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CMS improves Open Payments system, but not enough
Improvements to the Open Payments reporting system are welcome, but don’t go far enough.
That was the message from the American Medical Association upon the July 1 release of another round of data in the financial disclosure system created by the Affordable Care Act.
CMS “has improved our interface for both collecting and reporting this data about compensation and other payments between drug and medical device manufacturers and physicians and teaching hospitals,” Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Program Integrity, said in a statement.
“While we appreciate the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to verify the data submitted by industry, the complicated and cumbersome process for physicians to register to review their data and seek correction of any inaccuracies continues to hinder their participation in the validation process,” the AMA said in a statement.
Dr. David O. Barbe, a family physician in Mountain Grove, Mo., noted that “the ability to navigate [Open Payments] has substantially improved since the first iteration of this. You can get around the website pretty well. ... You can sort the data. You can search on individuals. You can sort it by large amounts, either by individual physician or by payer.”
However, the approach used still makes it extremely difficult for determining the validity and accuracy of the information that is being presented, said Dr. Barbe, a member of the AMA Board of Trustees.
“I am looking at one physician here who has 511 total transactions,” he said. “There is no way that that physician can legitimately validate or even refute those transactions. I can’t imagine what the record-keeping would be like if he were to attempt to track 511 transactions from industry over the course of the year.”
The complexity of tracking all those data could be the reason so few transactions have been disputed. In 2014, CMS reported data on 10.8 million general payments to physicians and teaching hospitals; 1,732 were transactions disputed. In 2013, data were reported on 4.1 million general payments, with 880 disputed. The value of general payments rose to $2.6 billion ($5.1 million disputed) from $972 million (nearly $2 million disputed).
Open Payments captured payments to 607,000 physicians and to 1,121 teaching hospitals made by 1,444 companies in 2014, up from 470,000 physicians and 1,019 teaching hospitals receiving payments from 1,347 companies in 2013.
But Dr. Barbe said that his primary complaint remains that the information comes without any context and really doesn’t convey any useful information. They’re just data.
“To suppose that because he has a lot of transactions, that means there’s some kind of illicit or nefarious relationship that the physician has with industry, I think is also not necessarily a conclusion one can draw.”
Improvements to the Open Payments reporting system are welcome, but don’t go far enough.
That was the message from the American Medical Association upon the July 1 release of another round of data in the financial disclosure system created by the Affordable Care Act.
CMS “has improved our interface for both collecting and reporting this data about compensation and other payments between drug and medical device manufacturers and physicians and teaching hospitals,” Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Program Integrity, said in a statement.
“While we appreciate the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to verify the data submitted by industry, the complicated and cumbersome process for physicians to register to review their data and seek correction of any inaccuracies continues to hinder their participation in the validation process,” the AMA said in a statement.
Dr. David O. Barbe, a family physician in Mountain Grove, Mo., noted that “the ability to navigate [Open Payments] has substantially improved since the first iteration of this. You can get around the website pretty well. ... You can sort the data. You can search on individuals. You can sort it by large amounts, either by individual physician or by payer.”
However, the approach used still makes it extremely difficult for determining the validity and accuracy of the information that is being presented, said Dr. Barbe, a member of the AMA Board of Trustees.
“I am looking at one physician here who has 511 total transactions,” he said. “There is no way that that physician can legitimately validate or even refute those transactions. I can’t imagine what the record-keeping would be like if he were to attempt to track 511 transactions from industry over the course of the year.”
The complexity of tracking all those data could be the reason so few transactions have been disputed. In 2014, CMS reported data on 10.8 million general payments to physicians and teaching hospitals; 1,732 were transactions disputed. In 2013, data were reported on 4.1 million general payments, with 880 disputed. The value of general payments rose to $2.6 billion ($5.1 million disputed) from $972 million (nearly $2 million disputed).
Open Payments captured payments to 607,000 physicians and to 1,121 teaching hospitals made by 1,444 companies in 2014, up from 470,000 physicians and 1,019 teaching hospitals receiving payments from 1,347 companies in 2013.
But Dr. Barbe said that his primary complaint remains that the information comes without any context and really doesn’t convey any useful information. They’re just data.
“To suppose that because he has a lot of transactions, that means there’s some kind of illicit or nefarious relationship that the physician has with industry, I think is also not necessarily a conclusion one can draw.”
Improvements to the Open Payments reporting system are welcome, but don’t go far enough.
That was the message from the American Medical Association upon the July 1 release of another round of data in the financial disclosure system created by the Affordable Care Act.
CMS “has improved our interface for both collecting and reporting this data about compensation and other payments between drug and medical device manufacturers and physicians and teaching hospitals,” Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Program Integrity, said in a statement.
“While we appreciate the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to verify the data submitted by industry, the complicated and cumbersome process for physicians to register to review their data and seek correction of any inaccuracies continues to hinder their participation in the validation process,” the AMA said in a statement.
