Home / All Post

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andMorehead State, UK and Morehead hospital sign agreement to form Appalachian Health and Research Center.Princessiccia

Add Comment
Morehead State University, St. Claire Regional Medical Center and the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Health Policy signed a memorandum of understanding April 30 to form the Appalachian Health and Research Center.

�The primary mission of the AHRC is to increase the capacity for innovative, collaborative research based out of Morehead, which directly addresses health issues faced by residents of Appalachian Kentucky and beyond,� said Dr. Michael Henson, Morehead State's associate vice president for research and graduate-school dean. �AHRC will seek to improve local educational opportunities related to health research and to facilitate the translation of research findings into local health policy.�

From left: Reynolds, Andrews and hospital CEO Mark Neff
Dr. Brady Reynolds, UK's Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Endowed Chair in Rural Health Policy and co-director of the Institute for Rural Health Policy, said, �This partnership stands to greatly increase capacity for health-related research in the Morehead area and northeastern Kentucky, with the ultimate aim of improving health and health policy in the region. Through this partnership we will be able to accomplish research and community health goals that may not otherwise be possible.�

Morehead President Wayne Andrews said the agreement will �allow us to focus on some areas of research that will help us improve the lives of the citizens in East Kentucky.� The specific AHRC goals are to:
  • Create new and productive research partnerships with regional colleagues at the two universities and the hospital in the areas of health and wellness;
  • Increase infrastructure for health research in Morehead and the surrounding area;
  • Enhance opportunities for faculty, students, and medical residents to participate in cutting-edge biomedical research;
  • Streamline the required review process for collaborative projects and increase the number of behavioral and clinical trials into which local residents and patients may be enrolled;
  • Promote dialogue with the public about health, wellness and biomedical research; and
  • Actively work to identify and translate specific research findings to local health policy to improve health in the region.
The research center will be housed in Morehead State's Center for Health, Education and Research, which was created in 2010 as the first such partnership involving a regional public university, a land-grant research university and a nonprofit hospital corporation. The $30 million, 90,000-square-foot facility is the largest construction project in the history of Morehead State, according to a university press release. 

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Princess Health and Fat vs. Carbohydrate Overeating: Which Causes More Fat Gain?. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Fat vs. Carbohydrate Overeating: Which Causes More Fat Gain?. Princessiccia

Add Comment
Two human studies, published in 1995 and 2000, tested the effect of carbohydrate vs. fat overfeeding on body fat gain in humans. What did they find, and why is it important?

We know that daily calorie intake has increased the US, in parallel with the dramatic increase in body fatness. These excess calories appear to have come from fat, carbohydrate, and protein all at the same time (although carbohydrate increased the most). Since the increase in calories, carbohydrate, fat, and protein all happened at the same time, how do we know that the obesity epidemic was due to increased calorie intake and not just increased carbohydrate or fat intake? If our calorie intake had increased solely by the addition of carbohydrate or fat, would we be in the midst of an obesity epidemic?

The best way to answer this question is to examine the controlled studies that have compared carbohydrate and fat overfeeding in humans.

Horton et al.

Read more �

Monday, 28 April 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andStates and their congressmen battling new painkiller that is easier to crush and inject.Princessiccia

Add Comment
Some states are restricting the use of the new painkiller Zohydro, "setting up a showdown with the federal government over who gets to decide the best way to protect public health," Michael Ollove reports for Stateline.

Rogers (Herald-Leader photo)
Though millions of chronic pain sufferers could benefit from the drug, some officials worry that abusers will crush and inject it for a big high, will significantly worsen the painkiller abuse crisis they have been battling. Combating prescription drug abuse has been a focus in Kentucky for the past few years. U.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts have introduced a bill to withdraw the Food and Drug Administration's approval, done though an advisory board voted 11-2 against it.

A federal judge told Massachusetts officials that they cannot ban a drug that the FDA has declared safe and effective, but Gov. Deval Patrick is restricting its use. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has taken similar measures, and the Ohio legislature is debating similar action. Twenty-nine state attorneys general, including Kentucky's Jack Conway, have requested that the FDA rethink its approval of Zohydro.

"We're in the context of a very serious epidemic of opioid drug addictions and opioid deaths, and that's a public health crisis that has been growing over the last decade and half," said Michael Carome, director of the Health Research Group at the consumer organization Public Citizen. "The last thing we needed was another extended release opioid for treating chronic pain."

