FEDERAL HEALTH UPDATE
Nov 13, 2009Produced by Kate Connelly Theroux in collaboration with the Institute of Federal Health Care (IFHC) To subscribe, please visit http://fedhealthinst.org/subscriber.cfm. Sponsored by
Additional sponsorship by  www.fedhealthinst.org |
|||
Executive and Congressional News
Dr. Raul Perea-Henze has spent nearly 25 years in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he was a senior executive in global health policy and medical operations for Merck and Co., Inc. and Pfizer. Prior to these assignments, he served as deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for Management & Budget and senior health care advisor at the White House during the Clinton Administration. Dr. Perea-Henze graduated from the
University of Chihuahua School of Medicine in Mexico, and obtained a
Master's Degree in Public Health, with concentration in Health Policy
& Management, from Yale University, School of Medicine.
Erin C. Conaton is currently the staff director for the House of Representatives’ Committee on Armed Services (HASC). In the 109th Congress, she was the committee’s Minority Staff Director. Prior to that, since joining the HASC staff in 2001, she served as a professional staff member covering a range of defense policy issues. She also served as the research staff director for the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission) in the Department of Defense. She holds a bachelor’s
degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and
a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at
Tufts University.
The initiative underscores to federal agencies the importance of recruiting and training veterans, aims to increase the employment of veterans within the Executive Branch, and helps recently hired veterans adjust to service in a civilian capacity. The Executive Order creates an interagency Council on Veterans Employment that will advise the President and the director of the Office of Personnel Management on the veterans’ employment initiative. The Council will be chaired by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. OPM Director John Berry will serve as the vice chair and chief operating officer of the Council. The Order also establishes a Veterans Employment Program office within most federal agencies. These offices will be responsible for helping veterans identify employment opportunities within those federal agencies, providing feedback to veterans about their employment application status, and helping veterans recently employed by these agencies adjust to civilian life and a workplace culture often different than military service. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management will issue a government-wide strategic plan that will focus on creating leadership commitment and an infrastructure in each agency to promote continued skills development and employment success for veterans. The strategic plan will also include marketing strategies aimed at agency hiring managers as well as veterans and transitioning service members. At the end of Fiscal Year 2008, there were approximately 480,000 veterans working within the federal government. For more information,
visit: www.fedshirevets.gov
Dr. Rajiv Shah currently serves as under secretary for research, education and economics and chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this role, he manages the Agricultural Research Service, the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistical Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Dr. Shah served as the director for Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Shah worked on health care policy for the Gore 2000 presidential campaign and served as a member of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's transition committee on health. He is a co-founder of Health Systems Analytics and Project IMPACT for South Asian Americans. In addition, he has served as a policy aide in the British Parliament and worked at the World Health Organization. Dr. Shah earned his M.D. from the
University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his Master of Science
in health economics at the Wharton School of Business. He has attended
the London School of Economics, and is a graduate of the University
of Michigan
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering increasing the 1.45 percent employee share of the Medicare tax on wages by 0.4 to 0.5 percentage point, according to a Senate aide. Such an increase could raise about $40 billion, as Senator Reid struggles to craft a health bill that will meet the demands of his 60-member Democratic caucus and not add to the deficit. The additional tax would apply only to wage income above $200,000 for individuals, or $250,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly. That is intended to stay in line with President Barack Obama's pledge that he wouldn't increase taxes on the middle class. The current Medicare payroll tax rate is 2.9 percent of wages, with the employee paying half and the employer paying the other half. Senator Reid is waiting for cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office on the health bill, before making some key final decisions about the package. He is combining an $829 billion plan from the Senate Finance Committee and a $645 billion bill from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Democratic leaders want to hold a
December Senate vote on the health bill. http://online.wsj.com/article/ Military Health Care News
Called U Mobile Care (mCare), the. pilot started in summer 2009 and has 100 soldiers enrolled, but will expand to accommodate 10,000 returning soldiers in a phased implementation over the next year, according to AllOne Mobile. Researchers at the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) are using AllOne Mobile technology to determine if wounded warriors have a better recovery if they're in frequent contact with their case managers. mCare is a downloadable mobile application that facilitates two-way communication between patients, doctors and approved third parties. The application lets users store health-care information on their phones in one place and provides a secure channel for sending and receiving messages, according to the company. mCare has a Web portal with a dashboard that lets patients provide feedback about their sleeping habits and mood swings to their case managers. Patients can also get tips and appointment reminders, which have proven to be beneficial. According to preliminary survey results, more than 75 percent of users think it's easy to use and 90 percent said the wellness tips have been helpful. Participating veterans
must have phones with text messaging and picture message capabilities.
