At a press conference today, the World Health Organization announced the first full-blown flu pandemic in 41 years. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan declared the pandemic “globally as being moderate in severity” and a spokesman stated that the term pandemic refers to the “measure of the spread of the virus, not the severity of the virus.” Still however, the pandemic is not to be taken lightly. Chan noted: “This virus is entirely new and it is spreading easily. As of today, nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported from 74 countries. With few exceptions, countries with large numbers of cases have good surveillance and procedures in place. Further spread is considered inevitable.” Surprisingly, the virus affect mostly younger people between the ages of 30 and 50. Chan stated: “This pattern is significantly different from other epidemics of seasonal flu, in which most deaths are in frail, elderly people. Most severe cases have been in people with underlying chronic conditions, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, auto-immune disorders and obesity.” The pandemic is generally not considered life threatening as Chan told the audience “he overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms and make a rapid and full recovery. Worldwide, the number of deaths is small. Every death is tragic, and we have to brace for more.” In wealthy countries, especially, the pandemic is not considered very threatening at all to its citizens.
The issue of course lies in less wealthy countries, where health standards and regulations are not nearly as structured and extensive. Chan made it clear in the conference that all countries need to come together and help each other through this global issue. Chan noted: “Calling a pandemic is also a signal to the international community: This is a time where the world’s countries, rich or poor, big or small, must come together to make sure that no countries, because of poor resources, should be left behind without help.” Mexico has had many surprising and unpredictable outbreaks of the virus, but Chan told reporters that Mexico is coming to a “steady state.” They are only seeing “sporadic cases and small outbreaks. This virus is very unpredictable. This doesn’t mean Mexico should let down its guard. The virus can come back in a second wave.” While the disease is not a severe threat to wealthy countries like the United States, it is the duty of every country to do what it can to help prevent this disease from becoming a significant global problem.

When people think of Global Positioning System (GPS) phones, they usually picture a cellular phone that can be used to get to different places when driving. Now, recently after Japan’s largest cell phone carrier Softbank Mobile made a deal with Aoyama Gakuin University to provide iPhone 3Gs to 1,000 students in order to keep track of their attendance to classes using the phone’s GPS, a new test is being planned.

Softbank Mobile now plans to give 1,000 elementary-school students GPS phones in an effort to see how cell phones with GPS capabilities can track the spread of an infectious disease and stop it from becoming a pandemic. This government-backed test is a part of the effort to promote Japan’s internet and cellular communications to new users.

The experiment uses a highly contagious virtual illness which will “infect” several students at some time in the near future. The movements of those students will then be tracked via their cell phones and compared with the movements of other students in order to determine which children have crossed paths with the infected students and may have contracted the disease. Parents of the infected students will be sent messages by cell phone on how to treat the illness and what doctors to visit. Other details about the test are still being worked out.

The Japanese government hopes the test will should how infections can be more controllable in real-world situations if an infectious disease proved to be threatening. However, the test also presents controversy over privacy issues since the government and corporations would have access to and be constantly recording private information regarding people’s whereabouts.

Beginning July 1, a new law in South Dakota will expand the South Dakota High Risk Pool to children with preexisting conditions that may not be able to get coverage any other way.

The law will help to cover approximately 455 children that are under the age of 19 who are considered medically uninsurable.  Governor Mike Rounds explains that “Every child in South Dakota should have health insurance, and now every child can. The South Dakota High Risk Pool will begin taking applications today for children who have been without health care coverage.”

The open enrollment period is from July 1 through August 29 and allows any child who has been without health insurance coverage for 12 months or longer can enroll without a pre-existing condition waiting period. Other requirements include:

Younger than 19
U.S. citizens
South Dakota residents

Monthly premiums range from $125 to $240 a month for children who qualify for the South Dakota Risk Pool. Deductibles range from $1,000 to $10,000 a year.

Though 455 children does not seem like a lot, especially compared to the 200,000 uninsured children in the state of South Dakota, but it’s a start and South Dakota is definitely making a positive stand for uninsured children.

