The Pulse-January 2012

Pizza…A VEGETABLE?
While the United States Congress was busy with its decision that pizza is a vegetable, the European Union brain trust was banning advertising claims that water prevents dehydration.

The European Union concluded a three-year investigation with a law that bans advertising bottled water as something that can prevent dehydration. A two-year jail sentence awaits those convicted of violating this law.

Pizza had a smoother trip through the halls of politics. It now qualifies as a vegetable if each slice is lathered with two tablespoons of tomato sauce. In the old days it took a cup of tomato sauce to make a vegetable. Then it became a half cup. Now, in these austere days when everybody tries to save, it’s down to two tablespoons.
All of this began when the federal folks who handle the $11 billion school lunch program, decided pizza did not measure up to President Obama’s call for healthier lunches. So pizza, and french fries, got the ax. The frozen food industry said oh no you don’t and mounted a $5 million lobby campaign.
About that same time Congress was getting hit with the lowest approval rating in its history—around nine percent. That’s no excuse for calling pizza a vegetable. But it did make a bunch of kids happy.

The Risk of Blood Types
People with certain blood types are more at risk for stroke, according to research presented to the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions. The research was conducted by Harvard University researchers and presented in mid-November.

More than 90,000 men and women were monitored for more than 20 years. The Harvard team concluded people with type AB blood had a 29 percent increased risk of ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is triggered by blockage of a blood vessel in the brain. Compared to type O blood, AB produces a 28 percent higher risk in women and a 32 percent higher risk in men.

Blood types affect how immune systems develop, researcher JoAnn Manson said.  That, in turn, affects how the blood clots, she said.

What does this mean? It gives doctors one more factor they can use to help create healthy lifestyle plans and diets for people at risk of stroke. More than anything else, the link is yet another reason for people to pay attention to blood pressure and chloesterol levels.

Awarded
Three Riverside Convalescent Centers—in Mathews, Smithfield and West Point. The Mathews and West Point facilities received My InnerView’s Excellence in Action award, a national honor recognizing commitment to superior customer satisfaction.

The Smithfield site received second place honors in the 2011 D.A. “Woody” Brown Community Involvement Award in the category for Year Round Program. The Virginia Health Care Association and Virginia Center for Assisted Living presented the award in October.

Elected
Bruce Robertson, president of Sentara Life Care, as chair of the National PACE association. PACE is the federally supported Program of all-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.  It provides day services, transportation and healthcare for seniors who qualify for nursing home care under Medicaid, but who live at home with their families. The National PACE Association consists of 86 programs in 29 states, serving more than 22,000 seniors in programs as small as 22 participants and as big as 2,600. Sentara’s two PACE sites are in Virginia Beach and Portsmouth; Riverside’s three PACE sites are located in Hampton and Richmond.

Raised
… a record $110,000 for EQUI-KIDS Therapeutic Riding Program, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Virginia Beach, through its 5th Annual Stall Ball on Nov. 12. This unique signature fundraising event was held at the facility inside the Indoor Arena and 24-stall horse barn. Funds will support equine (horse) therapy services that benefit the special-needs community.

 

Regional First
Surgeons at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital are the first in the Hampton Roads region to use a new imaging device, the O-arm®, to improve accurate placement of hardware during spinal surgery. The O-arm® Surgical Imaging System, FDA approved in 2006, assists neurosurgery and orthopedic surgeons by providing high-quality, 2D and 3D images of the patient’s body and organs in an instant during surgery. Once the operation is complete, surgeons use the system to verify the accuracy of the procedure before the patient leaves the operating room.

Formed
MNS Supply Chain Network, LLC, comprised of MedStar Health, Novant Health and Sentara Healthcare, will aim to reduce these companies’ supply expenses and improve operational performance. The network, which purchases $3 million in supplies annually, will work as a single entity on identified contracting initiatives in order to generate savings and supply chain efficiency.

Inaugurated
Dr. Hugh M. Bryan III, of Riverside York River Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Gloucester, as president of the Medical Society of Virginia, an organization that supports Virginia physicians. As a longtime member of the Society, Bryan has served on the board of directors and was elected Vice Speaker of the House of Delegates in 2005 and Speaker of the House in 2007.

Quoted
“We are at a crossroads in our health care system—and we must provide the vision and lead the charge.”
—Howard P. Kern, president and chief operating officer for Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, upon accepting position as chairman of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. He succeeds John F. Duval, chief executive officer of MCV Hospitals and Clinics in Richmond, who remains on the VHHA Board of Directors as immediate past chairman.

What’s Next for The  Affordable Care Act?
Supreme Court ruling, 4 new provisions set for 2012

Written by A. J. Plunkett

Four provisions of the massive Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, are scheduled to take effect this year, and are designed to improve quality of care through incentive programs and record keeping.

However, the event to have the most significant impact on the health care reform law will be a hearing before the Supreme Court.

The court said in November it would hear arguments, likely this spring, on whether Congress exceeded its power by requiring citizens to have health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. If the court rules the requirement unconstitutional, it has also agreed to consider whether the ruling negates the whole law or just that part of it.

If the law survives, four new provisions are to be implemented in 2012, according to the federal website set up to provide information on the 974-page act:

• First up is a provision providing a way for doctors, hospitals and other health providers to form voluntary “Accountable Care Organizations,” or ACOs, to better coordinate care for Medicare patients, who often need help with multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis.  The goal is to reduce costs through more aggressive preventative care, better in-hospital care, and closer watch over patient progress after hospitalization to cut down on readmissions. If the ACO successfully reduces costs, it would get a share of the savings. Effective: Jan. 3.
• Any ongoing or new federal health program soon must collect and report certain racial, ethnic and language data, which will then be used by the Health and Human Services agency to identify and reduce disparities in health care. Effective: March.
• The first of a series of changes to standardize billing goes into effect with the adoption of rules “for the secure, confidential, electronic exchange of health information.”  The changes are designed to reduce paperwork and cut administrative costs through the use of electronic health records. Effective: Oct. 1.
• Finally, hospitals will be offered financial incentives for improved quality of care for traditional Medicare patients under a provision that requires hospitals to publicly report performance, beginning “with measures relating to heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, health-care associated infections, and patients’ perception of care.” Payments would be effective for patients discharged on or after Oct. 1.

For more information, go to healthcare.gov.

Now Open
Advanced Orthopaedics introduces the Sports Performance & Wellness Institute, a one-of-a-kind facility and the latest addition to the group’s state-of-the-art campus on Shrader Road. It is the final stage of a comprehensive program for athletes and weekend warriors and is under the direction of ex-Olympian and world renowned strength coach Bob Blanton. Special programs are available for teams and clubs to learn injury prevention, and an eight-week therapeutic lifestyle change program is open to community members.

 

Recognized
Six local junior tennis players received a coveted award from the Richmond Tennis Association. Presented annually, the RTA Junior Player Awards recognize outstanding Richmond-area youth players. The 2011 award winners were, left to right: Liam Sullivan, Jacqueline Dillon, Harris Blair and Connor Brewer. Not pictured are Justin Cerny and Allie Strauss.