Premier Wall on Quebec leaving the Health Care Innovation Working Group
Premier Brad Wall joins John Gormley Live to discuss Quebec #39;s decision to leave the Health Care Innovation Working Group set up by the Council of the Federation to find solutions to growing health care costs faced by all provinces on February 6, 2013.
By: Brad Wall
The rest is here:
Premier Wall on Quebec leaving the Health Care Innovation Working Group - Video
Summit Day 2 Modernizing Florida #39;s Health Care Delivery System
Keynote: Marcus Osborne, Vice President, Health Wellness Payer Relations, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "Measurable Improvements: How Successful Business Initiatives Increase Access, Quality and Affordability"
By: HealthCareFLSummit
Continued here:
Summit Day 2 Modernizing Florida's Health Care Delivery System - Video
Summit Day 2 Increasing Health Care Access, Choice and Competition throughout Florida
Increasing Health Care Access, Choice competition throughout Florida panel, moderated by Senator Denie Grimsley - Chair, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health Human Services
By: HealthCareFLSummit
Read this article:
Summit Day 2 Increasing Health Care Access, Choice and Competition throughout Florida - Video
The reaction you may be hearing in the wake of former NDP finance minister Janice MacKinnon's diagnosis of an ailing health-care system seems based on how people feel about Janice MacKinnon.
Those who are conservative-minded love it when a former New Democrat - one who was once thought to be the logical successor to Roy Romanow, no less - comes around to the thinking that public health care is no longer sustainable ... even though this isn't exactly what Janice MacKinnon is saying in her report advocating health-care payments.
But angry New Democrats see her recent health report - commissioned by the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, which social democrats view as akin to Vancouver's right-wing think tank, the Fraser Institute - as just the latest example of MacKinnon shilling for the interests of Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party.
Adding to the palpable animosity that New Democrats already have towards MacKinnon is the fact that she is now treading on the sacred ground of public health care - a forbidden topic for most New Democrats who don't even distinguish between private health-care delivery (common in our health-care system in the form of dental, chiropractic, prescription drugs, home care, etc,) and private payment (which doesn't exist outside the aforementioned existing private elements of healthcare delivery).
MacKinnon's study advocated a form of private payment to offset rising costs - most likely, an income-tax surcharge of as much as three per cent of total income. As such, it might be more than just New Democrats displeased with being hit in the wallet.
That said, there are some very valid points emerging from MacKinnon's study that all of us need to seriously consider.
The premise of her report is based on the need to address the pending problems of an aging baby boomer generation demanding more of a health system that's already crowding out spending for areas like education. There is no doubt that seniors numbers will be increasing. And there's even less doubt that health-care budgets have sky-rocketed. In Saskatchewan, health costs are now a half-billion dollars more than the entire provincial budget 20 years ago. In the last five years alone under the Brad Wall government, health spending has increased by $1.45 billion, or 45 per cent.
And notwithstanding the venom the NDP has towards both MacKinnon and privately paid-for health care, she did reject any kind of user fee or applying the additional payments to those who could not afford them. So isn't she proposing a valid solution to a valid problem? Well, not according to one expert who has extensively studied this issue.
University of Regina head of political science Tom McIntosh - who served on the Romanow commission last decade - thinks MacKinnon has made the wrong diagnosis followed by the wrong prescription.
Read more here:
WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care system in Central New England and the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, today announced that Dr. Eric W. Dickson, MHCM, FACEP has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Dickson succeeds John OBrien in those positions. The appointment is effective February 25. Mr. OBrien will remain with UMass Memorial Health Care for several weeks to help ensure a seamless transition to Dr. Dicksons leadership.
Dr. Dickson, 46, currently serves as presidentUMass Memorial Medical Groupand senior associate dean at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.The UMass Memorial Medical Group is a subsidiary of UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. UMass Memorial Medical Group, Inc. is a 1,060-physician, 2,200-employee multidisciplinary medical group located in Central Massachusetts, with revenue of over $460 million. The medical groups physicians currently practice in 12 hospitals and see more than 1,200,000 patients per year in facility-based and office-based outpatient practices.