Dr. David O. Barbe, a family physician in Mountain Grove, Mo., noted that “the ability to navigate [Open Payments] has substantially improved since the first iteration of this. You can get around the website pretty well. ... You can sort the data. You can search on individuals. You can sort it by large amounts, either by individual physician or by payer.”
However, the approach used still makes it extremely difficult for determining the validity and accuracy of the information that is being presented, said Dr. Barbe, a member of the AMA Board of Trustees.
“I am looking at one physician here who has 511 total transactions,” he said. “There is no way that that physician can legitimately validate or even refute those transactions. I can’t imagine what the record-keeping would be like if he were to attempt to track 511 transactions from industry over the course of the year.”
The complexity of tracking all those data could be the reason so few transactions have been disputed. In 2014, CMS reported data on 10.8 million general payments to physicians and teaching hospitals; 1,732 were transactions disputed. In 2013, data were reported on 4.1 million general payments, with 880 disputed. The value of general payments rose to $2.6 billion ($5.1 million disputed) from $972 million (nearly $2 million disputed).
Open Payments captured payments to 607,000 physicians and to 1,121 teaching hospitals made by 1,444 companies in 2014, up from 470,000 physicians and 1,019 teaching hospitals receiving payments from 1,347 companies in 2013.
But Dr. Barbe said that his primary complaint remains that the information comes without any context and really doesn’t convey any useful information. They’re just data.
“To suppose that because he has a lot of transactions, that means there’s some kind of illicit or nefarious relationship that the physician has with industry, I think is also not necessarily a conclusion one can draw.”
Same-Sex Couples Eligible for All VA Benefits
On Monday, June 29, VA announced that all spousal benefits would be extended to married same-sex couples. Previously, benefits available to opposite-sex spouses did not extend to same-sex couples in the VA system.
The announcement was made following the Friday, June 26, U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that all 50 states and U.S. territories must recognize same-sex marriages.
Related: AMA Challenges Transgender Troop Policies
Under the new policy, VA will not differentiate between same-sex and opposite-sex couples when determining eligibility for VA health care, pensions, and home loans.
Benefits now available to all spouses include access to survivor services and pensions; dependency and indemnity compensation; access to counseling services; education and training programs and scholarships; and home loans and housing-related assistance.
Related: Accelerated Process for Housing Loan
In a statement, VA said the new ruling allows the department to “recognize the same-sex marriage of all veterans, where the veteran or the veteran’s spouse resided anywhere in the United States or its territories at the time of the marriage or at the time of application for benefits.”
Although the ruling sparked change for the VA, the DoD will not see any policy changes, because the DoD began recognizing same-sex marriages and extending benefits to active-duty military personnel in 2013.
On Monday, June 29, VA announced that all spousal benefits would be extended to married same-sex couples. Previously, benefits available to opposite-sex spouses did not extend to same-sex couples in the VA system.
The announcement was made following the Friday, June 26, U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that all 50 states and U.S. territories must recognize same-sex marriages.
Related: AMA Challenges Transgender Troop Policies
Under the new policy, VA will not differentiate between same-sex and opposite-sex couples when determining eligibility for VA health care, pensions, and home loans.
Benefits now available to all spouses include access to survivor services and pensions; dependency and indemnity compensation; access to counseling services; education and training programs and scholarships; and home loans and housing-related assistance.
Related: Accelerated Process for Housing Loan
In a statement, VA said the new ruling allows the department to “recognize the same-sex marriage of all veterans, where the veteran or the veteran’s spouse resided anywhere in the United States or its territories at the time of the marriage or at the time of application for benefits.”
Although the ruling sparked change for the VA, the DoD will not see any policy changes, because the DoD began recognizing same-sex marriages and extending benefits to active-duty military personnel in 2013.
On Monday, June 29, VA announced that all spousal benefits would be extended to married same-sex couples. Previously, benefits available to opposite-sex spouses did not extend to same-sex couples in the VA system.
The announcement was made following the Friday, June 26, U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that all 50 states and U.S. territories must recognize same-sex marriages.
Related: AMA Challenges Transgender Troop Policies
Under the new policy, VA will not differentiate between same-sex and opposite-sex couples when determining eligibility for VA health care, pensions, and home loans.
Benefits now available to all spouses include access to survivor services and pensions; dependency and indemnity compensation; access to counseling services; education and training programs and scholarships; and home loans and housing-related assistance.
Related: Accelerated Process for Housing Loan
In a statement, VA said the new ruling allows the department to “recognize the same-sex marriage of all veterans, where the veteran or the veteran’s spouse resided anywhere in the United States or its territories at the time of the marriage or at the time of application for benefits.”
Although the ruling sparked change for the VA, the DoD will not see any policy changes, because the DoD began recognizing same-sex marriages and extending benefits to active-duty military personnel in 2013.
Ideas for Helping TBI Patients
Can crowdsourcing produce innovative and practical ways to fill health care gaps? The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) hopes so.
