Health Enrollment Outreach Takes Multiple Forms
The Associated Press reports that as Obamacare advocates expand their efforts to sign people up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the pitches are being made at places...
By: WochitGeneralNews
See the original post here:
Men Can Get Pregnant, Too
Uteruses and the ability to get pregnant don #39;t belong exclusively to women. Transgender men and genderqueer folks can -- and do -- get pregnant. Share this on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1B8HJFN...
By: Stuff Mom Never Told You - HowStuffWorks
Read the original post:
Jonathan Gruber Said Seniors Are Too Stupid To Pick Right Healthcare
Jonathan Gruber Said Seniors Are Too Stupid To Pick Right Healthcare. Old People Need To Die http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/16/gruber-seniors-do-a-terrible-job-choosing-health-care-plans/...
By: Promoting Common Sense One Person At A Time
Read the original post:
Jonathan Gruber Said Seniors Are Too Stupid To Pick Right Healthcare - Video
Baptist Memorial Health Care Gets Big Gift For New Pediatric Hospital
Have you heard that Baptist #39;s soon-to-open pediatric hospital will be called The Spence and Becky Wilson Baptist Children #39;s Hospital, due to a transformative gift from the Wilsons? Click...
By: Baptist Memorial Health Care
Originally posted here:
Baptist Memorial Health Care Gets Big Gift For New Pediatric Hospital - Video
"White Mass" honors local health care providers
CINCINNATI (WKRC) -- A church service honored health care providers on Sunday. The annual "White Mass" was held on Sunday morning at Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati....
By: LOCAL 12
Continue reading here:
Republicans Have No Plan
Sen. Bernie Sanders discusses health care with Ed Schultz on MSNBC.
By: Bernie Sanders
Read more from the original source:
Standard Poor #39;s U.S. Consumer, Retail, And Health Care Weekly Review (Nov. 17)
In this segment of Standard Poor #39;s U.S. Consumer, Retail, and Health Care Weekly Review, Associate Director Jacqueline Hui highlights sector trends and the actions we recently took on INC...
By: SPTVbroadcast
Originally posted here:
Standard & Poor's U.S. Consumer, Retail, And Health Care Weekly Review (Nov. 17) - Video
Health Care For Kenyan Women: Spotlight on Social Entrepreneurship at Duke
By: Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative
The rest is here:
Health Care For Kenyan Women: Spotlight on Social Entrepreneurship at Duke - Video
WASHINGTON -- Willie Sutton supposedly said he robbed banks because that's where the money is. As the Obama administration tries to firm up the health care law, officials are going deep into Texas because, they argue, that's where the uninsured are.
A bold play in the second most-populous state is critical for the administration to make another big dent in the ranks of those without health care coverage. With few Texas leaders supporting the health care law, the state's uninsured rate barely budged during the first open enrollment period. By the middle of 2014, it stood at 24 percent -- the worst in the country.
But Texas isn't just an inviting playing field for health care advocates. It's also an opportunity to send a powerful political message that a law much maligned by Republicans could succeed in a state run by them. With these high stakes, Obama administration officials plan heavy outreach.
The primary focus will be on the state's biggest cities: Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Federal officials have teamed up with mayors and local officials. They've also struck alliances with businesses. The grocery chain H-E-B, for instance, has agreed to host navigators in its stores on weekends to expand the number of people exposed to the insurance market.
The map looks very similar," said Marlon Marshall, who as special assistant to the president and principal deputy director of public engagement is tasked with Obamacare outreach. "The demographics look very similar. But we are just taking what we learned from last year and going deeper on both.
The administration's game plan for Texas is a microcosm of its approach to the second year of Obamacare enrollment. Unlike last year, when officials were playing catch-up following the disastrous launch of healthcare.gov, this year the White House has the luxury of refining a strategy getting individuals re-enrolled and signing up the uninsured.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Marshall outlined a plan that's best described as health care micro-targeting. Beyond figuring out where the uninsured live and knocking on their doors, officials will target folks where they shop, pray, read and congregate. They have pinpointed the most persuasive messages, elevated the most convincing messengers, and optimized their timing.