In addition, Dr. Dickson is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a practicing emergency department physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center. He also is a faculty member at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, MA.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Dickson served in a variety of clinical and senior management roles at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, a 700 bed health care system with nearly a billion dollars in revenue, from 2003 to 2009, including his last position as interim chief operating officer from 2008 to 2009, responsible for about 3,000 employees.
He was an emergency room physician at UMass-Memorial from 1996 to 2003 as well as director of emergency medicine research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 1998 to 2003. Dr. Dickson served in the United States Army Reserve from 1985 to 1992 as a combat medic and respiratory therapist.
David Bennett, chair of UMass Memorial Health Cares Board of Trustees, said: Dr. Dickson is an ideal chief executive for UMass Memorial Health Care at this time in the organizations history, taking the helm as the industry itself is undergoing transformational change. He has all the requisite skills to bring this organization to the next level, including a comprehensive understanding of a new healthcare system predicated on value, not volume of services. His extensive quality improvement and process improvement experience well equips him for a future state that will demand greater efficiency while improving the patient's experience. As a physician, Dr. Dickson understands the importance of constantly striving to provide the highest-quality care for the Central New England communities UMass Memorial serves. And as the president of UMass Memorial Medical Group, Dr. Dickson understands that the organization must continue to take the difficult but necessary steps to ensure that we provide that care in the most efficient, affordable and safest manner possible.
The entire UMass Memorial organization, its physicians, nurses, care givers and staff and, most importantly the communities we serve will benefit from Dr. Dicksons leadership. He is an exceptional individual known for both careful judgment and disciplined action, and we are delighted that he will be serving the health care system in this new and expanded role.
Mr. Bennett continued: The Board would like to thank John OBrien for his dedication and service to UMass Memorial Health Care over the past decade. John has been unafraid to take on the challenge of transforming UMass Memorial for the future. We will continue to build on that work under Dr. Dicksons leadership. We wish John the best as he focuses on a variety of new commitments in the non-profit and public service sectors.
Michael F. Collins, MD, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said: The appointment of Dr. Dickson ushers in a new era for UMass Memorial Health Care and its partnership with our great public medical school. We look forward to working with Dr. Dickson to build on our academic health science centers unyielding commitment to research, education, and exceptional care for our patients. As a graduate of our medical school, and an accomplished physician leader, Dr. Dickson is well suited to lead UMass Memorial Health Care into the future.
Continued here:
Published: Wednesday, February 6, 2013, 2:30p.m. Updated 2 hours ago
Community health care navigators at three Western Pennsylvania hospitals will work to improve quality of care, under a pilot program paid for by the Highmark Foundation.
The foundation will donate $254,500 to the program and team with consulting firm Accenture to train 16 people for St. Vincent Health System in Erie, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, and a third undetermined hospital.
The navigators, who are not medical professionals, would help connect patients with primary care services. That can reduce no-shows for doctor appointments, decrease hospital admissions and cut unnecessary emergency department visits, the foundation said.
Allegheny and Erie counties need such services because some people have limited access to care, and county statistics show health disparities and low-income and racial or ethnic diversity within the patient population, the foundation said.
Patient navigation not only creates a one-on-one connection for the patient, it serves as a low-cost investment that delivers significant value to care delivery, said Jean-Pierre Stephan, who leads health consumer and services strategy for Accenture.
The Highmark Foundation is the charitable arm of Highmark Inc., the state's largest health insurer, which has deals to buy St. Vincent Health System and West Penn Allegheny Health System, the owner of Allegheny Valley.
Alex Nixon is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7928 or anixon@tribweb.com.
To comment, click the Sign in or sign up at the very top of this page.
Here is the original post:
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb 6, 2013) - When the Canadian Core Competency Profile for Case Management Providers is unveiled this month, a new standard for health care management will be set. "With the release of this ground breaking document, we will be raising the bar for Case Management," says Joan Park, President of the National Case Management Network (NCMN), "but more importantly, it will put the spotlight on the increasingly important part Case Management now plays in the effective delivery of health care and social services in Canada.
