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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act

In a landmark ruling that will impact the November election and the lives of every American, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the controversial health care law championed by President Barack Obama.  See full story from CNN

Health law survives with Robert's Vote
Chief Justice John Roberts said the requirement that individuals have health coverage or pay a penalty — known as the individual mandate — is within Congress' power to impose taxes.  See full story from NPR

Monday, June 25, 2012

Forum on the Patient Protection and Affordability Healthcare Act: How the Patient Protection and Affordability Healthcare Act Attempts to Equalize Health Disparities

Sponsored by: Loyola Medical Center & Loyola University Chicago 
  • September 8, 2012 
  • 9am to 1:30 p.m.
 
  • Loyola Medical Center, Stritch School of Medicine Tobin Hall (lst floor) Maywood, Illinois 
  • Continental breakfast and lunch included
  • Cost: 
General fee: $75; Alumni & Adjunct faculty: $50; Field Instructor, Advisory Members, Non-Loyola Students & Loyola Students seeking CEUs: $25; Loyola Students with valid ID: $10 
  • 4.5 CEUs available
This Forum /CEU workshop offers an in-depth exploration of the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordability Healthcare Act on Health Disparities. Topics include:  
  • History of Health Disparities in Chicago by, Keynote: David Ansel MD, MPH 
  • Racial Disparities in Health: the Present and Future by, Richard Cooper, MD 
  • Trinity Health System and Community Health by, Dan Hale, JD 
  • Overview of the Healthcare Act Dru Bhattacharya JD MPH LLM 
  • Panel Discussion and lunch moderator Dru Bhattacharya JD MPH LLM 
The keynote presenter is David Ansell, MD, MPH. Dr. Ansel is an Internal Medicine physician who currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. He was appointed to the eleven member board of directors of the Cook County Health System in 2008 where he is chairperson of the Quality and Patient Safety Committee. He continues his service to the medically underserved in his volunteer activities at the Community Health Clinic, a free clinic in Chicago, and with his medical relief work annually in the Dominican Republic. He was part of a Chicago-based effort that provided medical relief after the Haiti earthquake and made two trips to Haiti in 2010. He is the author of the book County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital. Ansell has an interest in issues related to access to health care and health disparity education. 


 For registration and details please visit: http://www.luc.edu/socialwork/resources/upcoming_events.shtml

Monday, June 18, 2012

National Men’s Health Month

June is National Men’s Health Month. Join the millions of men who get their recommended health “tune-up” by scheduling their annual physicals. Make an appointment with your doctor today.

Supreme Court Ruling On Affordable Care Act Could Come As Early As Today.


The Christian Science Monitor Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (6/18, Feldmann) reports, "The political world is on pins and needles, waiting for the Supreme Court to hand down its ruling on President Obama's sweeping reform of the health-insurance system. A decision could come as early as Monday. ... Publicly, Mr. Obama and his surrogates express confidence that the court will uphold the Affordable Care Act. Implementation is proceeding on schedule, they say. Still, at the White House correspondents' dinner in April, the president joked: 'In my first term, we passed healthcare reform. In my second term, I guess I'll pass it again.'"

David Plouffe said on ABC's This Week (6/17, Stephanopoulos), "We do believe it's constitutional, and we hope and expect that's the decision the court will render. I'm not going to get into any contingencies. We obviously will be prepared for whatever decision the court renders. I do think that it's important to focus on what the healthcare law is already doing. We just saw a report this week that now 5.5 million people between the ages of 18 and 26 are able to stay on their parents' plan, millions of seniors saving thousands of dollars in prescription drugs, free preventive care, free mammography for folks. So this is making a big difference."

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said on CNN's State Of The Union (6/17, Crowley), "I believe that this is unconstitutional and I believe there is going to be a stinging rebuke of this president's centerpiece legislation when the Supreme Court rules later this month, and they should rule that this is unconstitutional. If not, the Republicans want to repeal everything that is left standing. ... The whole goal of healthcare reform was to get patients to get the care that they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs. This healthcare law did nothing to deal with the fundamental problem, which is the cost of care."

Ruling Could Impact Healthcare Reforms Made Independent Of ACA. The Washington Post Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (6/18, Rau) reports that "changes that hospitals, doctors and insurers had been moving toward even before" the Affordable Care Act could be "halted" or "hobbled" if the Supreme Court rules parts of the law unconstitutional. The changes "include increasing the role of primary care, especially for low-income patients; forcing hospitals and doctors to work together closely; and reducing pay to hospitals if they don't meet patients' expectations or outcome benchmarks set by the government."

Ruling Could Also Eliminate "Lucrative Pool Of Patients." The Washington Times Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (6/18, Cunningham) says "if the justices uphold the part of the Affordable Care Act requiring insurers to cover patients with pre-existing conditions, insurance companies would suffer a blow, but doctors, hospitals and drugmakers would find themselves with more insured, high-need patients." But if the reforms are struck down, "healthcare providers could lose out on a lucrative pool of patients they had been counting on under the original deal."

