CalCPA ProtectPlus

On September 13, 2011, a national initiative was announced by Million Hearts to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next 5 years. Since one in three deaths occur in the United States due to heart disease, it is vital that we educate ourselves on the terrible disease. Over the next few months we will feature articles that will help educate readers on what heart disease is, as well as what cardiovascular disease and strokes are. We hope our readers will be able to learn what causes these conditions and what they can do to help prevent them.

The following is taken from http://millionhearts.hhs.gov.

Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are the co-leaders of Million Hearts within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, working alongside other federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Food and Drug Administration. Key private-sector partners include the American Heart Association, and YMCA, among others.

Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the United States. Million Hearts aims to improve heart disease and stroke prevention by:

• Improving access to effective care.
• Improving the quality of care.
• Focusing more clinical attention on heart attack and stroke prevention.
• Increasing public awareness of how to lead a heart-healthy lifestyle.
• Increasing the consistent use of high blood pressure and cholesterol medications.

Million Hearts brings together existing efforts and new programs to improve health across communities and help Americans live longer, healthier, more productive lives.

• Learn more about the science of Million Hearts in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
• Check out Million Hearts in Circulation, [PDF-286K] a journal of the American Heart Association
• See the Million Hearts perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine
• See the Million Hearts press release issued on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 [PDF-132K]

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Banyan Administrators continue to provide us with beneficial information about several different aspects of the Health Care Reform and how it affects us as well as other interesting health care facts. Over the next months and years, employers will be faced with numerous changes, many of which require regulatory clarification. Banyan will continue to keep us up to date and on target with decisions that affect our plans.

The following information is from Banyan Administrators, LLC:

What You Need to Know About: Enhanced Women’s Preventive Services

On 7/14/2010, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released the list of A and B services determined by the US Preventive Services Task Force. These preventive services were categorized by adult, women and pediatric services. In the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Interim Final Rules released on 7/19/2010, the DOL also stated that additional preventive services for women were still being debated for inclusion. On 8/1/2011, the DOL issued Interim Final Rules on Enhanced Women’s Preventive Services resulting in considerable media coverage particularly concerning oral contraceptives now being payable with no cost share, such as a copay. However, the actual implementation of the new preventive services provisions is more complicated and the rules are still subject to change.

1.  Does this health care reform provision apply to “grandfathered” plans?

No, grandfathered plans do not need to comply with this provision. If, in the future, your health plan loses its grandfathered status, this reform will apply to your plan.

A grandfathered plan can voluntarily choose to comply with the provision and when the 2010 list of preventive services were released in July, 2010, some grandfathered plans did choose to comply and provide some, if not all, of the preventive services on the list with no cost share to the participant. The DOL rules for enhanced women’s preventive services does not address this scenario so the opinion is that a grandfathered health plan can still voluntarily decide to provide some, or all, of the services listed with no cost share to the participant.

2.  What are the enhanced women’s preventive services?

In addition to the 15 women’s preventive services issued on 7/19/2010 that included anemia screenings, mammography screenings, cervical cancer screenings, etc., 8 additional preventive services have been added:

• Well-woman visits, annually
• Gestational diabetes screenings for pregnant women between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation and at first prenatal visit for pregnant women at high-risk of diabetes
• Human papillomavirus testing beginning at age 30 and no more frequently than once every 3 years
• Counseling for sexually transmitted infections, annually
• Counseling and screening for HIV, annually
• Contraceptive methods and counseling, as prescribed
• Breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling in conjunction with each birth
• Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence, annually (continue reading…)

News from Anthem Blue Cross:

Who needs one more thing to sort, file and recycle?  No one we know.

Give your mailbox and your recycle bin a well-deserved break – get your medical claim summaries online at anthem.com/ca. 

Right now, you’re getting your medical claim summaries (also called Claim Recaps or Explanation of Benefits [EOBs]) in the mail. The claim summary tells you how your benefits were paid and if you owe any part of the bill.

Sign up for paperless claim summaries today!

• Log in to anthem.com/ca
• Click on “Profile”
• Scroll down and select “Go Paperless”

Note: Going paperless applies only to your medical claims. You’ll still get paper claims for other types or services, like dental or vision care.

Join us in thinking outside the mail box!

Once you go paperless, you’ll get an email each time you have a new claim summary that’s ready to view. We’re happy to offer one more way to help keep your life and our planet a little less cluttered.

You’ll need to be registered to go paperless

If you’re already registered but haven’t been to the site in awhile you may need to register again. If you’ve never registered, now’s the time!

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If you haven’t been to the CalCPA ProtectPlus website lately, you have a surprise—a healthy surprise—in store. Reaching out to fulfill an important aspect of the Group Insurance Trust mission and foster the well-being of its members, a new “Wellness” feature on the ProtectPlus site opens up to an array of resources for information on diet, health, exercise, and treatment options.

A series of scrolling panels link to some of the most highly regarded sources of health information on the Web, including Healthy Women; WebMD, The American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association, and RealAge. Here is a sample of what you will find.

