANESVILLE One of Rock County's two largest health care providers already has been selected to participate in a national program designed to provide Medicare recipients with better care at a lower cost.

The otherMercy Health Systemplans to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to become an "accountable care organization" in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Officials from both said the basis of the voluntary program is a delivery model they've been advocating and using for years.

Accountable care organizations are groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that work together to coordinate and provide high quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal is to ensure that patients get the right care at the right time without unnecessary duplication of services and medical errors.

When an ACO meets benchmarks for care quality and efficiency, it will share in the savings it generates for the Medicare program.

"I think the model provided by ACOs is the way of the future," said Craig Samitt, president and chief executive officer of Dean Health System.

Earlier this month, Dean Clinic & St. Mary's Hospital ACO was one of 89 systems from around the country selected to participate in the program as an ACO.

"It's about delivering health care that is high quality, coordinated, more accessible and cost efficient," Samitt said. "Dean and St. Mary's has considered itself an ACO for some time. Medicare now will reward us for delivering the same type of care we have for years."

Javon Bea, Mercy's president and CEO, said that while his system has not yet applied for official designation as an ACO, it has been operating as one for decades.

Bea has been characterized in the industry as a pioneer in vertical integration. When he came to Janesville in 1989, he charted a course to turn a standalone hospital into a vertically integrated health care system that provides a wide range of services, including primary, specialty, urgent and emergency care; inpatient and outpatient hospitalization; home care; and insurance products.

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Health care changes coming

(PR NewsChannel) / July 25, 2012 / NEW YORK

"Aging, Health Care, and You!: A Doctor's Personal Prescription for Understanding and Improving Your Health Care" by Dr. Martin S. Finkelstein

In Aging, Health Care and You!: A Doctors Personal Prescription for Understanding and Improving Your Health Care (ISBN 1470061945), Dr. Martin S. Finkelstein has penned an informative book that helps seniors adjust to the medical realities of aging in America.

In todays health care system, office or clinic visits may allow patients only 10-15 minutes of face-time with the doctor, says Finkelstein. This is far too little time to address the multiple complex medical problems that confound the elderly. Finkelstein wrote this guide to fill the many gaps in their knowledge, and to help them understand whats happening in their medical lives. This book confronts the complexity of health care for the elderly, including how to navigate treatment, medical care, hospitals and medical insurance.

His new guide confronts the realities of the complex health care system, which seniors rely on even as it is radically different from the doctoring system they knew in their younger years. The neighborhood doctor who made house calls and knew all the details of the family he served is long gone. In his place is a faceless system of testing, procedures and treatments with endless variations of payment and insurance coverage. When they need health care the most, many aging adults find themselves unable to understand the system of modern medical care delivery.

Finkelstein specializes in geriatric medicine and has 37 years of experience in the field. In this book, he puts down on paper many of his observations about the typical health problems seniors face as they age. He discusses the most common situations they will face in doctors offices and hospital rooms. Offering advice and guidance to the elderlys most common medical issues, this volume condenses what his patients have taught him over the years.

Aging, Health Care and You! will be valued by aging Americans for its ability to make sense of a health care system that often seems senseless. Direct, informative and told with a light touch, this book is an invaluable guide to consuming health care for elderly persons.

Aging, Health Care and You!: A Doctors Personal Prescription for Understanding and Improving Your Health Care is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

About the Author: For the past 37 years, board-certified internist Dr. Martin S. Finkelstein has practiced medicine and geriatrics in New York. He is also an assistant professor at New York Universitys Langone Medical Center. New York Magazine has labeled him as one of the Best Doctors in New York. He earned his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and did post-graduate training at Bellevue Hospital in New York and Stanford-Palo Alto Medical Center in California.

MEDIA CONTACT Dr. Martin S. Finkelstein E-mail: mfinkelstein@acuma-nyc.com Phone: (646) 370-2030 Website:www.aginghealthandyou.com

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Doctor teaches elderly how to navigate their health in new guide

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwire -07/25/12)- Nurses congratulate Premiers for working together for the future of public health care. Governments need to be much more ambitious to ensure better health, better care and better value for Canadians, says the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) on the opening of the Council of the Federation meeting. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is calling on the Premiers to champion another health accord and bring the federal government back to the table.