USA Today Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (6/16, Mullaney) reported, "From Wall Street, the decision's potential impact on health care - and the health care business - looks huge. Barclays Capital analyst Joshua Raskin says some health insurance stocks might drop 30% if the court throws out the entire law." The piece notes that "Medical inflation, while moderating, continues to outpace general inflation, driving fiscal problems for states and for Washington. At the same time, health care remains a tough business: Bond-rating agency Moody's says non-profit hospitals, which control most of the US market, have their lowest revenue growth in 50 years."

The Fort Myers (FL) News-Press Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (6/16, King) reports on the decision's impact in Florida. The piece notes, "A ruling that upholds the entire law might kick-start efforts to set up health exchanges for consumers, identify as many as 2 million uninsured Floridians who will be newly eligible for Medicaid and dish out millions in insurance rebates to individuals and businesses." Meanwhile, "A ruling that declares the entire law unconstitutional could trigger the removal of young adults from their parents' health insurance policies, the dismantling of a special health insurance pool set up for several thousand Floridians who couldn't get insurance elsewhere and an end to discounts in prescription drug costs for seniors."

       

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Grand Rounds Thursday June 14

Please plan on attending Grand Rounds Thurs June 14th at 11 a.m. Maguire Bldg 3rd floor Preventive Medicine Library-Maywood campus

Speaker: Howard Bolnick, The Vitality Group

Title: How much can workplace wellness programs really save?
Overview: Workplace wellness programs have become increasingly popular despite large inconsistencies in the analyses of their ability to produce long-term medical care savings. This aim of study is to clarify this situation by estimating potential long-term medical care savings. We combined data from the Global Burden of Disease Study and Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys to estimate the annual savings that could result from lowering risk factors typically managed by workplace wellness programs to their theoretical minimums, which could reduce average annual costs per working age adult by 18.4%.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Dr. Jen Layden is a new faculty at Loyola.

Dr. Layden holds a joint appointment in the Division of Infectious Disease and Department of Preventive Medicine.  We are excited to have her join the Public Health Program. She gave an excellent talk on racial disparities in liver transplant recipients with hepatitis C.  Below is a slide from her presentation. 




Welcome Dr. Layden

Loyola to Host First Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital 5K Race/Walk and Children’s Character Competition


Kate and Claire Wild spent their first few weeks of life in Loyola University Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The girls were born two months early after their mom, Jennifer, went into premature labor.
Thanks to the care they received in the NICU, the girls thrived and are now healthy 13-year-olds. The Wild twins will return to Loyola on Sunday, June 10, along with many other NICU graduates to attend the inaugural Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital 5k Race/Walk and Children’s Character Competition.
Kate will sing the national anthem while Claire will sound the starting gun to kick off the race. The race will take place at 8 a.m. at the Loyola Outpatient Center located at 2160 S. First Ave. in Maywood, Ill. Race proceeds will benefit the NICU renovation.
“We are so grateful for the care our girls received at Loyola that we look forward to giving back to help other families who are faced with the daunting situation of having a child in the NICU,” Jennifer Wild said.
The 5K Race/Walk will be followed by a Children’s Character Competition at 9 a.m. Area sports mascots and characters will be on hand to entertain kids as they race. Children ages 4 years and younger will run a 50-yard dash; 5 – 6-year-olds will run a 100-yard dash and 7 – 10-year-olds will complete a half-mile run.
The race will begin outside of the Loyola Outpatient Center and will travel through a scenic, flat course along private, closed streets on the Loyola and Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital (Hines) campuses. Digital timing and scoring will be available along with water and sports replenishment drinks at two aid stations along the race route.
Runners will receive a commemorative T-shirt, and children will get a custom-made ribbon. Entertainment and refreshments will be provided following the race.
Registration: Participants can register: online at loyolamedicine5k.org; through the mail; in person at the Loyola Outpatient Center during packet pickup; or on the morning of the race. Paper entry forms and fees must be mailed to Loyola University Health System, Office of Development, 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood, IL 60153. Mailed entries must be postmarked by June 1. No entry confirmations will be sent. All entries received will be automatically registered into the event.
Entry Fees: The 5K Race/Walk entry fee is $25 through June 7. From June 8 -10, the fee is $30. The Children’s Character Competition entry fee is $10.
Packet Pickup: In-person registration and packet pickup will take place at the Loyola Outpatient Center on the south end of campus from:
2 to 7 p.m. on Friday, June 8
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 9
6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 10
About the NICU: Loyola University Medical Center has a Level III perinatal center, which includes the NICU. More than 18,000 infants have been cared for in the NICU since the unit opened its doors in 1987. These patients have included the world’s smallest surviving baby, born at 9.2 ounces in 2004, and more than 3,000 newborns who have weighed less than 2 pounds. The overall survival rate of infants in LUHS’ NICU is 98 percent. The unit has become a national leader in neonatal care. This experience and knowledge allows Loyola to provide the highest level of care for high-risk infants.