10 Services Of CA Dept Of Public Health

How much do you know about the California Department of Public Health.  Here are 10 of their primary services:

1. Monitoring health status to identify community health problems including health disparities.
2. Detecting and investigating health problems and health hazards in the community.
3. Informing, educating, and empowering people and organizations to adopt healthy behaviors to enhance health status.
4. Partnering with communities and organizations to identify and solve health problems and to respond to public health emergencies.
5. Developing and implementing public health interventions and best practices that support individual and community health efforts and increase healthy outcomes. 
6. Enforcing laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
7. Linking people to needed personal health services and ensuring the provision of population-based health services.
8. Assuring a competent public health workforce and effective public health leadership.
9. Evaluating effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of public health services, strategies, and programs.
10. Researching for insights and innovative solutions to public health problems. 

Got A Healthcare Question? Live In California?

As written by David Gorn

The Department of Managed Health Care recently received a $4.6 million federal grant to fund its consumer assistance program to help answer questions from California consumers about health coverage.

"This will enable us to reach and assist more Californians who are struggling with health coverage questions," said Marta Green, deputy director for communications and planning at DMHC. "The focus of the grant is on consumer assistance for Californians," Green said, "and in particular to help seniors and people with disabilities, who have more specific needs."

xThe California Department of Insurance and the Office of the Patient Advocate stand to benefit from the grant money, as well, according to Green. "It is a single-applicant grant, but DMHC will distribute some funding, such as to OPA for data collection, and to CDI for enhancement for the health center." DMHC is working with nonprofit, community-based service organizations to work in a proactive way to reach anyone with concerns about coverage, rather than waiting for questions to appear. "The community services groups are sort of our boots on the ground," Green said. That includes data collection across different programs, she said, "which allows us to spot problems and any trends emerging. And that's a very good thing."
So, heads up to all who are connected to community organizations that could benefit from the above.  Get yourselves known and use this new service here in CA.   Trust me, you will have questions!!! 

Great Tips For Doctor Visits & Taking Care Of Yourself

Thank you AHRQ for these tips ... some great tips for your next visit to a new doctor or even one you've been using!

Before Your Appointment

• Bring all the medicines you take to your appointment. This includes:
• Prescription medicines.
• Non-prescription medicines, such as aspirin or antacids.
• Vitamins
• Dietary or herbal supplements.
• Write down the questions you have for the visit..
• Know your current medical conditions, past surgeries, and illnesses.

During Your Appointment

• Explain your symptoms, health history, and any problems with medicines you have taken in the past.
• Ask questions to make sure you understand what your doctor is telling you.
• Let your doctor know if you are worried about being able to follow his or her instructions.
• If your doctor recommends a treatment, ask about options.
• If you need a test, ask:
  How the test is done.
  How it will feel
  What you need to do to get ready for it.
  How you will get the results.
• If you need a prescription, tell your doctor if you are pregnant, are nursing, have reactions to medicines, or take vitamins or herbal supplements.
• Find out what to do next. Ask for:
  Written instructions.
  Brochures.
  Videos.
  Web sites.

After Your Appointment

• Always follow your doctor's instructions.
• If you do not understand your instructions after you get home, call your doctor
• Talk with your doctor or pharmacist before you stop taking any medicines that your doctor prescribed.
• Call your doctor if your symptoms get worse or if you have problems following the instructions.
• Make appointments to have tests done or see a specialist if you need to.
• Call your doctor's office to find out test results. Ask what you should do about the results.

Free Tools
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, supports research that helps people make informed decisions and improves the quality of health care.

AHRQ offers these free resources to help you make decisions about your health care:

• Questions are the Answer: http://www.ahrq.gov/questions 
  This Web site lets you make a list of questions that you can bring to your medical appointments and gives you tips on talking with your doctor.
• Consumers & Patients: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumerhttp://www.ahrq.gov/consumer
  This page links to consumer information on staying healthy, getting high-quality health care, and more.
• Your Medicine: Be Smart. Be Safe: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/safemeds/yourmeds.htm
  This booklet answers common questions about getting and taking medicines and has a wallet card to help you keep track of your medicines. Order a free copy by calling 1-800-358-9295.