"Governments need to be transparent in their plans for improving health and health care and an accord is a roadmap that Canadians can read," says Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions president Linda Silas, RN.

In a brief submitted April 30 to the Premiers Health Care Innovation Working Group, the CFNU called on Premiers to work in partnership to:

"There are promising cost-effective practices to improve care and health that need to become permanent practices," says Silas. "It is only by working together that we will see a comparable access to quality services for all Canadians."

Representatives of the CFNU member organizations from across the country have a speaker forum and health clinic today in Victoria Park, the opening day of the conference in Halifax. The health care panel takes place from 11 -1 pm followed by a health clinic from 3-6 pm. Nurses will be asking the general public and health care stakeholders to show support for public health care by attending the events and by sending a postcard to the Prime Minister to come to the table and participate in discussions on health care with the Premiers.

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Nurses Call on Prime Minister Harper to Meet the Premiers

At this moment, the path forward to health care excellence must be articulated in the clearest and strongest of terms, because it is now critical that the American people understand the clear choice at hand and the consequences of inaction.

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The Supreme Court's Obamacare Calamity Calls For New, Truthful Leadership

FARGO Democrat Heidi Heitkamp said Monday that Congress ought to be discussing ways to reduce health care costs while emphasizing personal wellness, instead of continuing to politicize controversial reforms.

In her first visit with The Forum Editorial Board since launching her Senate bid last fall, Heitkamp clarified her position on the 2010 law now commonly called Obamacare and she railed against the demagoguery of critics who seek to repeal it while offering few solutions.

You really need to have people instead of pointing fingers and using health care as a political football you need to have them sit down at a table and start talking about what the real costs are and how you solve it, Heitkamp said.

Health care reform has been one of the most dominant issues in North Dakotas U.S. Senate race, offering a clear contrast between Heitkamp and Republican Rep. Rick Berg.

Berg adamantly favors repealing the controversial law, and his campaign has relentlessly attacked Heitkamp for her evolving support of it.

After Congress passed the health care law in spring 2010, Heitkamp headlined rallies in which she praised the law. She called the bill a legacy vote and urged supporters of the law to be vigilant against efforts to repeal it.

Two years later, Heitkamp said this spring for the first time publicly that shes often said that its not a perfect law.

Heitkamp expanded on those statements Monday, detailing areas she said the law fell short or was altogether flawed.

Ive never liked the mandate in part because of where it came from, Heitkamp said, referring to the mandates origins as a proposal offered by a Republican think tank in the mid-1990s.

It presupposes people dont buy health insurance because they dont want to, Heitkamp said. People dont buy health insurance because they cant afford it.

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Heitkamp on health care: Focus should be on incentives, not mandates (with video)

Claire Lippert is as prepared for death as she can be.

A health care proxy details who can make medical decisions for her if she becomes incapacitated.

A living will makes her wishes known about such life-sustaining treatments as ventilators and feeding tubes in case she is unable to speak for herself.

A "do not resuscitate" order to discourage an attempt to revive her if her heart or breathing stops is stuck to her refrigerator door.

Recently, a MOLST form lay on her kitchen table. In greater detail, the Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment translates Lippert's preferences into physician orders that will transfer with her to all health-care settings.

"I'm planning to go to sleep one night and not wake up, but I know it doesn't always happen that way," she said. "What I don't want is to be hooked up to machines."

What constitutes a good death? Nearly 90 percent of people would prefer to die in their homes, free of pain and surrounded by family and loved ones, according to a poll cited by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Studies suggest the same thing. Researchers this month, for instance, in the Archives of Internal Medicine reported on a multicenter examination of hundreds of advanced cancer patients.

They concluded that patients who avoid hospitalizations and the intensive-care unit; who are less worried; who pray or meditate; and who feel they have a shared treatment goal with their physician experienced a higher quality of life in their final days than people who died in a hospital or received aggressive, life-prolonging measures.

More individuals like Lippert are turning to advance directives to make sure their wishes are respected, especially regarding often futile aggressive measures to keep them alive.

