PeaceHealth, UW Medicine pursue potential healthcare 'alliance'

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By STEVE WEHRLY Journal of the San Juans Reporter May 26, 2013 Updated 8:48 PM

UW Medicine and PeaceHealth on May 20 signed a letter of intent to create a strategic affiliation to provide patients with access to comprehensive care in the Pacific Northwest and to cooperate on medical training at UW and PeaceHealth locations.

The letter of intent, dated May 20, is expected to be followed up by definitive agreements by Sept. 30, 2013. According to the press release, the two organizations will remain legally separate and independent; system governance will not be affected; and government regulatory approval is not required.

PeaceHealth is the owner and operator of Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor. Peace Island Medical Center, which opened in November, 2012, was constructed with a $20 million capital contribution from PeaceHealth and $10 million in private donations, mostly from island residents. The San Juan County Hospital District contributes $1 million per year from property taxes to PIMC operations.

The strategic affiliation between PeaceHealth and UW Medicine offers significant benefits to people in our geographic region due to the opportunity to provide the full continuum of care primary through quaternary levels more seamlessly and with a unique patient experience, said Peter Adler, Chief Strategy Officer for PeaceHealth. Quaternary care is the highest level of care for services that are the most advanced and specialized.

According to the joint press release, the organizations will also work together to develop and expand community-based training sites for UW School of Medicine students and trainees in communities served by PeaceHealth. The affiliation intends to improve care delivery and respond changes needed to implement health care reform.

Neither the joint press release nor Adler referred to current disputes PeaceHealth and other Catholic-based health care systems are facing regarding restrictions on the provision of reproductive services and end-of-life services addressed in the Catholic bishops Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. UW Medicine, as a public institution, does not subscribe to or follow the Ethical and Religious Directives.

The letter of intent outlines opportunities the organizations could pursue together, including performance improvement initiatives to reduce costs and clinical programming to increase access to specialized services such as cardiovascular care, high-risk obstetrics and neonatology, cancer care, behavioral health and neurosciences.

PeaceHealth selected UW Medicine to be its preferred health system for complex tertiary and quaternary care in the Seattle area, said Alan Yordy, President and Chief Mission Officer for PeaceHealth. This will give our patients enhanced access to services that we do not provide.

The press release says the affiliation is a huge step forward in meeting the needs of the whole patient as well as whole communities more effectively. In its role as the regions only fully comprehensive health care organization covering all levels of patient care and serving as the educational institution for a five-state region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho), UW Medicine will continue to serve patients from all communities, hospitals and clinics to meet their needs for complex tertiary and quaternary care.

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PeaceHealth, UW Medicine pursue potential healthcare 'alliance'

Are e-Cigarettes A Medicine By Presentation Or Function? Totally Wicked Explores The Facts

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BLACKBURN, England, May 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The EU Tobacco Product Directive (TPD) is currently passing through EU parliamentary committees, morphing with each amendment and polarising opinions as it moves towards its goal of regulating electronic cigarettes.

However, what is increasingly frustrating for users of e-cigarettes is the continued desire by the EU to force e-cigs into medicinal regulation by any means possible. MEPs, including the Rapporteur Linda McAvan seem incapable of understanding the EU's definition of a medicine.

A medicine, as defined by the EU is based upon two defining criteria, as shown in this EU Document: Orientation Note, Electronic Cigarettes and the EC Legislation, dated Brussels, 22.05.2008.

The electronic cigarette can be regarded as a human medicine by presentation if it is presented as a remedy to get rid of nicotine addiction.

The electronic cigarette can be regarded as a human medicine by function in so far as it qualifies as "restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions" in a significant manner.

The presentation; Electronic Cigarettes do NOT present themselves as a remedy to get rid of nicotine addiction. Electronic cigarettes are an alternative to tobacco cigarettes, where vapers can have their nicotine without ingesting the known toxins that are in cigarettes. This is pretty straightforward.

However, with the function, one enters a world of 'pick and mix'. Nicotine does not restore or correct, but it does have a modifying physiological effect. Many have felt this when experiencing that first puff on a cigarette, yet cigarettes are not considered medicinal. Coffee has a modifying physiological effect, as does alcohol and a myriad of other substances that are not classed as medicinal.

And this is where the MEPs are obviously getting confused. Here there are two products; e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes, both of which contain nicotine, both have a physiological effect on the body, yet they are to be regulated in completely different ways?

http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.co.uk

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Are e-Cigarettes A Medicine By Presentation Or Function? Totally Wicked Explores The Facts

UW Medicine tries to calm critics of link to Catholic health system

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Originally published May 26, 2013 at 5:38 PM | Page modified May 26, 2013 at 9:17 PM

Leaders of UW Medicine, surprised by a barrage of criticism over a plan to affiliate with a Catholic system, are attempting to assure critics that the arrangement would not limit its services, particularly reproductive care or end-of-life services barred by Catholic ethical directives.

In a letter to UW Medicine board members late last week, Dr. Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine, referred to confusion over the proposal.

In the letter, which was quickly circulated among UW hospitals and employees, Ramsey said the planned strategic affiliation with PeaceHealth, a three-state system founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, was not like the merger of Providence (Health & Services) and Swedish (Medical Center), under which Providence is now responsible for the governance of Swedish.

Instead, he said, the UW-PeaceHealth arrangement would simply provide a more seamless referral network for PeaceHealth patients with complicated health issues to get care at UW Medicine, which includes the University of Washington and Harborview medical centers, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center and Valley Medical Center.

The proposed plan, which has not yet been formalized, will be designed to build programs in rural communities that would increase the range of care available to patients close to home, Ramsey said.

Peter Adler, chief strategy officer for PeaceHealth, said the UW Medicine-PeaceHealth affiliation would bring a full continuum of care, from primary to extremely complex, to more people in the region.

In a Q & A, UW Medicine said both it and PeaceHealth are transforming to become accountable care organizations, the HMO-like arrangements allowed by the new federal health law to give providers incentives for coordination of care and cost control.

Since the plan was announced May 20, critics of the arrangement, which comes amid a series of Catholic-secular health system affiliations, have contacted the UW alumni association, the School of Medicine and the office of Gov. Jay Inslee, who noted his concern about religious-secular mergers last week.

Some critics said they remain concerned that while the arrangement would help provide complex care at UW Medicine for PeaceHealth patients, those in rural communities where PeaceHealth is the sole health system still wont be able to access reproductive and end-of-life options barred by Catholic directives.

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UW Medicine tries to calm critics of link to Catholic health system

Learn to Cheer! Episode 4: Single base extension with liberty and twist cradle dismount – Video

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Learn to Cheer! Episode 4: Single base extension with liberty and twist cradle dismount
We #39;re about a month away from CHEER 2013, the hottest cheerleading competition in Malaysia! But before that, coach Tan Yee Ming will walk you through some of...

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2013 CIF Central Section Softball – Division IV – Taft vs. Liberty Madera Ranchos – Video

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2013 CIF Central Section Softball - Division IV - Taft vs. Liberty Madera Ranchos
Tune in Thursday, May 23, at 7:30 PM EDT to see Taft Union District vs. Liberty Softball Championships LIVE at Liberty Madera Ranchos HS, Madera, California....

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2013 CIF Central Section Softball - Division IV - Taft vs. Liberty Madera Ranchos - Video

The Statue of Liberty in Japan. Replica. – Video

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The Statue of Liberty in Japan. Replica.
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The Statue of Liberty in Japan. Replica. - Video