Everyone—military, civilians, caregivers, and clinicians, people living with posttraumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (TBI)—is eligible to share ideas. The site posts contributions, such as one from a woman whose husband could not attend open-casket funerals because he “could smell the dead body.” She suggests collecting anecdotal behaviors from spouses or caregivers and sharing the information to help people understand why veterans who have survived combat have different social cues. Another entry advocates for a mobile application to help people deal with ongoing fatigue. A third promotes emotional freedom techniques (“tapping” on acupressure points) for relieving symptoms of long-standing trauma.
Ideas can address prevention of TBI, a product or service that helps caregivers, or anything related to improving care. Winners will be announced at the DCoE Challenge Community website.
Can crowdsourcing produce innovative and practical ways to fill health care gaps? The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) hopes so.
Everyone—military, civilians, caregivers, and clinicians, people living with posttraumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (TBI)—is eligible to share ideas. The site posts contributions, such as one from a woman whose husband could not attend open-casket funerals because he “could smell the dead body.” She suggests collecting anecdotal behaviors from spouses or caregivers and sharing the information to help people understand why veterans who have survived combat have different social cues. Another entry advocates for a mobile application to help people deal with ongoing fatigue. A third promotes emotional freedom techniques (“tapping” on acupressure points) for relieving symptoms of long-standing trauma.
Ideas can address prevention of TBI, a product or service that helps caregivers, or anything related to improving care. Winners will be announced at the DCoE Challenge Community website.
Can crowdsourcing produce innovative and practical ways to fill health care gaps? The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) hopes so.
Everyone—military, civilians, caregivers, and clinicians, people living with posttraumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (TBI)—is eligible to share ideas. The site posts contributions, such as one from a woman whose husband could not attend open-casket funerals because he “could smell the dead body.” She suggests collecting anecdotal behaviors from spouses or caregivers and sharing the information to help people understand why veterans who have survived combat have different social cues. Another entry advocates for a mobile application to help people deal with ongoing fatigue. A third promotes emotional freedom techniques (“tapping” on acupressure points) for relieving symptoms of long-standing trauma.
Ideas can address prevention of TBI, a product or service that helps caregivers, or anything related to improving care. Winners will be announced at the DCoE Challenge Community website.
24/7 Health Advice
It’s 4 AM, and someone has a sharp pain in their side—is it appendicitis? Service members stationed in Europe and the Middle East can get around-the-clock help for questions like that from TRICARE’s Nurse Advice Line.
Related: CEMM Virtual Medical Center
Registered nurses answer questions, provide self-care advice, and help callers decide whether they need to seek immediate care. They also help with managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes and asthma. In some locations, the nurse may be able to directly schedule appointments with the caller’s military treatment facility. The advice line also offers access to an audio health library with easy-to-understand information on hundreds of topics.
Related: Preparing the Military Health System for the 21st Century
The Nurse Advice Line for most of Western Europe is 00800-4759-2330. Additional telephone numbers, including those for Bahrain, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, are available at http://www.tricare.mil/tma/EurasiaAfrica/europeNurseAdvice.aspx.
It’s 4 AM, and someone has a sharp pain in their side—is it appendicitis? Service members stationed in Europe and the Middle East can get around-the-clock help for questions like that from TRICARE’s Nurse Advice Line.
Related: CEMM Virtual Medical Center
Registered nurses answer questions, provide self-care advice, and help callers decide whether they need to seek immediate care. They also help with managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes and asthma. In some locations, the nurse may be able to directly schedule appointments with the caller’s military treatment facility. The advice line also offers access to an audio health library with easy-to-understand information on hundreds of topics.
Related: Preparing the Military Health System for the 21st Century
The Nurse Advice Line for most of Western Europe is 00800-4759-2330. Additional telephone numbers, including those for Bahrain, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, are available at http://www.tricare.mil/tma/EurasiaAfrica/europeNurseAdvice.aspx.
It’s 4 AM, and someone has a sharp pain in their side—is it appendicitis? Service members stationed in Europe and the Middle East can get around-the-clock help for questions like that from TRICARE’s Nurse Advice Line.
Related: CEMM Virtual Medical Center
Registered nurses answer questions, provide self-care advice, and help callers decide whether they need to seek immediate care. They also help with managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes and asthma. In some locations, the nurse may be able to directly schedule appointments with the caller’s military treatment facility. The advice line also offers access to an audio health library with easy-to-understand information on hundreds of topics.
Related: Preparing the Military Health System for the 21st Century
The Nurse Advice Line for most of Western Europe is 00800-4759-2330. Additional telephone numbers, including those for Bahrain, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, are available at http://www.tricare.mil/tma/EurasiaAfrica/europeNurseAdvice.aspx.
Stroke Centers More Common Where Laws Encourage Them
State laws have played a big part in boosting the number of hospitals where specialized stroke care is available, a new study shows.