Some reports, for instance, have noted how little flash has accompanied the start of the second enrollment period. But that, officials said, is by design. They want to grab headlines when people are most likely to sign up: Opening day, the first two weeks in December (when people get coverage so they have it at the start of 2015), and before the enrollment period ends in mid-February.
President Barack Obama will kick off open enrollment in his weekly radio address on Saturday, an aide said.
The micro-targeting is much more than geographic. The administration also plans to enhance its outreach to Hispanic populations, where the uninsured rate remains high. Last year, 10 percent of the administration's ad budget focused on Latino outreach. This year, it's around 30 percent.
Read the original post:
Inside Obama's Plan To Beat Health Care Enrollment Expecations
This is the second installment in a four-part series.
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Look around the health-care world, and the almighty dollar can rear its head just about anywhere.
Its often seen in the balance sheets of biopharmaceutical giants, where net margins are double or even triple that of a normal, healthy corporation. Finance gets injected into the medical system when doctors are able to charge triple what Medicares fees are by staying out of public health programs and keeping their true expenses under wraps.
And rapidly expanding hospital chains, with newfound market power, pile on administrative expenses when a patient comes in for a simple procedure, turning a $200 echocardiogram into a $2,000 ordeal.
Based on its pricing, Health-care spending looks more like a luxury good than a necessary good, said Dr. Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Are Americans being gouged for their medical care?
Its a given that the U.S. health-care system doesnt behave like a normal free-market entity. Reluctance on the part of consumers to put a price on their own health care coupled with the relatively intimate relationship between the provider/doctor and the customer/patient has put the sector in its own category on the economic landscape.
(Read Why your medical bills will just keep growing.)
Mix in the fact that for the bulk of Americans, most of the bill paying is made painless by insurers. Thats resulted in very little pushback on prices, at least on consumers part, for decades.
What it all means is that few restraints have been put on the health-care sector, which has metastasized into a $3 trillion annual business that consumes 18% of gross domestic product. For many, pricing doesnt matter, and so many in the system have free rein to charge what they want.
Read the original post:
Health Exchange: Are consumers getting gouged on health care?
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Look around the health-care world, and the almighty dollar can rear its head just about anywhere.
Its often seen in the balance sheets of biopharmaceutical giants, where net margins are double or even triple that of a normal, healthy corporation. Finance gets injected into the medical system when doctors are able to charge triple what Medicares fees are by staying out of public health programs and keeping their true expenses under wraps.
And rapidly expanding hospital chains, with newfound market power, pile on administrative expenses when a patient comes in for a simple procedure, turning a $200 echocardiogram into a $2,000 ordeal.
Based on its pricing, Health-care spending looks more like a luxury good than a necessary good, said Dr. Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Are Americans being gouged for their medical care?
Its a given that the U.S. health-care system doesnt behave like a normal free-market entity. Reluctance on the part of consumers to put a price on their own health care coupled with the relatively intimate relationship between the provider/doctor and the customer/patient has put the sector in its own category on the economic landscape.
(Read .)
Mix in the fact that for the bulk of Americans, most of the bill paying is made painless by insurers. Thats resulted in very little pushback on prices, at least on consumers part, for decades.
What it all means is that few restraints have been put on the health-care sector, which has metastasized into a $3 trillion annual business that consumes 18% of gross domestic product. For many, pricing doesnt matter, and so many in the system have free rein to charge what they want.
Tom Latkovic, who oversees the health-care practice at consultancy McKinsey & Co., says that while some say cost growth has come down, it still is growing, and hasnt been enough to make a difference. And yet the quality of health outcomes hasnt risen in tandem with costs.
Visit link:
Investors remained in a record-setting mood Tuesday, edging the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index to their latest all-time highs.
Pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies led the broad pickup in stocks, extending gains for the S&P 500 and Dow. The Nasdaq notched its first gain this week.
A positive outlook from homebuilders and encouraging news from Japan and Germany also helped lift markets.