Should Doctors Be More Sensitive To Costs?

Interesting article written by  Alicia Caramenico on the value of training interns on being aware of the cost of their decisions for medical care. It's a fine line but an interesting idea. See what you think!  Here is the article as it appears in Fierce Healthcare. 

The Hippocratic oath requires physicians to abstain from doing harm--but does that include financial harm?

With medical bills as the number once source of personal bankruptcy, teaching hospitals are encouraging students to consider health costs, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Some, including the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine, want to take it a step further and add "do no financial harm" to the Hippocratic oath.Vineet Arora, an assistant dean and associate professor of medicine, is developing training videos to make medical students more aware of how the costs of their decisions will affect patients.

"We are totally insulated from price, what medical care actually costs the patient," Andrew Levy, a recent med school graduate who is working with Arora, told the Tribune. "I can't tell when a test I order becomes a bill or if and when my patient gets charged by it, and that's absurd."

Medicals schools already have started incorporating cost control into future doctors' curriculum, according to first-year Harvard Medical School student Ilana Yurkiewicz. But in her Scientific American blog post, she acknowledged that it may be more difficult to include cost in decision-making when face-to-face with patients than during hypothetical scenarios in a classroom.

Moreover, cost considerations can become a slippery slope between reducing unnecessary medical costs and rationing care. So healthcare educators emphasize teaching medical students to look for alternatives that their patients can afford, the Tribune noted.

However, it's not only prospective doctors that can benefit from cost awareness. Reminding practicing physicians how much money blood tests cost could cut unnecessary medical spending, according to a study published last year the journal Archives of Surgery.

California Health Insurance Rate Regulation News!

This is important for all to know regarding California health insurance.  The article is written by Sandy Kleffman of the Bay Area News Group. Here you go ..... 

An initiative that would bring health insurance rate regulation to California has qualified for the November 2014 ballot, setting the stage for a vigorous and costly battle between insurers and consumer groups. The measure, sponsored by Consumer Watchdog, would give the state insurance commissioner the power to deny certain premium increases if they are deemed excessive. The insurance commissioner has little control over such rate hikes now.

The initiative would apply to the individual and small group health insurance markets, but large employer group plans would be exempt."We're thrilled that voters will get the chance to decide whether or not it's time to rein in outrageous rate hikes," said Carmen Balber, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Watchdog campaign."We expect a battle royale," she added. "We have no doubt that the health insurance industry will throw down tens of millions of dollars to oppose this."

Opponents have already begun to organize their campaign.

"This flawed, costly measure is not real health reform," said Patrick Johnston, president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, in a statement. "This measure would give one politician too much power over health coverage, do nothing to address the underlying costs driving health care premiums and create an expensive and duplicative state bureaucracy that will be paid for with higher health insurance premiums."

Consumer Watchdog had hoped to qualify the initiative for this year's ballot. But after a random sample of petitions failed to produce enough valid signatures, counties did a full signature check, pushing the count past the deadline for this November's election. On Thursday, the Secretary of State's office announced that Consumer Watchdog had gathered the required 504,760 signatures.
Balber said having the election in 2014 may be good timing because it will occur as the national health reform law takes full effect, including a mandate that most Americans have coverage."The price and affordability of health insurance will be at the top of Californians' minds," she said."

Employer Wellness Programs - A Good Thing!!

Saw this post written by the editorial staff at EBN, Employee Benefit News and wanted to share it with you, especially if you are an employer offering group health insurance for employees.  Even small businesses can provide some sort of "wellness" program for their employees and it appears to be a "good thing!"  Read on ....

"The Principal Financial Group, in its annual ranking of the 10 best American companies for employee financial security, has seen a marked increase in wellness initiatives. An independent panel of judges selected firms they saw as leaders in worker long-term fiscal stability, and the winners ranged from a Maryland nonprofit to a pair of Arizona credit unions. What all 10 had in common was employee wellness programs.

“When the program began 11 years ago, we saw some companies attempting wellness,” says David Wray, president of the Plan Sponsor Council of America and one of the seven judges, “but today all winners offer wellness programs in some meaningful way.”

