Princess Health and Princess Health andIn selling proposed limits on CO2, Obama administration emphasizes health improvement, not climate-change fight.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andIn selling proposed limits on CO2, Obama administration emphasizes health improvement, not climate-change fight.Princessiccia

air pollution asthma children's health climate change environmental health global warming president

Gusty 10:58 Add Comment

By Melissa Landon and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

As it announced its plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, the Obama administration emphasized the health angle, not climate change, which has been the driving force for the proposed regulations but is a more controversial cause than improving health.

"For the sake of our families' health and our kids' future, we have a moral obligation to act on climate," EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said in her announcement.

Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson note in The Washington Post that when a climate bill stalled in the Senate four years ago, environmental and public health activists began pressuring Preisdent Obama to mandate carbon limits. Opponents to the measure include coal producers, some utilities and many Republicans, who say that the EPA has not proposed a plan that can work using current technology.

Under the new rules, states would use different strategies�such as energy efficiency, shifting from coal to natural gas, investing in renewable energy and making power plant upgrades�to achieve state-by-state goals. The reductions will be measured from 2005 levels; Environmental Protection Agency data reveal that power plants in the U.S. have already diminished carbon dioxide emissions by almost 13 percent since 2005, The Associated Press reports.

EPA estimates the rules will prevent as many as 6,600 premature deaths, 150,000 asthma attacks in children, up to 490,000 missed work and school days�saving $93 billion, Connie Hedegaard writes for EurActiv. The federal Centers for Disease Control reports that "exposure to particle pollution may cause worsening asthma symptoms, breathing problems, adverse birth outcomes, lung cancer and early death," Healio reports.

The new rules are intended to assist Washington in achieving international obligations to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions deemed responsible for global warming, but Obama is focusing on the human health benefits to encourage Americans to adopt the movement, Jeff Mason wres for Reuters.

Although federal law has been employed to regulate other pollutants�such as soot, mercury and lead�this is the first time it has been applied to greenhouse gases, Fox News reports, quoting Obama: "We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury, sulfur and arsenic that power plants put in our air and water. But they can dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air. It's not smart, it's not safe, and it doesn't make sense."

Princess Health and Princess Health andSafety-net hospitals, haven for the uninsured, are seeing more covered patients since the expansion of Medicaid.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andSafety-net hospitals, haven for the uninsured, are seeing more covered patients since the expansion of Medicaid.Princessiccia

Affordable Care Act alcohol insurance coverage Medicaid

Gusty 10:19 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Hospitals that most often treat the poor and uninsured  are seeing fewer uninsured patients since the new health law's expansion of Medicaid, Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News. Kentucky's safety-net hospitals have also seen a drop in their uninsured patients.

Safety-net hospitals, which are often not paid for the billions of dollars it costs to care for the disproportionate share of poor and uninsured people they care for, will benefit most from the health law's expansion to more than 13 million people this year, Galewitz writes.

Hospitals across the country had expected this outcome, but told Galewitz in interviews that it has happened "faster and deeper" than anticipated -- "at least in the 25 states that expanded Medicaid in January."

Kentucky is one of the states that agreed to the Medicaid expansion and has expanded health coverage to some 413,000 people, with 75 percent of them reporting that they did not have coverage before signing up on Kynect, the state's health insuance exchange.

Michael Rust, president of Kentucky Hospital Association, said figures from his members won't be available until July, but "Anecdotally, I can tell you that more people do have coverage," adding later that "most are on Medicaid."

The University of Kentucky has seen a decrease in uninsured patients. �The number of uninsured patients seeking care at UK HealthCare since Medicaid expansion took effect in January has decreased,� said Mark D. Birdwhistell, UK vice president for health system administration. �Even though we have seen a double-digit increase in the number of services provided, request for financial assistance is down when compared to this period last year.�

Investor-owned hospitals are also being affected by the expansion of coverage. HCA, Tenet Healthcare Corp., Community Health Systems, some of which own safety-net hospitals, told Galewitz "they saw their rates of uninsured patients drop by as much as a third in the first quarter of 2014 in hospitals located in Medicaid-expansion states," he writes.

"An Urban Institute study published in the May edition of Health Affairs estimated the costs of uncompensated care to hospitals were as high as $45 billion in 2013, with government programs defraying an estimated 65 percent of those costs," Galewitz reports. That made the hospital industry one of the first to support the Affordable Care Act, he notes, agreeing to take funding cuts "exceeding $150 billion over a decade" in return for more paying patients.