During the study, the increase in the number of hospitals certified as primary stroke centers was more than twice as high in states with stroke legislation as in states without similar laws.
At these hospitals, a dedicated stroke-focused program staffed by professionals with special training delivers emergency therapy rapidly and reliably.
All hospitals should be able to see patients with stroke, but PSC certification attests to quality of care, said lead author Dr. Ken Uchino of the Cleveland Clinic.
"It takes money and effort to organize quality care," he told Reuters Health by email. "Sometimes a hospital is so small that the facility does not expect many patients with stroke to arrive. Sometimes the resources to provide quality care are not available, such as radiology technicians on call to run a CT scanner 24 hours a day or a specialist physician in the community."
U.S. organizations first began certifying stroke centers in 2003. Some states developed their own certification programs, and many passed laws requiring ambulance personnel to take an acute stroke patient directly to a certified center, bypassing hospitals that are not certified.
These laws seem to have encouraged more hospitals to get certification, according to a paper online now in the journal Stroke.
Between 2009 and 2013, states with stroke legislation had a 16% increase in PSC certification, compared to a 6% increase in states without similar legislation.
"I think if a hospital administrator realizes that an ambulance might bypass his or her hospital because it is not stroke-certified, there is an incentive to organize stroke care in the hospital and have stroke center certification," Uchino said.
By 2013, about a third of short-term adult general hospitals with emergency departments in the U.S. were certified as primary stroke centers, he said. But growth rates have varied by state, and by 2013 there were still three states with only one certified center, he said.
Out of 4,640 general hospitals with emergency rooms in the country, 1,505 have been certified as primary stroke centers following action by state legislatures. But the proportion of stroke centers by state still varied from as low as 4% in Wyoming, which has no stroke legislation, to 100% in Delaware, which does have stroke laws.
"Massachusetts, Florida, and New Jersey, which passed stroke legislation in 2004, had 74% to 97% of the hospitals certified as stroke centers by 2013," Uchino said.
Larger, more urban hospitals in states with higher economic output are most likely to be certified as primary stroke centers, the researchers found.
Patients brought to a certified stroke center have a better chance of survival than those brought elsewhere, Uchino said.
Almost all large hospitals can and should be stroke centers, and small hospitals still need help to improve, he said.
"Small hospitals still can become stroke centers, but they had to be creative with how they pulled resources together," said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
"Every community should have at least one" primary stroke center, Schwamm, who was not part of the new study, told Reuters Health by phone. "The real challenge is how do I ensure equitable access for people all over the country."
State laws have played a big part in boosting the number of hospitals where specialized stroke care is available, a new study shows.
During the study, the increase in the number of hospitals certified as primary stroke centers was more than twice as high in states with stroke legislation as in states without similar laws.
At these hospitals, a dedicated stroke-focused program staffed by professionals with special training delivers emergency therapy rapidly and reliably.
All hospitals should be able to see patients with stroke, but PSC certification attests to quality of care, said lead author Dr. Ken Uchino of the Cleveland Clinic.
"It takes money and effort to organize quality care," he told Reuters Health by email. "Sometimes a hospital is so small that the facility does not expect many patients with stroke to arrive. Sometimes the resources to provide quality care are not available, such as radiology technicians on call to run a CT scanner 24 hours a day or a specialist physician in the community."
U.S. organizations first began certifying stroke centers in 2003. Some states developed their own certification programs, and many passed laws requiring ambulance personnel to take an acute stroke patient directly to a certified center, bypassing hospitals that are not certified.
These laws seem to have encouraged more hospitals to get certification, according to a paper online now in the journal Stroke.
Between 2009 and 2013, states with stroke legislation had a 16% increase in PSC certification, compared to a 6% increase in states without similar legislation.
"I think if a hospital administrator realizes that an ambulance might bypass his or her hospital because it is not stroke-certified, there is an incentive to organize stroke care in the hospital and have stroke center certification," Uchino said.
By 2013, about a third of short-term adult general hospitals with emergency departments in the U.S. were certified as primary stroke centers, he said. But growth rates have varied by state, and by 2013 there were still three states with only one certified center, he said.
Out of 4,640 general hospitals with emergency rooms in the country, 1,505 have been certified as primary stroke centers following action by state legislatures. But the proportion of stroke centers by state still varied from as low as 4% in Wyoming, which has no stroke legislation, to 100% in Delaware, which does have stroke laws.
"Massachusetts, Florida, and New Jersey, which passed stroke legislation in 2004, had 74% to 97% of the hospitals certified as stroke centers by 2013," Uchino said.
Larger, more urban hospitals in states with higher economic output are most likely to be certified as primary stroke centers, the researchers found.
Patients brought to a certified stroke center have a better chance of survival than those brought elsewhere, Uchino said.
Almost all large hospitals can and should be stroke centers, and small hospitals still need help to improve, he said.