According to Trust for America's Health's 2013 report, "6.1 million Americans abuse or misuse prescription drugs," and "Overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers have quadrupled since 1999, and now outnumber those from heroin and cocaine combined, Ollove reports. Zohydro is an opioid, and opioids are not only easily abused but are also unfortunately gateway drugs, influencing people to use heroin, which isn't as expensive. One advantage to Zohydro is that it is a single-ingredient, long-acting product, unlike other painkillers that were combined with acetaminophen, which can be injurious to the liver.

Opponents are frustrated that the FDA not only approved the drug but also did not force the manufacturer, Zogenix, to create a version that isn't so easy to abuse. The company has said it is making such a version. "In the meantime, it said it has implemented other safeguards, such as compensating sales representatives for educating doctors, pharmacists and patients on the risks and benefits of extended-release opioids," Ollove writes.

Sherry Green, chief operating officer of The National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws, agreed withZohydro maker Zogenix "that taking action against selective prescription drugs is the wrong approach," Ollove reports. Green said, "When we focus almost solely on an individual drug, we tend not to put as much attention on the underlying problem, which is the abuse and addiction. Obstructing illicit routes to one medication only creates pathways to another one." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andHealth reform law isn't as sweeping when it comes to dental coverage, but Appalachian dentists say it should help.Princessiccia

Add Comment
Dr. Heather Whitt explains costs to Anita Slone at the Eula Hall
Health Center in Floyd County. (C-J photo by Jessica Ebelhar)
In Floyd County, almost 40 percent of adults have lost six or more teeth to decay or gum disease, more than 50 percent of adults have had at least one tooth pulled, and 25 percent of people older than 65 have lost all of their teeth. But "When it comes to dental care, the Affordable Care Act's reach is limited," Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires health plans to cover children's oral health, but adult coverage is optional. Kentucky's Medicaid benefits only cover certain services, such as oral exams, emergency visits, X-rays, fillings and extractions, and rural areas are dealing with a shortage of dentists who increasingly do not accept Medicaid.

Despite these obstacles, Dr. Heather Whitt, director of dental services for a network of health centers called Big Sandy Health Care, said she thinks the reform law will help people who live in Central Appalachia, a hotbed of bad oral health. She said the number of uninsured�which for a long time was almost 75 percent of her patients�is finally beginning to decrease. "Now, there are more adults having Medicaid. It's definitely improved the patients we see here. . . . We stay very busy," she said. "I'm excited more people have benefits."

"She and other dentists said Medicaid, which is covering most of the area residents newly insured through the ACA, does not cover every service they might need," Ungar writes. Whitt noted that Medicaid doesn't cover costs for dentures or root canals for patients older than 21, and some dentists said Medicaid managed-care organizations do not send reimbursements quickly enough.

Whitt said that she and her staff try to teach patients about brushing, flossing and regular checkups. They also teach those things in schools, encouraging children to visit dentists. Dentists say that if the law and Medicaid can get more people to visit the dentist, they'll learn to take better care of their teeth. "A lot of our patients just kind of fall through the cracks," said Dr. James Stambaugh, another dentist at the clinic. "Small problems just grow exponentially." (Read more)

Sunday, 27 April 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andIn Floyd County, opinions about health care reform depend on whom you ask, and in some cases they are surprising.Princessiccia

Add Comment
At the Eula Hall Health Center in Grethel,
nurse Stephanie Clark takes vitals of Mary
Murphy, 54, whose leg blood clot wasn't
treated for 15 years because she couldn't
afford it. (C-J photo by Jessica Ebelhar)
"A team of journalists from USA Today and The Courier-Journal has found that in Floyd County, Obamacare is a neither a train wreck nor a cure-all. It's a work in progress; widely misrepresented and misunderstood, it's helped some people and hurt others, while a handful seem unaffected." So write Chris Kenning and Laura Ungar of The C-J, with Jayne O'Donnell and Rick Hampson of the national newspaper of C-J owner Gannett Co. Inc.

Newly insured people are being treated for ailments that they long ignored or tried to treat with inadequate resources, and people who couldn't get or afford insurance because of pre-existing conditions have been able to get it. "Yet, also because of Obamacare, insurance customers in this Appalachian community complain about higher deductibles and insuring those who don't work. Many say they can't afford even subsidized plans on the state's insurance exchange," the writers report. "Some small business owners say they may cut workers' hours. And hospital leaders say the law has exacerbated health-care trends, leading them to lay off workers and shut down an entire floor of Floyd County's largest hospital."

