Although patients may not know it, ACOs are increasingly on their team, aiming to provide better care at lower costs

This Week's Healthcare Online News
Healthcare Info Security
Data Registry Gives Patients Control
Apr,01,2013
by+Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
The health advocacy group Genetic Alliance on April 5 will unveil a registry designed to enable patients to control how health information is shared with researchers. Spokesman Greg Biggers discusses privacy measures.

"The idea is to provide a place for the individual to control everything about [their health] data," Biggers explains about the worldwide health and disease registry, known as Reg4All.

In managing the privacy of their health information, patients choose the settings for what researchers and others can and can't do with their data. Participants also can designate whether researchers can contact them to participate in clinical studies.
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Modern Healthcare.com
Although patients may not know it, ACOs are increasingly on their team, aiming to provide better care at lower costs
Mar,29,2013
by:+Joe Carlson
It was the pain that woke him. Jack Fisher, 60, recently moved into his night-darkened living room to play a hand-held video game, using the animated characters to distract him from the throbbing in his toes and legs. But unlike in years past, he knew that in a few hours he would be able to call his case manager, who would then arrange an immediate visit to one of the half-dozen doctors who treat his diabetes, emphysema, heart disease and complex regional pain syndrome.
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Modern Healthcare A.M.
Some states can steer Medicaid funds to exchanges
Mar,31,2013
By:+Gregg Blesch
The Obama administration is showing willingness to let some states steer new Medicaid funding to private coverage in the new individual insurance marketplaces in order meet the coverage goals of the healthcare reform law.

The CMS will consider granting a “limited number” of state waivers for demonstration that test what happens when states give Medicaid enrollees the option of taking a subsidy to buy a private plan, according to new guidance issued Friday.
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Med City News
One word, two meanings: Public health researchers push for clarity in talking about "population health" and ACOs
Mar,22,2013
by:+Deanna Pogorelc
Are accountable care organizations truly improving population health? According to two public health and policy researchers in the March 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, that depends on whose definition of “population health” you use.

The well-known goals for ACOs are to control healthcare costs, improve quality in healthcare and improve population health, Dr. Lawrence Casalino and Dr. Douglas Noble from the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College write in the article.
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WebDocsNetwork was created to make life easier, better, and most importantly, healthier. To re-distribute healthcare and improve quality and access for everyone. Our vision and mission is to provide people from all over the globe, access to U.S.
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Why bargain-basement Web hosting is a bad idea

This Week's Home/Small Business Online News
Huffington post
Which Web Host Should You Choose for Your Small Business?
Mar,27,2013
by+Jeff Hindenach
A website is essential to the success to any small business these days, even if your company has nothing to do with technology. Your website is your calling card, a place where most people will get their first impression of your business. If you want your business to stand out, you need a solid e-commerce tool (especially if you are selling things online), a useful and well-designed interface, and a reliable site that users can always access. A solid web hosting service can give you all three of those. So which web hosting is the best? Let's look at the options.
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Site Pro News
Twitter Launches New Advertising Options for Small Businesses
Mar,29,2013
by:+Adrienne Erin
Small businesses and large enterprises are now created equal – at least when it comes to advertising on Twitter. Twitter announced its new advanced advertising interface for small businesses and other self-service advertisers recently. It doesn’t matter if you’re operating a small online store or are the webmaster of a local car dealership, if you currently use Twitter Ads or have been invited to join, you now have an all access pass to powerful targeting and reporting tools. Prior to the announcement, these advanced options and reports were only available to big brands and big spenders.
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Small Business Newz
Online Essentials All Small Business Marketers Should Know
Mar,28,2013
By:+Lee Odden
As new businesses are started every day across the U.S., many of those entrepreneurs are grappling with the realities of how to market their ideas, products and services. Limited resources and an overabundance of options requires filtering and prioritization when it comes to where marketing investments are made, whether it’s content, blogging, social media, or SEO. Common questions include: What to measure? What if it fails? What should we outsource? Here are a few answers to those questions that I was asked as prep for an interview: What advice do you have for business owners or entrepreneurs who are staying out of blogging and/or social because they don’t feel they can produce enough content on a regular basis to keep things interesting?
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Forbes
Six Simple And Irresistible Alternatives To The Elevator Pitch
Mar,26,2013
by:+Carmine Gallo
“The purpose of the pitch isn’t necessarily to move others to adopt your idea, it’s to offer something so compelling it begins a conversation,” according to New York Times bestselling author, Daniel H. Pink. I recently talked to Pink about his new book, To Sell is Human, The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Pink says that today there more opportunities than ever to get your message out. Yet the traditional elevator metaphor of pitching (the 30 second pitch) is in need of a tune-up, especially in the digital marketplace of ideas. Pink and I talked about his “six successors to the elevator pitch.” You might want to consider some of these before pitching your next idea, product, company, or cause.
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WebDocsNetwork