The commonwealth of Massachusetts may soon drastically change the ways doctors and hospitals are paid. Under the current system, health care providers are paid on a negotiated fee for each individual procedure. Massachusetts has created a commission attempting to completely revamp this system; they are proposing a system in which each patient would have a set payment that would cover all their health care costs for an entire year. The “fee-for-service” system “has all the wrong incentives,” said Dolores Mitchell, a member of the Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System and head of the state employees’ insurance program. “It encourages excessive use and does nothing to discourage waste. People know the system has been dysfunctional for years.” While the plan seems to have the good intentions of lowering health care costs in the state, the idea is not practical. First, and most obviously, the idea does not make sense because medical costs are very difficult to structure under one fixed rate. As Dr. James Mongan, president of Partners HealthCare, the state’s largest hospital and physician network stated in early May: “Most of the healthcare system is not structured in a way that could really work out a very rational global payment system.” If doctors and hospitals are supposed to stay under their budget, should physicians refuse to give care to those who have already exceeded their “fixed payment?” Also, what if there is an emergency incident where a patient needs a procedure that would cost much more than their fixed rate? The biggest problem I see, however, is that the government will have much too large of an influence on the health choices of individuals. Who is the government to determine what procedures each person needs? Those choices should still be left up to the patients’ physicians. While the government may view some of the procedures unnecessary, they are not the experts in healthcare. Doctors need to be able to make their informed choices and not operate under fixed payment plans in order to perform the best care for their patients.

The common belief that exercise increases metabolism is untrue. Since exercise does not increase the body’s ability to burn fat after a workout, there must be more to weight loss than regular exercise. Caloric intake, taken from food eaten throughout the day holds just as much importance in losing and maintaining a healthy weight as does exercise.

A person who replaces the calories they burn while exercising by eating more is in all truth no better off than someone who did not exercise, at least in regard to weight loss. Exercise does not lead to the burning of excess calories after a workout. However, some experts still suggest that longer and harder workouts combined with a greater variety of exercise can lead to a better post-workout fat burn.

However, the #1 secret to weight loss comes down to simple math: a person has to burn more calories than they intake to loss weight. In order to loss a pound a pound of fat, a person has to lose 3,500 calories, whether by exercise, diet or both. For example, by reducing caloric intake by 500 calories a day through exercise or diet, a person can lose a pound a week. Once weight does come off it is a matter of maintaining a healthy lifestyle by eating well and exercising regularly. Of course, some people may require more exercise than others in order to keep the weight off.

WellCare was accused for falsely inflating expenditure information submitted to Florida Medicaid between 2002 and 2006. Money that was supposed to be used to provide medical services for Florida health care programs, WellCare kept for itself.

The U.S. Attorney’s office and WellCare Health Plans Inc. came to an agreement this year in order for WellCare to avoid fraud conviction. WellCare agreed to pay $80 million; $40 million in restitution to Florida agencies and $40 million in civil forfeiture. WellCare also accepts full responsibility for their actions, agreed to pay an independent monitor to review its operations, and agreed to fully cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation.

WellCare has already paid $35.2 million, agrees to pay another $25 million by Sunday, and the remaining $19.8 million by the end of the year. As long as WellCare complies with all health care laws and regulations, the agreement can be cut down to two years from three.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hopes that this agreement will serve as a warning to all committing or thinking of committing Medicaid fraud.

To read the full article, go to http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/05/04/daily25.html

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,” Barack Obama said today after taking the oath of office as the nation’s 44^th president.

Over 2 million people came to DC to see the swearing in of this country’s first African American president. It is a day that will go down in history. His speech captured many peoples’ hearts and helped us to believe that change for our country is coming. He acknowledged all of the real challenges we face today including the state of our economy that calls for action to create new jobs, and to lay a new foundation for growth.  He then goes on to speak about the restoration of science that needs to take place as well as raising health care’s quality and lower its cost.

Health care is a huge priority for Obama and his cabinet. He has a three part plan for reforming our nation’s health care system.

The first part is to give all Americans access to affordable health coverage. This new health plan would be a public health insurance plan similar to that of federal employees. Regardless of any citizen’s health status, it would be available to everyone at an affordable premium.  In addition to a public health plan, there would be a service (National Health Insurance Exchange) that would help Americans find private health insurance plans. Also, there would be an individual mandate for children.

The second part to Obama’s health care system is the implementation of reforms to help lower health costs and improve health care quality. Obama wants to provide federal funding assistance to business with high-risk employees. He also believes that health care spending can be reduced by improving health care quality in cases such as preventing medical errors, implementing disease management programs, reforming medical malpractice, and promoting health information technology.

The third part is to promote health and wellness. Obama supports increasing federal spending for efforts to address childhood obesity, education for healthcare professionals, and individual and community incentives to help Americans make healthful choices.

With a new president sworn into office today, we should expect a positive change for our country.