However, because the Supreme Court ruled that states could not be forced to expand Medicaid, hospitals in the 24 states that didn't are suffering the funding cuts, without the "corresponding reduction in uncompensated care," Galewitz writes.

Hospital officials told Galewitz that the biggest impact of the expansion of Medicaid is that patients can now go to a primary-care doctor instead of the emergency room for routine care. Kentucky ERs have reported a surge in patients since the law took effect. Galewitz notes that a study in Massachusetts following its Obamacare-like expansion showed an initial surge in ER use followed by a decline over several years.

Princess Health and Princess Health andSuccess of Kynect puts both Senate candidates in a pickle.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andSuccess of Kynect puts both Senate candidates in a pickle.Princessiccia

Congress elections health insurance health reform insurance exchange Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act politics

Gusty 09:15 Add Comment

"The early success of Kentucky�s health care exchange, Kynect, is creating quandaries for both Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes as they address Obamacare" in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race," James R. Carroll reports for The Courier-Journal.

"For McConnell, the Senate minority leader, continued attacks on Obamacare � i.e., the Affordable Care Act � pose risk because the law�s implementation under Kynect has produced 421,000 enrollees in the Bluegrass State, and more public support than opposition," Carroll writes. "For Grimes, the issue is whether to fully embrace the exchange�s success as she tries to rally key elements of the Democratic base that is largely for the health-care law � while still separating herself from President Obama, who is unpopular in the state."

Carroll quotes Susan Zepeda, president of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky: �Campaign politics does not lend itself to a deep-dive into the complexities of multifaceted issues of what access to health care and payment for health care means to Kentucky communities and to Kentuckians,� so the debate is more complicated than �repeal Obamacare� or �support Kynect,� Carroll writes, in a story that goes on to explain it all.

Princess Health and Princess Health andElizabethtown cancer clinic pays $3.7 million to resolve claims it diluted drugs, prolonged chemotherapy to make more money.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andElizabethtown cancer clinic pays $3.7 million to resolve claims it diluted drugs, prolonged chemotherapy to make more money.Princessiccia

cancer courts hospitals law enforcement Medicaid Medicare

Gusty 08:11 Add Comment

Elizabethtown Hematology Oncology PLC and its owners has paid $3,739,325 to settle claims "that they submitted false claims for payment to the Medicare, Medicaid and the military's medical provider for extending the duration of chemotherapy infusion treatment to patients and inappropriately billing office visits for infusion therapy," Andrew Wolfson reports for The Courier-Journal.

"To subject cancer patients to unnecessary treatments that are physically draining and emotionally stressful is utterly unconscionable," said Patrick McFarland, inspector general of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The settlement agreement not only explains that the clinic's owners, Dr. Rafiz Ur Rahman and Dr. Yusuf K. Deshmukh, extended the time period of chemotherapy and infusion treatments for patients just to make more money but also says the clinic wrongly billed for office evaluations of patients getting chemotherapy, Wolfson writes.

"Manipulating treatment protocols and lengthening infusion times to increase reimbursement reflect an extraordinary lack or regard for patient welfare and the integrity of our health care system," David Hale, U.S. attorney for the western half of Kentucky, said in a news release.

In 2011, Dr. Ijaz Mahmood of Elizabethtown filed a lawsuit against the clinic, saying it created written protocols designed to prolong chemotherapy infusion times "by a factor of three or more beyond what is generally recognized." Mahmood said Deshmukh and Rahman provided patients with the correct dose of chemotherapy but administered it over a longer period of time by diluting it. They could make more money that way because Medicaid and Medicare pay partially based on how long a procedure takes.

Aside from the $3.7 million payment, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will monitor the clinic for three years. The clinic will still be allowed to bill federal medical programs, Wolfson writes. The government could still potentially prosecute the doctors. (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andPeople with a genetic risk of obesity should avoid saturated fat, national study of 2,800 people suggests.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andPeople with a genetic risk of obesity should avoid saturated fat, national study of 2,800 people suggests.Princessiccia

diet genetics nutrition obesity research

Gusty 21:20 Add Comment

A new study shows that avoiding saturated fat may be advantageous for those whose genetic makeup predisposes them to obesity. Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University used 63 gene variants associated with obesity to determine a genetic risk score for obesity for more than 2,800 white, American adults participating in two studies about heart disease prevention.

