Health care funds in doubt for area hospitals

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Published: Monday, April 6, 2015 at 11:19 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, April 6, 2015 at 11:19 p.m.

DAYTONA BEACH Its a $14 million question for Halifax Health with no immediate answer.

Stalled negotiations between state and federal officials threaten to reduce millions of dollars in funding that the 678-bed Daytona Beach-based public hospital system depends on to treat uninsured patients.

Gov. Rick Scott also changed course Monday and said he would not support expanding Medicaid coverage right now another key issue for the hospital that could help its bottom line by providing more insured patients.

Despite this, Halifax Health officials say they are cautiously optimistic that a compromise will be reached that will preserve the funding.

I do believe there is adequate time for the administration to work out something that benefits not only Halifax but all the safety-net providers that are at risk, said Deanna Schaeffer, governmental affairs officer for Halifax Health.

Its an issue that will be closely watched by Halifax Health, which provides about $50 million in uncompensated care and community health programs, Schaeffer said.

Otherwise, the hospital is seeing positive financial trends, and the rating agency Standard & Poors has upgraded the hospitals credit rating from BBB+ to A minus, Chief Financial Officer Eric Peburn reported at the hospitals monthly Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night.

What happens in Tallahassee, though, could have big ramifications for the Sunshine States health care landscape.

Federal officials have said they will no longer continue the low-income pool in its present form after June 30. The $2.2 billion program provides money to hospitals across the state to treat indigent patients. About $1.3 billion of the programs funds comes from the federal government.

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Health care funds in doubt for area hospitals

New Masters Degree in Health Care Communication Offered by University of St. Thomas

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Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) April 07, 2015

Professionals who want to work at the intersection of health care and communications can gain the education, experience and credentials they need through a new advanced-degree program at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.

The Master of Science in Health Care Communication Program, launching this fall, will combine on-campus experiences with online learning to help busy part-time students earn a graduate business degree in one year.

Developed in close collaboration with health care and communication experts from providers and insurers, to marketing and advertising specialists as well as leaders in health care education within the college, the program will merge health care knowledge with audience-engagement expertise.

Health care is one of the nations fastest-growing industries, and also one of the most complex and heavily regulated, said Dr. Michael Porter, director of the new program, as well as the Master of Business Communication Program in the Opus College of Business. Professionals who become the public voice of health care organizations need a specialized educational background to credibly and convincingly represent their companies and themselves.

Students also will gain valuable experience in the field though the programs real world applied practicum. Based on their targeted career goals, participants will use their skills as communicators within a health care organization while finishing their coursework.

Courses in the 30-credit program will focus on a range of health care topics, including: the operational and cultural environments within organizations; the policies, laws and trends affecting health care management and delivery; and health care language and writing. Students will learn best practices in business management and strategic planning, as well as communication approaches for effective crisis communication and the best use of emerging digital-media channels.

To learn more, visit http://www.stthomas.edu/business/healthcarecommunication

Transformation is more than just an ideal at the Opus College of Business. It's a call to action. Transformative learning, transformative teaching, transformative leadership and a transformative experience are all hallmarks of this Minnesota business school. Through its range of graduate, undergraduate and continuing education business programs, the Opus College of Business seeks to transform its students lives and careers while transforming the landscape of the business community. Learn more about their degree offerings at http://www.stthomas.edu/business/.

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New Masters Degree in Health Care Communication Offered by University of St. Thomas

Primex Wireless develops monitoring solution for health care environments

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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

Preparation Requires Knowledge of the Latest Future Trends

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Orlando, FL (PRWEB) April 07, 2015

Safety doesnt happen by accident, neither does being prepared. Fire detectors. Smoke alarms. Heat detection and carbon monoxide alarms. Each of these devices helps allow businesses and individuals avoid some catastrophic event. In other words owning these devices equals being prepared. On a parallel front, preparation is what futurist Jack Uldrich does when he speaks to businesses about the top future trends and future-proofing their organizations.

Today, April 7th Uldrich will address Kidde Systems, a leader in smoke detection, heat detection and CO2 systems in Jacksonville, Florida.

Delivering his custom designed presentation, The Big AHA: How to Future-Proof Kidde Fire Systems Against the Trends Transforming Tomorrow Uldrich will discuss the top technological future trends affecting the industry that will transform Kiddes world of tomorrow. He will also identify concrete actions that his audience members can take today to future-proof themselves against the tides of tomorrow.