We provide unlimited access to U.S. licensed physicians via web-cam, phone, or secure e-mail. Immediate access available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Being healthy should be a natural right that everyone is entitled to. Lack of access and information or financial limitations should never be allowed to further fuel the fear and uncertainty that prevents one from achieving their highest levels of health.
WebDocsNetwork was created to make life easier, better, and most importantly, healthier. To re-distribute healthcare and improve quality and access for everyone. Our vision and mission is to provide people from all over the globe, access to U.S.
licensed, board-certified physicians. Healthcare when you need it, where you need it. We provide individuals unlimited real-time, immediate interaction with a national network of physicians via web-cam. phone or secure e-mail. Access 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

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Tel: 773-758-0007
http://www.webdocsnetwork.com/chicago

Report: Obamacare family ‘glitch’ could price millions out of healthcare coverage

This Week's Healthcare Online News
Modern Healthcare.com
Doctor-approved:As health apps flourish, hospitals are beginning to sanction some for patients
Mar,23,2013
by+Jaimy Lee
Some hospitals are beginning to develop formulary-like lists of smartphone and tablet applications acceptable for use in clinical settings as more patients and physicians incorporate medical apps into their care regimens.
Carolinas HealthCare System, which owns, leases or manages 23 hospitals in North and South Carolina, and St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, a six-hospital system based in Houston, are both forming “app formularies” that will utilize an app certification program. The program was created by Happtique, a mobile health apps marketplace owned by GNYHA Ventures, the for-profit arm of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
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iHealthBeat
Report: Remote Patient Monitoring Market To See Continued Growth
Mar,25,2013
by:+Staff
The remote patient monitoring market grew by nearly 20% from 2011 to 2012, and the market is expected to continue growing over the next several years, according to a report by Kalorama Information, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports.
Details of the Report
For the report, researchers analyzed the market for remote patient monitoring-related technology, which includes:
Applications and equipment for data processing;
Applications and equipment for transferring patient monitoring data into electronic health records;
Wireless and remote patient monitoring systems.
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Med City News
Report: Obamacare family ‘glitch’ could price millions out of healthcare coverage
Mar,26,2013
By:+Tom Brown
MIAMI (Reuters) - Millions of Americans will be priced out of health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul because of a glitch in the law that adversely affects people with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by their employers, a leading healthcare advocacy group said on Tuesday.
Tax credits are a key component of the law and the White House has said the credits, averaging about $4,000 apiece, will help about 18 million individuals and families pay for health insurance once the Affordable Care Act takes full effect, beginning in January 2014.
The tax credits are geared toward low and middle-income Americans who do not have access to affordable health insurance coverage through an employer. The law specifies that employer-sponsored insurance is affordable so long as a worker's share of the premium does not exceed 9.5 percent of the worker's household income.
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Modern Healthcare AM
Value-based insurance plans gain momentum
Mar,26,2013
by:+Jonathan Block
The movement among employers to push insurers to adopt health plan benefit designs that improve medical outcomes without raising costs is slowly gathering steam, according to an employer coalition pushing payment reform.
While only 11% of payments that commercial insurers made to in-network providers in 2012 were “value-oriented,” according to a survey from Catalyst for Payment Reform, that's more than halfway to its goal of 20%, which the group hopes to attain by 2020.
The numbers suggest there is reason to believe the insurance industry and providers can achieve the coalition's goal, said Suzanne Delbanco, executive director of the not-for-profit coalition of employer groups, which issued its first-ever National Scorecard on Payment Reform.
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WebDocsNetwork