"Small hospitals still can become stroke centers, but they had to be creative with how they pulled resources together," said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
"Every community should have at least one" primary stroke center, Schwamm, who was not part of the new study, told Reuters Health by phone. "The real challenge is how do I ensure equitable access for people all over the country."
State laws have played a big part in boosting the number of hospitals where specialized stroke care is available, a new study shows.
During the study, the increase in the number of hospitals certified as primary stroke centers was more than twice as high in states with stroke legislation as in states without similar laws.
At these hospitals, a dedicated stroke-focused program staffed by professionals with special training delivers emergency therapy rapidly and reliably.
All hospitals should be able to see patients with stroke, but PSC certification attests to quality of care, said lead author Dr. Ken Uchino of the Cleveland Clinic.
"It takes money and effort to organize quality care," he told Reuters Health by email. "Sometimes a hospital is so small that the facility does not expect many patients with stroke to arrive. Sometimes the resources to provide quality care are not available, such as radiology technicians on call to run a CT scanner 24 hours a day or a specialist physician in the community."
U.S. organizations first began certifying stroke centers in 2003. Some states developed their own certification programs, and many passed laws requiring ambulance personnel to take an acute stroke patient directly to a certified center, bypassing hospitals that are not certified.
These laws seem to have encouraged more hospitals to get certification, according to a paper online now in the journal Stroke.
Between 2009 and 2013, states with stroke legislation had a 16% increase in PSC certification, compared to a 6% increase in states without similar legislation.
"I think if a hospital administrator realizes that an ambulance might bypass his or her hospital because it is not stroke-certified, there is an incentive to organize stroke care in the hospital and have stroke center certification," Uchino said.
By 2013, about a third of short-term adult general hospitals with emergency departments in the U.S. were certified as primary stroke centers, he said. But growth rates have varied by state, and by 2013 there were still three states with only one certified center, he said.
Out of 4,640 general hospitals with emergency rooms in the country, 1,505 have been certified as primary stroke centers following action by state legislatures. But the proportion of stroke centers by state still varied from as low as 4% in Wyoming, which has no stroke legislation, to 100% in Delaware, which does have stroke laws.
"Massachusetts, Florida, and New Jersey, which passed stroke legislation in 2004, had 74% to 97% of the hospitals certified as stroke centers by 2013," Uchino said.
Larger, more urban hospitals in states with higher economic output are most likely to be certified as primary stroke centers, the researchers found.
Patients brought to a certified stroke center have a better chance of survival than those brought elsewhere, Uchino said.
Almost all large hospitals can and should be stroke centers, and small hospitals still need help to improve, he said.
"Small hospitals still can become stroke centers, but they had to be creative with how they pulled resources together," said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
"Every community should have at least one" primary stroke center, Schwamm, who was not part of the new study, told Reuters Health by phone. "The real challenge is how do I ensure equitable access for people all over the country."
Teaching Everyone to Speak Health Care
Nearly 20% of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English at home, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and these individuals may have trouble understanding and being understood when they try to get health care. “Language can be a clear, profound barrier to health literacy,” NIH says. To help address their challenges, NIH has established the Language Access Plan, coordinated by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Related: Press Releases That Go Too Far
In line with President Obama’s Executive Order mandating improved access for people with limited English proficiency, NIH has, for example, implemented a comprehensive foreign language interpretation system within its Clinical Center and provides written translations of informed consent forms for all NIH Institutes and Centers. Many NIH Centers also post translated materials, such as videos and e-books, on key websites and social media. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, for instance, now offers publications in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean and regularly tweets in both English and Spanish.
Related: Searching for Information the Circadian Way
For more information on the Language Access Plan, visit http://edi.nih.gov/consulting/language-access-program/about.
Nearly 20% of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English at home, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and these individuals may have trouble understanding and being understood when they try to get health care. “Language can be a clear, profound barrier to health literacy,” NIH says. To help address their challenges, NIH has established the Language Access Plan, coordinated by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Related: Press Releases That Go Too Far
In line with President Obama’s Executive Order mandating improved access for people with limited English proficiency, NIH has, for example, implemented a comprehensive foreign language interpretation system within its Clinical Center and provides written translations of informed consent forms for all NIH Institutes and Centers. Many NIH Centers also post translated materials, such as videos and e-books, on key websites and social media. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, for instance, now offers publications in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean and regularly tweets in both English and Spanish.
Related: Searching for Information the Circadian Way
For more information on the Language Access Plan, visit http://edi.nih.gov/consulting/language-access-program/about.
Nearly 20% of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English at home, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and these individuals may have trouble understanding and being understood when they try to get health care. “Language can be a clear, profound barrier to health literacy,” NIH says. To help address their challenges, NIH has established the Language Access Plan, coordinated by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Related: Press Releases That Go Too Far
In line with President Obama’s Executive Order mandating improved access for people with limited English proficiency, NIH has, for example, implemented a comprehensive foreign language interpretation system within its Clinical Center and provides written translations of informed consent forms for all NIH Institutes and Centers. Many NIH Centers also post translated materials, such as videos and e-books, on key websites and social media. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, for instance, now offers publications in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean and regularly tweets in both English and Spanish.
