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Friday, 13 June 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andAt least one additional health-insurance company is expected to sell policies on Kynect exchange next year.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andAt least one additional health-insurance company is expected to sell policies on Kynect exchange next year.Princessiccia

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The five insurance companies that sold policies this year on Kynect, Kentucky's health-benefit exchange, want to return in 2015, and Dayton, Ohio-based CareSource wants to join as well. Officials said they believe other insurers will sign up to sell policies next year, too, which will benefit consumers, Jack Brammer writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

""Consumers benefit from the choices that come with more competition," Insurance Commissioner Sharon P. Clark said. Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes said she hopes than even more Kentucky residents will set aside time to examine the plans on Kynect when the second round of open enrollment begins Nov. 15.

Anthem, Humana, Bluegrass Family Health, United Healthcare of Kentucky and Kentucky Health Cooperative offered plans on the exchange this year, and Humana was the only one that didn't offer small group market insurance, for two to 50 people. Humana, Anthem and the cooperative offered individual coverage.

Jonathan Copley, CareSource's executive director for Kentucky, said the company's participation in Kynect is "an extension of our commitment to provide affordable coverage to Kentuckians who need it most. We are expanding our reach to one of Ohio's bordering states to offer affordable health care coverage. Kynect represents a successful model on the marketplace, and we are excited to offer CareSource."

Though the tentative deadline for insurers to request to be on the exchange was April 1, the official deadline has been extended as a result of inquiries, Brammer reports.

In Kynect's first open-enrollment period, from Oct. 1 through March 31 about 421,000 Kentuckians enrolled for coverage, and the increasing number of insurers seems to be a sign even more people will sign up next year. Last month The New York Times reported that "8 million people signed up for coverage in 2014 under the federal health care law and that estimates put next year's national enrollment near 13 million," Brammer writes.

This year monthly rates for those enrolled in Kynect ranged from $47 for older couples without dependents to $403 for families of four with a total income of $70,000 per year. Health and Family Services spokeswoman Jill Midkiff told Brammer that an average premium wasn't calculated because of the many variables such as age and family membership. (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andFDA issues warning label for tanning bed use by minors; sponsor of bill for a state ban says he will try again.Princessiccia

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Soon tanning beds will have a "black box" warning that those younger than 18 should not be using them, but some doctors, tanning companies and legislators do not think this will be sufficient to keep minors from tanning. "Consequently, some want a new Kentucky law prohibiting bed use by minors," Annie Garau writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader.


Lexington Herald-Leader graphic
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced May 29 new regulations that moved sunlamps from the category of low-risk devices�like dental floss and tongue depressors�to moderate-risk devices. Tanning beds are dangerous because they emit ultraviolet rays like the ones from the sun. These ultraviolet rays not only cause wrinkles and eye damage but also cause skin cancers, including melanoma, which is the most deadly kind of skin cancer, according to the FDA and local doctors.

"There's really no way to get a tan right now without incurring the risk of cancer," said Dr. John D'Orzio, a researcher and pediatric oncologist at Kentucky Children's Hospital. "I don't want to tell people not to go outdoors at all because that would be ridiculous, but the actual ultraviolet radiation from the beds can be up to 10 times more than from standing in the sun." D'Orazio said his biggest concern is that children under 18 have access to the tanning beds. Currently Kentucky only requires "signed parental consent for teens ages 14 to 17 and in-person parental consent for anyone younger than 14," Garau writes.

Mark Wells and Cheryl Ledford, co-owners of Southern Rays Tanning, do not think the new warnings will turn customers away. "There has always been some kind of warning on the beds," Ledford said, "and they haven't stopped people from tanning."

Wells said there are health benefits to tanning, such as increased Vitamin D, the fading of acne and getting a "base tan" indoors to prevent burning outside. D'Orazio disagreed. "A base tan is not going to help you avoid the risks," he said. "You're still getting ultraviolet radiation while you're getting that base tan. Also, it really only takes about one minute of standing in the sun to get enough vitamin D. . . . This is a multibillion-dollar industry. That's a lot of money going into downplaying the negative consequences."