We provide unlimited access to U.S. licensed physicians via web-cam, phone, or secure e-mail. Immediate access available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Being healthy should be a natural right that everyone is entitled to. Lack of access and information or financial limitations should never be allowed to further fuel the fear and uncertainty that prevents one from achieving their highest levels of health.
WebDocsNetwork was created to make life easier, better, and most importantly, healthier. To re-distribute healthcare and improve quality and access for everyone. Our vision and mission is to provide people from all over the globe, access to U.S.
licensed, board-certified physicians. Healthcare when you need it, where you need it. We provide individuals unlimited real-time, immediate interaction with a national network of physicians via web-cam. phone or secure e-mail. Access 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Affiliate Program
How would you like to save money on you and your family's Doctor's visit while helping other and make extra income. Then become a Web Docs Network Affiliate.
As an affiliate once you sign up three people your services are FREE
Contact:
Keith Berggren
Tel: 773-758-0007
http://www.webdocsnetwork.com/chicago

What Type of EHR Data Do U.S. Physicians Believe Patients Should Be Able To Update?

This Week's Healthcare Online News
iHealthbeat
What Type of EHR Data Do U.S. Physicians Believe Patients Should Be Able To Update?
Mar,20,2013
by+Staff
Seventy-nine percent of surveyed U.S. doctors say that patients should be able to update all demographic information in their electronic health record, according to a recent report from Accenture. The report found that 16% of surveyed U.S. doctors say that patients should be able to update some demographic information in their EHR and 5% say that patients should not have the ability to update any demographic data.
Sixty-seven percent of surveyed U.S. doctors say that patients should be able to update all family history information in their EHR, while 21% say that patients should be able update some family history data and 12% say that patients should not have the ability to update any family history information.
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Fierce Health Payer
Less than 1% of premiums go toward quality improvement
Mar,22,2013
by:+Dina Overland
Insurers spent less than 1 percent of premiums, amounting to only $29 per member, to improve healthcare quality in 2011 under the reform law's medical-loss ratio provision, according to a new study. Based on MLRs, consumer rebates and quality improvement expenses, the Commonwealth Fund study determined insurers spent a total of $2.3 billion to directly improve quality. Of that amount, 17 percent went to health information technology, 51 percent to improving health outcomes, 13 percent to wellness, 10 percent to patient safety and 9 percent to preventing hospital readmissions.
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Med City News
From Florida to Minnesota to Colorado: Views of the Affordable Care Act at age 3
Mar,24,2013
By:+Kaiser Health News
As the health law marks its third anniversary, much of the action surrounding its implementation has shifted to the states. Hot topics include creation of health exchanges, the on-line marketplaces where consumers will be able to shop for insurance coverage, and the law’s Medicaid expansion, a key mechanism by which the overhaul will extend health care to millions of people who currently lack health insurance. We checked in with reporters on the ground in Colorado, Florida and Minnesota to find out what they view as the most significant developments to happen in their states since the law’s passage and what future challenges they see ahead.
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Modern Healthcare.com
Cutting out the middleman Systems buying and developing insurance plans
Mar,23,2013
by:+Melanie Evans
One of the nation's largest not-for-profit hospital operators is building its own insurance arm to sell health plans directly to employers. Catholic Health Initiatives, which operates more than six dozen hospitals in 17 states, has hired a half-dozen former insurance executives and acquired the majority stake in a Washington insurer under a push to prepare for coming changes to hospital and physician reimbursement structures. The changes will increase providers' financial risk in ways that policymakers hope will create new incentives to eliminate waste and improve overall healthcare quality.
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WebDocsNetwork

We provide unlimited access to U.S. licensed physicians via web-cam, phone, or secure e-mail. Immediate access available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Being healthy should be a natural right that everyone is entitled to. Lack of access and information or financial limitations should never be allowed to further fuel the fear and uncertainty that prevents one from achieving their highest levels of health.
WebDocsNetwork was created to make life easier, better, and most importantly, healthier. To re-distribute healthcare and improve quality and access for everyone. Our vision and mission is to provide people from all over the globe, access to U.S.
licensed, board-certified physicians. Healthcare when you need it, where you need it. We provide individuals unlimited real-time, immediate interaction with a national network of physicians via web-cam. phone or secure e-mail. Access 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Affiliate Program
How would you like to save money on you and your family's Doctor's visit while helping other and make extra income. Then become a Web Docs Network Affiliate.
As an affiliate once you sign up three people your services are FREE
Contact:
Keith Berggren
Tel: 773-758-0007
http://www.webdocsnetwork.com/chicago