However, if they don't have a phone, one is provided for free. In addition,
veterans who already have phones with these features, but do not have
a data plan, can add one and are then reimbursed by AllOne Mobile.
Military Pathways is a joint effort coordinated and administered by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Massachusetts-based non-profit organization Screening for Mental Health. The service provides free, anonymous mental health self-assessments for family members and service personnel in all branches, including the National Guard and Reserve. The self-assessments are a series of questions that, when linked together, help create a picture of how an individual is feeling and whether he or she could benefit from talking to a mental health professional. The primary goals of the program are to reduce stigma, raise awareness about mental health and connect those in need to available resources. For more information, visit www.militarymentalhealth.org or call toll-free, 1-877-877-3647.
The two-week intensive course covers topics in areas identified by military mental health professionals as particularly key to the care of service members and their families:
More info on the training course
is available at: http://deploymentpsych.org/
The award recognizes Bono as an emerging leader displaying high energy and skill in a leadership role at a government agency. The award was presented to Bono and her fellow awardees at the Filipina Women’s Network annual leadership summit in Berkeley, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2009. Along with the recognition, the awardees are asked to act as mentors to other Filipino women in an effort to increase the number of female Filipino leaders in the country. The Filipina Women’s Network recognizes 100 women each year for their leadership and outstanding achievements. The selection process included personal interviews conducted by a group of prior awardees. Before reporting to TMA in September 2008, Bono served as commanding officer of the Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Fla., from August 2005 to August 2008. Bono specializes in general and trauma surgery. She attended medical school at Texas Tech University and was commissioned as a Naval officer in 1979. Veterans Health Care News
Russell G. Seager, Ph.D., a 51-year old nurse practitioner at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee was killed in the deadly attack. He was a captain in the Reserves. In his VA duties, he led a mental health team treating a wide variety of veteran patients, from the youngest combat veterans just back from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, to World War II veterans dealing with depression. Seager signed up for the Army Reserve four years ago. This would have been his first overseas deployment. He was to be assigned to a Combat Stress Control unit to watch for warning signs, such as anger and insubordination, among front-line soldiers. Seager, who was also a well-respected teacher at Bryant and Stratton College in Milwaukee, leaves behind a wife and son. VA’s other fatality was Juanita L. Warman, 55, a nurse practitioner at VA’s medical center in Perry Point, Md. She was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, with two daughters and six grandchildren. The daughter of a career Air Force member, she held a masters degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Warman volunteered for “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon,” a program to help members of the Maryland National Guard readjust after returning from overseas deployments. She provided mental health counseling and helped develop a program about the myths and realities of post-traumatic stress disorder. She was preparing for deployment to Iraq at the time of her death. Dorothy Carskadon, 47, a captain in the Reserve and a social worker and team leader at the VA Vet Center in Madison, Wis., was wounded in the gunfire that brought Ft. Hood activities to a halt. She is currently in stable condition in the intensive care unit at the Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood. As a VA team leader, Carskadon oversees other social workers in providing individual and group counseling for combat veterans experiencing difficulty readjusting to the civilian community following military service. A new Army officer, Carskadon was preparing for her first deployment. On an average day, more than 850 VA employees don uniforms to serve military commitments in Reserve and National Guard units across the country and overseas. VA has been responding to the Ft. Hood tragedy since it occurred, providing clinical supplies, including pharmaceuticals, and sending mental health teams from nearby facilities as well as four fully staffed, portable Vet Centers to aid in counseling military members and families at Ft. Hood. Teams of physicians, nurses and other clinical and support personnel were placed on stand-by for possible deployment to Ft. Hood or to receive additional patients following the shooting. VA continues to coordinate
with the Department of Defense on providing care and support to all
those affected by the tragedy.