Related: Searching for Information the Circadian Way
For more information on the Language Access Plan, visit http://edi.nih.gov/consulting/language-access-program/about.
Senate Confirms New VA Under Secretary for Health
The VA officially has a new under secretary for health. David J. Shulkin, MD, was approved by Senate voice vote on June 23, 2015. Dr. Shulkin replaces Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant deputy under secretary, who has been serving as interim under secretary since May 2014 when Dr. Robert Petzel stepped down.
Dr. Shulkin was nominated for the position in March by President Obama. Initially, his nomination was blocked due to an unresolved issue regarding reserve pilots and Agent Orange exposure. Once VA came to the decision that those veterans would qualify for full benefits, Dr. Shulkin’s nomination was put up for the Senate vote.
At a May 5 Senate hearing before he was confirmed in his new position, Dr. Shulkin said he planned to revamp the VA health care system and “fix the access problem” if confirmed in this new role. “We all agree: The status quo is not acceptable,” Dr. Shulkin said.
Dr. Shulkin will likely continue much of the reform work that Dr. Clancy had been directing in her interim capacity. Dr. Clancy sat down with Federal Practitioner earlier this year to outline a “Blueprint for Excellence” to respond to access problems and to improve the veteran experience.
“We have the incredible privilege of serving people who essentially wrote a blank check on our behalf when they agreed to serve the country,” Dr. Clancy told Federal Practitioner. “Access is not something that, for the most part, is monitored closely in the private sector. It is certainly not publicly reported. We are making a very, very strong commitment, not just to improving, but to being able to show people the results.”
Like VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald, Dr. Shulkin will be coming to the VA from the private sector. Dr. Shulkin has been president of Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey since 2010. Before taking on that role, he was the president and chief executive officer at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
The VA officially has a new under secretary for health. David J. Shulkin, MD, was approved by Senate voice vote on June 23, 2015. Dr. Shulkin replaces Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant deputy under secretary, who has been serving as interim under secretary since May 2014 when Dr. Robert Petzel stepped down.
Dr. Shulkin was nominated for the position in March by President Obama. Initially, his nomination was blocked due to an unresolved issue regarding reserve pilots and Agent Orange exposure. Once VA came to the decision that those veterans would qualify for full benefits, Dr. Shulkin’s nomination was put up for the Senate vote.
At a May 5 Senate hearing before he was confirmed in his new position, Dr. Shulkin said he planned to revamp the VA health care system and “fix the access problem” if confirmed in this new role. “We all agree: The status quo is not acceptable,” Dr. Shulkin said.
Dr. Shulkin will likely continue much of the reform work that Dr. Clancy had been directing in her interim capacity. Dr. Clancy sat down with Federal Practitioner earlier this year to outline a “Blueprint for Excellence” to respond to access problems and to improve the veteran experience.
“We have the incredible privilege of serving people who essentially wrote a blank check on our behalf when they agreed to serve the country,” Dr. Clancy told Federal Practitioner. “Access is not something that, for the most part, is monitored closely in the private sector. It is certainly not publicly reported. We are making a very, very strong commitment, not just to improving, but to being able to show people the results.”
Like VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald, Dr. Shulkin will be coming to the VA from the private sector. Dr. Shulkin has been president of Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey since 2010. Before taking on that role, he was the president and chief executive officer at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
The VA officially has a new under secretary for health. David J. Shulkin, MD, was approved by Senate voice vote on June 23, 2015. Dr. Shulkin replaces Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant deputy under secretary, who has been serving as interim under secretary since May 2014 when Dr. Robert Petzel stepped down.
Dr. Shulkin was nominated for the position in March by President Obama. Initially, his nomination was blocked due to an unresolved issue regarding reserve pilots and Agent Orange exposure. Once VA came to the decision that those veterans would qualify for full benefits, Dr. Shulkin’s nomination was put up for the Senate vote.
At a May 5 Senate hearing before he was confirmed in his new position, Dr. Shulkin said he planned to revamp the VA health care system and “fix the access problem” if confirmed in this new role. “We all agree: The status quo is not acceptable,” Dr. Shulkin said.
Dr. Shulkin will likely continue much of the reform work that Dr. Clancy had been directing in her interim capacity. Dr. Clancy sat down with Federal Practitioner earlier this year to outline a “Blueprint for Excellence” to respond to access problems and to improve the veteran experience.
“We have the incredible privilege of serving people who essentially wrote a blank check on our behalf when they agreed to serve the country,” Dr. Clancy told Federal Practitioner. “Access is not something that, for the most part, is monitored closely in the private sector. It is certainly not publicly reported. We are making a very, very strong commitment, not just to improving, but to being able to show people the results.”
