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Technology Boosts Diabetes Care
Diabetes care and outcomes were superior in facilities using electronic health records, compared with care at facilities with paper-based records, according a report by Better Health Greater Cleveland for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Researchers compiled data on care such as eye exams and outcomes such as blood sugar control from 32 health centers in the Cleveland area using EHRs and from 5 using paper. More than half of the patients at EHR-based clinics received all necessary care; only 7% of patients who went to paper-based clinics did. Similarly, 44% of those at EHR-based clinics achieved positive outcomes, compared with 16% at paper-based clinics. The report noted that the federal government has committed $27 billion to EHRs and other health information technology over the next 10 years. It added that the Cleveland data show that using EHRs results in “dramatically better patient care.”
New Diabetes-Help Videos
A new series of 3- to 5-minute videos, part of the redesigned National Diabetes Education Program online library, addressin topics such as living with diabetes, finding support, preventing diabetes, and setting goals to improve health. “For more than 14 years, the NDEP has been in the forefront of raising awareness about diabetes, but more needs to be done to provide resources and tools to support health care providers and their patients when it comes to achieving and sustaining health goals,” Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the sponsors of NDEP, said in a statement. The videos are available at
www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense
Another Try for Diabetes Bill
Two congressmen have reintroduced the Gestational Diabetes Act, which passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a physician, said that the fight against gestational diabetes is a bipartisan effort and needs continued attention. “The statistics speak for themselves – mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and their children are at an increased risk not only for diabetes but other prenatal complications as well,” Rep. Burgess said in a statement. The bill (H.R.2194) aims to enhance surveillance and public health research on gestational diabetes, provide grants for reducing incidence of the condition, and expand research and treatments.
Smoking Is Risk in Obese Girls
Adolescent girls who are obese are twice as likely as others to become heavy smokers, according to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health survey. The authors controlled for demographic differences and factors such as smoking by parents and friends in analyzing the more than 4,000 survey responses. Family smoking turned out to be the strongest predictor of nicotine addiction, and a high grade point average mediated the girls' risk of becoming heavy smokers. “Obese, adolescent females may require targeted interventions to address their risk of subsequent high-level nicotine addiction, especially if risk factors such as parental smoking and poor school performance are present,” the authors concluded in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
IOM Addresses Childhood Obesity
Health care providers should monitor weight and height as part of every well-child visit and should help parents learn ways to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior to curb early childhood obesity, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. The report urges pediatricians and others who work with infants to encourage breastfeeding and to provide guidance on healthy eating strategies. In addition, health care providers should counsel parents on limiting television and other media use, and should urge parents and other caregivers not to permit televisions or other media devices in young children's bedrooms or sleeping areas. The IOM report details steps policy makers and federal programs can take to help curb early childhood obesity.
Privacy Notification Planned
A proposed change in health insurance-privacy rules would give patients the right to see reports on who has accessed their protected health information electronically. The change was mandated by the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Although health care providers are required to track this information, they don't have to share it with patients. “This proposed rule represents an important step in our continued efforts to promote accountability across the health care system, ensuring that providers properly safeguard private health information,” said Office of Civil Rights Director Georgina Verdugo. “We need to protect people's rights so that they know how their health information has been used or disclosed.”
Technology Boosts Diabetes Care
Diabetes care and outcomes were superior in facilities using electronic health records, compared with care at facilities with paper-based records, according a report by Better Health Greater Cleveland for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Researchers compiled data on care such as eye exams and outcomes such as blood sugar control from 32 health centers in the Cleveland area using EHRs and from 5 using paper. More than half of the patients at EHR-based clinics received all necessary care; only 7% of patients who went to paper-based clinics did. Similarly, 44% of those at EHR-based clinics achieved positive outcomes, compared with 16% at paper-based clinics. The report noted that the federal government has committed $27 billion to EHRs and other health information technology over the next 10 years. It added that the Cleveland data show that using EHRs results in “dramatically better patient care.”
New Diabetes-Help Videos
A new series of 3- to 5-minute videos, part of the redesigned National Diabetes Education Program online library, addressin topics such as living with diabetes, finding support, preventing diabetes, and setting goals to improve health. “For more than 14 years, the NDEP has been in the forefront of raising awareness about diabetes, but more needs to be done to provide resources and tools to support health care providers and their patients when it comes to achieving and sustaining health goals,” Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the sponsors of NDEP, said in a statement. The videos are available at
www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense
Another Try for Diabetes Bill
Two congressmen have reintroduced the Gestational Diabetes Act, which passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a physician, said that the fight against gestational diabetes is a bipartisan effort and needs continued attention. “The statistics speak for themselves – mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and their children are at an increased risk not only for diabetes but other prenatal complications as well,” Rep. Burgess said in a statement. The bill (H.R.2194) aims to enhance surveillance and public health research on gestational diabetes, provide grants for reducing incidence of the condition, and expand research and treatments.
