The White House played political hardball with drug industry honchos to get a 2009 deal that helped keep health care overhaul legislation from bogging down in Congress, according to internal emails released Thursday by House Republicans.

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House GOP releases documents on health care deals

As he tries to transform his Indian hospital company into an Asian regional health-care business, Malvinder Mohan Singh should have a natural advantage: low-cost Indian talent. Singh is chairman of Fortis Healthcare, the New Delhi-based company with a collection of medical-related businesses around the region, such as primary care clinics in Hong Kong and dental centers in Australia. On May 29, the company said it hopes to raise as much as $360 million through a Singapore listing of its regional operations.

Just as Indian IT services outsourcers leverage inexpensive workers in Bangalore to win customers worldwide, cant Fortis take advantage of the many doctors at its 66 hospitals in India and become a leader in medical outsourcing?

Not so, says Singh. When it comes to medicine, India isnt the superpower you might think it is. We dont have enough medical talent, he said during a recent visit to Hong Kong. Yes, India has 1.2 billion people and world-class medical education to be had. Still, many of the countrys top doctors leave to practice in the West. Its not just MDs in short supply, but many health-care professionals. We are not generating enough doctors, nurses, technicians in India, linked to what our needs are, he said. There is a pool and its very goodbut its not enough.

Thats just one of Indias problems of health care, which suffers in comparison to that of its Asian neighbor and rival, China. India has just six doctors per 10,000 people, while China has 14 per 10,000, says B. Kemp Dolliver, head of health-care research in Singapore with Religare Capital Markets. Both Asian giants are far behind such developed economies as the U.S., with 27 per 10,000, and Australia, with 30 per 10,000.

India lags in broader measures, too, most notably in health insurance. Less than 20 percent of Indians are covered by policies, says Singh. China has almost universal coverage, with 95 percent of the population covered by some sort of insurance, according to Jason Mann, head of China health-care equity research at Barclays in Hong Kong. China has made significant progress in just a few years, he says: In 2009, before the Chinese government launched its latest effort to expand coverage, just 40 percent of Chinese had health insurance. Health-care reform in China remains a work in progress, with the government looking to make coverage more comprehensive, while also opening the local hospital market to foreign investment. Chinas government needs to do this, says Mann, as millions of Chinese want better care. Their expectations are rising by the day, he says.

India, too, has a growing middle class, but the coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has struggled to push through a range of significant economic reforms and is therefore hard-pressed to match Chinas moves in health care. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has an idea to address the brain drain: Last month he said the government will start requiring that Indian doctors going to the U.S. for advanced medical studies post a bond to ensure their return to the country. Only a few thousand Indian doctors go to the U.S. each year, though; meanwhile, India faces a major health-care infrastructure shortfall. There are just nine hospital beds per 10,000 people in India, compared with 41 per 10,000 in China.

Even with the Indian economy slowing and the government weak, some hope the country will make progress in closing the health-care gap with China. Fortis Healthcare boss Singh, for instance, sees experiments at the state level in India to offer health insurance to poor Indians. He predicts that many leading states will have some form of health insurance for their poorest citizens five years from now. Singh himself is targeting wealthier Indians, with Fortis moving into the market for private insurance.

Others are not as optimistic. Given the many other challenges Indias poor face, expanding health insurance coverage isnt going to top the agenda for the countrys politicians, says Dolliver. It doesnt strike me as one of the top three concerns that will move an election, he says. While there might be talk among policy makers about enacting some changes, anything dramatic is years away, Dolliver says. Many years away.

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India Needs Doctors, Nurses, and Health Insurance

According to a study published today by the Research Institute of PwC US, healthcare spending in the United States is expected to continue growing at a historically low rate into 2013, continuing the pattern of slower growth in medical costs the nation has been experiencing since 2009. The question is...why? A recent article by Forbes ...

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Health Care Spending At Historically Low Growth Rates-The Question Is Why?

By Drew Armstrong - 2012-05-31T18:51:16Z

Drugmakers led by Pfizer (PFE) Inc. agreed to run a very significant public campaign bankrolling political support for the 2010 health-care law, including TV ads, while the Obama administration promised to block provisions opposed by drugmakers, documents released by Republicans show.

The internal memos and e-mails for the first time unveil the industry's plan to finance positive TV ads and supportive groups, along with providing $80 billion in discounts and taxes that were included in the law. The administration has previously denied the existence of a deal involving political support.