American Academy of Dermatology President Dr. Brett Coldiron said that although sometimes dermatologists prescribe phototherapy as a treatment, "The difference between phototherapy and indoor tanning is that phototherapy is closely monitored and supervised by a dermatologist. This type of medical care isn't provided at an indoor tanning salon, where operators have minimal knowledge about the potential side effects of UV light, and tanning bed lamps have variable amounts of UVA and UVB light."

State Rep. David Watkins, a Democrat and retired physician from Henderson, wanted to prevent Kentucky minors from using tanning beds without a medical prescription, but the Senate Health and Welfare Committee killed his House-passed bill. "I think I'm going to have to work a little harder and make sure my colleagues in the Senate understand that I'm not trying to limit freedoms," Watkins told Garau. "I'm trying to protect some of our most vulnerable constituents." (Read more)

Princess Health and Food Reward Friday. Princessiccia

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This week's lucky "winner"... kettle corn!


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Thursday, 12 June 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andLexington auto mechanic becomes neurosurgeon; now researching traumatic brain injury diagnosis and treatment.Princessiccia

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In the early 1980s, Geoff Manley was a mechanic, and some of his clients were University of Kentucky faculty. That is how he met microbiology professor Shelly Steiner and started on the road to a new career: neurosurgery and a multi-million-dollar research project.

"Some kids are polite�you know, 'Yes, yes, sir'�but disengaged. Geoff was clearly intelligent and focused," Steiner told Laura Dawahare of UKNow. "You can talk to someone for just a few minutes and know right away how bright they are. Geoff was like that."

Because no one in Manley's family had gone to college, Steiner's suggestion that he finish his GED and attend UK, was a "transformative moment," Manley said. He graduated in 1988 then earned his MD-PhD at Cornell University. Now he is the vice chair of neurosurery at the University of California-San Francisco.

"Manley's earlier work with Steiner and a colleague in the lab influenced his decision to pursue a career in the neurosciences; his particular interest is in traumatic brain injury, or TBI," Dawahare writes.

Though the public often hears about athletes' concussions, TBI results even more often from auto accidents or slips-and-falls. Every year at least 1.7 million people in the U.S. get medical attention for TBI. "I did a lot of bench work earlier in my career, but I was torn between my interest in the basic sciences and my desire to do something directly relevant for TBI patients," Manley said. "So I began to explore a new translational research approach to TBI."

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave him $18.8 million over five years to do worldwide research about concussion and traumatic brain injury. TBI is complex, which makes diagnosis and therapy development difficult. Dr. Manley and his colleagues want to change the current TBI measures. "Here we are in the 21st Century, and we classify TBI in one of three ways: mild, moderate or severe," Manley said. "Cancer, by comparison, can be characterized in a very precise way, and treatments are customized to each patient's needs." Therefore, Dr. Manley wants to establish a set of classifications for TBI that are as detailed as the ones used for cancer.

"We expect that our approach will permit researchers to characterize and stratify patients more effectively, will allow meaningful comparisons of treatments and outcomes and will improve the next generation of clinical trials," Manley said. "Advancing our understand of TBI will ultimately lead to successful, patient-specific treatments."

Manley said that Steiner's encouragement helped him not only finish his GED and college but also get where he is today. Steiner said, "Geoff would have made it anyway�he had the intellectual octane and the motivation. He may think others helped him, but it really was his trip." (Read more)

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andWellCare of Kentucky removes co-pays for most Medicaid members and offers to pay for GED course for many.Princessiccia

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WellCare Health Plans Inc. is improving its Medicaid benefits in Kentucky by removing most members' co-pays and covering the cost of the General Educational Development test and its corresponding coursework for eligible members.

The co-pay and GED benefits will become available on July 1 and continue through the end of the year, except in Medicaid Region 3, comprising 16 Kentucky counties near Louisville. Region 3�s benefits will be determined in fall 2014 to align with its open enrollment. Region 3 is Breckinridge, Bullitt, Carroll, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, Jefferson, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble and Washington counties.

Open enrollment for the rest of the state ends Wednesday, June 18, so WellCare is offering the new benefits as an incentive for Medicaid recipients to switch form other managed-care companies.