Smoking Is Risk in Obese Girls
Adolescent girls who are obese are twice as likely as others to become heavy smokers, according to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health survey. The authors controlled for demographic differences and factors such as smoking by parents and friends in analyzing the more than 4,000 survey responses. Family smoking turned out to be the strongest predictor of nicotine addiction, and a high grade point average mediated the girls' risk of becoming heavy smokers. “Obese, adolescent females may require targeted interventions to address their risk of subsequent high-level nicotine addiction, especially if risk factors such as parental smoking and poor school performance are present,” the authors concluded in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
IOM Addresses Childhood Obesity
Health care providers should monitor weight and height as part of every well-child visit and should help parents learn ways to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior to curb early childhood obesity, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. The report urges pediatricians and others who work with infants to encourage breastfeeding and to provide guidance on healthy eating strategies. In addition, health care providers should counsel parents on limiting television and other media use, and should urge parents and other caregivers not to permit televisions or other media devices in young children's bedrooms or sleeping areas. The IOM report details steps policy makers and federal programs can take to help curb early childhood obesity.
Privacy Notification Planned
A proposed change in health insurance-privacy rules would give patients the right to see reports on who has accessed their protected health information electronically. The change was mandated by the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Although health care providers are required to track this information, they don't have to share it with patients. “This proposed rule represents an important step in our continued efforts to promote accountability across the health care system, ensuring that providers properly safeguard private health information,” said Office of Civil Rights Director Georgina Verdugo. “We need to protect people's rights so that they know how their health information has been used or disclosed.”
Technology Boosts Diabetes Care
Diabetes care and outcomes were superior in facilities using electronic health records, compared with care at facilities with paper-based records, according a report by Better Health Greater Cleveland for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Researchers compiled data on care such as eye exams and outcomes such as blood sugar control from 32 health centers in the Cleveland area using EHRs and from 5 using paper. More than half of the patients at EHR-based clinics received all necessary care; only 7% of patients who went to paper-based clinics did. Similarly, 44% of those at EHR-based clinics achieved positive outcomes, compared with 16% at paper-based clinics. The report noted that the federal government has committed $27 billion to EHRs and other health information technology over the next 10 years. It added that the Cleveland data show that using EHRs results in “dramatically better patient care.”
New Diabetes-Help Videos
A new series of 3- to 5-minute videos, part of the redesigned National Diabetes Education Program online library, addressin topics such as living with diabetes, finding support, preventing diabetes, and setting goals to improve health. “For more than 14 years, the NDEP has been in the forefront of raising awareness about diabetes, but more needs to be done to provide resources and tools to support health care providers and their patients when it comes to achieving and sustaining health goals,” Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the sponsors of NDEP, said in a statement. The videos are available at
www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense
Another Try for Diabetes Bill
Two congressmen have reintroduced the Gestational Diabetes Act, which passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a physician, said that the fight against gestational diabetes is a bipartisan effort and needs continued attention. “The statistics speak for themselves – mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and their children are at an increased risk not only for diabetes but other prenatal complications as well,” Rep. Burgess said in a statement. The bill (H.R.2194) aims to enhance surveillance and public health research on gestational diabetes, provide grants for reducing incidence of the condition, and expand research and treatments.
Smoking Is Risk in Obese Girls
Adolescent girls who are obese are twice as likely as others to become heavy smokers, according to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health survey. The authors controlled for demographic differences and factors such as smoking by parents and friends in analyzing the more than 4,000 survey responses. Family smoking turned out to be the strongest predictor of nicotine addiction, and a high grade point average mediated the girls' risk of becoming heavy smokers. “Obese, adolescent females may require targeted interventions to address their risk of subsequent high-level nicotine addiction, especially if risk factors such as parental smoking and poor school performance are present,” the authors concluded in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
IOM Addresses Childhood Obesity
Health care providers should monitor weight and height as part of every well-child visit and should help parents learn ways to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior to curb early childhood obesity, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. The report urges pediatricians and others who work with infants to encourage breastfeeding and to provide guidance on healthy eating strategies. In addition, health care providers should counsel parents on limiting television and other media use, and should urge parents and other caregivers not to permit televisions or other media devices in young children's bedrooms or sleeping areas. The IOM report details steps policy makers and federal programs can take to help curb early childhood obesity.
Privacy Notification Planned
A proposed change in health insurance-privacy rules would give patients the right to see reports on who has accessed their protected health information electronically. The change was mandated by the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Although health care providers are required to track this information, they don't have to share it with patients. “This proposed rule represents an important step in our continued efforts to promote accountability across the health care system, ensuring that providers properly safeguard private health information,” said Office of Civil Rights Director Georgina Verdugo. “We need to protect people's rights so that they know how their health information has been used or disclosed.”