"People with a higher genetic risk score, who also consumed more of their calories as saturated fat, were more likely to have a higher body mass index, the ratio of body weight to height," Newswise reports.

"We already know there are certain genes that interact with dietary fat and affect BMI," said senior author Jose M. Ordovas, Ph.D., director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory at the USDA center and a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. We "saw that while total fat intake was related to higher BMI, people who were genetically predisposed to obesity and ate the most saturated fat had the highest BMIs."

The study is published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The findings also take into consideration factors like age, sex and physical activity levels. Ordovas and the other researchers believe that those who have genetic makeups predisposing them to obesity might be more easily affected by saturated fat, which is often found in fatty cuts of meats, butter, cheese and other high-fat dairy products.

Ordovas said that although they cannot yet explain with confidence the "role of saturated fat intake in obesity . . . Some clinical models suggest that saturated fat might interfere with activity in the part of the brain that lets us know we're full, in addition to a few studies in people that suggest a diet high in saturated fat interferes with satiety." Ordovas also said that if additional research could explain the connection between obesity-related genes and saturated fat, people would have even more convincing reasons to eat less saturated fat. (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andKentucky gets $1.75 million in national settlement with big drug maker; marketing and promotional practices reined in.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andKentucky gets $1.75 million in national settlement with big drug maker; marketing and promotional practices reined in.Princessiccia

asthma depression drugs pharmaceuticals

Gusty 21:16 Add Comment

Kentucky will receive approximately $1.75 million from a $105 million national settlement with GlaxoSmithKline to resolve allegations that the pharmaceutical manufacturer unlawfully promoted its asthma drug, Advair, and its antidepressant drugs, Paxil and Wellbutrin, according to a press release from Attorney General Jack Conway's office.

The complaint and consent judgment alleges that GSK violated state consumer-protection laws by misrepresenting the uses and qualities of these drugs. Conway said in the release that this settlement will change the way pharmaceutical sales teams are motivated and paid.

The consent judgement requires GSK to reform its marketing and promotional practices, stating the company shall not: make any false, misleading or deceptive claim about its products; make claims not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; present information or conclusions from inadequate clinical studies; provide samples to health care professionals if they know it is being prescribed for non-approved use; or provide information describing any off-label use of a GSK product, unless consistent with applicable Food and Drug Administration regulations.

They must also continue a program through March 2019 that decreases financial incentives for sales representatives who use deceptive marketing practices, says the release.  In addition, scientifically trained personnel will be responsible for providing unbiased and non-promotional information to health care providers.

Kentucky joined 43 other states and the District of Columbia in reaching the national settlement with GSK.

Princess Health and Princess Health andLexington preschool becomes Kentucky's first with a farm-to-school food program.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andLexington preschool becomes Kentucky's first with a farm-to-school food program.Princessiccia

child obesity childhood obesity children children's health farm to school local food nutrition school health school lunch

Gusty 13:24 Add Comment

About 20 years from now, today's preschoolers will be purchasing and preparing their own food. What if they spent 13 years in an educational setting that taught farm-to-school practices? Children who represent the next generation would learn not only to eat healthy food but also to support local food systems, state Farm to School Program coordinator Tina Garland told Cerise Bouchard of Lexington Family Magazine.

This year, Growing Together Preschool in Lexington became the first Farm to Preschool program facilitated by the state Department of Agriculture. Bouchard returned to GTP in July 2013 as the executive director with the goal of improving the menu by working with a farm to provide community-supported agriculture.

When Bouchard told Garland about her idea, Garland connected her with Lazy Eight Stock Farm and Carla Bauman, who told the magazine, "I am excited about being part of a project that encourages young children to like eating fresh fruits and vegetables while their food preferences are still forming." Bauman said the the GTP project also will give the students' families weekly access to fresh, local, organic produce.

Childhood obesity rates in Kentucky are very high, and many children eat most of their meals in school, Bouchard writes. Instead of exacerbating the problem, schools have an opportunity to improve the health of children. GTP's focus has always been on quality improvement initiatives, and "Implementation of the Farm to School program is simply the next step to ensuring that we are making the best decisions to improve and support the development of the whole child," Bouchard writes.