Advocates say the health-reform law will improve Kentucky's health by bringing care to those who haven't had it, but "Obamacare so far shows scant promise of being able to heal Floyd County, where generations of poor health habits and attitudes testify to poverty's victory" despite the "war" on it that President Lyndon Johnson declared in the region 50 years ago. "Real change, many say, will take decades, given the county's poor health: 35 percent of adults smoke, and the overall death rate is 42 percent above the national average. Many lack reliable transportation, have trouble taking time off from low-wage jobs for medical appointments or just don't believe in going to the doctor."

Some say the law didn't go far enough, and worry about its effect on hospitals. "It's insurance reform," said Bud Warman, president of Highlands Regional Medical Center in Prestonsburg, the Floyd County seat. "It's not health care reform.''

Princess Health and Princess Health andKy. leads U.S. in emphysema (COPD), but study shows fewer COPD hospitalizations in Ky. places with smoke-free laws.Princessiccia

1 Comment
Click on image for larger version
People who live in smoke-free communities are less likely to be hospitalized for emphysema, according to a study by the University of Kentucky's College of Nursing and College of Public Health and recently published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study found that people who live in communities with comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws are 22 percent less likely to be hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or emphysema. Living in a community with an established law also resulted in a 21 percent lower likelihood of experiencing hospitalization due to emphysema.

Kentucky has the nation's highest rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 9.3 percent of the population, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco use is the primary cause of emphysema, but air pollution and genetics can also play a role.

The study matched 2003 and 2001 data on hospital discharges with communities that were part of the Smoke-free Ordinance database from the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, Ann Blackford reports for UKnow.

Dr. Ellen Hahn (Herald-Leader photo by Matt Goins)
�Smoke-free public policies, particularly when they cover all workplaces with no exceptions and have been in place for at least one year, may provide protection against exacerbation of COPD that lead to hospitalizations, with potential to save lives and decrease health care costs,� said Nursing Professor Ellen J. Hahn, director of the center and lead author of the study. �Given that such a high percentage of Kentuckians live in at-risk rural areas and lack the protective factor of income or smoke-free laws, the state faces a higher risk of COPD."

Lexington was the first Kentucky city to pass a smoking ban. "Lexington's smoking ordinance, which bans smoking in most indoor public spaces, doesn't specify that smokers be caught in the act. But that has become the default standard since the ban went into effect 10 years ago," Mary Meehan reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "As the smoking ban in Lexington has aged, the challenges have lessened. In many cases, Hahn said, the ban has been self-enforcing. Patrons at restaurants complain to management about smokers, or bar employees take it upon themselves to keep people from lighting up. Gradually, she said, smoking just isn't accepted or expected anymore. Non-smoking in most places has become the 'new normal.' There are now only a handful of businesses that receive citations. Most are small bars and strip clubs."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/04/26/3214347/10-years-after-it-became-law-fayette.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/04/26/3214347/10-years-after-it-became-law-fayette.html#storylink=cpy

Friday, 25 April 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andInsurance companies will be allowed to add one more year to policies that don't comply with reforms; decisions due May 5.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andInsurance companies will be allowed to add one more year to policies that don't comply with reforms; decisions due May 5.Princessiccia

Add Comment
Kentucky�s health insurance companies may extend through Oct. 1, 2016, individual and small-group policies that don't comply with federal health reform, the state Department of Insurance announced Friday. This means some consumers can continue these policies until Oct. 1, 2017.

Insurance companies are supposed to notify the Insurance Department of their decisions by May 5.

This is the second �transitional relief� option offered to states by the federal government. The earlier one came in November 2013 and offered a one-year extension of existing policies; the most recent adds two more years. The latest relief does not affect �grandfathered� plans (those in existence prior to March 23, 2010, the date the law took effect) or newly issued policies.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires 10 essential health benefits and includes other provisions that were not part of many old policies.

�We know that health insurance needs are personal,� Insurance Commissioner Sharon P. Clark said in a press release. �This choice would give individuals and small employers the flexibility to make the decision that best fits their needs at this time while planning for full implementation of the Affordable Care Act.�
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)