Primex Wireless temperature and indoor air quality sensors connect wirelessly to the cloud-based OneVue platform.

Many health care providers track temperature and humidity by having employees periodically check the levels and record them by hand in a nearby log.

The companys OneVue Intelligent Monitoring platform allows health care providers to wirelessly monitor environmental parameters and free up their highly-trained employees to focus on patient care.

We alleviate that workload by moving it to the cloud and we secure (the data) for them, said Brian Balboni, president of Primex Wireless. OneVue offers a smart, cost-effective and convenient way to achieve real-time monitoring of health care facilities and the critical assets within them.

The OneVue system uses sensors to collect data from the room, from physical equipment like refrigerators, or from inventory like pharmaceuticals or nutritionals, and send it to the cloud. OneVues cloud-based platform allows the user to check on the data collected from any web browser using responsive design that adjusts for easy viewing on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Primex links the data to the refrigerator or vaccine being measured, instead of to the sensor. That way, sensors can be changed out without impacting the historical data records of the object being measured, said Deborah McKenzie, marketing communications manager at Primex.

The OneVue platform can currently be used with Primexs PrimexIAQ and PrimexTEMP sensors, which monitor room temperature and humidity and equipment temperature, respectively, Balboni said. The company plans to add more capabilities to the platform this spring.

To use the sensors, a health care provider places a metal probe inside the refrigerator, for example, and a sensor outside of the refrigerator, McKenzie said. The probe monitors the level, which the sensor sends over the wireless network to the OneVue platform.

In addition to driving increased efficiency and accuracy in the monitoring process, the OneVue system is designed to keep health care information secure, Balboni said. It doesnt require any installation, server or software maintenance from the IT departmentjust a one-time setup to connect the sensor to the network.

The critical advantages really are that ease of use, ease of installation, Balboni said. Breaches of hospital networks can lead to breaches of patient information. We ensure that were not an access point.

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Primex Wireless develops monitoring solution for health care environments

How To Understand Key Performance Indicators In Health Care

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Angelina Jolie #39;s Cancer Surgery | Access to Health Care | Sunday Panel
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Hippocrates Health Institute Timelapse
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Sustaining Medicares Future: Special Discussion for Medicare Rights Center Supporters
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Tax exemptions of profit-making health care businesses, long controversial in an industry that is taking hold of a greater share of the U.S. economy, are coming under fire once again.

This time, its nonprofit health insurance companies like Blue Shield of California, which recently lost its state income tax exemption after a government audit. Though Blue Shield of California is protesting the decision of the California Franchise Tax Board, the Los Angeles Times Chad Terhune, who is doggedly following the story, reported that the insurer paid $63 million in back taxes to the state for 2013 and 2014.

At issue in these tax disputes generally centers on the business behavior of a health care company that has had an exemption for decades, but challenges emerge as critics see actions differing little from health businesses that do pay taxes. Tax-exempt hospitals, too, have lost income or property tax exemptions when their missions to treat the poor and uninsured dont mesh with actions that have included overzealous bill collecting, high prices and lack of care to the indigent.

Blue Shield of California, which has more than three million customers, has come under fire for premium increases that are higher than a lot of for-profit insurers. Its billions of dollars in reserves have also been criticized.

There are several large nonprofit health plans that have independent licenses from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, including Blue Shield of California and Blues plans in many states.

Investor Investor-owned companies that pay taxes like Anthem Anthem (ANTM), formerly known as Wellpoint, also operate health plans under the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Cross and Blue Shield brands. Other tax-paying Blue Cross plans, such as those under the Health Care Service Corp. umbrella, are mutual and therefore owned by policyholders.

But doctors, hospitals, public watchdogs and plaintiffs attorneys targeting Blues plans on other issues like market power are also shining light on tax exemptions.

In Alabama, for example, a lawsuit filed three years ago by a chiropractor survived an effort by Blue Cross plans to get it dismissed last year and was recently consolidated into a large federal class action. It alleges antitrust violations against Blues plans, accusing them, among other things, of conspiring to fix what they pay doctors and other medical-care providers across the country. The allegations, vigorously denied by Blues plans, are lodged against nonprofit, mutual and investor owned Blues plans. There is an important relationship between what is happening in California and what is happening in our case, Joe Whatley, an attorney for plaintiffs suing Blues plans in the Alabama federal court said in a story posted on the web site tracking the litigation against the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers. While they claim to be non-profit, they charge their insured more than they should and they pay their providers less than they should. They build up these huge reserves, more than are needed under any circumstances.

