Erie Family Health Center

Beats this week:

1) Next week is National Health Center Week and it is going to kick off with a bang! This Friday, Health and Human Service Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, is sitting down for a tele-town hall conference with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) to discuss Health Center Program and the Affordable Care Act.

2) Still trying to decide what to do for National Health Center Week? Lucky for you NACHC is keeping a great list. Check out all the awesome events going on in Illinois next week.

3) Sad news for Illinoisans: more Illinois residents are using food stamps than ever before. An estimated 780,000 Illinois families are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), up nearly 12% from the year prior.

4) Happy (kind of) Birthday ARRA funds!  After a year of having American Recovery and Reinvestment funds in our pockets, community health centers have provided care to approximately 2.1 million new patients! This is quite an accomplishment considering the goal was to provide care to 2.9 million new users over two years!

5) It is the news story that just keeps unfolding: Governor Quinn announced today the last of the planned cuts to the Illinois state budget. The new cuts include school transportation grants, operating funds for psychiatric hospitals and developmental centers, and a subsidy to Peoria’s Wildlife Prairie Park.

Beats this week:

1) Happy Fiscal Year 2011 blogosphere! Unfortunately, for some in Illinois, this new fiscal year brings a great deal of unhappiness. On July 1, Governor Quinn held a press conference in which he laid out nearly $1.4 billion in cuts to the state budget.

2) This week President Obama made a key recess appointment, placing Dr. Donald Berwick in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The appointment of this position is even more important than before because of health care reform’s impact on the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

3) Around 40 million doses the swine flu vaccine (around $260 million worth) are set to be destroyed in the United States because they have expired. And that’s not the end of it: another 30 million doses are still available but set to expire in the near future.

4) Starting out the summer with some pep in their step, the White House launched a new health care reform website for consumers on July 1. This new website is part of an overall strategy to use the internet and social media as a means to inform people about health care reform. Earlier this week, the White House used their YouTube page to solicit questions from constituents about health care reform, which were then answered by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earlier today.

5) Twitter and the blogosphere have been abuzz lately with health care folks linking to and discussing the pros and cons of electronic medical records. Erie was even featured in one of the many news stories that came out within the last week. Check us out in the Chicago Sun-Times over the weekend!

Beats this week:

1) The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation released its annual report on obesity this week and the results for Illinois are not great: over the last year the percentage of obese adults has risen to 26.6% percent, up one whole percentage point from the year before. This places Illinois 26th in the nation for adult obesity.

2) Today the New York Times homepage included a story about the crisis of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program across the country. Increased demand because of unemployment and lack of insurance is too much for a system that continues to see cuts in funding. In Florida, the ADAP program has closed its doors to new clients and has chosen not to start a waiting list.

3) A study released this week claims that the diabetes drug, Avandia, has a higher risk of causing heart risks, strokes and deaths in older people than other diabetes medications. The release of this study comes two weeks before the FDA’s hearings on the safety of the drug.

4) Happy end of the fiscal year! Today is the last day of the fiscal year for the state of Illinois and we still do not have a budget in place. According to news sources, at an early morning press conference tomorrow Governor Quinn will outline the cuts that will be included in the new fiscal year budget. We are still staying tuned.

5) A recent tracking poll done by Kaiser Health has found that health care reform law is picking up support. In the last month health care reform has improved its approval rating by 7 points, with 48% of Americans having a favorable view of the legislation.

Beats this week:

1) Over the summer, many children who normally received free or reduced lunch from their school now find themselves with less to eat. Check out this great story about some local food pantries that are attempting to meet the need to feed Chicagoland children during the summer. And the bonus is that they are super healthy lunches!

2) Today, Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius announced a new $250 million investment that will aim to develop new medical providers. This program, which was created using Affordable Care Act funds, will help ease the shortage of primary care providers by training and developing nearly 16,000 new medical providers over the next five years.

3) More sad news for the state of Illinois: for the second time in a little more than a week, the credit rating for Illinois has been downgraded due to the state’s inability to balance the budget. Currently, the only state with a worse rating than Illinois is California.

4)  In April, Health Beats reported on an announcement of a plan from the FDA that would reduce the amount of salt consumed by Americans. Well, nearly two months later over one dozen major US food companies have announced they will voluntarily reduce the level of salt in the foods they produce. That’s right, in the next few years you can expect to see the sodium levels decrease in Heinz ketchup!

