15-09-2012 02:59 On Sept. 11, 2012, the League of Women Voters of San Antonio hosted a discussion on Health Care Reform After the Supreme Court Decision. The factual, non-partisan talk on the strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act was led by Trinity University's Dr. Amer Kaissi.
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Affordable Health Care Act Explained by Dr. Amer Kaissi - Video
The health care law the Affordable Care Act has saved consumers an estimated $2.1 billion on health insurance premiums, according to a new report released today (Sept. 11) by the Department of Health and Human Services. For the first time ever, new rate review rules in the health care law prevent insurance companies in all states from raising rates with no accountability or transparency. To date, rate review has helped save an estimated $1 billion for Americans. Additionally, the laws Medical Loss Ratio (or 80/20) rule is helping deliver rebates worth $1.1 billion to nearly 13 million consumers.
The health care law is holding insurance companies accountable and saving billions of dollars for families across the country, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. Thanks to the law, our health care system is more transparent and more competitive, and thats saving Americans real money.
Beginning Sept. 1, 2011, the health care law implemented federal rate review standards. These rules ensure that, in every state, insurance companies are required to publicly submit for review and justify their actions if they want to raise rates by 10 percent or more.
To assist states in this effort, the Affordable Care Act provides states with Health Insurance Rate Review Grants to enhance their rate review programs and bring greater transparency to the process. Forty two states have used their rate review grant funds to make the rate review process stronger and more transparent.
This initiative is one of many in the health care law aimed at saving money for consumers and specifically works in conjunction with the 80/20 rule, which requires insurance companies to generally spend 80 percent of premiums on health care or provide rebates to their customers. Insurance companies that did not meet the 80/20 rule will provide nearly 13 million Americans with more than $1.1 billion in rebates this year. Americans receiving the rebate will benefit from an average rebate of $151 per household. The rate review report released today is available at: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/reports/rate-review09112012a.html.
Information on how states are using their rate review grant funds is available at: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/reports/rate-review09202011a.pdf
General information about rate review is available at: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/features/costs/rate-review/
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Health care law saved an estimated $2.1 billion for consumers
It's a fact of life in California health care the clout wielded by the state's big hospital chains.
Now California's attorney general has launched an antitrust investigation into some of the state's top hospital chains and their affiliated physicians' groups, to see if consolidation means inordinately higher prices.
Sacramento's Sutter Health and San Francisco's Dignity Health are among those getting subpoenas from Attorney General Kamala Harris, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Quoting anonymous sources, the Journal said the probe began several months ago. Lynda Gledhill, Harris' press secretary, wouldn't confirm or deny the story.
But one of the hospital chains targeted, Scripps Health of San Diego, confirmed it has received a subpoena "related to antitrust issues. We understand other health systems throughout the state have been contacted, as well."
Health care economist Joanne Spetz said it isn't surprising regulators would be looking at hospital chains in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego, which she called "the most consolidated markets in the state."
"Sutter and Dignity really have the Sacramento and San Francisco areas pretty well locked up, particularly Sacramento," said Spetz, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. "More consolidated hospital markets have higher fees," she added.
Sutter declined to confirm if it had received a subpoena. A Dignity spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.
Patrick Johnston, president of the California Association of Health Plans, an insurers group, said Northern California hospitals are usually costlier than Southern California's.
Consolidation isn't the only factor, but "generally there is more competition in Southern California," he said.
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Love it or hate it, the one thing you can say for sure about California's ballot initiative process is that it's the absolute worst way to craft policy dealing with complex scientific issues.
That doesn't stop advocates on one side or another from constantly trying, with the result that the public's understanding of the underlying facts plummets faster than you can say, well, "Proposition 37."
Proposition 37 is on November's ballot. The measure would require some, but not all, food sold in California and produced via genetic engineering to be labeled as such. (There are exemptions for milk, restaurant food and other products.)
Genetic engineering, or genetic modification, which involves manipulating DNA or transferring it from one species to another, is increasingly common in agriculture and food processing, and wouldn't be banned or even regulated by the measure. Genetic engineering has pluses and minuses. It can increase crop yields and pest resistance. But it can also affect the environment in negative ways pollen or seeds from genetically engineered crops can be spread by wind, birds or insects to territory where they're unwanted, for example.
Once you've said that, you've said pretty much everything that's known to be relevant to Proposition 37. The rest is baloney, of the non-genetically engineered variety.