Blues plans deny the allegations. Blues plans also argue that they are facing unprecedented competition across the country from the likes of Aetna Aetna (AET), Cigna Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH), which are all growing and offering more choices thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act and its subsidies to millions of formerly uninsured Americans.

Wondering how the Affordable Care Act affects insurers and your health care? The Forbes eBookInside Obamacare: The Fix For Americas Ailing Health Care Systemanswers that question and more. Available nowat AmazonandApple.

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Wagons Circle On Nonprofit Blues Health Plan Tax Exemptions

Listen Story audio 4min 42sec Minnesota State CapitolNikki Tundel | MPR News 2006

Minnesota House Republicans recently unveiled a budget plan featuring a $2 billion tax cut and more education and transportation spending. To balance it, they proposed slashing health and human services.

Their plan will face scrutiny this week as the Legislature returns from its Easter/Passover break, but it's already unnerved some health care advocates. They worry a $1.1 billion cut to human services could harm many needy Minnesotans at time when the state projects a $2 billion surplus.

Some see the GOP's plan as a negotiating tactic as Republican leaders prepare for budget talks with Senate Democrats and Gov. Mark Dayton. Key Republican leaders, though, are signaling that it's no ploy and that cuts need to happen.

"We have a long history going back many years ... of the health and human services area growing and continually outstripping inflation," Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, said during a recent hearing.

Higher education and other needs have suffered, he added, "because health and human services gets a larger and larger share."

The GOP's budget plan does increase the health and human services budget over current spending, but it would not pay for the projected need over the next two years. The GOP's point man on the issue is saying little about exactly where the cuts would come.

"It's a very steep hill to climb. There's no two ways about it. We understand that," said Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood.

Dean has given some insight into his priorities. He has proposed eliminating the current MinnesotaCare program and directing the 95,000 people in the program to buy private insurance.

He's also suggested that there are ineligible people on MinnesotaCare, Medicaid and other taxpayer subsidized programs.

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Health care advocates on edge as GOP pushes budget cuts

Robert Bentley

FILE - In this March 3, 2015 file photo, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during the annual State of the State address at the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. Bentley is trying to take his sales pitch directly to voters with a series of speeches promoting his proposed tax increase and the creation of a new nonprofit to promote his policy agenda for the remainder of his term. However, legislators still don't seem to be buying into his ideas. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

MONTGOMERY| Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday created a new task force aimed at making health care in Alabama more accessible and more affordable.

Bentley signed an executive order creating the Alabama Health Care Improvement Task Force.

The 38-person panel includes physicians, nurses, dentists, mental health professionals, insurance companies and hospitals. State Health Officer Don Williamson will lead the task force. Bentley said more people could be added if needed.

"We're going to look at all of these things and what I'm asking people to do when they come together in this task force is to leave their turf at the door," Bentley said.

The team plans to examine a number of ideas for improving health care infrastructure in both rural and urban areas. Possibilities include expanding telemedicine, medical resources and scope-of-practice laws.

"Distance does not have to be an obstacle to health care," Bentley said.

The first meeting is scheduled for April 15.

Bentley said he hopes to have some ideas ready for the 2016 legislative session.

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Alabama's Governor Bentley creates state health care task force

Top Healthcare Stocks

JNJ -0.41%

PZE +0.39%

MRK +0.43%

ABT +0.28%

AMGN -0.33%

Healthcare stocks were mostly higher today with the NYSE Healthcare Sector Index climbing 0.4% and the S&P Healthcare Index adding about 0.2%.

In company news, Ovascience ( OVAS ) shares fell Monday after a new report today questioned the effectiveness of the company's Augment infertility treatment.

The treatment was only effective just 27% of the time, according to the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation report, or nearly one-half the 53% success rate cited by OVAS last week. The report also criticized the lack of a control group, making it difficult to tell whether the results were promising.

OVAS shares were down over 5% at $33.20 a share, earlier sinking as low as $31.01 a share. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $5.51 to $33.69 a share, rising nearly 288% over the past 12 months prior to today's retreat.

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Health Care Sector Update for 04/06/2015: OVAS,QURE,NYMX

New health care program gives students on-the-job experience
A Leeward Community College program that launched today helps meet employment needs in the health care industry.

