Princess Health and Princess Health andFeds investigating possibility that Humana overbilled taxpayers for Medicare Advantage; firm says it reported information.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andFeds investigating possibility that Humana overbilled taxpayers for Medicare Advantage; firm says it reported information.Princessiccia

courts health insurance Humana Medicare

Gusty 07:05 Add Comment

Louisville-based "Humana Inc. faces multiple federal investigations into allegations that it overbilled the government for treating elderly patients enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans, court records reveal." So reports Fred Schulte of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit, inevstigative news agency.

"The status of the investigations is not clear, but they apparently involve several branches of the Justice Department," Schulte reports, adding that federal prosecutors said in a document filed in March that they expect at least one of the investigations will be completed �in the next few months.�

Federal prosecutors in West Palm Beach have "opened a criminal case involving overbilling allegations that the government says is similar to the Miami investigation," Schulte writes. "Meanwhile, the criminal division of the Justice Department in Washington has reviewed fraud allegations against the company, according to court records. Humana, which insures more than 2 million people through the Medicare Advantage plans, is also the target of two Florida whistleblower civil lawsuits that allege similar overcharges."

Humana spokesman Tom Noland told Schulte that the company has made �several public disclosures about these matters over a long period of time� and �self-reported� them several years ago, but �Humana to our knowledge is not the subject of any criminal investigation.� (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds that antidepressants might slow the development of Alzheimer's Disease.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds that antidepressants might slow the development of Alzheimer's Disease.Princessiccia

Alzheimer's disease research

Gusty 11:01 Add Comment

A antidepressant that is often prescribed might slow production of amyloid beta, which is part of what causes Alzheimer's disease, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pennsylvania. Science Translational Medicine published the research, which described mouse studies examining a variety of antidepressants.

Brain plaques are related to memory issues involved with Alzheimer's, and scientists showed that the antidepressant citalopram halted plaque growth in a mouse model of the disease. Also, one dose of the antidepressant reduced the production of amyloid beta by 37 percent in health young adults.

The research is promising, but researches warned people should not take antidepressants just to help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. ". . . While antidepressants generally are well tolerated, they have risks and side effects," said senior author John Cirrito, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Washington University. "Until we can more definitively prove that these drugs help slow or stop Alzheimer's in humans, the risks aren't worth it. There is still much more work to do."

Normal brain activity produces amyloid beta, but when too much is present, it can clump into plaques. Some of Cirrito's previous research revealed that serotonin, one of the brain's chemical messengers, decreases amyloid beta production. Because many antidepressants help serotonin circulate in the brain, Cirroto and first author Yvetter Sheline, MD, speculated about whether antidepressants might help slow the development of Alzheimer's.

"We also plan to study older adults who will be treated for two weeks with antidepressants," said Sheline. "If we see a drop in levels of amyloid beta in their spinal fluid after two weeks, then we will know that this beneficial reduction in amyloid beta is sustainable." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andPublic forum on nursing homes set Friday at 2 in Lexington.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andPublic forum on nursing homes set Friday at 2 in Lexington.Princessiccia

nursing homes

Gusty 09:30 Add Comment

A public forum on nursing-home care will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Lexington Senior Citizens Center on Nicholasville Road next to the University of Kentucky campus.

The forum "may reveal what, if anything, is being done in Kentucky to improve care in nursing homes," Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform says in a news release. It says the event "is a result of direction from Gov. Steve Beshear that public forums be held across the state to give citizens a chance to present not only their complaints about long-term care, but suggest possible improvements. Tomorrow�s forum is the only reaction so far to the governor�s request."

The forum is organized by the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass.

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds that obese workers cost employers thousands in extra medical costs every year; Kentucky ranks ninth in obesity.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds that obese workers cost employers thousands in extra medical costs every year; Kentucky ranks ninth in obesity.Princessiccia

employers obesity research workplace health

Gusty 13:14 Add Comment

A morbidly obese employee costs his or her employer approximately $4,000 more in health care and related costs every year than an employee of normal weight, according to a study in the American Journal of Health Promotion. Kentucky ranks ninth in obesity among the states.

As might be expected, the study also found that obese workers with high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol brought more costs than obese workers without those conditions. "Someone who is overweight or obese and also has diabetes is more likely to file a short-term disability claim compared to someone who doesn't have diabetes but is overweight or obese," said Karen Van Nuys, Ph.D., lead co-author of the study and economist at Precision Health Economics in Los Angeles.

The study showed that an employee with a body mass index of 35 has almost twice the risk of filing a short-term disability claim or workers' compensation claim than an employee with a BMI of 25. A BMI of 30 or more indicates obesity. While employees who are of average weight incur approximately $3,830 each year in medical claims, sick days, short-term disability and workers compensation, and morbidly obese employees incur about $8,067 every year.

The researchers analyzed three years of data from almost 30,000 workers, including "self-reported employee health information, medical visits and prescription claim and employer-reported data on absenteeism, short term disability and workers compensation claims."

"Overweight/obesity are just one of several modifiable risk factors in the workplace�but ones that are most problematic right now because they're getting worse by the minute," said Ron Goetzel, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Truven Health Analytics. 