Apart from any direct medical benefits, companies reaped rewards for their efforts in a variety of ways. For example, with comprehensive engagement and communications that include wellness programs, Principal’s top 10 saw an average voluntary turnover rate of 9.8%, compared to a national average of 24%. And those of sound body also had sound portfolios.

“Healthier employees spend less on medical care, leaving to more to save,” says Luke Vandermillen, Principal vice president. “Beyond physical health, these companies offer a number of ways to impact the long-term financial health of their employees through income protection and retirement programs with generous employer matches and contributions.”

The Principal program honors growing companies, or those with between five and 1,000 employees. This year’s winners were:

• American National Bank of Texas, Terrell, Texas
• Arizona State Credit Union, Phoenix, Ariz.
• Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services,  Spring, Texas
• Dunmore Corporation, Bristol, Pa. (manufacturing)
• Flow Science, Inc., Santa Fe, N.M.; (software development)
• M3 Insurance, Madison, Wis.
• nLogic, LLC, Huntsville, Ala. (information technology/software)
• The United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Rockville, Md. (nonprofit )
• Vantage West Credit Union, Tucson, Ariz.
• WHR Architects, Inc.,  Houston, Texas

How Well Do Your Employees Understand Their Healthcare Benefits?

Thought the following post written by Christine Dugas of USA Today was very interesting and wanted to share with you.  If you are an employer offering health insurance to your employees make a special effort to read this.  It is about how little employees know about what they choose for their health insurance benefits.  Employers would be smart to offer some education on the benefits as well as the benefits themselves. 
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Here we go  ... from the written hand of Christine: 
As the open-enrollment season for health benefits approaches, many workers will be making some bad choices, according to a new survey.
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"Far too many people don't really understand their benefits," says Audrey Tillman, executive vice president of Corporate Services at Aflac. "In fact, most employees are on autopilot." The majority of American workers — 56% — estimate that they waste up to $750 each year because of costly mistakes they have made with their health insurance benefits, according to the Aflac WorkForces Report, a July survey of more than 2,000 consumers released today.  That could represent four months of the grocery budget for a single person.
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"Health insurance is complicated with all of the different terminology that goes along with it," says Carrie McLean, a consumer specialist at eHealthInsurance.com. "And people have gone through open enrollment with their eyes closed."   This is the second year Aflac has conducted a health care survey, and the situation is getting worse, Tillman says. In 2011, 24% of workers were confident about their decisions, vs. 16% this year.
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Among common errors that Aflac found:
Many employees, 89%, say that they simply elect the same benefits options every year.
Nearly half of workers (47%) say that they rarely or never exceed their deductible costs.
Only 16% contribute the right amount to flexible spending accounts
Americans clearly understand that it's an important issue. Rising out-of-pocket medical expenses are one of the most costly financial burdens they face, say 43% of workers, Aflac found. As benefits change, workers need to pay closer attention to their selections during open enrollment, the experts say. This year, many plans have increased the in-network deductibles, emergency room co-payments and prescription drug co-payments, said the PwC Health Research Institute annual report published in May. And nearly six of 10 employers (57%) are considering increasing employee contributions to health plans, the PwC report says.
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There also are some new plan benefits that could help workers as more companies offer financial incentives to promote wellness and health-improvement programs. Although workers need better health plan information so they can make smart choices, what employers tend to do is give them a packet of 20 to 50 pages, and say read through this and decide which option you want to pick, McLean says.
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"It was shocking to me when I saw that 52% of employees in our survey said that their company does not communicate with them at all about the open-enrollment process," Tillman says. "But if the benefits are not appreciated, or understood, or utilized in a way that is meaningful to employees, it's a waste on the employers as well," Tillman says
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End of Christine's article.  
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What do "you" think?  How up to par are your employees in their understanding of their health care benefits?  Are you doing your part in helping them choose what's best for their individual needs?  Taking the time to do so can come back to you in the form of strong loyalty!   Sounds like a good employee quality to me! 
http://www.healthbroker.com/group.html