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STRATFORD PHOENIX ASSISTED LIVING ALZHEIMER #39;S DEMENTIA CARE RETIREMENT SENIORS SENIOR HOME HOMES
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Researching unconscious bias in health care - Michelle van Ryn, Ph.D.
Michelle van Ryn, Ph.D., a researcher at Mayo Clinic, describes unconscious bias in health care and research underway to understand and address the issue.

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Is Obamacare enrollment stalling?

Thats the suggestion of a recent New York Times article that basically looks at the enrollment differences between the Affordable Care Acts state and federal exchanges. Many states that had good enrollment for the 2014 season saw little increase in 2015. The federal exchanges did better but that might just be catch-up as they enroll folks they would have picked up earlier had the exchanges not melted down.

Robert Laszewski, author of the Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review blog, argues that if true, it will have pretty serious implications for the long-term health of the exchanges. Remember, the prices were seeing right now dont necessarily reflect what the price will be over the long term, because there are all sorts of temporary cross-subsidies that will expire at the end of 2016. The future path of prices will depend on a lot of things, but one very important factor is the size of the insurance pool.

The magic of statistics tells us that larger insurance pools makes for more stable outcomes, because the larger the population in the pools, the more that random variances in outcomes will tend to average out. If your market only has a few thousand people in it, its easier to get a few more cancer patients than you expected, whacking you with big, unexpected costs. The more people you add, the larger the number of people it will take to make your outcomes measurably different from actuarial expectations ... and so the less likely this becomes.

Even worse, the smaller the pool, the more likely it is that youre getting adverse selection. Who is most likely to go without insurance? Thats right: people who arent spending very much on health care right now. A few of those people deciding to forgo insurance doesnt matter much.

But if you end up enrolling only 50 percent of the eligible population, its a fairly safe bet that the missing 50 percent are disproportionately healthy, and that number is large enough to throw off your projections. This is potentially a recipe for the dreaded death spiral, in which the healthiest people drop out, raising the average cost of health care for the remaining sick people, forcing insurers to raise prices, so the healthier folks decide to drop out. So if the fears expressed in the Times are correct, its potentially a very big deal.

But are they correct?

One potential piece of supporting evidence: A new report from consultancy Avalere says the exchanges are struggling to sign up the middle class. People with incomes close to the poverty line and who can buy exchange policies for just a few dollars a month are eagerly snapping up the product. More than three-quarters of the eligible folks making less than 150 percent of the federal poverty line have enrolled. But as you get north of 150 percent of the poverty line, the numbers start rapidly declining: Less than half the eligibles between 150 and 200 percent have enrolled, and by the time you get to 400 percent of the poverty line (about $47,000 for an individual), only 2 percent of those eligible have signed up. Avalere says that 83 percent of 2015 enrollees make less than 250 percent of the federal poverty line, which equates to less than $30,000 a year for a single individual.

What does that tell us? People dont seem to want exchange policies unless theres a substantial subsidy. Which means that at higher income levels, there could be substantial adverse selection.

But its a little early yet to worry. Obamacare isnt all carrots; there are also some big sticks, in the form of mandate penalties. And many of those higher-income folks, who are actually calculating the expected value of buying a policy rather than snapping up a nearly free good, havent yet heard about the mandate penalties. Theyll find out when they file their taxes and theyll probably find that the penalty is bigger than theyre expecting.

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Health care enrollment awaits a verdict

Published: Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 2:24 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 2:24 p.m.

DELAND The West Volusia Hospital Authority wants to make it easier for uninsured residents to access health care.

The five-member elected board that funds indigent care in West Volusia made several changes in its eligibility guidelines that recently took effect, but its chairman wants members to go further.

Chairman Andy Ferrari says his constituents are being locked out of mental health counseling and other vital health services because of bureaucratic red tape.

Its a really confusing mess that weve created, he said. We are trying to remove some of the barriers and make it easier to get people through.

The authoritys rolls had fallen from a high of 2,087 in August 2012 to a low of 938 in April 2014.

While its possible some of those people obtained coverage through the Affordable Care Act, several leaders of social service agencies said during a town hall meeting that paperwork requirements could also be blocking access.

They are trying to find solutions that would better serve the people, and my hope is that they use their legislation to their advantage to connect sick people to the services they need, said Dixie Morgese, executive director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Volusia and Flagler Counties.

Those seeking help must complete a 14-page application and submit proof of residency, income and assets. In addition, they must apply and be denied Medicaid and insurance through the federal health care law.