The announcement comes one day after Secretary Napolitano joined President Obama as he signed an Executive Order on the Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government, which emphasizes recruiting and training veterans for employment at federal agencies, increasing the veteran workforce within the executive branch and assisting recently hired veterans in making the adjustment to service in a civilian capacity. The new Web site, available at www.dhs.gov/veterans, features information for veterans about how to find employment opportunities at DHS and ways to get involved in community-based efforts like Citizen Corps. It also provides information about special veteran programs such as Operation Warfighter and Wounded Warrior, which provide employment opportunities for severely wounded or recovering service members to assist their transition back to the military or civilian workforce. The Web site also features DHS procurement opportunities for veteran and service disabled veteran business owners and information about DHS policies and news impacting the veteran community. This is the latest
step in DHS' active engagement and recruitment of veterans and veteran-owned
businesses. DHS' civilian workforce includes approximately 47,000 veterans,
comprising 25 percent of all employees-including Deputy Secretary Jane
Holl Lute-in addition to the 42,000 active duty members of the U.S.
Coast Guard.
The award recognizes the health care system’s commitment to the veterans it serves and its focus on improvements in health care. On Oct. 30, members of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System Team accepted the award at a ceremony in Washington D.C. Bay Pines is a unique health care system with a 76 year history of serving veterans. It provides a full continuum of veteran-centered care and has sustained the highest performance levels among complex VA medical centers while caring for more than 95,000 patients with over 1.2 million outpatient visits annually. Bay Pines holds accreditations and certifications from numerous organizations such as: The Joint Commission; Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities; Commission on Cancer; Society of Chest Pain Centers; American Diabetes Association; College of American Pathologists; National Committee for Quality Assurance; Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs; and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. In 2008, Bay Pines received the Secretary’s Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Award. The Robert W. Carey Quality Award,
presented annually since 1992, is named for the director of the VA Regional
Office and Insurance Center in Philadelphia who died in 1990. He led
his office in initiating a total-quality management approach to serving
veterans and their families. VA’s Carey Awards follows the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award criteria, which provide a model for
assessing quality transformation efforts. http://www.tbnweekly.com/
According to a new study by two Harvard medical researchers, 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care. That figure is more than 14 times higher than the 155 US troop deaths in Afghanistan in 2008, notes the study. Released on Veterans Day, the study warns that even health care provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VA) leaves many veterans without coverage. The analysis uses census data to isolate the number of US veterans who lack both private health coverage and care offered by the VA. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author Stephanie Woolhandler, also a Harvard medical professor, overlaid that figure with another study examining the mortality rate associated with lack of health insurance. The researchers state that the uninsured have about a 40 percent higher risk of dying each year than otherwise comparable insured individuals. Only some US veterans have access to medical care through the VA, and coverage is apportioned on the basis of eight "priority groups." Veterans who fall below an income threshold that is determined on a county-by-county basis can qualify for care, but many veterans are "working poor" and fall just above the bracket., the study noted. Health Care News
ResearchMatch.org is a not-for-profit secure Web site designed to provide people who are interested in participating in research the opportunity to be matched with studies that may be the right fit for them. It offers an easy-to-use, free and safe way for volunteers to connect with thousands of researchers who are conducting research on a wide range of diseases. The site is a collaborative effort of the national network of medical research institutions affiliated with the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). The CTSA program, led by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), is focused on enhancing local and national efforts to enhance the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients. The registry employs a research matching model that is complementary to Clinicaltrials.gov. One key difference is that ResearchMatch.org places the burden of connecting the right volunteers with the right study on the researchers, whereas Clinicaltrials.gov asks volunteers to identify the trials that could work for them. For more information about how ResearchMatch.org works, please visit http://www.nih.gov/news/
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is a slow-growing cancer of infection-fighting white blood cells called T-lymphocytes. Most cases start with dry skin, red rash, and itching that can become severe. The skin may develop tumors that can become ulcerated, causing infection. In some cases, CTCL spreads to the blood, lymph nodes, or internal organs. There are about 1,500 new cases of CTCL every year in the United States. Patients with localized CTCL on the skin are treated with topical agents or phototherapy, but chemotherapy may be used if the cancer advances. Istodax, marketed by Gloucester Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., interferes with processes required for cell replication. It is intended to be used in patients when CTCL gets worse or comes back after at least one other type of chemotherapy has been used. Previous approvals for CTCL included
Zolinza (vorinostat), Ontak (denileukin difitox), and Targretin (bexarotene). http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/
The report outlines the ways health insurance reform will lower costs and improve access to quality health care services for Americans with diabetes. The report notes:
To learn more about
how health insurance reform will help Americans with diabetes and view
the complete report, visit www.HealthReform.gov.