The major stock indexes opened flat on Monday, but quickly began to rise and continued to build on their gains throughout the day as investors piled into health care stocks. Pharmaceutical giant Actavis (ACT) led all stocks in the S&P 500, vaulting 8.7 percent. Medical device maker Medtronic (MDT) climbed 3.3 percent.
The energy sector lagged the rest of the market as the price of oil resumed its slide.
All told, the S&P 500 index added 10.48 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,051.80. Its previous closing high was set Monday.
The Dow rose 40.07 points, or 0.2 percent, ending at 17,687.82. That's just 0.2 percent higher than its most recent record close last Thursday.
The Nasdaq composite gained 31.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to finish at 4,702.44.
Nine of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 notched gains, led by health care stocks. The sector is up 23.5 percent this year. Telecommunications stocks declined.
The rally builds on a market rebound in recent weeks powered by strong corporate earnings and easing concerns among investors about the spread of Ebola and economic growth overseas.
Read the original:
Auckland-based PARS (People at Risk Solutions) have partnered with the Turuki Health Care Trust, to offer improved healthcare services to those in need. PARS works closely with former prisoners, providing mentoring, housing, and social services to ensure they have the necessary support and skills to successfully reintegrate into society.
For many who have been incarcerated, returning to society is extremely challenging. Many are stigmatised or dont have adequate support in place to help them readjust to daily life, meaning the risk of reoffence is high.
Reconizing that they share both values and clients, PARS and charitable organisation Turuki Health Care are now developing a health and wellness service, focusing primarily on Maori and Pasifika clients who have recently been released from prison. Having signed a memorandum of understanding, the alliance between the two organisations will allow former prisoners to access a comprehensive range of primary health care and social services more effectively.
As an all-round care service, Turuki Health Care and PARS will address issues including physical health, mental health and substance abuse, and solutions offered will include use of whanau, community, employment and housing resources. Easily accessible health and social services to those at risk will provide an easier transition into life outside prison, improved whanau relationships and greater prospects of contributing positively to their communities.
"Were excited about the prospect of this collaboration," says Tui Ah Loo, Executive Director of PARS. "Targeted services and support, offered both prior to and following a prisoners release, will improve both the health and social outcomes for former prisoners and their whanau."
Both organisations are committed to a kaupapa Maori and whanau-centred approach, with a focus on hauora (holistic wellbeing). This ensures whanau can access multiple services from one central hub, the staff of whom are familiar and understanding of their needs and values. A single operational culture that provides easily accessible services will help to remove barriers to whanau engaging with and seeking support.
Both PARS and Turuki Health Care are currently offering peer support and training, and building opportunities for their staff to network together. The next developments will see PARS and Turuki Health Care expanding their scope. Currently based in South Auckland, Turuki will eventually extend their integrated services to the wider Auckland community, including those accessing PARS services in Mt Eden.
Collective impact approaches to dealing with social issues are becoming much more common in the not-for-profit sector, and many organisations are now teaming up to share resources, services and ideas. Recognising that a collaborative approach is often hugely beneficial for those in need of support, PARS are looking forward to building and maintaining high quality relationships with Turuki Health and other, similar organisations.
An ongoing relationship will allow the two organisations to develop mutually beneficial projects, providing quality services to clients in need of support. In many cases, PARS works with people affected by issues that would benefit from a joint advocacy approach, which addresses both their social and health needs. "To improve the health of our clients, we must address the big picture, the systemic issues that impact on them," says Te Puea Winiata, Turuki Health Care CEO. "A whanau-centred approach will provide opportunities for wellbeing and healing, and will also support the children and whanau of those involved. Together, we will become innovators in whanau intervention, breaking down the barriers to accessing services and offering support services to whanau."
Similar programmes were piloted in Dunedin previously led by Dr Susie Lawless, and this work has offered Pars and Turuki an opportunity to learn from what was successful. "The heart was there, but one of the findings was that Maori engagement in post release health services could have been improved with interventions being delivered by Maori GPs in culturally appropriate settings.," explains Tui. A kaupapa Maori approach, and collaboration with Turuki Health Care, who are already known and trusted by their clients, means this venture is far more likely to be successful. "Maori will engage with us because we are them and they are us," says Tui.