The documents were released today by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. They identify price controls under Medicare and drug importation as the key industry concerns, and show that former Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler and his top aides were involved in drawing it up and getting support from other company executives.

As part of our agreement, PhRMA needs to undertake a very significant public campaign in order to support policies of mutual interest to the industry and the Administration, according to a July 14, 2009, memo from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. We have included a significant amount for advertising to express appreciation for lawmakers positions on health care reform issues.

The goal, the memo said, was to create momentum for consensus health care reform, help it pass, and then acknowledge those senators and representatives who were instrumental in making it happen and who must remain vigilant during implementation.

Republicans, including Representative Joe Pitts, of Pennsylvania, have been probing promises made during the March 2010 passage of the health law, with some arguing that political activity by the drugmakers in any agreement may cross an ethical line.

After promising transparency, the White House turned around and cut a secret deal with pharmaceutical companies, Pitts said today in a statement. Todays revelation about the $80 billion deal shows an administration that cared more about victory than reform.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz called the Republican probe a nakedly political taxpayer-funded crusade to hurt the presidents re-election campaign.

The committee has wasted time on investigations but has done almost nothing to move legislation that would create jobs or grow the economy, Schultz said today in an e-mail.

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Drugmakers Vowed to Campaign for Health Law, Memos Show

The 5th International Conference on Patient- and Family-Centered Care: Partnerships for Safety and Quality - June 4-6, 2012; Omni Shoreham Hotel -- Business Models Highlighted

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Groundbreaking Health Care Resource Highlights Partnerships with Patients and Families

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How much will that cost, doc?

Do you shop around for the best price on a visit to the doctor, a CT scan or surgery at a hospital? If so, it looks like you've got a little more company.

In the latest NPR-Thomson Reuters Health Poll we asked people across the country whether they size up the prices for care before making decisions. And, if so, how they do it. We put the same questions to more than 3,000 people back in September 2010, and we were curious to see how much had changed.

Right off the bat, we wanted to find out the proportion of households that included someone who had received health care services in the past year. About 81 percent of the households we asked in April had, virtually the same as the 80 percent we found in 2010.

Among the recent health care consumers, 16 percent said they'd looked for prices beforehand, compared with 11 percent who'd answered that way in the previous poll.

OK, so where do they turn for price info? The most common source is a doctor's office, cited by 50 percent of those households that had checked recently on prices. But, that was down 10 percentage points from 2010.

The second-most-popular source was insurance companies at about 49 percent. And insurers were big gainers since 2010, when only about 26 percent of the price checkers consulted them.

Most commonly, people got the information in person at about 53 percent. That's up a bit from 2010, when it ran 47 percent. As a shopping tool, the telephone dropped in popularity to 48 percent from 61 percent in 2010. Email and the Internet zoomed to 45 percent from 22 percent.

A solid majority of people who sought information found what they were looking for. Most said it was accurate, though the overall proportion on that score dropped to 86 percent from 98 percent in 2010.

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More Americans Are Checking Prices Before Getting Health Care

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Advisory Board Company will describe its innovative use of health care data and introduce new technology capabilities to support Accountable Care Organizations at the Health Data Initiative (HDI) Forum III, also known as the Health Datapalooza, on June 5-6 at the Washington Convention Center.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110802/PH45999LOGO )

"We are excited to be among the diverse group of health care and technology leaders that is coming together to support health care data innovations at the third annual Health Datapalooza," said Aneesh Chopra, former U.S. Chief Technology Officer and current Senior Advisor, Health Care Technology Strategy at The Advisory Board Company. Mr. Chopra, who will attend the HDI Forum, added, "In the shift toward an accountable care payment landscape, The Advisory Board Company is at the forefront in helping hospitals and health systems improve quality, control costs, and optimize health care utilization through centralized population risk management. We look forward to inspiring discussion and new innovative solutions to improve our nation's health care system."

Matt Cinque, Managing Director of Performance Technologies at The Advisory Board Company, will join Atul Gawande and others at a breakout presentation at the HDI Forum entitled "Accountable Care Organizations: Using Data to Deliver Patient-Centered Care and Improve Population Health While Lowering Costs," in Room 103A from 1:30-4:30 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 6.

Mr. Cinque's presentation will highlight new functionality from The Advisory Board Company's Crimson (R) program that connects sophisticated population analytics with direct patient care. Specifically, the presentation will explain how leading hospitals and health systems can use Crimson to identify high-risk patients and support active and coordinated care management for these individuals, including at the point of care. By bringing together leading-edge analytic and workflow technologies developed in partnership with Milliman MedInsight and the University of Michigan, Crimson helps provider organizations secure new needed capabilities and bridge the often-siloed worlds of analysis and action.