After the town hall meeting, board members modified the guidelines to allow an entire household to apply through the same application. They stopped counting student loans as income, which could disqualify cash-strapped younger residents from assistance. The board allowed the homeless to submit a homeless verification form instead of having to go through the application process for the Affordable Care Act, which would not offer them assistance.

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West Volusia uninsured could see smoother health care process

ICD-10 five little characters and a hyphen that are causing a whole host of headaches for medical providers and health systems across the country.

Come October after several years of delays hospitals, medical providers, insurers and medical coders will have to have transitioned to an updated version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) moving from the ICD-9 code sets to ICD-10.

These codes help physicians and hospitals communicate with insurers, allowing providers to explain services and justify claims.

ICD-9 has been in place for more than 30 years, and health industry experts say it is out-of date. The new codes will allow for greater specificity of reporting, which will help hospitals and insurers collect better data and pinpoint areas in which improvement is needed, including readmission rates.

We're running out of space to expand code sets, said Kim Vegter, a coding educator at MediRevv. The revenue cycle management company based in Coralville offers coding and billing services, working with health systems and providers across the country.

For instance a few years back, when H1N1 (swine flu) was popping up, the codes we had didn't clearly define H1N1. We need room to add codes so we can properly document, she said.

Because of this, Vegter said those in the medical industry may use unspecified codes, which don't provide specific details and could cause problems when it comes to justifying a claim to an insurer.

"The more specific we can be as to why, the better chance those services will get paid by the insurance company, which needs as much information as possible.

- Kim Vegter

MediRevv coding educator

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Health care industry readies for massive medical code update

Daniel Mathis

In 2012, Daniel Mathis became president and CEO of the Nevada Health Care Association, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of care in Nevadas nursing homes. Among his duties: advocating for the organizations member institutions to legislators in Carson City.

The Nevada Health Care Association has grown significantly over the past year. What is the expected growth over the next few years?

We expect to represent post-acute care providers in Nevada to help improve care in the state. With the passing of the IMPACT 14 legislation in Congress last fall, we are drawn together more than ever and will be measured by the quality of care we deliver.

How has care in nursing facilities changed over the past year?

Our quality measures have improved across the state. One reason has been the evidence-based education weve been able to provide, specifically targeting facilities that werent performing as well as others. One example is the improvement of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) accuracy rate for such facilities in Nevada from 74 percent to 82 percent. The MDS is part of the federally mandated process for clinical assessment of all residents in Medicare or Medicaid-certified nursing homes. This process provides a comprehensive assessment of each residents functional capabilities and helps nursing home staff identify health problems. We still have much work to do, but weve been making solid progress recently.

What does the NVHCA Perry Foundation do?

The Perry Foundation analyzes compliance and Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) data and then formulates specific education for providers. Sometimes education is engineered specifically for a single provider when asked.

How can people advocate for better nursing home care?

Consumers can affect care in a post-acute setting by participating in the providers care plan programming and having open communication with the caregivers. People who want to advocate for residents or patients in a post-acute care setting such as local nursing homes should focus on outcomes or quality measures. In looking at the data and knowing the reimbursement history for Medicare and Medicaid, what needs to happen is obvious. We need to increase the reimbursement rate the state provides to such facilities, which is something we are encouraging state leaders to do during the legislative session this year.

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When it comes to health care, Nevada needs more of just about everything

Alberta will soon have its health care divided into eight to 10 operational districts, with each district responsible and accountable for health care delivery.

The details of how the province will be split up have yet to be released.

Its the first of 56 recommendations to come out of the Rural Health Services Review, a provincial report that assessed health care challenges in small communities.

Health Minister Stephen Mandel announced on March 18 that each of the districts will need to put together a facilities and maintenance plan to show how its health facilities will work together, and each will be given a budget based on program needs.

Each district will also have a local advisory council and will be responsible for establishing, Mandel said, a patient-first program.

We cannot emphasize how important it is that we need to be a patient-centric system, not a provider-centric system, Mandel said.

As of last week, we are expanding the scope of practice for paramedics Were also doing a protocol to limit the time EMS spend at urban hospitals.

That means ambulances and other EMS vehicles housed in rural locations will return straight home after a call instead of relocating to a closer urban centre.

Additionally, the government will be outlining a self-managed care initiative for isolated Albertans with health care needs.

Other initiatives include:

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Rural health care reforms coming for Alberta

Health Care Coverage Reporting To Avoid Tax Penalty When Doing Your Taxes
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