Read the rest here:
Are people born gay or is it a choice? A new study of gay brothers, the largest to date, adds more scientific evidence that theres a genetic basis for homosexuality.
A genetic analysis of over 409 pairs of gay brothers found that two areas of the human genome, a portion of the X chromosome and a portion of chromosome 8, were associated with the mens sexual orientation. The findings gel with a smaller study conducted in 1993 that implicated the same area of the X chromosome.
Before proceeding, its important to be clear that this study did not discover a gay gene. The regions they identified contain many different genes, so scientists still have a lot of searching to do before finding the specific genes that underlie sexual orientation. With that said, heres how scientists established a broad genetic link.
Over several years, the studys lead author Alan Sanders, of the NorthShore Research Institute in Illinois, collected blood and saliva samples from 409 pairs of gay brothers, including sets of non-identical twins. Then, researchers went through each mans samples looking for unique genetic markers shared by all men in the study.
The 818 men varied in hair color, height, intelligence and other physical attributes. So each man had unique genetic markers matching their unique traits. The one thing they did have in common was that they were all gay. Therefore, if the same genetic variants are found in the same spots in each man, theres reason to believe these places have something to do with sexual orientation.
The two most frequently shared genetic markers were from the Xq28 region on the X chromosome and the 8q12 region on the 8 chromosome. This commonality suggests theres a genetic link for male homosexuality. They published their findings Monday in the journal Psychological Medicine.
One of the primary weaknesses of the study, as pointed out by Sciences Kelly Servick, is that researchers used a type of analysis, genetic linkage, thats been phased out by more precise techniques.
Genetic linkage studies only identify relationships between broad regions that could contain hundreds of different genes. Today, the linkage technique has been replaced by genome-wide association studies, which identify specific genes associated with traits being studied.
According to the Associated Press, other researchers have questioned the data as well:
Read more:
Study of Gay Brothers Suggests Genetic Basis of Male Homosexuality
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Nov-2014
Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University @northwesternu
Metastasis is bad news for cancer patients. Northwestern University scientists now have demonstrated a simple but powerful tool that can detect live cancer cells in the bloodstream, potentially long before the cells could settle somewhere in the body and form a dangerous tumor.
The NanoFlare technology is the first genetic-based approach that is able to detect live circulating tumor cells out of the complex matrix that is human blood -- no easy feat. In a breast cancer study, the NanoFlares easily entered cells and lit up the cell if a biomarker target was present, even if only a trace amount. The NanoFlares are tiny spherical nucleic acids with gold nanoparticle cores outfitted with single-stranded DNA "flares."
"This technology has the potential to profoundly change the way breast cancer in particular and cancers in general are both studied and treated," said Chad A. Mirkin, a nanomedicine expert and a corresponding author of the study.
Mirkin's colleagues C. Shad Thaxton, M.D., and Chonghui Cheng, M.D., both of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, are also corresponding authors.
The research team, in a paper to be published the week of Nov. 17 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reports two key innovations:
"Cancers are very genetically diverse, and it's important to know what cancer subtype a patient has," Mirkin said. "Now you can think about collecting a patient's cells and studying how those cells respond to different therapies. The way a patient responds to treatment depends on the genetic makeup of the cancer."
Mirkin is the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and professor of medicine, chemical and biological engineering, biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering.
More here:
First genetic-based tool to detect circulating cancer cells in blood
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
18-Nov-2014
Contact: Karen Astle karen.astle@heart.org 214-706-1392 American Heart Association @HeartNews
Adults counseled on their genetic risk of coronary heart disease believe they have more control over their fate, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014.
Researchers examined the impact of disclosing risk of 10-year heart disease with or without genetic risk information to 207 patients (48 percent male, average age 58) participating in Myocardial Infarction GENES (MI-GENES), a randomized controlled study.
