Health News
While some rural areas may not have enough doctors (or those who accept Medicaid patients) to treat new patients generated by federal health reform, the key to healthy living is more education, not more physicians, rural medical expert Dr. Wayne Myers opines in The Rural Monitor. As an example, Myers points to Hazard and Perry County, where he once worked. The Appalachian county leads the nation in shortest average life span for women (72.65 years) and is third shortest for men (66.52 years) despite having an abundance of doctors and health facilities. The reason, Myers says, is bad habits that lead to unhealthy lives, something no amount of medical attention can cure.
"In Perry County, as in much of America, medical care is losing to unhealthy behavior," Myers writes. "Clinicians aren?t trained, nor is our clinical system structured, to accomplish changes in long-term cultural behavior, or to respond to the needs of groups of people. Certainly the 15-to-20-minute acute-care visit is a poor situation to try to work with a person on diet, level of activity, his/her addictions. We can?t modify family and social patterns with tools developed to treat strep throat, sprained ankles or breast cancer."
Myers, who headed the federal and Kentucky rural-health offices, said the solution is education at the local level, with "a lot more health educators, community health nurses and nutrition educators" that are trained within the community. Areas with community colleges can build partnerships with schools to receive training, he suggests. His hope is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will provide the resources and motivation necessary to bring about changes.
As the law generates enrollees, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services? "book of business will shift from old people on Medicare toward younger people on Medicaid," he writes. "When the main business of CMS was Medicare, the rational business strategy was to seek the most economical quality care for those with only a few years to live. As the business shifts toward Medicaid and subsidized private insurance customers, the rational business strategy for CMS shifts toward preventing chronic disease. From an insurer?s point of view, a 70-year-old obese hypertensive diabetic is a self-limited problem. She?ll die soon. A 30-year-old with the same diagnoses will be a very long-term financial drain. It will be good business for CMS to keep their 'covered lives' healthy."
This, he said, is kind of forward thinking we need to ensure young Americans get healthy. "We need new approaches to keeping people healthy, instead of trying to heal them after they get sick," Myers writes. "Clinicians can?t change the way people live and raise their kids, even if some of the choices the parents make turn out to be pretty dangerous for the kids. These are sensitive life and death issues. We need to tackle them." (Read more)
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Health News
Health reform should make Medicaid and Medicare more interested in preventing chronic diseases in young, expert says
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| Dr. Wayne Myers |
"In Perry County, as in much of America, medical care is losing to unhealthy behavior," Myers writes. "Clinicians aren?t trained, nor is our clinical system structured, to accomplish changes in long-term cultural behavior, or to respond to the needs of groups of people. Certainly the 15-to-20-minute acute-care visit is a poor situation to try to work with a person on diet, level of activity, his/her addictions. We can?t modify family and social patterns with tools developed to treat strep throat, sprained ankles or breast cancer."
Myers, who headed the federal and Kentucky rural-health offices, said the solution is education at the local level, with "a lot more health educators, community health nurses and nutrition educators" that are trained within the community. Areas with community colleges can build partnerships with schools to receive training, he suggests. His hope is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will provide the resources and motivation necessary to bring about changes.
As the law generates enrollees, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services? "book of business will shift from old people on Medicare toward younger people on Medicaid," he writes. "When the main business of CMS was Medicare, the rational business strategy was to seek the most economical quality care for those with only a few years to live. As the business shifts toward Medicaid and subsidized private insurance customers, the rational business strategy for CMS shifts toward preventing chronic disease. From an insurer?s point of view, a 70-year-old obese hypertensive diabetic is a self-limited problem. She?ll die soon. A 30-year-old with the same diagnoses will be a very long-term financial drain. It will be good business for CMS to keep their 'covered lives' healthy."
This, he said, is kind of forward thinking we need to ensure young Americans get healthy. "We need new approaches to keeping people healthy, instead of trying to heal them after they get sick," Myers writes. "Clinicians can?t change the way people live and raise their kids, even if some of the choices the parents make turn out to be pretty dangerous for the kids. These are sensitive life and death issues. We need to tackle them." (Read more)
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By Al Cross Kentucky Health News When the Supreme Court upheld federal health reform but said states could opt out of the expansion of Medicaid to people with incomes above the poverty line, to be funded with generous federal subsidies, one of the first...
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- Reports Show Impact Of Health-care Industry In Each Of Kentucky's 120 Counties
It's not often that such detailed data is broken down to the county level, but a new report looks at the economic impact of the local health-care system in each of Kentucky's 120 counties. The reports, compiled at the University of Kentucky, look...
- Will Illinois Have Enough Family Physicians Beyond 2014?
Do we have enough physicians to care for newly insured patients seeking care starting Jan. 1? Some will be covered by Medicaid; some gain coverage through the insurance marketplace; and others turning 65 join the ranks of Medicare. The Illinois Academy...
- Beating The Senior Blues
We all deserve our golden years. After decades navigating life?s twists and turns, overcoming adversity, and working diligently to achieve success for ourselves and our families, we all should be afforded the opportunity in our late 60s, throughout our...