"Payers have had solid population risk analytics for years," Mr. Cinque said, "but they have been unable to meaningfully inflect patient care and outcomes. Providers have a better chance of moving the dial, but only if they're able to connect these analytics to patient-level decisions and coordination. Crimson now offers hospitals and health systems that opportunity."

The session will include a reactor panel of Accountable Care Organizations and experts who will discuss the impact and value of Crimson.

In addition to the June 6 presentation, Mr. Cinque will provide insights from the firm's experiences impactfully leveraging CMS data. This discussion will be part of a breakout panel session entitled "How to Turn Data into Meaningful Information for Business Problems; Strategy, Practice and Games for Start Ups and Status Quos with Examples from CMS Data," in Room 101 from 1:30-5:30 pm EDT on Tuesday, June 5

Across the country, health care providers are utilizing The Advisory Board Company's Crimson suite of products, including a cohort focused specifically on leveraging Crimson to manage population risk more effectively. "Crimson services have played a strategic role in our ability to structure risk-based contracts with payers," said Charles Kelly, D.O., President and CEO, Henry Ford Physician Network, a physician-led subsidiary of Henry Ford Health System that focuses on delivering higher quality care while reducing medical costs through collaborative best practices, evidence-based medicine and improved efficiency. "Crimson has enabled us to understand and improve our performance on controlled populations and has given us the confidence to pursue additional risk-based contracts."

The Advisory Board Company is a global technology, research, and consulting firm partnering with 140,000 leaders in 3,700 organizations across health care and higher education. Through its Crimson offerings, The Advisory Board Company collaborates with health care providers dedicated to strengthening hospital-physician alignment, coordination among care settings, and overall clinical performance.

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The Advisory Board Company to Highlight New Technology Capabilities that Support Accountable Care

PARIS The Paris Community Hospital Volunteers recently announced the winners of three health care scholarships for the 2012-2013 school year.

Two of the recipients are graduating high school seniors and the third is a registered nurse who will continue her health care education.

High school seniors Alexis Fiscus and Lauren Funkhouser of Paris each will receive a one-year, $1,000 college scholarship to further their education in the healthcare field. In addition, Leslie Brown, Wound Care Center manager at PCH, will receive a one-year, $1,000 scholarship to advance her nursing education.

Fiscus, who attends Paris Cooperative High School, will pursue a nursing degree at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She recently completed the Health Occupations Program at PCH/FMC, which helps students prepare for their certified nursing assistant state exam.

I want to specialize in emergency medicine with the hope of one day becoming a flight nurse, she said. I have chosen nursing because there is no greater contribution I can think of to give back to my community.

Funkhouser, who is homeschooled, will pursue a degree as a physical therapy assistant at Lake Land College.

I have always been fascinated by the human body and how God created it to function, she said. My desire is to see people enjoy their physical life because of the care I am able to provide.

Brown, a Marshall resident and wound care-certified nurse at PCH/FMC, will pursue certification as a wound, ostomy and continence nurse through the WebWOC Nursing Education Program. The School of Nursing at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn., is the academic partner for the online program.

I have been a nurse since 1995 and cant imagine not having a career in healthcare, she said. Helping people get better is a wonderful thing.

The PCH Volunteers conduct several events throughout the year to help fund the annual scholarships, including chocolate sales and book sales. Funds for the scholarships also come from proceeds from the hospital gift shop.

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PCH announces health care scholarship winners

Health care reform is flawed. Here are some better ways to fix it.

By Michael G. Manes

PPACA will not protect patients and it won't make care affordable. It adds 2,000-plus pages of legislation, hundreds of thousands of pages of regulation and enough lawyers, consultants and actuaries to fill fleets of large cruise ships.

The system we have today is not sustainable and neither is PPACA. The marketplace has two years to find a solution. What follows is opinion:

Traditional health care and health care financing are houses divided. The patients using care want it all. Premium payers and taxpayers funding these costs are looking to reduce expenses. Typically, 5 percent of the population consumes more than 50 percent of the costs.

Third-party reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid and insurance) has insulated and isolated the users from the direct cost for care and the spreading of the premiums and taxes over nearly the entire population allowed "payers" to ignore the problem we have.