The study's key elements included a risk score based on established risk factors and a genetic risk score based on 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms; risk disclosure by a genetic counselor in a 30-minute session; and two questionnaires about patient satisfaction - perceived personal control and genetic counseling satisfaction.
Researchers found that patients who received the genetic risk information had a higher perceived personal control value compared to those who didn't (8.85 vs. 8.54). Patients who received genetic risk information also reported a higher genetic counseling satisfaction (9.08 vs. 8.3).
"We have shown that disclosure of genetic risk led to increased perceived personal control and counseling satisfaction, which are associated with the increased likelihood of adopting healthier behaviors that may reduce coronary heart disease risk," said Christopher L. Robinson, lead author of the study. MI-GENES Study information (PDF)
###
Christopher L. Robinson, M.D. candidate at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
Link:
Patients counseled on genetic heart disease risk feel they have more control over fate
worldhealth.net
SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- In 1990 the Human Genome Project started.
It was a massive scientific undertaking that aimed to identify and map out the body's complete set of DNA.
This research has paved the way for new genetic discoveries, and one of those has allowed scientists to study how to fix bad chromosomes.
Case Western Reserve University scientist, Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, is studying how to repair damaged chromosomes.
Our bodies contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in total, but if chromosomes are damaged, they can cause birth defects, disabilities, growth problems and even death.
Wynshaw-Boris is taking skin cells and reprogramming them to work like embryonic stem cells, which can grow into different cell types.
"We are taking an adults, or a child's, skin cells, said Wynshaw-Boris. We are not causing any loss of an embryo, and you're taking those skin cells to make a stem cell."
Scientists studied patients with a specific defective chromosome that was shaped like a ring. They took the patients' skin cells and reprogrammed them into embryonic-like cells in the lab.
They found this process caused the damaged "ring" chromosomes to be replaced by normal chromosomes.
The rest is here:
New DNA discovery could lead to chromosome therapies in the future
November 18, 2014
Provided by Michael McCarthy, University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine
Genetic analysis unveils airway and lung responses to pandemic flu and cystic fibrosis
In what is likely to be a major step forward in the study of influenza, cystic fibrosis and other human diseases, an international research effort has sequenced the ferret genome. The sequence was then used to analyze how the flu and cystic fibrosis affect respiratory tissues at the cellular level.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of the National Institutes of Health, funded the project, which was coordinated by Michael Katze and Xinxia Peng at the University of Washington in Seattle and Federica Di Palma and Jessica Alfoldi at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
The sequencing of the ferret genome is a big deal, said Michael Katze, UW professor of microbiology, who led the research effort. Every time you sequence a genome, it allows you to answer a wide range of questions you couldnt before. Having the genome changes a field forever.
Ferrets have long been considered the best animal model for studying a number of human diseases, particularly influenza, because the strains that infect humans also infect ferrets, These infections spread from ferret to ferret much as they do from human to human.
In the study, scientists at Di Palma and Alfoldi of the Broad Institute first sequenced and annotated the genome of a domestic sable ferret (Mustela putorius furo). They then collaborated with the Katze group on the subsequent analysis. A technique called transcriptome analysis identifies all the RNA that is being produced, or transcribed, from areas of the genome that are activated at any moment. This makes it possible to see how the ferret cells are responding when challenged by influenza and cystic fibrosis.
By creating a high quality genome and transcriptome resource for the ferret, we have demonstrated how studies in non-conventional model organisms can facilitate essential bioscience research underpinning health, said Di Palma, director of Science in Vertebrate & Health Genomics at The Genome Analysis Centre.
> Continue reading for more information
Follow this link:
Ferret Genome Sequenced, Holds Clues To Respiratory Diseases
Sickle Cell Anemia Gene Therapy
By: Candace Kesselring
The rest is here:
Ruben Hernandez: "Recent developments in the gene therapy of solid tumours"
Educational Day* at ESGCT Conference in Madrid. Rubn Hernndez, PI in Cancer Gene Therapy at Universita de Nvarra (University of Navarra, Spain) gives a le...
By: European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy
Continued here:
Ruben Hernandez: "Recent developments in the gene therapy of solid tumours" - Video