AHA is Uldrichs acronym for Awareness. Humility. Action. His work as an author and futurist has lead him to the conclusion that these three tenets make for great leadership. Hailed by Businessweek as Americas Chief Unlearning Officer he espouses, We live in a world where constant change is the only constant. New advances in technology bring forth exciting discoveries every day. But often lost in this new reality is the fact that organizations must unlearn old, obsolete knowledge and old ways of doing business, before they can seize tomorrows opportunities.

Uldrich speaks to a wide variety of organizations both large and small ranging from clients like Verizon Wireless Connected Technology Tour, ABB/Thomas and Betts New Product Launches, Emersons Global Users Exchange and the Vision Councils Executive Summit.

In his blog post: Addition is Greater than Subtraction: 11 is greater than 12 Uldrich encourages his readers to take a whole month of per year to just think. Ideation is the basis for creative endeavors and creative minds tend to produce at greater rates and the results are far more innovative. In addition to AHA, Uldrich urges his listeners take time to say ah and simply relax.

Can one relax and prepare in tandem? Jack Uldrich says the answer is yes, and as he explores the Big AHA with more and more organizations like Kidde and his upcoming clients of West Kendall Baptist Hospital, BCBS, Foth and Stiles the more it sounds like he is prepared to relax and help others succeed.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog can view his website here. Those interested in his speaking availability can contact Amy Tomczyk at (651) 343.0660.

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Preparation Requires Knowledge of the Latest Future Trends

Leading futurist Daniel Burrus to teach CPAs how to anticipate future trends and game-changing opportunities

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BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) April 07, 2015

May 4, 2015 The most important competency in the business world today the ability to anticipate future trends and position our organizations to take advantage of them is a mystery to most of the accounting and finance profession.

World-renowned technology forecaster, innovation expert, and New York Times best-selling author Daniel Burrus wants to change that.

Burrus will join forces with the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) and the Business Learning Institute (BLI) on May 4 to launch The Anticipatory Organization: Accounting and Finance The event, part of the MACPA / BLI Speaker Series, will be held at the Hilton Baltimore BWI Hotel .

The need for future-focused strategies has never been greater. In a recent national survey, 76 percent of small business owners say their CPAs are not proactive, and 75 percent have changed firms because their CPAs are providing reactive services rather than proactive advice. Another recent survey found that only 6 percent of CFOs, controllers, and management accountants say they are future-ready.

The Anticipatory Organization model, created and developed by Burrus and Burrus Research, Inc., has changed how many of the worlds most successful businesses plan their future and accelerate growth.

Now, Burrus is bringing what he calls the greatest missing competency the ability to anticipate change to CPAs, CFOs, controllers and management accountants. This model represents a new way of thinking, planning, and acting a paradigm shift thats required in a world of accelerating change, competition, and uncertainty.

Competencies such as reacting and responding (crisis management), being lean and agile, and executing strategy well did not help Blockbuster, BlackBerry, Dell, HP, Sony, and many others avoid major problems. The ability to anticipate the future is a skill; it can be learned. In todays business landscape, it is the most important missing competency.

This special edition of the Anticipatory Organization is about anticipating problems, disruptions, customer needs, and new opportunities before they happen. Its about adjusting the way we approach our businesses, our profession, and our customers to see beyond the media-induced hype of today and identify actionable solutions that will be the catalysts for innovation and competitive advantage. It provides the confidence we need to make bold moves.

The Anticipatory Organization model teaches accounting and finance professionals to actively anticipate what will happen, identify related opportunities, and take action to shape the future by becoming an Anticipatory CPA. By learning how to identify and take action on fully predictable hard trends (trends that will happen) and more easily manipulated soft trends (trends that might happen), we can elevate our relevancy in a world of transformational change.

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Leading futurist Daniel Burrus to teach CPAs how to anticipate future trends and game-changing opportunities

MidPoint | Michael Barone discusses the recent furor over religious freedom laws – Video

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MidPoint | Michael Barone discusses the recent furor over religious freedom laws
The senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner joins MidPoint to discuss the recent furor over religious freedom laws, and the politics involved in the Sen. Menendez indictment.

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MidPoint | Michael Barone discusses the recent furor over religious freedom laws - Video

DRTV Above the Paygrade – Joe Carter: Religion as the First Freedom [S5E8] – Video

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DRTV Above the Paygrade - Joe Carter: Religion as the First Freedom [S5E8]
In the Above the Paygrade segment, Brian and Jay welcome to the show Joe Carter, Editor at The Gospel Coalition, Senior Editor for the Acton Institute, and communications specialist for the...

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DRTV Above the Paygrade - Joe Carter: Religion as the First Freedom [S5E8] - Video