So what does this mean for you? It means that between now and election day your airwaves are likely to be filled with steaming piles of fatuous nonsense about genetically engineered foods (which will be depicted as horrifically perilous or absolutely safe), about trial lawyers, about struggling mom-and-pop grocery stores, about the evils of multinational agribusinesses and federal regulators. You'll be presented with learned scientific and economic studies on both sides, and they'll almost certainly be misleading, incomplete or irrelevant, though they'll sound pretty danged convincing.
This will all come to you courtesy of war chests that are already in the neighborhood of $30 million, total.
Great initiative system we have here in the Golden State. As a procedure for producing rational law, it could only be designed by a mad scientist working with rogue DNA.
Let's start with the Yes on 37 campaign. It describes its bottom line as your right to know what's in your food; so what's wrong with mandating explicit labeling? That's fair as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far. The danger in enacting rules like this is that while they sound perfectly reasonable, they distract from the need for thoughtful and effective regulation and for action at the Legislature, not the ballot box.
"All consumers should have a right to know how their food is produced," observes Gregory Jaffe, head of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is no crony of the food industry. "But that includes not merely genetic engineering, but irradiated foods and those produced from cloning."
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Prop. 37: Another example of the perils of the initiative process
Pope Benedict XVI appealed Saturday for religious freedom in the Middle East, calling it fundamental for stability in a region bloodied by sectarian strife.
Benedict spoke on the second day of his visit to Lebanon, a country with the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East. He arrived amid a wave of violent demonstrations over an anti-Islam film across the Muslim world.
"Let us not forget that religious freedom is a fundamental right from which many other rights stem," he said, speaking in French to government officials, foreign diplomats and religious leaders at the president palace in Mount Lebanon in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
He held up Lebanon, which is still rebuilding from a devastating 1975-1990 civil war largely fought on sectarian lines, as an example of coexistence for the region.
He said Christians and Muslims in Lebanon share the same space at times in the same family and asked, "If it is possible in families why not in entire societies?" Marriages where husband and wife are from different religious groups are not uncommon in Lebanon.
AP
He said the freedom to practice one's religion "without danger to life and liberty must be possible to everyone."
Enthusiastic crowds lined the streets and cheered along the 30-kilometer motorcade route to the palace as Benedict went by in the bullet-proof glass popemobile. Soldiers in horseback rode ahead of the car.
As the pope arrived in the presidential compound, officials released about 20 white doves.
Just hours after the pope arrived Friday, violence erupted in northern Lebanon over "Innocence of Muslims," a film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad, portraying him as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester.
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Olympia, you want to know the secret for beating Freedom next year? Score at least 40 points. Following Friday nights 38-29 victory by Freedom, coach Andy Johnson let his players in on a developing trend during his post-game speech. Last year, Johnsons birthday was on the day the Patriots played Olympia. He turned 37. That night, Freedom rallied to beat Olympia 37-28. This year, Johnson turns 38 today(Saturday). On Friday night, Freedom gave him a birthday present by rallying to beat Olympia 38-29. Next year is Johnsons 39th birthday. So Olympia, now you know what you have to do. Seriously though, Olympia (1-2) is a talented team. Ranked No. 5 in the Sentinel Super 16, but one thing that the Titans need to do is quit committing so many mistakes. Last week, the Titans fell asleep on a fake punt attempt against No. 1 Dr. Phillips and that play seemed to change the momentum in the game. Though Olympia turned the tables Friday night, running a fake punt of its own and turning it into a 55-yard touchdown run, there were too many penalties, too many miscues for the Titans to overcome. The most glaring of which: two consecutive penalties on an extra-point attempt that moved the ball inside the 1 allowing Freedom to convert a 2-point try and take the lead for good at 22-21; a slip on a squib kick that allowed Freedom to recover and go in for another touchdown; a dropped pass that surely would have been six points and a horse collar tackle penalty that set Freedom up in prime territory in what turned out to be the game-icing touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Freedom (2-1), the No. 16 team in the rankings, didnt play error free ball, either it has a fumble returned 30 yards for touchdown and a pass was intercepted in the end zone, but it played well enough to pull out the victory.
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The takeaway: Olympia mistakes prove costly in Freedom victory
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Pope Benedict XVI, in Lebanon, Makes Plea for Religious Freedom
Pope Benedict XVI appealed Saturday for religious freedom in the Middle East, calling it fundamental for stability in a region bloodied by sectarian strife.
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Freedom quarterback Jimmy Kealy ran for three touchdowns and the Patriots scored twice in a span of 42 seconds of the third quarter Friday night in a 38-29 upset of Olympia.
Kealy scored on runs of 2, 17 and 6 yards the final touchdown coming midway through the fourth quarter and sealing the victory.
