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Week of February 24 - In Case You Missed It...TOMF Medical News Roundup

February 28, 2014

In Case You Missed It...
February 26, 2014

UA Trauma Center Gets Prime Time Treatment Tonight

Southern Arizona's only level one trauma center is the focus of a documentary tonight on PBS, channel 6, at 8 p.m. Film crews worked on the feature for over a year. Cameras follow first responders as they bring cases to the center, and concentrate on the people who make the system work. 

Of course, 8 p.m. tonight will be just about half time in the UA v. Cal basketball game. If you miss the documentary tonight, it will be repeated on channel 6, Feb 27, 7 p.m. and on March 1 at 6 p.m.

Heart to Heart Talk Tonight

"Sorting Out the Heart News You Can Use" is the title of a 60 minutes talk tonight at the Murphy-Wilmot Library tonight, beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Former nurse and now cardiologist Lori Mackstaller MD will speak.  The talk is free and no reservations are required.

ACA Enrollment in Pima County
February 26, 2014

The Cover Arizona Coalition’s 600+ members are dedicated to taking ACA enrollment assistance and enrollment event opportunities to a new level in March 2014, and it all starts on March 1st with a Day of Action. Click here for a list of the locations and a checklist of required items in Pima County.

 

In Case You Missed It...
February 27, 2014

ACA Impacts in Arizona

 Cover Arizona provides a newsletter that sums up news regarding the ACA each week.  Among the February 17 items:

  • Arizona ranks 15th best in getting people covered through the insurance exchange
  • 15th best means fewer than 4 percent of Arizona's uninsured, 43,496, have signed up and experts don't know how many of those has been insured in 2013 but lost insurance through ACA reforms
  • Nationwide, 20 percent of those who enroll didn't pay the first premium and did not receive coverage in January
  • AHCCCS, Arizona's Medicaid program, has done rather better, with 131,000 enrolled
  • This does not include 60,000 Arizonans who found they qualify for AHCCCS after applying through the marketplace and Arizona is still waiting for the feds to transfer those applications to the state
  • For some reason Arizona's 367,000 uninsured Hispanics are not signing up for either the marketplace of AHCCCS in expected numbers.

Other ACA Impacts Create Windfalls and Downdrafts

You don't often hear of the Affordable Care Act in the "Money and Investing" section in the Wall Street Journal, but this week that section discussed winners and losers - in financial terms.

 Among the winners, advertising firms.  They have had a nice boost from government ads and foresee growth in coming years as insurance companies vie for customers in the marketplace.  Also winning, IT firms and consulting IT firms.  Both have been in demand to help companies comply with ACA requirements and for insurance companies to meet increased demand.

Losers include health insurance companies.  They are not seeing young people sign up in the numbers they need.  Also in the losing category: 80 large firms that expect increased cost for insuring employees to be a drag on profits.

 

Pima County's Community Health Improvement Plan and TOMF
February 28, 2014

Pima County’s Health Improvement Plan: Healthy Pima

Our region is in the middle of a four-year experiment.  It tests whether the community can define its most important public health challenges and then tackle them, as a community, rather than rely on government and large health providers.  Tucson Osteopathic Medical Foundation, through its Executive Director, has been part of the planning process since 2010.  The 2013-2017 health improvement plan looks like:

Healthy Pima Chart

Each priority area has different objectives, measurements and goals.  TOMF is heavily concentrated within the Healthy Lifestyles priority.  Staff members Nicole Struck, Ashleigh Day and Steve Nash attend separate monthly task force meetings with other community leaders to work on strategies to meet four objectives.

1.      Increase access to resources and healthy options that support physical health and wellness

2.      Increase access to resources that support behavioral health and wellness

3.      Increase access to interpersonal violence prevention programs and resources

4.      Establish new and improve current built environment and green infrastructure that support healthy lifestyles

 None of this is easy, but because the community planned it, willing hands are working hard to make headway.  Duplicative efforts are prevented and agency long-range plans are changed to ensure we are ALL working in the same direction.

Click here to view the Community Health Improvement Plan.

 

In Case You Missed It...
February 28, 2014

Newly Insured and Bugged?

If you bought a health insurance plan in the Arizona marketplace and are suddenly besieged with requests for information about your health - including gift card offers from local stores - don't despair.  This is not some sneaky way to throw you off the rolls because of a pre-existing condition.  Instead, health plans are trying to figure out what conditions you do have in order to price premiums for 2015.  Under the Affordable Care Act 2015 premiums must be submitted this spring.

Good Conference

 

Tucson Osteopathic Medical Foundation was proud to be one of the community sponsors at the packed Annual Conference on Successful Aging held at the Hilton Doubletree February 21.

This year, the conference focused on promoting successful aging and brain health. 
  • Understanding Symptoms, Causes, and Risks for Alzheimer's Disease (Gene E. Alexander, Ph.D.)
  • Better Brain Aging Through Less Falls (G. Alexander Hishaw, M.D.)
  • Decreasing Risk for Alzheimer's Disease Through Diet and Nutrition (Lee Ryan, Ph.D.)
  • The Benefits of Social Engagement for Maintaining Cognitive Health (Matthias Mehl, Ph.D., Betty Glisky, Ph.D.)
  • Caregiving: Providing Care While Managing Stress (David Coon, Ph.D.)
  • New and Promising Therapies for Alzheimer's Disease (Geoffrey Ahern, M.D.)  

Copies of the slides can be found by clicking here.