5) Key delegations in the American Medical Association called for revisions to the AMA’s endorsement of health care reform this week. Specifically, these delegations would like the AMA to revise its stance on Medicare payment cuts, raise the doctor payment for Medicaid and enact sweeping liability reform.

Beats this week:

1) A report released today from the American Heart Association analyzed the amount of physical education required in schools across the United States. The report, which was released in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education found that while more states are requiring students to take physical education, few actually require students to exercise for a specific amount of time.

2) Attention all community health data enthusiasts: this week Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius revealed further details about the new Community Health Data Initiative. Under this initiative HHS health data will be made freely available so that software developers can create innovative applications and make the data more useful for consumers and communities.

3) The Illinois legislature has spoken: budget cuts for Illinois will be decided by Governor Quinn. As such, Quinn is now facing the tough challenge of determining what gets slashed in the FY2011 budget for Illinois. On the chopping block: social services, education and health care. Quinn is keeping mum on what he plans to cut but stated that he hoped to release further details within the month and through the summer. Again, stay tuned!

4) This week, the Chicago Dental Society’s blog, Open Wide, wrote about two Illinois programs that provide orthodontia care to patients whose parents are unable to afford the expensive care. Way to go to the Illinois Society of Orthodontists and Smiles Change Lives for their amazing work!

5) The Swiss company, Novartis, announced disappointing news this week: its new ovarian cancer drug will not be moving to the market. The company had hoped the medication, called patupilone, would be more effective than other drugs for advanced cervical cancer patients, however, the late-stage trial proved that it did not.

Beats this week:

1) Did you know that today is Senior Health and Fitness Day? It most certainly is! The last Wednesday in May is reserved for promoting the need to help older Americans stay healthy and fit.  This year, around 100,000 older adults will participate in activities at more than 1,000 locations throughout the U.S. for the 17^th Annual Senior Health and Fitness Day.

2) A report released recently from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only one in five children in America live within half a mile from a park. The report also reveals other alarming statistics, such as the fact that less than one in five U.S. high school students get at least an hour of physical activity a day.

3) The National Health Center for Statistics handed down some good news this week: for the second year in a row, premature birth rates have dropped. This decrease held true for all age groups and races, except for women over 40. Despite these overall decreases, large disparities still exist for minority populations.

4) The Illinois House passed an emergency budget yesterday for the state of Illinois. The budget relies mainly on the following: borrowing and currently undefined spending cuts (to be defined by Governor Quinn). It is still unclear how the state plans to pay backlogged bills. Not found in the budget are new ways to increase revenue. Stay tuned as the Springfield drama continues to unfold!

5) A recent article published in Health Affairs outlines the differences of income for a cardiologist and a primary care physician over a lifetime. The results are staggering: ‘Their calculations showed that cardiologists earn a career average of more than $5 million, compared with $2.5 million for primary care physicians.’ Perhaps this is why we have a shortage of primary care doctors?

Bonus Beat! This week we have a bonus beat!

A study conducted by the RAND Corp. found that pay for performance programs may actually have the potential to worsen health disparities. Essentially, the study claims that if physicians are paid for the medical performance of their patients then they might actually avoid providing care in areas that could potentially experience lower health status outcomes.

Beats this week:

1) School vending machines could see a drastic change to their contents in the near future. A provision of the Children Nutrition Act passed by the U.S. Senate would allow for regulation of the food served in the school, as well as the vending machines. Crispy edamame, bananas and flavored organic water could be some of the items available in school vending machines.

2) Over ten days has passed since the Illinois Legislature adjourned without passing a budget for the state. So the question remains, what is left to be debated? Progress Illinois breaks it down for us here.

3) Researchers at Harvard released a study this week that claims exposure to pesticides may increase the occurrence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Specifically, the researchers found that relatively low-level exposure to common pesticides –probably from residues on foods – doubles the risk of developing ADHD.

4) The Health section of the New York Times featured a story this week about a physicians group in Philadelphia that provides primary care using a patient and prevention centered model, called patient-centered medical homes. The overall theme of the article: changing the way primary care is provided is difficult and expensive but it is absolutely necessary.

5) The debate on whether cell phones cause cancer still continues this week with the release of a study funded by the United Nations, which had inconclusive results according to most experts. While the study did find a minimal link between cell phone use and a rare form of brain cancer, the researchers concluded that because cancer can take years and decades to develop – sometimes longer than cell phones have been around– it is difficult to completely ascertain all of the risks. And the debate continues…

Beats this week:

1) Last week, the Illinois Legislature adjourned without passing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.  Despite the lack of consensus, Governor Quinn says that lawmakers are close to passing a new budget. Meanwhile, vendors across the state, including schools and universities, are unsure of how to plan for the upcoming fiscal year without a state budget in place.