Olympia running back John Armstrong also ran for three touchdowns
"It felt really good to get three touchdowns rushing," Kealy said. "The first two games we have been passing a lot and we threw a good bit tonight, but we thought we would be able to run. The offensive line was blocking really good."
The game turned around in that 42-second span of the third quarter.
Olympia (1-2), No. 5 in the Sentinel Super 16, held a 21-14 lead at halftime but mistakes by the Titans were costly in the third quarter.
Freedom (2-1), No. 16 in the rankings, got the 17-yard run by Kealy with 9:30 left in the third. Twice on the extra point try, Olympia was penalized, moving the ball to inside the 1. Instead of trying for the extra point a third time, Freedom coach Andy Johnson sent his offense on the field and Kealy scored the 2-point conversion, putting the Patriots up 22-21.
Then on the kickoff, the Patriots used a squib kick.
An Olympia player trying to field the ball slipped on the field and Freedom's Robin Nezius recovered at the Olympia 33. Four plays later Devin Cortese scored on a 10-yard run with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
The mistakes continued for Olympia, as receiver Joe Gallagher couldn't hang onto a pass after he got free deep and quarterback Deondre Francois' pass was tipped in the end zone and intercepted by Stephon Williams.
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A beach at HonSon Island, Kien Hai District, the southern province of Kien Giang
Think beaches in Vietnam, and chances are Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, or Da Nang will spring to mind. Not many people in fact know that down south, in Kien Giang Province, are some remote beautiful beaches.
Kien Hai District, some 30 kilometers from the provinces capital Rach Gia, has 23 islands with beaches that are famous locally like Nha (house), Chen (bowl), Bang, and Bac.
Chen Beach in Hon Tre Island, the districts capital, is the most famous.
Only over 100 meters of its two-kilometer length is sandy. The rest is covered with rocks that look uncannily like overturned bowls when the tide is high. One can go hundreds of meters into the sea without getting the feet wet by walking on the rocks.
With a small rented boat and a fishing rod, tourists can start a leisurely day of fishing 300 meters from shore. Another recommended activity is buying seafood directly from fishermen, usually for cheap, having them cooked, and enjoying them right on the beach.
Not far from Chen is Dong Dua (coconut cavern), which is actually a little bay covered by coconut trees and rocks.
While the island is usually compared to a floating turtle, its tail is Duoi Ha Ba Beach, whose name, translated literally, means sea gods tail. The beach, also known as Dua (pineapple), gets narrower and narrower until it disappears under water.
It is full of rocks, some high enough for climbing. It is also a favorite fishing location for locals since its fish stocks are said to be plentiful because of submerged caves. People often catch groupers weighing a couple of kilograms here.
HOW TO GET THERE
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September 19, 2012 | 11:00AM - 12:00PM EST
This webinar is the second in the DPA, Association of Pathology Informatics (API), and CAP Today's series of one-hour webinars focusing on the barriers to adoption of digital pathology. Technical Barriers to the Adoption of Digital Pathology will feature Sean Costello, Head of Product Management - Digital Pathology at Leica Microsystems, and Kim Dickinson, Senior Medical Director - Integrated Oncology at US Labs. The webinar will be moderated by Robert McGonnagle, publisher of CAP Today.
All of the webinars in this series serve as a bridge between the recent, comprehensive article about regulatory aspects of digital pathology that appeared in CAP Today (see: Regulators Scanning the Digital Scanners) and the two most important, national conferences focusing on digital pathology, Pathology Visions 2012, the annual conference of the DPA, to be held October 28-31, 2012 and Pathology Informatics 2012 to be held October 9 – 12, 2012 in Chicago.
There is no charge to participate in the webinar, however advance registration is required.
ARE YOU A MEMBER OF API, CAP, OR ANOTHER ASSOCIATION?
Members of AACR, ACVP, API, APF, ASCO, ASCAP, CAP, CSP, NSH, STP, and USCAP receive registration discount for Pathology Visions 2012.
DPA members aren’t the only association members that will have the opportunity to receive a discounted registration for Pathology Visions 2012. A special affiliate rate has been negotiated for members of the following organizations: AACR, ACVP, API, APF, ASCO, ASCAP, CAP, CSP, NSH, STP, and USCAP. The Affiliated Association & Society registration is all-inclusive.
If you are a member of any of these associations look for an e-mail from your association with registration instructions and a discount code or contact the DPA staff for more information.
For 30 years, Peggy Sue Houser was listed as a missing person. For nearly the same time, the Piqua womans unidentified corpse lay buried in Hillsborough County, Fla.