Providers are paid for sickness instead of being rewarded for wellness. Defensive medicine and malpractices issues encourage more care than is necessary. Patients have bestowed a "god-like" power to practitioners and so they rarely challenge the provider of services about the costs or necessity of care.

Our system has evolved from a holistic "Marcus Welby" model to a system of "organs du jour." Our cultural desire for instant gratification seeks care immediately, not allowing the body to heal itself (which it often does). Super-specialization offers some advantages but this comes at a substantial cost.

There aren't enough MDs to meet tomorrow's needs yet the politics of yesterday is limiting the ability of other qualified professionals to maximize their expertise and help fill this shortfall.

As individuals we are made up of mind, body and spirit. The majority of illness and many accidents originate in the head. This includes issues of stress, addiction, mental and nervous conditions, hypochondria, loneliness, distraction, etc. Studies also show clear evidence of the healing power of prayer for those that believe. Our delivery and financing systems were built to reward treatment of illness with few incentives for wellness, limited reimbursement for issues of the head and ignored the soul.

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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Will Do Neither

U.S. Sets Duties as High as 26% on China Wind-Tower Imports

By Alex Nussbaum - 2012-05-30T16:47:51Z

The U.S. Supreme Court probably wont overturn President Barack Obamas entire health-care law, and provisions forcing insurers to cover more medical care may survive no matter who wins the November elections, Aetna Inc. (AET)s chief executive officer said.

The health-care overhauls future hinges on the outcome of this years races for Congress and the White House and, beyond that, discussions over how to trim the U.S. debt and budget deficit, Mark Bertolini, head of the nations third-biggest health insurer, said today during an investor conference.

The 2010 law will extend health coverage to about 32 million Americans by 2016, at a net cost of $1 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. If the law survives the courts decision expected next month, Republicans are likely to go after its funding next year, especially if they keep control of the House while retaking the U.S. Senate, Bertolini said.

Youll see a battle through the budget process with Republicans vying to defund the Affordable Care Act, he said at a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. conference in New York.

The court is considering a challenge to the laws requirement that all Americans get health insurance or pay a penalty. If thats found unconstitutional, the justices might strike down the entire legislation. Bertolini said he expected a more limited ruling.

No Republican in Congress voted for the health-care act in 2010 and many of the lawmakers have introduced bills that would repeal part or all of it. The partys presumptive presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has said he intends to eliminate the health overhaul should he defeat Obama.

Even if Republicans control Congress and win the White House in November, many of the laws regulations will survive in some form, Bertolini said. That includes provisions allowing parents to keep children on their health plan until age 26 as well as a ban on benefit limits.

Youll see this big movement for repeal but youll very quickly hear replace he said. Nobody on either side of the aisle is willing to tell families, you know that 26-year-old you got covered under your policy? You cant do that anymore. Or You know that kid thats survived cancer and is hitting his limits on health-care costs? Were going to put the limits back on the kid.

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Aetna CEO Says Supreme Court Won’t Drop Entire Health Law

By Allison Linn

More than 1.3 million working-age veterans dont have health insurance and are failing to take advantage of health care available through Veterans Affairs, a new study finds.

Researchers at the Urban Institute used census data to estimate health insurance coverage for veterans aged 19 to 64.

While veterans are more likely to have health insurance than the general population, about 1 in 10 of the nearly 12.5 million veterans under age 65 do not have health coverage either through the VA or other insurers.

The rates of uninsurance appear to be especially high for veterans under age35.

They are disproportionately younger, and they appear to have served more recently, said Genevieve Kenney, a senior fellow with the Urban Institute and co-author of the report.

Kenney said the uninsured veterans also tended to have lower incomes and lower levels of education and were less likely to be full-time workers than the veterans with health coverage.

Contrary to popular belief, veterans are not automatically eligible for health care coverage once they leave the military. Jacob Gadd, deputy director for health care with the American Legion, said health coverage is generally provided to the poorest and the most badly injured of those who have served.

For example, combat veterans are eligible for five years of free medical care for any service-related issues. Other veterans can get at least some coverage for injuries if they can prove they are related to their service.

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1.3 million veterans lack health coverage

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

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Obama's health care aid to small firms disappoints

BETHESDA, Md. (May 29, 2012) - Coventry Health Care, Inc. (NYSE:CVH - News) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per common share payable on July 9, 2012 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 21, 2012.