2) A study recently released suggests that it is not uncommon for patients to receive inaccurate or confusing Spanish translations from pharmacies when they pick up their prescriptions. This can lead to improper administration of medications.

3) Celebrity chef Rachael Ray made her way to Capitol Hill this week to talk with legislators about improving the quality of school lunches. Ray’s visit also included a visit to the White House to take a look at the First Lady’s garden.

4) Speaking of the First Lady, Michelle Obama released the guidelines this week for her childhood obesity prevention program, Let’s Move! Some highlights include placing an emphasis on maintaining a healthy weight during pregnancy and urging restaurants to consider more moderate portion sizes.

5) This week is National Women’s Health Week, which is an observance that aims to empower women to make health their top priority. Check out some information from Erie partner Northwestern Memorial Hospital about the importance of this week.

Update 6:30pm – The House has adjourned without passing a budget. Throughout the day, the House debated many issues, including a cigarette tax, the state pension system and state spending cuts but no agreements could be made. Speaker Michael Madigan was quoted saying: “When we are prepared to finish our business, we’ll come back to Springfield for one or two days — hopefully no more.” I guess we will all have to see how this all plays out.

Today the Illinois State Legislature is set to adjourn for the summer. In the last few days both the Senate and the House have been working quickly to pass a budget before the end of the session. Finally, last night at around 1:00am the Senate passed SB1211 by a vote of 31-26. The House still needs to pass this bill before it goes the Governor Quinn for his signature. Here is a brief breakdown of the key components of the budget:

Money Saving Efforts

- Suspends payments to the state pension system until January

- Extends the lapse period to pay state vendors

Revenue Raising Efforts

- A tax amnesty that would allow people to pay back-taxes without penalty (this would raise around $250 million)

- Creates a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes (this would raise around $320 million)

- Cash in on a portion of the state’s tobacco settlement (this could raise upwards of $1.2 billion but it is considered a form of borrowing)

- More borrowing

If this form of the budget is passed in the House, then the responsibility of deciding what gets cut from the budget will fall to Governor Quinn. Rather than specifying what is cut in the budget, this bill provides Governor Quinn with that task.  It is also unclear just how much he will need to cut. Currently, Illinois is behind on payments to state vendors, owing around $5.5 billion, give or take by the end of June.

For over three hours today, House Democrats were engaged in a closed-door caucus with Governor Quinn before returning to a regular session to debate the budget. Just before 3:30pm today, the House defeated a bill that would allow the state to borrow money in order to make payments to the state pension system (rather than delaying payments until January). Some Democrats are now stating that it is unlikely that session will end tonight.

Continue checking in with Beats Per Minute as the day goes on for more updates on the Illinois budget.

Beats this week:

1) An estimated15,000 people converged on the Capitol today in Springfield to show support for Governor Quinn’s proposed tax increase. If the crowd estimates are correct, this would be the largest Capitol protest since the Equal Rights Amendment protests over 25 years ago.  The rally, which is being called ‘Save Our State,’ seeks to create a responsible budget by increasing tax revenue rather than cutting services.

2) The Food and Drug Administration announced a plan to reduce the amount of salt that is consumed by Americans. The FDA will begin by requesting a voluntary reduction in sodium levels from the food industry and then possibly creating a mandate later down the line.

3) This week President Obama handed down an order to his Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to begin drafting rules that would require hospitals receiving Medicaid and Medicare payments to allow all patients to designate what individuals can visit them and consult with them on medical decisions. This move is being hailed as a victory for same sex couples who often experience challenges when it comes to consulting with their partner on medical decisions.

4) Earlier this week, Michelle Obama made a stop at a community farm in California on her way back from her first solo trip abroad. The tour at the New Roots Community Farm was meant to highlight her new childhood obesity prevention campaign, Let’s Move! 

5) Three large insurance companies – UnitedHealthcare, Wellpoint and Humana – all took steps this week to begin implementing health care reform legislation months ahead of time. These three insurance companies are going to allow adults under age 26 to be covered under their parent’s insurance until September 23, when they are guaranteed coverage under health care reform legislation. This decision comes at an ideal time for students graduating this Spring who are without job placements.