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Getting a final health care plan down on paper

Louisiana lawmakers bristled Monday about getting few details and no ability to decide the $523 million in budget cuts Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has made to health care programs, largely to LSU's ...

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La. lawmakers criticize few details in health cuts

IRVING, TX--(Marketwire -07/24/12)- VHA Inc., the national health care network, commends the President's White House Council on Environmental Quality for bringing together a distinguished list of panelists to publically discuss "Greening America's Hospitals." Today's program, to be held at the White House from 9 a.m. - noon (EDT), will be streamed live at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live. Two VHA members are among the speakers: Jeffrey Thompson, MD, CEO at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wis. and John Messervy, AIA, director of capital & facility planning at Partners HealthCare in Boston. Dr. Thompson is included on the first panel, "Fostering a Culture of Environmental Sustainability." Messervy is participating on the second panel, "Transforming the Health Care Supply Chain."

VHA recognizes that the health care industry is challenged daily to provide quality patient care while also protecting the safety of both the patient and health care employees. In recent years, sustainability has gained attention as an additional factor to be considered when weighing these issues.

Along with advocating for safer communities, VHA recognizes that sustainability efforts are a path to helping hospitals significantly reduce costs. Indeed, VHA hospitals that have embraced sustainability as a business imperative are realizing substantial savings in their operations, often by making simple changes such as reducing waste and energy usage. To better measure and report economic, environmental and social performance, VHA has adopted and is utilizing the Global Reporting Initiative standards or GRI. In addition, VHA is an organizational stakeholder in the GRI network -- a large multi-disciplined group made up of global business, civil society, labor, academic and professional institutions that have pledged to create a standardized framework for measuring and reporting performance in the area of sustainability.

Several sustainability milestones achieved with Novation, VHA's supply contracting company, include:

About VHA Inc.

VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. Since 1977, VHA has leveraged its expertise in analytics, contracting, consulting and networks to help members achieve their operational, clinical and financial objectives. In 2011, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.9 billion to members. VHA serves more than 1,350 hospitals and more than 72,000 non-acute care providers nationwide, coordinating delivery of its programs and services through its 16 regional offices. VHA has been ranked as one of the best places to work in health care by Modern Healthcare since the publication introduced this list in 2008.

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VHA Commends White House Effort to Promote Economic and Environmental Benefits to "Green" Hospitals

Enlarge Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Niraj Desai orients a suture while he sews in a kidney to a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital on June 26 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Niraj Desai orients a suture while he sews in a kidney to a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital on June 26 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Eli Lehrer is president of R Street.

In discussions of America's high health care costs, surprisingly little attention is paid to salaries and wages. Yet the fact that medical jobs simply pay more than those in other sectors is beyond dispute. A physician practicing in a primary care setting, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, earned an average of just over $200,000 in 2010, while specialists averaged over $355,000 (the highest of any professional category tracked). By comparison, lawyers average just over $110,000, airline pilots about $92,000, and chartered actuaries (who calculate risk for insurance companies and must pass complex exams longer and arguably more difficult than the medical boards) about $150,000.

The wage disparities, however, don't stop with physicians, who do, after all, need to complete an academic curriculum that's beyond most people's abilities. Registered nurses and dental hygienists, who need only associate's degrees, earn about $70,000 a year. This is about as much as degreed computer programmers. And it's significantly more than high school teachers and forensic scientists, who need master's degrees but earn a little less than $60,000 on average. And wage disparities exist at all levels of the health care industry: Even nonmedical professionals like janitors tend to earn more in health care settings than those working elsewhere. An extensive report from the Brookings Institution sums up the evidence: "Health care pays higher than average wages regardless of workers' skills and demographic characteristics." Indeed, the report goes on, "expanding health care is likely to raise wages throughout a metropolitan area by putting upward pressure on wages throughout the metropolitan labor market," even for jobs requiring no post-high school training at all.

There's no way around it: Wages drive high medical costs much more than any other factor. Between 2005 and 2011, as overall average wages barely kept pace with inflation (with rising health costs making real take-home pay flat for many workers), average medical wages grew a healthy 18 percent, rising from just over $62,000 to almost $73,000. The American Hospital Association estimates that two-thirds of all medical costs are attributable to wages and benefits.