Van Nuys and Goetzel said their report is not meant to encourage employers to discriminate against overweight people, but Goetzel said employers should "invest in robust, comprehensive health promotion programs for their employees that include physical activity, healthy eating, stress and depression management and control of blood pressure and diabetes." He added, "If you do those in combination and you do them right, not only is [this type of intervention] cost-effective, in some cases it is cost-beneficial, so that there is potentially even a return on investment here for employers." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andMore treatment needed to deal with painkiller abuse, expert witness tells Senate caucus; McConnell says jail helps, too.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andMore treatment needed to deal with painkiller abuse, expert witness tells Senate caucus; McConnell says jail helps, too.Princessiccia

pain pain clinics pill mills prescription drug abuse prescription drugs

Gusty 13:00 Add Comment

Addiction to prescription painkillers, and increased addiction to heroin by people originally hooked on prescription medicine, is "a public health disaster of catastrophic proportions" that "was caused by the medical community," the chief medical officer of a New York drug-treatment program said at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday.

"The medical community, including dentists, must prescribe more cautiously," Dr. Andrew Kolodny of Phoenix House told the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. In areas where abuse is rampant, "Treatment capacity does not come close to meeting demand," he said. "If we don't rapidly expand access to treatment, the outlook is grim." He also called for better education of physicians about the risks of prescribing painkillers.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky attended the first several minutes of the hearing and read a statement calling for the problem to be attacked by a combination of treatment and incarceration, with the use of multi-agency partnerships. He also said, "It's clear that the increase in heroin addiction is tied to our fight against prescription drug abuse."

Part of that fight included requiring Kentucky doctors to participate in the state's prescription-drug monitoring program, which Kolodny said made the state one of only three with such a requirement. The others are New York and Tennessee.

Officials have said that when Kentucky cracked down on disreputable "pill mill" pain clinics, making prescriptions harder to get, addicts turned to heroin. "Heroin is just a symbol for the prescription-drug problem," Joseph Rannazzisi, deputy assistant administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, told the senators.

Rannazzisi said the largely successful effort against pill mills in Florida has driven them to Georgia and Tennessee. He said Tennessee has 300 pain clinics. "They're moving north and west," he said. "Regulatory boards in the states need to take control."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the Democratic co-chair of the caucus, said the testimony made prescription-painkiller and heroin abuse seem worse than the drug problems she dealt with as mayor of San Francisco in the 1980s. "Nothing like today," she said. "I am really struck."

Princess Health and Princess Health andNorton Healthcare chief, Hardin judge-executive, former Lincoln coroner receive awards from Kentucky Hospital Association.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andNorton Healthcare chief, Hardin judge-executive, former Lincoln coroner receive awards from Kentucky Hospital Association.Princessiccia

awards Kentucky Hospital Association

Gusty 10:00 Add Comment

The Kentucky Hospital Association gave some awards during its annual convention in Lexington on May 9, according to a KHA press release. Stephen A. Williams, chief executive officer of Norton Healthcare in Louisville, received KHA's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. Recipients of this award must have not only provided extraordinary service to the association but also shown exceptional leadership in the health-care field.

Hardin County Judge-Executive Harry Berry, board chair of Hardin Memorial Health in Elizabethtown, and Bill Demrow, Stanford funeral director and former Lincoln County coroner who is vice board chair of Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, received the Health Care Governance Leadership Award. It is bestowed upon people "who have had a positive and sustainable impact on the quality of care in their community," according to the release.

Princess Health and Princess Health andCarlisle hospital closes, making Nicholas County the 40th Kentucky county without a hospital.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andCarlisle hospital closes, making Nicholas County the 40th Kentucky county without a hospital.Princessiccia

health reform hospitals jobs rural-urban disparities

Gusty 13:04 Add Comment

Fully one-third of Kentucky's counties will not have a hospital, following the closure of Nicholas County Hospital in Carlisle. That will make Nicholas the 40th county without a hospital, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association.

The hospital board said it searched "every possible option to keep the hospital open," but it has filed for bankruptcy and will close later this week, reports WLEX-TV. Officials reported that the 14-bed hospital was losing more than $100,000 per month, which they say resulted from a decrease in the number of patients and slow state and federal reimbursements, Sam Smith reports for WKYT-TV.

"It's a trickle-down effect that's going to impact the entire community and then there's the more critical life-saving aspect. There's a number of people within the community who are alive today because they were able to receive treatment at the hospital," hospital spokesman Stephen Scalf told WKYT.

Scalf said the hospital's clinics will close by Friday except for one rural health clinic that will likely remain open. Johnson Mathers Nursing Home, which operates on the same campus as the hospital, will not close. "Nicholas County Hospital is operated by a private nonprofit organization, JMHC Inc., and has 44 full-time and 40 part-time employees who are being laid off," Karla Ward reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The hospital's board said in a news release that it has been negatively affected by a national transition to "larger, urban-centered hospitals' that had forced many other rural health centers to close."

The fiscal court will be looking for options to create an "urgent treatment or ambulatory care facility that will provide for the community's medical needs in the future," WLEX reports. The county owns the hospital's property, and Judge-Executive Mike Pryor said other healthcare provers are considering taking over the space, Smith reports. "It's just another hit to us," said Pryor. "It's going to be something we are going to have to deal with, like we have in the past."