Coventry Health Care (www.coventryhealthcare.com) is a diversified national managed healthcare company based in Bethesda, Maryland, operating health plans, insurance companies, network rental and workers` compensation services companies. Coventry provides a full range of risk and fee-based managed care products and services to a broad cross section of individuals, employer and government-funded groups, government agencies, and other insurance carriers and administrators.

Contact:

Randy Giles Chief Financial Officer (301) 581-5687

Drew Asher SVP, Corporate Finance (301) 581-5717

The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Coventry Health Care, Inc. via Thomson Reuters ONE HUG#1615772

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Coventry Health Care Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --  National Underwriter Life & Health magazine, a Summit Business Media publication received honorable mention at the Eighteenth Annual Health Care Journalism and ...

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Summit Business Media Publication Receives Honorable Mention at 2012 Health Care Journalism and Research Awards

PROVIDENCE A bevy of national experts came to Rhode Island on May 22 to discuss how best to grow patient-centered medical homes, at a think tank gathering hosted by the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

In the audience were many of Rhode Islands top echelon of health care policy experts R.I. Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher F. Koller, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts, Rhode Island Quality Institute President and CEO Laura Adams, and Dr. Michael Fine, director of the R.I. Department of Health.

The experts presented a strong challenge to the current way of doing business within the health care delivery system, detailing examples of successful patient-centered medical homes in Alaska and Vermont that had transformed the business of health care.

Dr. Douglas Eby, the vice president of Medical Service for South-Central Foundation, Alaska Native Medical Center, talked about the importance of preparing the soil in order to grow a successful model of health care delivery. Instead of organizing around the needs of the provider, with an emphasis on tests, diagnosis and treatment, Ebys Alaska health care model changed the emphasis to a customer-owned model, defining health care as a longitudinal experience, with messy human relationships in play all the time.

The results achieved by Ebys model of health care over the last decade included a 50 percent drop in urgent care and ER utilization, a 53 percent drop in hospital admissions, a 65 percent drop in specialist utilization as well as evidence-based generational change in reducing family violence.

The shift to delivering health in a community context, rather than disease care, involved changing the workflow patterns. It began with learning to listen at least 10 different ways at all times, an investment in mentoring for all clinicians and management, and a way to re-humanize the story, defining care for a defined population.

In turn, Eby lambasted the idea that following LEAN methods or Six Sigma standards will change the delivery of health care. He saw it instead as turning health care into an industry production process.

Dr. Craig Jones, director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health, detailed the environmental factors that are necessary to support the growth of patient-centered medical homes, describing Vermonts experience of building a community-based network of teams to support an integrated health care system. As a result, Vermont has seen a drop of more than 27 percent in the projected cost avoidance across its total commercial insurer population in 2010.

Dr. Paul Grundy, global director of IBMs Healthcare Transformation, began by praising Rhode Islands leadership in developing patient-centered medical homes. The focus in Rhode Island, he continued, needs to be on reducing the health costs of employees.

In a conversation before the event, Dr. Frank Basile, an internist with University Medicine, an early adopter of patient-centered medical homes in Rhode Island, suggested that there was a need in Rhode Island to recognize that the patient-centered medical home was a small business that generates jobs.

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A new model of health care

SAN FRANCISCO -- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that she expects the U.S. Supreme Court next month to uphold President Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

"We believe that this bill constitutionally is ironclad," she told a crowd of about 550 at a Commonwealth Club event at the Fairmont Hotel. "I expect a 6-3 'aye' verdict from the Supreme Court."

Pelosi, whose discussion with the club was meant to commemorate her 25th anniversary in Congress, said the law is among her proudest legislative accomplishments. More than 80 million Americans -- young people allowed to remain on their parents' policies, children with pre-existing conditions, people availing themselves of preventive care -- already have benefited from its provisions, she said.

She said she finds it ironic that some Republican lawmakers just a few years ago were engaging in "court-stripping," writing sections into bills in an attempt to make them impervious to courts. But once the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, she said, "all of a sudden we have these newfound advocates for judicial review."

Pelosi called Obama's newfound support of same-sex marriage "all great ... so beautifully spoken, so heartfelt, so personal."

"He made a values judgment," she said, noting that it would've been a more overtly political move to remain silent.

Pelosi, a San Francisco resident, is the first woman to have served as Speaker

Asked about the deep partisan divides that have stymied significant progress on many issues, Pelosi replied, "It doesn't have to be this way, and it hasn't always been." Under President George H.W. Bush and even under President George W. Bush, she said, Democrats and Republicans still were able to find some common ground on certain key issues.