Not only are the wages high but medical jobs have the kind of security few other professions can match. Total employment in the medical/education "super-sector" has never declined in the more than 40 years that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked it, using current methodologies. Between 2008 and 2010, as the country sustained the deepest job losses since the Great Depression, the number of health care practitioners and support personnel increased by almost 400,000, even as the economy overall shed more than 7 million jobs. Doctors' unemployment rate has never exceeded 2 percent.

Unfortunately, all this expense is not producing significantly better health care outcomes. While the United States undoubtedly leads the world in medical innovations and cutting edge care for uncommon conditions, gross measures of health care outcomes like life expectancy and infant mortality (which, it's true, are heavily influenced by lifestyle, demographic, cultural, and genetic factors independent of the medical system) are below average for wealthy countries. By some measures, American health care practitioners work less hard than their peers in other countries. While other wealthy countries average just a little over three hospital staff per hospital bed, American hospitals have more than five people for each bed. The U.S. health care system may not be worse than those elsewhere it does draw people from all over the world but there's no evidence the enormous labor costs are producing world-beating outcomes.

While American hospitals do generally have higher capital expenses than those elsewhere in the world in terms of high-tech diagnostics and creature comforts like private rooms for patients, many costs paid by all hospitals everywhere rents, taxes, energy, food service are more affordable in the United States than in other rich nations.

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Weekly Standard: The Great Unmentionable

Republicans are twisting the facts on taxes in the Affordable Care Act, grossly overstating the impact on families or lower-income earners. In what has become a Republican talking point, several GOP lawmakers have wrongly claimed that a Congressional Budget Office report said that 75 percent of the federal health care … More >>

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Twisting Health Care Taxes

MISSION VIEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

AUXILIO, Inc. (AUXO.OB), the health care industrys leader in Managed Print Services (MPS), is aggressively seeking more qualified candidates to apply for positions due to the companys expanding reach into the U.S. health care market. In just over two years, AUXILIO has more than doubled its workforce and expects growth to continue as it accelerates its strategy and contracts with more hospitals and health care systems.

AUXILIOs business model includes placing full-time, on-site employees in the care organizations it contracts with to execute its MPS solutions. Since December 2011, the company added 44 new hospitals with hundreds of affiliated clinical, medical and administrative support facilities, growing its national portfolio by over 100%. This surge in new MPS contracts is resulting in rapid job creation for qualified candidates with skills in customer relations, management and print and networking technology.

Presently, AUXILIO is advertising employment opportunities, with competitive compensation packages, in the states of New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Virginia. With new business development opportunities in the pipeline and growth expected to continue, the company anticipates filling several more positions before the end of the year.

Our companys MPS business model and methodology are all inclusive for expenses related to the production of a documents including services, supplies, equipment, finance charges and labor saving hospitals and hospital systems millions of dollars over the term of our contracts, which are typically three to five years, said Joseph J. Flynn, President and CEO of AUXILIO. As a result, when we earn a new contract, we become an economic engine for job creation to satisfy the customers needs. Our model is a win-win partnership for the company, the hospital and for our employees.

In addition to a robust on-boarding job training program and competitive compensation packages, AUXILIO offers its employees a healthy lifestyle incentive program, tuition reimbursement for coursework related to their position and an employee referral program that offers bonuses for referring qualified candidates to work for the company.

Our number one priority is to provide the highest standard of excellence in the execution of our print services programs and world class service for our customers, said Paul Anthony, CFO of AUXILIO. Seventy-five percent of our employees work as members of a full-time, on-site Resident Team in the hospitals we serve across the country. Our goal is to provide our employees with the tools and knowledge to be successful at their jobs.

Individuals interested in applying for a job with AUXILIO, are encouraged to visit the companys career web pages at http://www.auxilioinc.com/careers for a full description of job opportunities currently available or to submit a resume online.