Last year, DNA brought the two cases together, something that may happen more frequently as local detectives submit genetic samples to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
Funded by a National Institute of Justice grant, the Center is taking DNA samples from law enforcement agencies and coroners offices across the country, in an effort to match missing persons cases with unidentified remains.
Dayton Detective Patricia Tackett, who is assigned to cold cases, said she has collected DNA from the family members of nearly all of the eight open missing person cases she has, even the ones where the missing person has been declared dead.
Just because theyre declared dead doesnt mean weve recovered their bodies, and there are plenty of bodies out there, said Tackett.
Cold cases, by nature, are tough if they were easy cases, they would have been solved, police said. But missing persons cases offer a unique set of challenges. There is no body, no crime scene. Sometimes its not exactly clear when the person disappeared. Often police cant even prove a crime has been committed.
But in recent years, the federal government has taken steps to help match the cases of unidentified bodies estimated at more than 40,000 nationwide to those missing persons.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), an online tool administered by the National Institute of Justice, is now fully searchable by the public with databases of information from both missing person cases and those of human remains. NamUS is also administrated at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, like the DNA collection program.
Under the DNA program, law enforcement officials are given free collection kits to obtain the DNA from the close relatives of missing people. The kits are processed at the Center for Human Identification, also for free. The samples are then uploaded into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), so that it can be compared to those of unidentified remains. If relatives are not available, then police sometimes can get a genetic profile from the missing persons property, such as a hairbrush or toothbrush.
The Center claims to have assisted with more than 180 identifications made from Hawaii to New York.
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Police hope DNA will help solve cold cases
For 30 years, Peggy Sue Houser was listed as a missing person. For nearly the same time, the Ohio womans unidentified corpse lay buried in Hillsborough County, Fla.
Last year, DNA brought the two cases together, something that may happen more frequently as local detectives submit genetic samples to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
Funded by a National Institute of Justice grant, the Center is taking DNA samples from law enforcement agencies and coroners offices across the country, in an effort to match missing persons cases with unidentified remains.
Cold cases, by nature, are tough if they were easy cases, they would have been solved, police said. But missing persons cases offer a unique set of challenges. There is no body, no crime scene. Sometimes its not exactly clear when the person disappeared. Often police cant even prove a crime has been committed.
In Butler County, missing cases involving Alana Laney Gwinner of Fairfield, Katelyn Markham of Fairfield, Ronald Tammen Jr. of Oxford and William DiSilvestro of Hamilton have went unsolved for years.
But in recent years, the federal government has taken steps to help match the cases of unidentified bodies estimated at more than 40,000 nationwide to those missing persons.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), an online tool administered by the National Institute of Justice, is now fully searchable by the public with databases of information from both missing person cases and those of human remains. NamUS is also administrated at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, like the DNA collection program.
Under the DNA program, law enforcement officials are given free collection kits to obtain the DNA from the close relatives of missing people. The kits are processed at the Center for Human Identification, also for free. The samples are then uploaded into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), so that it can be compared to those of unidentified remains. If relatives are not available, then police sometimes can get a genetic profile from the missing persons property, such as a hairbrush or toothbrush.
Bill Hagmaier, Executive Director of the International Homicide Investigators Association and a former FBI crime profiler, said the recent changes are long overdue. His group helped develop the DNA initiative a few years back, which he said he wanted to do 20 years ago.
He said the military has long done a far better job of matching bodies to those reported missing in action, just so much more than what were doing for our civilians here.
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DNA may help solve cold cases
Regents set to confirm executive director
Center for Teaching Excellence: a program whose goal is to assist faculty with implementing technology-driven course enhancements and advanced features of the electronic course management system.
Source: OU Public Affairs
A new director has been appointed to a program at OU designed to help faculty improve courses with new technology.
Teaching strategies expert Mark Morvant, a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, will be appointed Oct. 1 as the executive director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, as long as the OU Board of Regents approves his appointment at its September meeting, according to an OU press release.
Morvant will work with Michele Eodice, associate provost for academic engagement, to embed writing strategies within disciplines across the campus and increase the use of other high-impact instructional techniques, according to the press release.
I think the future for the University of Oklahoma is very bright I think theres an excitement among the faculty about improving the educational experience for our students, and Im honored to lead our faculty in improving the students education, Morvant said.
In 2006, Morvant began teaching at OU as a chemistry professor and was named assistant chairman of the chemistry and biochemistry department in 2011, according to the press release.
He will step down from teaching for a few years to build the Center for Teaching Excellence program but plans on eventually returning to limited teaching on a routine basis, Morvant said.
