Healthy Cal is reporting that the experience of the The Network for a Healthy California, a partnering program by federal, state, and local agencies, shows that educational programs can help low income families make better health choices.
Category: Employee Benefits
Poor Planning & Execution Often Tank Wellness Programs
Eliminating one unhealthy food by replacing it with another doesn’t improve health outcomes.
Health Care Reform’s Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Covers Fewer Than 50,000 of Millions With Pre-Existing Conditions
Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan intended to provide relief for millions with pre-existing conditions 1 year into the program covered fewer than 35,000.
Personal Responsibility: How Should It Play Into Who Gets Help Under Health Care Reform?
How should personal responsibility affect the availability and rights of an individual to assistance with health care coverage or payment?
ONC Awards Key Contract To Develop Patient Electronic Consent Trial Project
One of the key elements to maximizing electronic health care transactions is determining how patients will provide their consents electronically. Stiking the correct balance between ensuring patient understanding and ability to effectively express their consent while making it financially and operationally viable for health care providers and payers to use the electronic consent process is a challenging but critical process.
ONC’s Office of the Chief Privacy Officer recently awarded a contract to APP Design, Inc. to find an efficient, effective, and creative way to help patients better understand their choices about whether and when their health care provider can share their health information electronically, including sharing it with a health information exchange organization. The project team will design, develop, and pilot innovative ways to electronically carry out existing patient choice policies, while improving business processes for health care providers. To learn more about the E-Consent Trial project, please see the Statement of Work. ONC’s formal launch of the E-Consent Trial Project will be in October.
Celebrate 1st Anniversary of Health Care Reform Passage By Discussing How It’s Working
On the 1st anniversary of the passage of Health Care Reform, let’s celebrate by accepting the invitation from Joe Biden to “discuss how health care reform is already working.”
Join Project COPE: Help Develop Real Tools To Meaningfully Empower Patients & Improve Health Care Access, Affordability & Quality
With all the recent debate about health care policy reforms, it is important to keep the focus on the practical needs of patients and their families in dealing with an illness or disability, and simple steps that health care providers, employers, insurers and other payers, churches and other community organizations, and regular people can do to meaningfully help patients and their families effectively access and pay for care and meet other related challenges attendant to illness and disabilities.You can access information about how you can arrange for training on “Building Your Family’s Health Care Toolkit,” using the “PlayForLife” resources to organize low cost wellness programs in your workplace, school, church or other communities, and other process improvement, compliance and other training and other resources for health care providers, employers, health plans, community leaders and others here
Delivery Of CBO Scoring Opens Door For House Health Care Reform Vote As Early As Sunday
Time is running out for Americans to make their health care reform views known to key Congressional decision-makers. The stage now appears to be set for the House of Representatives to vote as early as Sunday on the latest version of health care reform backed by President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other key Congressional Democrats, the Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872). Access the bill text, CBO text and tips for sharing your views here.
Getting Your Health Care Reform Message Heard By Key Congressional Leaders
With Congressional Health Care Reform at a critical point this week, many are asking which members of Congress to talk to, how to reach them and what to tell them. The following are some pointers on contacting the key decision-makers and structuring your message.
COBRA Subsidy Extension Enactment Requires Quick Action, Shows Subtle Reform Enactment While Health Care Reform Debate Continues
Congress’ quiet extension of the COBRA subsidy rules for involuntarily terminated employees and their dependents beyond their scheduled 12/31/09 expiration date and lengthening of the required subsidy period from 9 to 15 months shows that the big health care reform debate is not the only legislation Americans and American business needs to watch. (You can learn more about the COBRA Subsidy extension mandates at http/ /slphrbenefitsupdate.wordpress.com ).