AUXILIOs strong foothold in the U.S. health care market has been earned by implementing customized MPS solutions for hospitals across the nation by executing its expert approach for cutting costs by improving operational efficiencies in the process of document production and e- information sharing in modern hospitals. As the only vendor neutral, health care exclusive MPS company in the U.S., it is at the forefront of providing hospitals with specialized knowledge of urgent care print environments that ensures cost reduction, assistance with e-records execution and on-site planning as a strategy partner to reduce volume substantially. The company was recently recognized by its peers as a true pioneer in the MPS industry for its work in hospitals, and recognized by the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) with a 2012 Leadership Award for the second year in a row. In March, the company was cited as a best-of-breed independent document management service provider by an unbiased global research company, Quocirca, for its risk-free model, with no upfront costs and advanced skill and knowledge of EMR readiness strategies for health care organizations seeking best practices to control costs and manage existing hardware and software investments.

About AUXILIO, Inc.

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AUXILIO’s Surge in New Managed Print Services Contracts with U.S. Hospitals Results in Rapid Expansion of Job Creation ...

Adrian Lam / Postmedia News files

Canada's premiers will discuss two new reports to be presented to them at the meeting from a joint probe that examined ways to improve patient care, find better value in the $130-billion health care system, and determine the impacts of a new federal health funding plan.

OTTAWA Canadas 13 provincial and territorial leaders gather in Halifax this week for what could be one of the most important premiers meetings in years, with the controversial new federal health funding deal, efforts to trim medical costs and a pan-Canadian energy strategy expected to dominate discussion.

Hosted by Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, the Council of the Federation meeting comes at a critical time for federal-provincial relations. The new federal health accord which was dropped in the provinces laps last winter natural resource development and equalization are all thorny issues facing Canadas premiers.

The leaders are concerned also that new federal tough-on-crime legislation could download additional costs to the provinces, while looming international trade deals could see provincial drug costs soar.

Several premiers also insist Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a constitutional responsibility to consult more regularly with the provinces and should hold a long-overdue first ministers meeting.

But health care is expected to top the agenda. Premiers will discuss two new reports to be presented to them at the meeting from a joint probe that examined ways to improve patient care, find better value in the $130-billion health care system, and determine the impacts of a new federal health funding plan.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz co-chaired a health-care innovation working group of health ministers that will report back on how the provinces can deliver better care and save dollars at the same time.

We have some real specifics to present to the premiers, Wall said in an interview with Postmedia News, adding premiers are tired of broad road maps and want real solutions.

Youre going to see in our recommendations that theyre not driven by costs. In fact, theyre driven by better value and better care, and the two things can live together with greater fiscal efficiency in the health-care system. Thats what were finding.

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Health care set to dominate talk at premiers’ summit

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A $1 billion fund created by President Obamas health care law, which Republicans have derided as a slush fund, is under investigation for suspicions of lobbying rule violations.

The inspector general for the Health and Human Services Department says healthy living grants given from the fund appear to have been used to lobby for changes to state laws, a violation of federal guidelines.

The money was distributed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for health initiatives aimed at curbing the consumption of sugary sodas to fight obesity, smoking cessation and encouraging physical activity.

But some materials that the CDC passed along to grant recipients appear to authorize, or even encourage grantees to use grant funds for impermissible lobbying, HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson wrote in an early alert sent to CDC Director Thomas Friedman.

The CDCs grant application warns recipients that using federal money to contact elected officials or for grassroots lobbying is illegal. The inspector general, however, said the warning is vague and incomplete and appears to conflict with other CDC materials that appear to encourage lobbying.

While its possible that federal money did not directly support state and local lobbying activities, Mr. Levinson said, the open acknowledgment of the lobbying in some of the grant recipients quarterly reports shows a lack of understanding about the lobbying prohibition.

Sen. Susan M. Collins of Maine and Rep. Darrell E. Issa of California, the top Republicans on the Senate and House oversight committees, have raised several questions about the grants.

While I strongly support the wellness and prevention mission of the CDC, Ms. Collins said last week, I also support the safeguards Congress has put in place on the use of federal funds to protect against the misuse of tax dollars. Every dollar spent on inappropriate or illegal activities is a dollar that didnt go toward saving lives and improving health.

CDC officials are now reviewing several dozen charges of illegal lobbying activity that congressional aides have documented, according to Mr. Levinsons letter.

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Health care cash probed in lobbying