Like VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald, Dr. Shulkin will be coming to the VA from the private sector. Dr. Shulkin has been president of Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey since 2010. Before taking on that role, he was the president and chief executive officer at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
Heart Disease Among American Indians
Although heart disease prevalence has been declining in the U.S., rates are almost twice as high among American Indians (AIs) as that of the general population, according to the Strong Heart Study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The study began in 1988 and includes more than 7,600 participants from 13 tribes and communities, making it the largest and longest epidemiologic investigation to examine heart disease and its risk factors among AIs. The NHLBI compares this study to the landmark Framingham Heart Study in scope and impact.
Related: Banning Smoking in Tribal Casinos
The Strong Heart Study also found, for the first time, that diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease in AIs. One study research team found AI adults who ate canned meats twice a week had double the diabetes risk of those who ate canned meat only twice a month. “Many American Indians live on rural reservations, where it is difficult to get access to fresh, healthful foods,” noted Amanda Fretts, PhD, MPH, an AI epidemiologist and lead investigator.
Related: SAMHSA Awards Funds for Tribal Youth Programs
Everett Rhoades, MD, a former director of the IHS and a member of the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma, said the study is helping empower the AI community to take charge of its own health. For instance, the study has trained and employed dozens of AI investigators for its active research team. Moreover, the education efforts are paying off. Francine Red Willow, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who interviewed for the NHLBI fact sheet, said, “This study helped me quit smoking, increased my exercise levels, and raised my awareness about the importance of monitoring my cholesterol levels.”
Although heart disease prevalence has been declining in the U.S., rates are almost twice as high among American Indians (AIs) as that of the general population, according to the Strong Heart Study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The study began in 1988 and includes more than 7,600 participants from 13 tribes and communities, making it the largest and longest epidemiologic investigation to examine heart disease and its risk factors among AIs. The NHLBI compares this study to the landmark Framingham Heart Study in scope and impact.
Related: Banning Smoking in Tribal Casinos
The Strong Heart Study also found, for the first time, that diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease in AIs. One study research team found AI adults who ate canned meats twice a week had double the diabetes risk of those who ate canned meat only twice a month. “Many American Indians live on rural reservations, where it is difficult to get access to fresh, healthful foods,” noted Amanda Fretts, PhD, MPH, an AI epidemiologist and lead investigator.
Related: SAMHSA Awards Funds for Tribal Youth Programs
Everett Rhoades, MD, a former director of the IHS and a member of the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma, said the study is helping empower the AI community to take charge of its own health. For instance, the study has trained and employed dozens of AI investigators for its active research team. Moreover, the education efforts are paying off. Francine Red Willow, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who interviewed for the NHLBI fact sheet, said, “This study helped me quit smoking, increased my exercise levels, and raised my awareness about the importance of monitoring my cholesterol levels.”
Although heart disease prevalence has been declining in the U.S., rates are almost twice as high among American Indians (AIs) as that of the general population, according to the Strong Heart Study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The study began in 1988 and includes more than 7,600 participants from 13 tribes and communities, making it the largest and longest epidemiologic investigation to examine heart disease and its risk factors among AIs. The NHLBI compares this study to the landmark Framingham Heart Study in scope and impact.
Related: Banning Smoking in Tribal Casinos
The Strong Heart Study also found, for the first time, that diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease in AIs. One study research team found AI adults who ate canned meats twice a week had double the diabetes risk of those who ate canned meat only twice a month. “Many American Indians live on rural reservations, where it is difficult to get access to fresh, healthful foods,” noted Amanda Fretts, PhD, MPH, an AI epidemiologist and lead investigator.
Related: SAMHSA Awards Funds for Tribal Youth Programs
Everett Rhoades, MD, a former director of the IHS and a member of the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma, said the study is helping empower the AI community to take charge of its own health. For instance, the study has trained and employed dozens of AI investigators for its active research team. Moreover, the education efforts are paying off. Francine Red Willow, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who interviewed for the NHLBI fact sheet, said, “This study helped me quit smoking, increased my exercise levels, and raised my awareness about the importance of monitoring my cholesterol levels.”
Parasitic Worm Screening Mobile App
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a mobile phone microscope to measure blood levels of the parasitic filarial worm Loa loa. Before this point-of-care device, trained personnel would have to perform time-consuming measurements with laboratory equipment.
Related: Global Health Cooperation
The CellScope Loa is a video microscope integrating an Apple iPhone 5s. A custom mobile application allows the device to automatically capture and analyze videos of the microfilariae in blood from a finger prick in under 2 minutes. No special preparation of the blood is required, limiting potential error and sample loss, and health care workers need only minimal training to use the device. The researchers predict that a team of 3 workers could screen up to 200 people during the 4-hour midday window when Loa circulates at its peak in the blood.