Pelosi said today's Republicans aren't obstructionists purely because of political gamesmanship. They simply don't believe in a public role in job creation, social services and so forth, she added.

"Bless their hearts, they do what they believe, and they don't believe in government," she said.

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Pelosi predicts court will uphold health care reform

TALLAHASSEE -- Public employee unions are challenging a state budget provision calling for the privatization of health care in Florida's prisons.

Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll held a hearing Tuesday in Tallahassee and said he hoped to rule next week.

Carroll, though, acknowledged the case will be appealed regardless of his decision.

It is similar to another prison privatization case set for oral argument June 27 in the 1st District Court of Appeal.

The state is appealing another Tallahassee judge's ruling that struck down a budget provision requiring privatization of prison facilities in South Florida.

Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford ruled the Republican-led Legislature violated the Florida Constitution by using the budget to make a substantive change in state law instead of passing a stand-alone bill.

Such a bill subsequently was defeated.

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Fla. prison health care privatization challenged

Despite efforts to lower the cost of health care, small businesses are still struggling to cover the expense.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses pay premiums that are 18% higher on average than large businesses pay for the same coverage. Whats more, the SBA says small businesses have higher administrative costs to set up and maintain the plans and less bargaining power in negotiating with insurance companies.

On top of that, health-care reform, which was supposed to save small businesses money, hasnt helped, according to John Cerasani, president of insurance brokerage Northwest Comprehensive. The fact of the matter is health-care reform didnt do anything to address the rising costs small business owners have, he says.

Given these challenges, here are four ways to save on rising health-care costs.

Shop Around

A common misconception among small business owners is that once they take out health insurance they are locked in for a period of time. But according to Anthony Lopez, small business consumer specialist at eHealthInsurance, health insurance can be a month-to-month expense, which means you can change plans at any time.

Theres a lot of different options, says Lopez. He says to shop around at least once every six months to make sure you are saving as much as possible.

Offer High Deductible Plans

These plans have lower premiums, but require the plan holder to pay a higher out of pocket deductible, which could motivate your employees to take better care of themselves.

High deductible health plans put the onus more on employees to take care of themselves in terms of managing expenses and costs, says Cerasani of Northwest Comprehensive. While high deductible plans may face resistance at big companies, Cerasani says small businesses are increasingly turning to high deductible plans as a way to offset costs.

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Four Ways to Save on Health Insurance

Jay Greene - Employers in Southeast Michigan expect to hold health care cost increases to 6 percent this year -- close to the national average of 5.

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Survey: Shifting costs help employers hold health expenses

CHICAGO, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME), the largest group of physicians and researchers dedicated to chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), has released updated care guidelines directed at primary care physicians and other health care providers. The document, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: A Primer for Clinical Practitioners," can be accessed at: http://www.iacfsme.org/Home/Primer/tabid/509/Default.aspx

"CFS/ME affects at least one million people in the US yet up to 80% of them have not yet been diagnosed. Medical providers are often uncomfortable diagnosing and treating these patients and patients tell us that they frequently have difficulty finding a knowledgeable physician. We hope that the Primer will help solve these problems," states Dr. Fred Friedberg, IACFS/ME President.

The Primer highlights areas that have not been emphasized in the past including:

CFS/ME commonly strikes healthy people following a flu-like illness, leaving them with severe exhaustion, muscle pain, joint pain and memory and concentration problems among many other symptoms. The term "CFS" is most commonly used in the United States while other countries may use "ME" instead. People of both sexes and all ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds can become ill. Sufferers are often more functionally impaired than people with heart failure, multiple sclerosis or HIV. Because the cause of CFS/ME has not yet been discovered, no one knows how to prevent or effectively treat the illness, meaning many patients are disabled for decades. According to a 2008 DePaul University study, CFS/ME drains $18-24 billion annually from the U.S. economy due to decreased work productivity, lost tax revenue, increased health care expenditures, and disability payments.

Founded in 1990, IACFS/ME is an international scientific organization comprised of researchers, clinicians, advocates, patients, and other stakeholders. The mission of IACFS/ME is to promote, stimulate, and coordinate the exchange of ideas related to CFS, ME, and fibromyalgia research, patient care, and treatment. For more information, visit http://www.iacfsme.org

Contact Information: Dr. Fred Friedberg President, IACFS/ME (www.iacfsme.org) 631-632-8252 fred.friedberg@stonybrookmedicine.org

This press release was issued through eReleases Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

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Scientific Organization Releases Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Guidelines to Educate Health Care Providers