"Case Management really is the future and the promise for the care that we will all need as we age," says Park, who describes Case Management as a strategy, process and role that helps people navigate through our health and social service systems in a timely, compassionate and cost efficient manner.
Case Management is practiced by a diverse array of individuals in the health and social service domains including physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational and physiotherapists, and other regulated and unregulated health care providers.
In 2010, NCMN received funding from Health Canada to publish the Canadian Standards of Practice for Case Management. Additional funding from the Federal government in 2012 allowed the association to develop the newly released Core Competencies. Both documents are available in English and French.
The Core Competencies define the various roles of Case Management providers - communicators, collaborators, navigators, advocates and managers - and recommend competency guidelines for client driven care.
Who benefits? "The need is greatest for those who struggle with complex health and social issues, suffer from chronic disease, or cannot advocate for themselves," says Park. "Episodes of care often involve multiple providers as well as transfers across care settings - and that speaks to how complex and fragmented our healthcare and social service systems have become."
Case Management helps to break down accessibility barriers between health and social services. "Case Management providers ensure the patient/client gets the right care at the right place and the right time from the right provider - and that amounts to the right cost," says Park.
"With the release of the Canadian Case Management Competencies, NCMN is ready to consider creating a credentialing process, which is the next step in helping us meet Health Canada''s goal of optimizing the health care workforce."
For your copy of the Canadian Core Competency Profile for Case Management Providers or the Canadian Standards of Practice for Case Management visit http://www.ncmn.ca.
About the National Case Management Network
View original post here:
The Future of Health Care in Canada: Case Management Sets a New Standard
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The issue of health care access has never been more important. To develop industry-focused, innovative solutions to the challenges of creating access, the Health Care Industry Access Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action across the health care industry to improve health care access, will host Summit 2013: Beyond Health Reform to Health Care Access: Solving Access Challenges to Achieve Success in Health Reform. The Summit will be held Feb. 13-15, 2013, at the FHI 360 Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Experts will address a range of topics, including fostering consumer engagement in health insurance exchanges (now re-dubbed "marketplaces"); how health care organizations are using social media to connect with consumers; the return of the house call; and the latest innovations in care transitions.
"Ensuring individuals have access to the coverage and care they need is a thornier problem than we could have imagined just a few years ago. If simply 'building it' were sufficient, millions more Americans would have coverage and access to primary care," said Carrie Valiant, founder and president of the Health Care Industry Access Initiative. She is a Member of the Firm in Epstein Becker Green's Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in Washington, D.C. "At this summit, we are bringing together some of the sharpest minds in the country to discuss this and other pressing challenges around access. I am confident we will all leave with a better understanding of what we must do to move the Triple Aim from aspiration to reality."
Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, IBM's global director of healthcare transformation and president of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), will deliver the keynote address Thursday morning: "How Patient-Centered Medical Homes Can Transform Patient Access to Healthcare." Grundy champions the notion that patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) can provide a foundation for a high-performing health care system. His work has been widely reported in leading magazines, journals, and broadcast outlets. In 2012, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine.
Wednesday's dinner speaker, Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, dean, Jefferson School of Nursing, will share the challenges she faced as a health professional and caregiver, while navigating the health care system on behalf of her husband. The account was recently published in Health Affairs.
Access to care is the most basic step to achieving the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aimimprove the health of the population; enhance the patient experience of care; and reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of care. Health care reform or more accurately, its transformation depends on reaching the consumer: People must sign up for coverage, and then access needed care. But offering or even mandating coverage is not enough. Many individuals fail to sign up for programs for which they are eligible, even when those programs are free. More troubling, most uninsured people lack relationships with primary care physicians the entry point for obtaining cost-effective health care services.
"Access a core PCMH tenet is a topic close to my heart. Improving patient access to primary care is central to improving the quality and efficiency of health care and we have substantial evidence to prove that,[1]" said Grundy. "Our success connecting with patients especially those without a primary care provider will determine the fate of our health care system. Health reform takes us part of the way there, but to make a lasting difference, we need more than reformation. We need transformation. I believe this Summit will help us accomplish the latter."