Related: National Priority: Combating Antibiotic Resistance
The National Institutes of Health says the microscope has a critical role to play: Mass drug administration campaigns to eradicate the parasitic diseases known as river blindness and elephantiasis had been suspended due to potentially fatal drug-associated adverse effects in people with high blood levels of the larval form of Loa. This new microscope could make it possible to identify and exclude those people from the drug administration, allowing the campaigns to continue safely.
Funding for Innovative Federal Employees
Repurposing drugs. Helping decision makers better understand how to spend on disaster preparedness. Using smart phone technology to improve malaria diagnosis.
Those are the 3 entrepreneurial projects green-lighted by HHS’ Ventures program, a component of the innovation initiative led by the HHS IDEA Lab—supporting employees who “want to do things differently.” The Ventures Fund is a competition that provides growth-stage funding, 15 months of mentoring, and management tools to support teams as they work on sustainable business models for their applications.
Related: Bold Ideas Competition
This year’s projects are:
- Collaborative Use Repurposing Engine (CURE), a web-based platform developed by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The platform enables crowdsourcing of medical information from health care providers to guide potentially life-saving interventions and facilitate the development of new drugs for neglected diseases;
- Economic Evaluation for Public Health Emergencies, led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, set to develop an economic evaluation architecture to improve decision making and communication around public health emergencies; and
- Watch It, Parasite! a joint effort of the NIH National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to use digitized imaging of blood smears to detect malaria parasites. This project “has the potential to improve accuracy over manual assessment,” HHS says.
“We are already witnessing how these catalytic activities are enabling us to develop a community of innovators yielding results with impact,” said HHS Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak. Previous rounds of Ventures Fund teams included the NIH 3D Print Exchange, an online, community-driven portal where researchers and educators can download biomedical structure files that can be printed on a desktop 3D printer for “high-quality, scientifically accurate 3D prints.”
More information on the Ventures Fund is available at http://www.hhs.gov/idealab.
Repurposing drugs. Helping decision makers better understand how to spend on disaster preparedness. Using smart phone technology to improve malaria diagnosis.
Those are the 3 entrepreneurial projects green-lighted by HHS’ Ventures program, a component of the innovation initiative led by the HHS IDEA Lab—supporting employees who “want to do things differently.” The Ventures Fund is a competition that provides growth-stage funding, 15 months of mentoring, and management tools to support teams as they work on sustainable business models for their applications.
Related: Bold Ideas Competition
This year’s projects are:
- Collaborative Use Repurposing Engine (CURE), a web-based platform developed by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The platform enables crowdsourcing of medical information from health care providers to guide potentially life-saving interventions and facilitate the development of new drugs for neglected diseases;
- Economic Evaluation for Public Health Emergencies, led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, set to develop an economic evaluation architecture to improve decision making and communication around public health emergencies; and
- Watch It, Parasite! a joint effort of the NIH National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to use digitized imaging of blood smears to detect malaria parasites. This project “has the potential to improve accuracy over manual assessment,” HHS says.
“We are already witnessing how these catalytic activities are enabling us to develop a community of innovators yielding results with impact,” said HHS Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak. Previous rounds of Ventures Fund teams included the NIH 3D Print Exchange, an online, community-driven portal where researchers and educators can download biomedical structure files that can be printed on a desktop 3D printer for “high-quality, scientifically accurate 3D prints.”
More information on the Ventures Fund is available at http://www.hhs.gov/idealab.
Repurposing drugs. Helping decision makers better understand how to spend on disaster preparedness. Using smart phone technology to improve malaria diagnosis.
Those are the 3 entrepreneurial projects green-lighted by HHS’ Ventures program, a component of the innovation initiative led by the HHS IDEA Lab—supporting employees who “want to do things differently.” The Ventures Fund is a competition that provides growth-stage funding, 15 months of mentoring, and management tools to support teams as they work on sustainable business models for their applications.
Related: Bold Ideas Competition
This year’s projects are:
- Collaborative Use Repurposing Engine (CURE), a web-based platform developed by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The platform enables crowdsourcing of medical information from health care providers to guide potentially life-saving interventions and facilitate the development of new drugs for neglected diseases;
- Economic Evaluation for Public Health Emergencies, led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, set to develop an economic evaluation architecture to improve decision making and communication around public health emergencies; and
- Watch It, Parasite! a joint effort of the NIH National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to use digitized imaging of blood smears to detect malaria parasites. This project “has the potential to improve accuracy over manual assessment,” HHS says.
“We are already witnessing how these catalytic activities are enabling us to develop a community of innovators yielding results with impact,” said HHS Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak. Previous rounds of Ventures Fund teams included the NIH 3D Print Exchange, an online, community-driven portal where researchers and educators can download biomedical structure files that can be printed on a desktop 3D printer for “high-quality, scientifically accurate 3D prints.”
More information on the Ventures Fund is available at http://www.hhs.gov/idealab.