HealthyWomen

Sponsored by the nonprofit National Women’s Health Resource Center, HealthyWomen.org has a long history of providing unbiased and accurate health information. It was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by ForbesWoman. The site features information on a wide range of topics from pregnancy and reproductive health to diet, aging, and alternative medicine.

WebMD

One of the most popular health-oriented sites on the Internet, WebMD offers credible, in-depth medical news, features, reference material, and online community programs. Aiming to provide the most important and relevant health news each day, the site’s independent journalists draw upon medical journals, conferences, federal or state government actions, industry materials, and interviews with medical experts.

The American Heart Association

One of a group of sites created by the American Heart Association, Heart.org provides a wealth of information on cardiovascular diseases and stroke. In addition to explanations of heart-related health conditions, there are guidelines for caregivers and educators, resources for training in CPR and first aid, current research findings, and tips for healthy living.

American Diabetes Association

The official website of the American Diabetes Association, Diabetes.org offers a concise introduction to the basics of diabetes. It explains the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, describes the symptoms, provides tips on prevention, and offers solid tools for living with the disease. Additionally, there are links to community resources, research, and advocacy measures.

RealAge

A highly praised commercial site, RealAge.com is dedicated to providing quality science-based health and lifestyle content available in a personalized, user-friendly, and easy-to-understand format. The editorial team is made up of health editors, writers, and researchers. Major categories address common issues around exercise, food, medical issues, and remedies. 

CLICK HERE to visit our new Wellness page

And More … Delivered to Your Desktop

For those who would like regular input or updates on health issues but need a reminder, RSS feeds are available from the American Heart Association and WebMD. The ProtectPlus website provides links to sign up for these, plus you can also sign up for an RSS feed of the ProtectPlus blog where Trust staff posts information on many topics of interest to members.

Finally, the Trust has contracted with HopeHealth for the semi-monthly delivery of a new eMagazine “The Healthy CPA.” You should have already received your first issue, with features and short squibs on health, diet, exercise, and even financial issues—information that you can put to use the day it arrives. If you didn’t receive it or overlooked it, here’s a link for retrieving it.

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In the video below, Kelsey Hubbard of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network speaks with WSJ’s Shirley Wang about steps that are being taken to help prevent Type 1 diabetes especially with the rising numbers of children that are diagnosed with the disease.

This week  the American Dietetic Association (eatright.org) released the following article regarding a great new website provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that has helpful tools and information for consumers about nutritional guidance. Click here to view news coverage on the release of the website and what Michelle Obama had to say about the site.

Press Release:

New MyPlate Is a Useful Tool for Consumers to Follow Dietary Guidelines and Eat Healthfully, Says American Dietetic Association

CHICAGO – The U.S. government’s new graphic symbol of nutritional advice for consumers contained in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be a useful and intuitive way for people to eat well and improve their health, especially with the expert individualized advice provided by a registered dietitian, according to the American Dietetic Association.

“Time will tell if this new icon helps people to better understand vital nutritional messages of balance, variety, moderation and adequacy,” said registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association President Sylvia A. Escott-Stump. “If MyPlate can assist people in effectively adopting the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines, it will be a success.”

The new MyPlate icon is a plate split into four sections, each representing a different type of food (protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables). The sections vary in size depending on the recommended portion of each food a person should eat. A circle shape next to the plate represents dairy products, especially milk. Viewing the icon online allows consumers to click on each section of the plate for more information.

Escott-Stump emphasized that no one symbol can serve as a stand-alone consumer nutrition education tool, and praised the government’s consumer education campaign that is accompanying the release of the new icon. “No matter how informative or intuitive the symbol, it needs to be combined with easy-to-understand messages, motivational and educational tools—all specialties of registered dietitians—that guide people toward healthy food choices,” Escott-Stump said. “A goal for this new icon must be to increase the ‘nutrition literacy’ of all people,” Escott-Stump said. “The visual representations on the plate can support nutrition messages provided by registered dietitians and ADA.”

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines, released in January, are based on a comprehensive review of the latest scientific literature conducted by an advisory committee that included five ADA members, including the committee’s chair, registered dietitian Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University. ADA previously announced its support for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, noting that, due to the epidemic of obesity in the United States, they are the first to address an unhealthy public, making their recommendations especially urgent for consumers and health professionals alike. ADA also called the Dietary Guidelines “a practical roadmap to help people make changes in their eating plans to improve their health.”

“As we have in past years, the American Dietetic Association was deeply involved in the development of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines. And we will use the Guidelines and the new MyPlate to provide the unequalled advice and services of registered dietitians to individuals and communities alike. ADA and all our members look forward to working with the USDA, the Obama Administration, other health associations and food and nutrition policy makers to develop effective nutrition, research, education, food assistance, labeling and promotion programs that help people get and stay healthy,” Escott-Stump said.

Media Contacts: Ryan O’Malley, Allison MacMunn
media@eatright.org

June 2, 2011

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