For the full agenda and to register, click here. Please direct non-media inquiries to Amy Simmons at ASimmons@ebglaw.com or 202-861-1811.
The Health Care Industry Access Initiative is a non-profit, tax exempt organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action by health care industry stakeholders to improve health care access both coverage and services in the United States. It is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to access that is industry-focused across all segments of health care.
[1] Benefits of Implementing the Primary Care Patient-Centered Medical Home: Cost and Quality Results, PCPCC 2012. (http://www.pcpcc.net/content/pcmh-outcome-evidence-quality)
See the rest here:
Health Care Industry Access Initiative Summit 2013 Slated for Next Week
In agreeing to a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, the House attached several conditions. One was a commitment to pass a budget that will balance within 10 years. Meeting that goal is important not only for the countrys fiscal future but also for the future of the countrys health care.
Health care entitlements are a major driver of federal spending. In 2011, Medicare and Medicaid alone accounted for nearly a quarter (more than 23 percent) of all federal spending.
In his Inaugural Address President Obama stated, We must make hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of the debt. The President is right. But his own health care law has made the situation worse, not better.
When Obamacare was passed, its supporters insisted the law would bend the cost curve down and reduce the deficit. Today, reality has set in. The Congressional Budget Office estimates Obamacare will add almost $1.6 trillion in new spending over the next 10 years. It obligates an estimated $1 trillion for subsidies to individuals for purchasing coverage through the government exchanges and $644 billion for states agreeing to expand their Medicaid programs. To help pay for the new entitlements, it takes over $700 billion out of an old oneMedicare, a program already teetering on the brink of insolvency. It also relies on unsound and unreliable savings, shifty Washington budget gimmicks, and imposes over $800 billion in new penalties and taxes that affect all Americans.
America cant afford health reform done this way. The House should start with repeal of Obamacare. But most urgent is to stop the most costly provisions of Obamacare slated to take effect next year. Specifically, Congress should eliminate the exchange subsidies and the enhanced federal match for the Medicaid expansion. Stopping these provisions would save the federal government more than $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years.
Politically, restraining these future obligations should be easy. There are no current beneficiaries, hence ending it would affect no one.
Although the thrust of the law is still a year away, the flaws of Obamacare are well documented and continue to grow. Most recently, news that insurance premiums were growing by double digits raised new questions about whether this health care law can actually work as the authors intended.
Desperate to deflect attention away from its failures and shortcomings, defenders of Obamacare are rolling out the next phase of Obamacare. Ideas such as strengthening the individual mandate penalty, expanding the powers of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and squeezing out more efficiencies by adding even more government regulations. Evidently, they think the way to fix Obamacare is to double-down.
That approach, of course, assumes that to more price controls and more regulations will solve the countrys fiscal and health care crisis.
On paper, price controls and regulations may appear to reduce spending. The appearance of savings often lures support for such policies. But, price controls and government regulations dont necessarily curb health care costs and have an inescapable real-world cost that doesnt appear on paper: rationing of medical care.
Go here to read the rest:
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH) today reported consolidated operating results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. Operating revenues totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter with net earnings of $119.3 million, or earnings per diluted share (EPS) of $0.88. For the year ended December 31, 2012, total operating revenues were $14.1 billion with net earnings of $487.1 million, or $3.52 EPS.
I am very pleased with the Companys strong fourth quarter and full year 2012 results, significantly exceeding our previous guidance, said Allen F. Wise, chairman and chief executive officer of Coventry. We continue to make progress in our Kentucky Medicaid business as evidenced by the sequential improvement in fourth quarter results. In addition, the Company recently completed the 2013 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period with an outstanding organic growth result in our Medicare Advantage Coordinated Care Plans. We look forward to combining our strengths with those of Aetna to further our shared commitment to improving the health and well-being of our members.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Consolidated Highlights
Selected Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Highlights
Medicare Advantage
Medicare Part D
Medicaid
Commercial Risk
Balance Sheet
More here:
futurism-brett smith swansea metroplitan
futurism video-material culture presentation movie
By: brett smith
Original post:
Futurism - Stalker (Original Mix)
Buy it at Beatport: http://www.beatport.com
By: renesanzrecords
See the article here:
Futurism - Creation (Original Mix)
Buy it at Beatport: http://www.beatport.com
By: renesanzrecords
More:
Source: 9ways.gloriafeldt.com
According to Shadow and Act, director Ernest Dickerson, probably most known for Juice,directing episodes of The Wire, Treme and The Walking Dead, is shopping around a script for science fiction film based upon one of Octavia Butlers books:
In our conversation, when I asked him to share details on any feature film projects hes anxious to make, Dickerson replied, stating that, amongst other projects (which Ill share in the full interview later), hes been shopping around an adaptation of Octavia Butlers 1984 novel Clays Ark.
