Health Beat: Feb. 15 Deadline Approaching For ACA Enrollment
by February 4, 2015 7:19 am 98 views
Editor’s note: Each Wednesday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Health Beat,” a round-up of health-related topics in our email newsletter, which you can sign up to receive daily for free here.
COVERING MEASLES
Between a federal vote to once again repeal the Affordable Care Act and Arkansas lawmakers actions to end/preserve the Private Option while examining other health care reforms, a major health care story hasn’t garnered as much local coverage. It has been in the national spotlight.
In a guest editorial for The Washington Post, Emory University professor Elena Conis examines the history of measles in the U.S. and why the latest outbreak may not be as simple as pointing fingers at anti-vaccination proponents.
“In the panic over measles’ spread in California and beyond, the public has been quick to blame vaccine refusers concentrated in wealthy, educated communities for being too ignorant to realize that measles can be a serious disease,” Conis writes.
“This charge, however, ignores the history of measles. It’s an intractable disease that, despite decades of vaccination, rebuffs our best efforts at elimination. And each time it flares up, its resurgence points out unresolved tensions between this country’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.'” Read more here.
FEB. 15 DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR ACA ENROLLMENT
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families notes that February 15 is the last day that consumers can sign up for health coverage through HealthCare.gov.
To help people get enrolled, the Arkansas Navigator Coalition is promoting events throughout the state during the last two weeks of the open enrollment period. Free in-person assistance is available to help people sign up. For a complete list of enrollment events happening around the state, visit www.enrolleventsarkansas.com.
MEDICAL INNOVATION, FOOD SAFETY FUNDING PROPOSED IN OBAMA BUDGET
While the President’s budget proposal was met with a dull thud in Congress, there is one silo likely to appeal across party lines in Arkansas.
President Obama is seeking $83.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services for a broad range of health care innovation efforts. The project categories range from speeding development of medical innovations to safeguarding the nation’s food supply.
The budget includes $4.9 billion for the Food and Drug Administration — a 9% increase over 2015 funding levels. That would include additional resources for the agency to continue to implement its far-reaching Food Safety Modernization Act, signed by President Obama in 2011, which aims to improve the safety of both imported and domestically produced foods. The White House also wants a new, single agency housed at HHS to oversee food safety.
ST. BERNARDS CANCER PROGRAM EARNS ACCREDITATION
The Cancer Program at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro has been accredited with commendation by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons as a comprehensive community cancer program. The “with commendation” signifies that the St. Bernards program exceeds standard requirements, the Northeast Arkansas hospital group said.
To earn three-year accreditation, a program must meet or exceed 34 quality care standards and must be evaluated every three years to ensure it maintains excellence in comprehensive patient-centered care.
“This assessment of our cancer program by an outside organization and the awarding of accreditation with commendation speaks to the fact that our cancer patients receive the highest level of care,” says Dr. Mazen Khalil, oncologist/hematologist at St. Bernards Clopton Clinic who serves as the St. Bernards cancer liaison physician with the Commission on Cancer.