Amid growing concerns about racial, ethnic and language disparities in health care, The Joint Commission and HHS agree that effective communication is a critical aspect of safe, quality patient care. Many patients of varying circumstances require alternative communication methods, and this new video will help health care organizations determine the best methods of care for meeting these communication needs. Health care organizations face challenges to accommodate increasingly diverse patient populations -- more than 28 million people with hearing loss and approximately 47 million people who speak a language other than English. Language access remains a matter of national importance. The video identifies tools that health care organizations can use to build effective language access programs. With many competing priorities in health care, the video explains why particular attention should be paid to federal civil rights standards and The Joint Commission’s accreditation standards pertaining to effective communication and language access. The video also addresses the obligations of health care organizations with respect to the translation of written documents. The video clarifies that HHS and The Joint Commission do not endorse one specific approach to ensuring language access, but recommend using resources and modes of interpretation that are accessible, in working order and are put into use when necessary to serve the needs of patients and their families. The closed captioned
video streams from The Joint Commission’s Hospitals, Language, and
Culture Web site at http://www.jointcommission.
The new cookbook features 75 recipes influenced by Asian, Latino, Mediterranean, and American cuisine. More than two-thirds of the recipes in Keep the Beat Recipes: Deliciously Healthy Dinners were created for the NHLBI by Culinary Institute of America-trained chef /instructor David Kamen and a James Beard Foundation award-winning registered dietitian with guidance from an NHLBI nutrition educator and registered dietitian. All of the recipes are based on heart healthy principles from the NHLBI, reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and include a nutrition analysis. The recipes are limited in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium, as well as moderate in calories. The recipes use lean cuts of meat, poultry without the skin, fish, beans, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, small amounts of vegetable oil, and lots of herbs and spices for flavor. The dishes were designed to provide a satisfying portion, while helping people stay within their calorie limits. Main dish meals take no more than 40 minutes to prepare and cook, and side dishes are made in 30 minutes or less. Keep the Beat Recipes: Deliciously
Healthy Dinners is available for purchase ($5.00 for one copy with discounts
for bulk purchases) through the NHLBI's online catalog at: http://emall.nhlbihin.net (click to healthy eating).
For the first time, experts in both the United States and Japan will systematically analyze biological samples from the unique population of elderly Japanese atomic bomb survivors to better understand the health consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation on the natural aging process. As people grow older, their immune systems also age, leading to a gradual decline in the body's ability to fight infections, respond to vaccinations and prevent the development of cancer. The aging of the immune system, known as immunosenescence, is a major contributing factor to disease and death among the elderly. Radiation exposure appears to accelerate immunosenescence, although the molecular events that cause immunosenescence are not well understood. This study will take advantage of the unique cohort of atomic bomb survivors who were exposed to varying levels of radiation in 1945. Using state-of-the-art technology, investigators will analyze blood samples from survivors to determine how radiation exposure alters the normal age-related decline of the immune system and identify the cellular and molecular changes that occur. They also will determine how the observed immune changes are related to disease and infection. One goal is to understand how exposure to ionizing radiation and aging affect a person's ability to respond to vaccination. For more information, please visit http://www.nih.gov/news/
The council provides
advice and recommendations to the HHS secretary and the director of
the agency on priorities for a national health services research agenda.
The council consists of 21 members from the private sector and seven
ex-officio members from other federal health agencies. To learn more
about the council, go to http://www.ahrq.gov/about/ To view the list
of the seven new council members, please visit http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ Reserve/Guard
Reports/Policies
Legislation
Hill Hearings
Meetings / Conferences
| |||
If you need further information on any of the items in the Federal Health Update, please contact Kate Connelly Theroux at (703) 447-3257 or by e-mail at katetheroux@fedhealthinst.org. To subscribe, please visit http://fedhealthinst.org/subscriber.cfm. To unsubscribe, please send an email to newsletter@fedhealthinst.org with UNSUBSCRIBE as the subject. Back issues availiable at Federal Health Update Archives. |
|||
© Copyright 2007, IFHC 5185 MacArthur Blvd. NW, Suite 104-656, Washington, DC 20016 (202)271-5814 postmaster@fedhealthinst.org |