He said the script is done, and he feels its a pretty good one; but, of course, attracting funding for it is a challenge one that he hopes he can overcome sooner than later.
Hopefully he can find backers for this project. And hopefully Dickerson would be open to the idea of crowd funding at least a portion of the project so us Octavia Butler fan girls (and boys too) could contribute a chance to see one of Butlers works on the big screen. For those unaware, Clays Ark is the third book in the Patternmaster series of novels and deals with an alien plague on humanity and a doctor and his daughters attempt to survive it. Although I believe that this is such an unlikely choice to choose for film adaptation (The Parableswould have made a much better introduction to Butlers vision of a dystopian world), Im just happy that we are close to finally having futuristic story, written, directed and starring black folks (fingers freakin crossed), on screen. Close is the key word.
If current science fiction is any indicator, it would seem that black folks are largely missing from the future. Sure there was a couple of us on Star Trek. But black folks didnt get to command star fleets until Deep Space Nine. Two weeks ago, I started the first season of Battlestar Galactica on Netflix. While the series, which stars Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama, is wonderfully written and by television standards, pretty diverse, the people of color on that series still comes off as token characters, put there for the purpose of looking diverse. For instance, the only reoccurring black character on the show, which I have seen thus far, is Anastasia Dualla and she seems to occupy the same job description as her television predecessor Uhura from Star Trek. I mean, all these years have passed, humanity largely exists in outerspace and black women cant seem to break through the glass ceiling to rise above glorified telephone operators?
But it is not just in intergalactic space exploration in which people of color, black folks specifically, are largely erased. It would appear that people of color can not be found among the Hobbits of Middle Earth. We may existed aboard the Prometheus and may have even been the last man alive (I am Legend) but we have no survival skills beyond sacrificing ourselves for the greater good (i.e. white women). Even in places when the film draws largely from a history of that people, say District 9 and Avatar, we are still not the center of the story. And dont get me started on AMCs The Walking Dead. I find it hard to believe that in Atlanta of all places, the white survivors outnumber black survivors almost 10 to one. Occasionally there are stand out black characters such as Morpheus from The Matrix series but for the most part, there is only one black person, possibly two black characters in the entire futuristic, dystopian galaxy of film. Most times, those two black characters are pretty forgettable. And dont let them be in the same scene at the same time that might just cause a riff in the space time continuum.
My desire to have more meaningful inclusion of black folks in the genre on film can not be restrained in what we describe as Black Nationalism. Instead it is more connected to Black Futurism. Having these stories on screen help to raise the level of consciousness and critique about society, race, and in some instances gender and sexuality, which are more nuanced than what we currently get from the mainstream. Sure having Blade, a vampire who just happens to be black, is revolutionary. However having a vampire not only be both black and a woman but also challenges racism and sexism within her own little vampire underworld, such is the case in Butlers Fledging, gives black folks space to tell more liberating mythologies of not only what are society is but also what it could be.
A relatively new term, derived in the late 70s, Black Futurism, or Afrofuturism, is a term generally used to describe any body of artistic work, which combines science-fiction (including fantasy, magic, horror, technology and speculative) with the culture, history and the people of the African Diaspora. Traditionally the art form is largely associated with authors like Stanley Delaney, Walter Moseley, Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due and of course Octavia Butler. However it was musicians like Sun Ra, who popularized the art form, and artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Earth, Wind & Fire, Janelle Monae, Outkast and Erykah Badu with their space obsessed rhythms and surreal fashions whom most visually represents the Afro futuristic landscape.