All WellCare of Kentucky Medicaid members will have no co-pays except for non-emergency visits to the emergency room and, only in the Louisville region, a $4 co-pay for preferred-brand medications.

Recipients  of the GED benefits must be at least 16 years old, must not be currently enrolled in high school, cannot be graduates from an accredited high school and cannot have received a high school equivalency certificate or diploma. Members need to complete the required GED coursework at an adult testing center.

For more information about these and other WellCare Medicaid benefits in Kentucky, please visit http://kentucky.wellcare.com/member or call 1-877-389-9457.
Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds personalized text messages helps some quit smoking.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andStudy finds personalized text messages helps some quit smoking.Princessiccia

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Smoking is a hard habit to break. A recent study, reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that sending smokers personalized text messages was twice as effective as giving them self-help materials, Valerie DeBenedette writes for Health Behavior News Service.

Participants chose a date to quit smoking and received five text messages during that day and two per day for the rest of the week. Then the text messages decreased to three per week, then to one per week. "Encouraging texts included top health reasons to quit smoking and the amount of money saved by quitting," DeBenedette writes.

"Previously, phone texting programs to help people quit smoking have been shown to be effective in other countries, said Lorien C. Abroms, Sc.D., the lead author of the study and associate professor of prevention and community health at The George Washington University. "This is the first long-term study in the United States."

More than 500 smokers were placed in one of two groups: the group that received text messages and the group that received self-help materials. They were then surveyed about their experience with the program one, three and six months afterward. Researchers tested mailed saliva samples for cotinine to determine if participants had stopped smoking.

Of those who received texts, 11.1 percent stayed off tobacco, compared to 5 percent in the control group. When asked to self-report, "nearly 20 percent of the texting group said they had quit, compared to 10 percent of the control group," DeBenedette writes.

Abroms said texting is cost-effective. Some programs offer it along with telephone counseling. "The potential for reach is wide, and they are fairly low cost compared to more traditional types of therapy," she said.

Chris Bostic, J.D., deputy director for policy at Action on Smoking and Health, an advocacy group in Washington, told DeBenedette, "Even if something like texting only has a marginal effect on the quit rate, it should be added to [the] menu of options available to smokers who want to quit." (Read more)

Princess Health and#TeamMike and #TeamDave complete rosters.Princessiccia

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Well, the day we all have been waiting for is ALMOST here.  The Waterloo Classic is only four days away, and the team couldn't more more excited.




There is a lot riding on this race for a number of different reasons.  First, we have the epic battle of #MikeVsDave.  For those of you who don't know, there is a team component to this battle.  Here is a break down of inter-team race, and the team draft results.  Today, we are very excited to announce the complete team rosters for #TeamMike and #TeamDave.  Here they are:



H+P Team Mike
Mike Piazza
Sean Delanghe
Brendan Hancock
Luke Ehgoetz 
Pat Mulherin
Nick Burt
Sam Lalonde
Harold OKrafka
Vicki Zandbergen
Emily Hunter
Cari Rastas Howard
Mark Potvin

H+P Team Dave
Dave Rutherford
Rob Brouillette
Ahmed Ahmed
Greg Dyce
Chris Goldworthy
Daniel Cook
Manuel Jones
Jessica Kuepfer
Justin Buis
Will Spaetzel
Dragan Zubac


5K Team



With so much focus being put in this 10K, we can't forget about our 5K team.  We have a solid contingent being entered in the Open 5K Team category with heavy reliance on some of our fastest female runners.  Here's how the team shapes up:

Kailey Haddock
Payton Thiel
Aron Mailman
Holger Kleinke
Derek Hergott
Tammy Hergott
Stephaney Hortian
Gillian Willard





Battle of Waterloo

Finally, we can't forget that the 10K is the 2nd of 3 stages of the Battle of Waterloo.  Click here to see the recap of Stage 1.    H+P has a number of runners in contention for the OA podium.  After stage one, we have six runners (Sean, Dave, Mike, Greg, Brendan, Pat) all in the top 11 OA.  Vicki Z is also in contention for the OA podium on the women's side as she now sits in 4th OA.




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