Morvant also will be stepping down from his position as assistant chairman of the chemistry and biochemistry department but will continue to have a faculty appointment in the department, he said.
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Regents set to confirm executive director
14 September 2012
The Travel & Tourism industry in China is substantially bigger than automotive manufacturing and supports almost as many jobs as the mining sector.
This is according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sponsored by American Express, released today during a speech by WTTC's President & CEO, David Scowsill, at the 'International Tourism Industry Expo' in Guangdong, China.
The research, undertaken by Oxford Economics, shows that the sector's direct contribution to China's GDP is CNY1.2 trillion which is 13% more than the contribution to the GDP of automotive manufacturing and larger than communications services and the education sector.
Travel & Tourism's total contribution to GDP in China was around 9% of total GDP. This compares to 8% for automotive manufacturing, 7% for education and 5% for communications services.
With 62 million direct, indirect and induced jobs in China, Travel & Tourism supports more jobs than the financial service sector's 48.5 million.
The new research also showed that Travel & Tourism's contribution to GDP is growing faster than most other sectors in China. It will grow by more than 9% over the next ten years, a faster growth rate than the total economy (7.6%).
It highlights that Travel & Tourism is a significant source of exports for revenue for China. In 2011, visitor exports totalled over CNY 300 billion, which was 27% of all service exports and 2% of all exports (including goods and services).
The study also compared the effect of Travel & Tourism spending on GDP and the wider economy.
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Tourism in China contributes more to GDP than automotive manufacturing
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and the two other crew members who will be travelling with him to the International Space Station in December briefed journalists and the public on their upcoming mission Thursday.
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In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, a sketch of Skylab, as drawn by George E. Mueller, NASA associate administrator for Manned Space Flight, is pictured. This concept drawing was created at a meeting at the Marshall Space Flight Center on August 19, 1966.
[Far Out Space Station Concepts by NASA (Gallery )]
The image details the station's major elements. In 1970, the station became known as Skylab. Three manned Skylab missions (Skylab 2 in May 1973; Skylab 3 in July 1973; and Skylab 4 in November 1973) were flown on which experiments were conducted in: space science, earth resources, life sciences, space technology, and student projects.
Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).
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Most astronauts are engineers, fighter pilots or scientists, but the next Canadian in space will bring an artists sensibility to his command of the International Space Station.
Chris Hadfield is scheduled to rocket off Dec. 5 for six months in the claustrophobic confines of the space station from a launch pad on a barren plateau in Kazakhstan, along with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn. Where some might see a long stint of isolation, the veteran Canadian astronaut sees precious time to create music and visual art.
Video: Mars rover beams back audio recording
A man on the moon
Mr. Hadfield has collaborated with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies to write a song he will record in the space station, using the guitar, keyboard and ukulele on board, along with the clings and clangs of the machinery that scrubs carbon dioxide from the air and runs systems. The space-themed song is already being rearranged for distribution across Canada for use by childrens choirs, school bands and anyone who wants to pay homage to space travel.
Mr. Hadfield, 53, a retired Canadian air force colonel, tried out the untitled track with his band, Bandella, in a Houston club on Wednesday night. We had a big crowd and everybody loved it. Ed is a great songwriter, and hes rightfully proud of his little ditty, Mr. Hadfield said in an interview.
Mr. Hadfield is also working with a Japanese artist named Takahiro Ando to take images of the Earth using a watery lens to refract and reflect them. The process plays on a Japanese tradition of admiring the moon through liquid reflections, whether from a pond, a pan or cup of sake.
The experiment module, as it is called, is a plastic drum with a clear end that will allow Mr. Hadfield to place it against the space stations windows. He will inject water droplets into the drum while a super high-definition camera rolls and captures fine-resolution still photographs. I will try to be Andosans hands and eyes, Mr. Hadfield said from Houston.
Mr. Hadfield, who learned Russian so he can co-pilot the Soyuz spacecraft that will deliver the crew to the space station, has been training for more than two years to run the various systems and experiments under his command.
In a 20-year career in the space program, Mr. Hadfield has spent 20 days in space. Hes also ventured out on spacewalks twice, where he was struck by how it more than goes into your eyes. It fills your entire mind. Its just an overwhelming beauty.
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NBC’s Brian Williams recently spoke with the International Space Station crew, who describe their daily rituals on the ISS where they work and live as ‘one big family.’ (Nightly News)
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Has the International Space Station inadvertently caught sight of an "Interstellar" Space Station hovering nearby? Or is a blurry streak that UFO hunters have found in new NASA footage filmed out the window of the space station merely a window reflection? Let the most likely explanation win.
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