Unfortunately this movement of art, fashion, literature and music is slow to translate into film. Stateside, there are very few widely distributed sci fi/fantasy films directed, produced, or starring African Americans. My own limited early morning research suggests that since the time that Joe Morton mined through his role as The Brother from Another Planet, there has not been another serious foray into Afro futurism on screen until the early 90s when network television brought us the ridiculously stupid Homeboys in Outer Space.However the tide might be changing as outside of the United States, black filmmakers appear to be exploring other dimensions outside the box with projects like Lauren Beukes Zoo City, a science fiction drama out of South Africa and Nnedi Okorafors Who Fears Death, an award winning post-apocalyptic fantasy tale, which has been described as the African Lord of the Rings, both on the horizon. The film version of Who Fears Death, which is said to be currently in production, has been written and is being directed by Wanuri Kahlu, a Kenyan woman, who last year wowed judges at Sundance with her black female-centered post-apocalyptic short Pumzi.
Continued here:
The Future of Black Futurism: An Octavia Butler Film & Blacks In Sci-Fi
Enjoy The Freedom; Dane #39;s Favorites
Favorites, everyone has them. Do you share any with Dane? Dane Reynolds signature No Frills boardshort...enjoy the freedom. quiksilver.com
By: Quiksilver
Continued here:
The Freedom Eagles wrestled to runner-up honors as the host school in the six-team AAA Cedar Run District wrestling tournament Feb. 2 in South Riding. Battlefield placed seven wrestlers in the finals on their way to the team championship.
The Bobcats totaled 210.5 points in the top spot, followed by Freedom (180), Patriot (175.5), Osbourn (175), Broad Run (168) and Stonewall Jackson (110).
Brendan Kammerdeiner (195 pounds) and Devin Richards (220) each won individual titles for Freedom. The Eagles placed 11 wrestlers in the top four of their weight class, including runner-up efforts by Bradley Nelson (152) and Jack Wrenn (160).
The Eagles also received third-place efforts from Niko Wallize (126), Andy Hinrichs (145) and Caleb Gardner (106), while Garret Moody (138), Jason Cardozo (170), Chris Miller (182) and Austin Kilbride (120) each placed fourth.
Broad Run was led by Tarkan Martin's individual title at 138 pounds. Timmy Brown (106) and Logan Shain (170) both reached the finals in their respective weight classes.
The Spartans advanced to the consolation finals in eight weight classes. Phillip James (220), Connor Bryant (182), Zach Fossett (152) and Ewen Riordan (285) each finished third, and Clayton Shepherd (160), Ben Paul (132), Tyler Corbo (113) and Diego Loya (195) each placed fourth.
Team Standings Battlefield - 210.5 Freedom - 180 Patriot - 175.5 Osbourn - 175 Broad Run - 168 Stonewall Jackson - 110
Be the first to post a comment!
Excerpt from:
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Carney R. Shegerian, founder of Shegerian & Associates, a Santa Monica-based law firm specializing in employee rights, has issued a statement commending the California State Government for implementing Assembly Bill 1964, otherwise known as the California Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 (WRFA), amending the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The amendments went into effect on January 1 of this year and they prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion (or religious creed) and require accommodation of employees religious practices and observances.
AB 1964 specifies that, for purposes of employment discrimination law (including accommodation), religious belief or observance now includes religious dress and grooming practices. The Bill also provides that an accommodation for religious practices is not reasonable if it requires segregation of an employee from customers or the general public.
In the last few years there has been a surprising and unfortunate number of high profile cases pertaining to religious discrimination in the workplace, indicating that this form of discrimination remains an all-too-common scenario, said Shegerian. We applaud the State of California for taking this huge step forward. No employees should ever be discriminated against due to their religious beliefs that is a given but that this Bill helps extend the understanding of religious discrimination to include the employees hair and clothing for religious purposes, goes a long way to protect each employees individual rights.
Shegerian warns that the religious freedom of individuals can and should be protected by law, and he warns organizations that any form of discrimination or harassment of these employees can lead to harsh financial consequences or worse.
An experienced trial attorney, Shegerian has tried many jury trials to verdict in both state and federal court, representing individuals that have suffered financial or emotional losses and have been wronged by employers, including major corporations. Shegerian has built a remarkable career on helping those who have been wronged in the workplace. He remains undefeated in federal jury trials and has won over 60 jury trials, including 23 seven figure verdicts representing employees.
Located Santa Monica, Shegerian & Associates is a law firm specializing in protecting the rights of employees who have been wronged by their employers. Richly experienced in labor and employment law and possessing an unparalleled success record as litigators (Carney Shegerian himself has won over 60 jury trials in his career, including 23 seven figure verdicts, and he remains undefeated in federal jury trials), Shegerian & Associates is passionately dedicated to serving the needs of its clients. For more information, visit http://www.ShegerianLaw.com.
See the original post here:
Shegerian & Associates Founder Applauds California Workplace Religious Freedom Act
MORGANTON -- The head football coach at Freedom High School in Burke County has been charged with misdemeanor assault, police in Rutherfordton say.
Mike Helms, who was head coach at West Charlotte High School for one season, was arrested Friday at Rutherfordton-Spindale High School, according to police reports in Rutherford County.
According to several published reports, the victim was Helms son, who is listed as a member of the junior varsity basketball team at Freedom High. Helms was released on bond Friday night and faces a court date Feb. 21 in Rutherfordton.
According to police, Helms is accused of striking the victim in the face. The incident occurred in the hallway of the high school, police say.
Helms wife, Barbara, told the Morganton News-Herald that the altercation occurred after their son, who is 16, had said something to his father. Helms, who is a guidance counselor at Freedom, has been suspended with pay by the Burke County Schools, pending the result of an investigation into the incident.
Helms was head coach at East Burke, Cherryville, West Charlotte and Northwest Cabarrus before getting the job at Freedom before the 2009 season. In 2000, he followed highly successful Tom Knotts as coach at West Charlotte, and the Lions compiled a 6-5 record, missing the state playoffs for the first time in 13 years.
His teams at Freedom have been much more successful in recent years. The 2011 team compiled a 10-1 record, and last falls team finished 12-3, reaching the semifinals of the state 3A playoffs.
More here:
Lectures in History Preview: Eugenics in Early 20th Century America
Full program info: cs.pn
By: CSPAN
Originally posted here:
Lectures in History Preview: Eugenics in Early 20th Century America - Video
The two experts behind a new Channel 4 show about a 'bionic' man admit they were spooked by some of what they saw - including cyborgs made by the U.S. Army.
One presenter was perturbed by experiments where chips were inserted in the brains of living rats, to 'enhance' their memory.
The U.S. military's 'mad scientist' wing DARPA is developing humanoid robots which 'look like The Terminator', says the robot expert who makes a working hand for the programme.
Both experts say that a future where living flesh and computer chips become one will arrive "sooner" than we expect.
The expert duo both believe the billions spent researching and developing bionic technology is a force for good - but the technology have negative outcomes if created for the wrong reasons.
Show presenter Bertolt admits he was perturbed by experiments placing chips in the brains of rats to enhance their memory, : "What I took from the programme is that a future in which we have bionic technology that will go beyond evolutionary limits is more possible and will take place sooner than I believed.
"When it comes to fears about augmenting human capabilities above evolutional boundaries, I can understand these fears as I share them. Technological advances are neither good or bad it is the way we use them and make them available. There will be an issue if the proliferation is solely driven by business."
But he said: "As long as this technology is made to replace functionality that has been lost there is no reason to be afraid. It helps level out the negative consequences of disability, disease and illness."
Rich, the CEO of Shadow Robot, which helped build the $1m bionic man featured in the programme's title, agreed although he admitted work done by the American defence body DARPA had spooked him.
He said: "When you see the show there are one or two sequences of stuff being developed by DARPA which are actually really scary. Humanoid robots that look like something out of Terminator and those do worry me. Equally, I am heartened at the same time that DARPA has put a couple of hundred million dollars into the development of newer and better prosthetics."
Follow this link: