Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill

Recent health Articles, Events, Jobs, and Resources.

CONTENTS

1. Article: Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill
2. Article: How would health care overhaul help young people?
3. Article: Nursing covering more health care
4. Article: Chief Rubin says EMS isn't broken -- despite total failures
5. Article: Project to get transplant organs from ER patients
6. Article: Despite probe, prescription drug abuse worsening
7. Article: Women on birth control pill may live longer
8. Article: New fitness center brings a SPIRIT of wellness to Southeast
9. Article: Allergy sufferers journey into the season of symptoms
10. Article: Dry cleaning uses toxic chemicals, but safety is unclear
11. Article: Professionals face taxing times
12. Commentary: Health reform passes the cost test

ARTICLE SUMMARIES

1. Article: Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, March 15, 2010

Summary: It took lawmakers a year to shape President Barack Obama's health care bill. If it finally passes Congress, it'll take the better part of a decade to write the user manual for consumers and doctors, employers, and insurance companies. Some health insurance consumer protections would go into place immediately, significant but limited in scope. The big expansion in coverage comes about four years from now, allowing more than 30 million people to sign up for insurance, with financial help from the government for most. Ripple effects continue well after Obama has to leave office in 2017, assuming he's re-elected. But even if the 2,700-plus-page bill passes, it's only the end of the beginning. The Obama blueprint will be carried out under less-than-ideal circumstances. Rising medical costs and an aging population will keep squeezing the federal budget. Lawmakers will have to revisit hard choices they sidestepped. The impact of the reform legislation will address how people get coverage, how health care is delivered, and how health care is paid for. The House could vote on the final legislation as early as this week, with the Senate to follow. Read the primer on some of the major effects regarding Immediate Changes, The Self-Employed, Seniors, Doctors, Employers, and Insurance Companies.  |  Read article

2. Article: How would health care overhaul help young people?
By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News, USA TODAY, March 8, 2010

Summary: Most young Americans likely would be required to have health coverage under the legislation being debated in Congress. They could buy a low-cost plan under the Senate bill and the new White House proposal. Catastrophic illness plans would make insurance less of a financial burden, but they would require high deductibles -- at least $5,950 in out-of-pocket spending before most benefits kicked in. That's igniting a fierce debate over how much young adults -- sometimes known as the young invincibles because many don't believe they need insurance -- would benefit from such plans. Critics warn that the low-cost policies would leave young people financially vulnerable and reluctant to seek care. This would help the insurance companies, but it wouldn't do much to help the individuals insured. Supporters counter that the plans would help young people who otherwise might be uninsured. Any coverage is always better than no coverage. People in their 20s have the highest uninsured rate of any age group in the country and make up nearly a third of the 46 million uninsured. Under the health care overhaul bills, ~10 million lower-income young adults would qualify for Medicaid or for government subsidies to buy private insurance.  |  Read article

3. Article: Nursing covering more health care
By Deborah Yetter and Jessie Halladay, USA TODAY, March 11, 2010

Summary: Each year, Wendy Fletcher and two partners see 5,000+ patients at their practice in Kentucky. They're registered nurse practitioners who are able to increase access to health care and make it more affordable. The Kentucky Medical Association is fighting proposed legislation that would lift some limits on the ability of ~3,700 NPs in Kentucky to prescribe medication and perform mostly routine tasks such as signing a child's immunization certificate or certifying the need for employee sick leave. A former KMA president and family physician testified against the bill, and objects to this constant push by NPs to be physicians. His argument has been echoed nationally by the AMA, which issued a report last fall critical of the training that NPs receive. Advocates for nurse practitioners say it's primary care nurses who'll make up for the shortage of primary care physicians and keep costs down. According to the American Nurses Association, as of November, the median expected salary for a typical nurse practitioner in the U.S. was $83,293, while the median expected salary for a typical family practice physician was $160,586. Each year, state legislatures are seeing measures proposed that seek to increase the capabilities of NPs and eliminate a level of supervision from physicians. (Yetter and Halladay report for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucy.)  |  Read article

4. Article: D.C. fire chief: EMS 'not broken' despite 'total failures'
By Michael Neibauer, The Washington Examiner, March 14, 2010

Summary: DC residents who require emergency medical assistance are in good hands despite a major breakdown in protocol when a paramedic declined to take a toddler to the hospital who was struggling to breathe, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin claims. According to Rubin, the District's EMS system isn't broken. DC police are investigating the death of a 2-year-old, to see whether there was criminal negligence by the paramedic crew that responded to her home, but didn't to take her to the hospital. Her mom called 911 a second time, 10 hours later, as the girl's breathing worsened. She died the next day. A similar case of not transporting a 911 patient, though not fatal, also is under review. Rubin sees them as total failures, but hopes that they're exceptions. Rubin is under fire from union leaders who allege the career firefighter is unqualified to run the EMS programs. The District is settling for mediocrity by maintaining a department that performs both fire and EMS functions, according to the president of the union that represents EMS providers. Roughly 85% of all calls to FEMS are medical, but the department's focus is squarely on fire. Only a separate agency would allow for growth necessary to create a medically driven world class EMS service. DC's All-Hazards model has firefighters and EMTs trained in both disciplines. They must learn to work cooperatively together as a single unit for the benefit of the public.  |  Read article

5. Article: Project to get transplant organs from ER patients raises ethics questions
By Rob Stein, The Washington Post, March 15, 2010

Summary: A federally funded project began trying to obtain kidneys, livers, and other body parts from car accident victims, heart attack fatalities, and other urgent care patients. Using a $321,000 HHS grant, the emergency departments at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh started rapidly identifying donors among patients whom doctors are unable to save and taking steps to preserve their organs so a transplant team can rush to try to retrieve them. This pilot project aims to investigate whether it's feasible and, if so, to encourage other hospitals nationwide to follow. So far, neither hospital has yet gotten any usable organs. This is about helping people who declared themselves to be donors, but die in a place where donation is currently not possible. It's also about helping the large number of people awaiting transplants who could die waiting because of the shortage of organs. Critics say the program represents a troubling attempt to bring a questionable form of organ procurement into an even more ethically dicey situation: the tumultuous environment of an ER, where more than ever it raises the specter of doctors preying on dying patients for their organs. There's a fine line between pioneering and predatory methods. For decades, most hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, and other organs obtained for transplants in the U.S. have come from patients who have been pronounced dead in a hospital after a complete cessation of brain activity, known as brain death, was carefully determined. The faster organs are retrieved, the better the chances they'll be useable.  |  Read article

6. Article: Despite probe, prescription drug abuse worsening, authorities say
By Jerry Markon, The Washington Post, March 14, 2010

Summary: Since 2002, the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria convicted 170 people of selling, prescribing, or ingesting painkillers, with 10 more scheduled to plead guilty in coming weeks. These arrests were part of a federal crackdown that's the largest investigation of prescription drug abuse in U.S. history. The investigation, dubbed Operation Cotton Candy, snared seven doctors, 11 nurses, and a county prosecutor. One doctor pleaded guilty to demanding sex for drugs; a nurse shot up Dilaudid outside an emergency room. Another defendant burned down her flower shop to get insurance proceeds for pills. Yet for all the effort, prescription drug abuse continues to worsen in Northern Virginia and throughout the Washington region as demand for painkillers rises among teenagers and others. Local and federal investigators are seeing remarkable increases in Percocets sold on the street, a tremendous increase in Vicodin, and Oxy is off the charts. The investigation is criticized by patient advocates, who say Cotton Candy targets doctors prescribing legal drugs to people in chronic pain. Some question whether the eight-year probe -- which involved more than 50 prosecutors and employs 15-20 full-time FBI and DEA agents and Northern Virginia police officers -- is worth the time. For more info, read: "The Criminalization of Medicine: America's War on Doctors" by Ronald T. Libby.  |  Read article

7. Article: Women on birth control pill may live longer
USA TODAY, March 12, 2010

Summary: Women who took the birth control pill beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than those never on the pill, a new study says. British researchers observed 46,000+ women for nearly four decades from 1968. They compared the number of deaths in women on the pill to those who never took it. In the study, women on the pill generally took it for almost four years. Experts concluded the pill cut women's risk of dying from bowel cancer by 38% and from any other diseases by about 12%. Slightly higher death rates were found among women under 30 on the pill, but that began to be reversed by age 50. Doctors aren't sure exactly why the pill may lower death rates. It contains synthetic hormones to suppress ovulation, which may have some role in preventing certain diseases. Previous studies found the pill doesn't raise the risk of dying. It also may protect against ovarian and endometrial cancer, but slightly increase the chances of breast and cervical cancer. It may also be that women on the pill are somehow healthier than those that aren't. Because the study only observed women on the pill compared with those who weren't, researchers weren't able to make any hypotheses about cause and effect.  |  Read article

8. Article: New Fitness Center Brings a SPIRIT of Wellness to Southeast
By Denise Rolark Barnes, The Washington Informer, March 11, 2010

Summary: East of the River now sits an oasis where residents can rejuvenate their minds, bodies, and souls. SPIRIT Fitness, the brainchild of the Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church, located on the fifth and penthouse floors of the new Salvation Army Building at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, provides an holistic haven to those who enter. The Anacostia Health and Wellness Center which opened in October 2009 contains state-of-the-art exercise equipment and a variety of classes that includes African dance, belly-dancing, and Tai Chi. There's a dire situation with the people in our community when it comes to diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, said SPIRIT manager Adama Zawadi, an associate minister at Union Temple. They knew there needed to be a response, so the thrust was to stay in the community and to have a facility that was accessible and reasonably priced. The fitness center is the first of its kind east of the Anacostia River. SPIRIT focuses on overall health, with a wellness center on-site that identifies symptoms related to specific illnesses and pre-existing conditions, provides nutritional counseling, weight maintenance, and tips for savvy shoppers who want to adopt a healthy and nutritional lifestyle.  |  Read article

9. Article: Allergy sufferers journey into the season of symptoms
By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY, March 15, 2010

Summary: Allergic rhinitis afflicts an estimated 60 million people in the U.S. Global warming could be notching up allergies and extending allergy season around the world. In one study, researchers tracked season duration and prevalence of sensitizations for five types of pollens in one region of Italy from 1981 to 2007. Over time, there was a progressive increase in the duration of some pollen seasons. But global warming probably isn't the only culprit of increased allergies and asthma. Oral allergy syndrome is a phenomenon in people who are allergic to pollens when they eat certain foods, especially fresh fruits. The syndrome is a result of a cross reactivity between the proteins in the pollens a person is allergic to and the proteins in certain foods that are structurally similar to those in the pollens. Figuring out what to take among the myriad drug options -- from over-the-counter sprays and tablets to prescription pills and nasal sprays -- and whether to self-medicate, see your family doctor, or visit an allergy expert can be confusing. Most people treat themselves with OTC medications first. But if your symptoms make you miserable, interfere with life, and you're not getting much relief, a visit to your primary care doctor or an allergy specialist is wise. Allergy shots -- called immunotherapy -- are also very effective and safe.  |  Read article

10. Article: Dry cleaning usually uses a toxic chemical, but the safety picture is unclear
By Nina Shen Rastogi, The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: Traditional dry cleaning isn't really dry; it just doesn't involve water. The problem with dry cleaning is the liquid solvent perchloroethylene. Perc dissolves the gunk off your clothes. It's highly effective without being labor-intensive and it's not likely to burst into flames. People have been concerned about the chemical's health risks since the 1970s. Perchloroethylene (also known as tetrachloroethylene) is considered a toxic air pollutant by the EPA, meaning that it's known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects. Short, intense blasts of perc can cause dizziness, headaches, or loss of consciousness. Not all dry cleaners are created alike, but there's no easy way for you to figure out how clean your local cleaner is. Check whether any of the clothes you normally get dry cleaned can be laundered and pressed instead. And just because a company says its product is green, doesn't make it so. There are a number of new garment care processes on the market, and just about every one that uses a non-perc solvent is billing itself as eco-friendly. Wet cleaning is like a souped-up version of what you do at the laundromat. Garments are cleaned in computer-controlled washers and dryers using soap and water, and then reshaped using specialized equipment.  |  Read article

11. Article: Professionals face taxing times
By Bill Myers, The Washington Examiner, March 7, 2010

Summary: Tens of thousands of Washington-area families, already feeling squeezed by the recession, are facing skyrocketing taxes. President Obama and the Democrats want to help the nation's economic recovery by letting Bush-era tax cuts for those making $250,000 or more expire at the end of the year. Under President Clinton, the government took 39% of the top tax bracket's income. Bush reduced the tax rate to 36%. But his cuts expire at the end of the year. Democrats hope the reinstatement of old taxes on the wealthy will generate up to $850 billion over 10 years. The Cato Institute, a foe of tax increases, says those who focus on the rich to fund the government aren't paying attention to history. Nearly 181,000 DC-area families make $200,000 or more per year. A UDC sociologist says the U.S. is overdue for a rethink about wealth distribution. Contemporary political debate is mangled by two political parties that want to be populist in a time of genuine working- and middle-class anger at inequalities of the system. A tax and budget expert at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress said the Bush tax cuts have to go -- not for class reasons, but for practical reasons. Nobody likes to see their taxes go up, but we're seeing a pretty substantial budget deficit -- caused mainly by the Bush tax cuts.  |  Read article

12. Commentary: Health Reform Passes the Cost Test
By David M. Cutler, The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010

Summary: Many people are worried that the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats will fail to bend the cost curve. A number of commentators are urging no votes because of this, and Republicans asked the president to start health reform over, focusing squarely on the issue of cost reduction. These calls overlook the actual legislation. Over the past year of debate, 10 broad ideas have been offered for bending the health care cost curve. The Democrats' proposed legislation incorporates virtually every one of them, including: Form insurance exchanges, Reduce excessive prices, Moving to value-based payment in Medicare, Tax generous insurance plans, Empower an independent Medicare advisory board, Combat Medicare fraud and abuse, Malpractice reform, Invest in information technology, Prevention, and Create a public option. Why is reform viewed so negatively? It may reflect the perfect being the enemy of the good. Reform is also viewed negatively because official scorekeepers don't believe anything on this list other than reducing prices will save much money. No one knows precisely how much medical spending increases will moderate, but one cannot doubt the commitment to try. What's on the table is the most significant action on medical spending ever proposed in the U.S. Should we really walk away from that? (Cutler is a professor of economics at Harvard University.)  |  Read commentary (subscription needed)

EVENTS

2010 Parent Advocacy Day
Monday, March 22nd, 10 am (parent briefing), 11:30 am (lunch), 12 noon (Council briefing), and 2 pm (Council visits)
The John A. Wilson Building, Room 104
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
If you've ever wanted to speak up for yourself and your family and YOU DID! If you ever wanted to speak up for yourself and your family and YOU DIDN'T! This day is for you! RSVP by March 17th to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 299-0900.

Get Informed, Unstuck, and Inspired!
Tuesdays, March 23rd, March 30th, April 6th, 8:30 pm
Webinar and Phone Training
No matter what situation or chaos you're dealing with, it can go one of three ways: get worse, stay the same, or get better. Odds are that if you do nothing, your loved one's behavior will continue to get worse, or at best stay the same. Many conditions are progressive. They'll get worse. Most addictions are primary, chronic, progressive, and often fatal. Although we care deeply about a loved one who's hurting or in the midst of chaos brought on by some behavior, we think we can do little to help them change. An often-cited study of families who have an addicted loved one in their midst, tells us that, on average, it'll take nine years for a group of loved ones to build consensus to speak up and try to usher in change, which requires action and determination. Intervention Specialist Brad Lamm's The Change Institute is a virtual clubhouse where you can get what you need in the form of information and inspiration.

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Health Quality Improvement Manager, DCPCA

Senior Policy Coordinator, DCPCA

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RESOURCES

Health Wellness and Nutrition Supplement
The Washington Informer, March 11, 2010
Efforts in Washington, DC, to fix our broken health care system and provide affordable coverage for all Americans are only part of the battle. Companies and organizations teamed up in this edition to help make a difference in our community and become part of the solution. Outreach is a key part of the health care debate.

More Resources...

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Serious flaws in DC's paramedic system

Recent health Articles, Events, Jobs, and Resources.

CONTENTS

1. Article: Ex-chief regrets DC fire merger with EMS
2. Article: Former DC hospital crowded with homeless families
3. Article: Insurers test health plans that stress patient choices
4. Article: Health overhaul to expand Medicaid to all poor adults
5. Article: After swine flu frenzy, biotechs come back to earth
6. Article: A better female condom
7. Article: DISB delays approval of CareFirst rate increase
8. Editorial: Serious flaws in DC's paramedic system
9. Editorial Cartoon: Passing health care reform
10. Letter to Editor: Washington Hospital Center's snow angels
11. Update: Health Wellness and Nutrition Supplement
12. Update: The DC budget process

ARTICLE SUMMARIES

1. Article: Ex-chief regrets D.C. fire merger with EMS
By Matthew Cella, The Washington Times, March 12, 2010

Summary: The former DC fire chief tasked with merging his firefighting and emergency medical services divisions to improve a beleaguered ambulance service now says the department should be divided, in large part because the culture of the historically white fire service makes employees indifferent to treating needy DC residents. Adrian Thompson, who led the department from July 2002 through December 2006, no longer thinks the plan can work. The former chief said white firefighters with generational ties to the department largely have been less accepting of the job's evolving responsibilities -- particularly an increased emphasis on providing pre-hospital care. Thompson said black and needy DC residents continue to be marginalized and that little progress has been made in healing the District's racial divide. The merger involved cross-training paramedics as firefighters, posting them on fire engines, and stationing firefighters trained as emergency medical technicians on ambulances. Thompson also took issue with Mayor Adrian Fenty, who often criticized former Mayor Anthony Williams on issues that included EMS, but has done little to help DC's needy residents. Fenty famously pledged in 2006 to separate fire and EMS, but backtracked on the pledge after he was elected. Thompson now frequently spends his days delivering Meals on Wheels.  |  Read article

2. Article: Former D.C. hospital crowded with homeless families
By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, March 12, 2010

Summary: Flooded with more homeless families than the city has ever seen, District officials jammed up to 200 families into space at the DC General shelter meant for 135. The result: serious overcrowding, with people bunking together in common rooms and sleeping on cots in hallways. On Monday, more than 190 families -- 242 adults and 390 children -- were living at the family shelter on the former hospital's campus. The number of families fell to 175 Thursday as officials worked feverishly to place at least 50 families in alternate housing by the end of Friday. The crowding led to arguments and near-fisticuffs between residents. Conditions are sometimes unsanitary, with small swarms of gnats or fruit flies and roaches, paint chips flaking from the walls onto beds, and mildew in shower stalls. DHS officials, who manage the shelter, attributed the crowding to record unemployment, now 12% in the District; a sharp rise in evictions; and record low temperatures and snowfall. The District issued 99 hypothermia alerts thus far in the Nov. 1 to March 31 hypothermia season, compared with 92 during the season last year. Alerts are issued when the temperature and wind chill dip below freezing. The Hoya Clinic, which is run by the Georgetown University Medical Center, provides medical treatment to between five and 20 people a day.  |   Read article

3. Article: Insurers test health plans that stress patient choices
By Julie Appleby, USA Today, Kaiser Health News, March 11, 2010

Summary: Workers at a Portland, Ore., steel mill soon will be able to pick a new type of insurance that offers free care for some illnesses, such as diabetes or depression, but requires hefty extra fees for treatments deemed overused, including hip and knee replacements, hysterectomies, heart bypass surgery, and heart stents. The insurance, which will be offered by five different insurers in Oregon, is the most far-reaching and potentially controversial step in an effort by employers nationally to rein in medical spending by redesigning health benefits. Workers who choose the option over a more traditional plan next year could see their costs drop sharply if they have one of six chronic conditions but might pay hundreds more in deductibles and co-payments. The policies are among the first to apply financial incentives on both sides of one important factor driving up the nation's health care tab: The underuse of proven treatments and overuse of certain surgeries and diagnostic tests that may be less valuable. Value-based insurance design help steer patients to high-quality treatments, which could improve health and possibly slow health costs over time. But efforts to charge workers more for some treatments put employers in the position of playing doctor and are well into a danger zone of limiting access to medical care.  |  Read article

4. Article: Health Overhaul To Expand Medicaid To All Poor Adults
By Rick Schmitt, National Public Radio, Kaiser Health News, March 8, 2010

Summary: While Medicaid is the main government health insurance plan for the poor, the joint state-federal program excluded millions of adults with no dependent children since the 1960s. Medicaid has been limited mainly to children in poor families, the elderly, pregnant women, and the disabled. Some states tried to fill the gap, but childless adults now comprise a majority of uninsured Americans. The lowest-income members of the group would be among the big beneficiaries of the Democratic health insurance overhaul plans in Washington. Over 10 years, Medicaid enrollment would grow by 15 million, including not only childless adults but others whose incomes don't qualify now for the program. Covering childless adults would mark a radical shift in thinking about who deserves a helping hand, not to mention a departure from what Congress intended when it created Medicaid 45 years ago. The exclusion is rooted in the welfare system of 17th Century England, and an attitude that able-bodied men shouldn't be on the public dole. Imported to America, the distinction was reflected in cash assistance laws enacted during the New Deal, which served as a blueprint for Medicaid years later.  |  Read article

5. Article: After swine flu frenzy, biotechs come back to earth
By Vandana Sinha, Washington Business Journal, March 12, 2010

Summary: For much of 2009, the swine flu was the biotech industry's cash cow. The virus' sudden contagion last spring spread rapidly and lucratively to the local life sciences community, where a handful of companies scrambled to assemble enough money and staffers to launch studies, conduct research, and shape products to respond to the first documented flu pandemic in 40 years. Their battle against the H1N1 virus generated millions of dollars in revenue and lifted some stock prices to new yearly highs, with some leaping as much as 700% over the course of last year. But the pandemic's relatively light impact -- only 16,455 people died worldwide, compared with 1 million to 50 million deaths in past flu pandemics -- and a shorter-than-expected flu season brought some of those biotechs, not to mention their stock prices, back to earth. The companies are now evaluating their performance and lessons learned last year to push for improving flu vaccine technology in time for the next outbreak. Companies in the area now are either concentrating on how they can be part of the seasonal flu market or how they can prepare for the next pandemic. The swine flu frenzy touched several local biotechs in different ways.  |  Read article

6. Article: A Better Female Condom
By Kate Dailey, Newsweek, March 10, 2010

Summary: DOH officials announced a $500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund to promote and distribute female condoms in DC. The announcement marks an ambitious collaboration of private and public organizations: CVS, which is distributing the condoms; the Female Health Co., which manufactures them; the District of Columbia; and the MAC AIDS Fund, the philanthropic wing of the cosmetics company. All this comes at a time when rates of HIV in DC area women are dangerously high, and when women's roles in AIDS prevention are often overlooked. It's a big investment in a bold plan -- but can female condoms really make a difference? The female condom, which can be inserted several hours before intercourse, remains the only way for women to initiate protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It allows a woman to protect herself without having to persuade the man with whom she's sleeping to change his behavior. Empowering women to take control of their own health and safety is the theory behind today's rollout in DC. Female condoms were available in DC prior to this partnership on a smaller scale, and women who use them like them.  |  Read article

7. Article: Complaint, error scuttle D.C.'s approval of CareFirst rate increase
By Keith L. Martin, Insurance & Financial Advisor, IFAwebnews.com, March 11, 2010

Summary: Reacting to a consumer complaint about unusually high health insurance premiums, the DC Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking rescinded its approval of a rate increase proposed by CareFirst after discovering a filing error by the regional insurer. An order rescinding the prior approval, issued to the insurer March 3, states that health insurance premiums for affected customers will revert to their previous rate until CareFirst files and receives approval for a revised rate. The new rate can take effect 90 days after CareFirst notifies subscribers. The order also provided for a refund of any overpayments plus interest. CareFirst's filing for the individual, non-Medigap indemnity health insurance policy through its subsidiary, Group Hospitalization and Medical Services, was initially approved by the DISB in October 2009, where the increased rate was to take effect Jan. 1. Due to an administrative error on the part of the insurer, an incorrect ratio was used to approve the 35% rate increase. GHMSI didn't incorporate the premium rates approved by the DISB in 2009 for the Comprehensive Major Medical coverage into its administrative system, resulting in affected subscribers being charged the prior year's premium rates.  |  Read article

8. Editorial: Serious flaws in D.C.'s paramedic system
The Washington Post, March 11, 2010

Summary: Problems still exist in the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services. District officials need to determine why more progress hasn't been made in fixing the systematic deficiencies first identified in David Rosenbaum's case. Mayor Adrian Fenty wasn't in office when the case was bungled, but once elected he reached out to the Rosenbaum family with promises to do better. The family dropped a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, and a task force was formed; the result was some commendable improvements, such as toughening of qualifications for new hires. But it's clear that progress stalled. Medical providers have yet to be fully integrated into a department that clings to a culture where firefighters are valued over emergency medical personnel. The No. 1 recommendation of the Rosenbaum task force was to provide equivalent pay and benefits for medical personnel and unify operations. But Fenty and the Council have been at an impasse over how to accomplish this. There has been a revolving door of people serving in the critical role of medical director. Training is inadequate, and DC paramedics fail to meet minimum national standards. Fenty must renew the reform of this department. The Post urges him to reconvene the Rosenbaum task force to assess the department's progress and plot where it still needs to go.  |  Read editorial

9. Editorial Cartoon: Passing Health Care Reform
By Tom Toles, The Washington Post, March 12, 2010

Summary: Obama's using a complicated procedural mechanism to pass his health care plans!  |  View cartoon

10. Letter to Editor: Washington Hospital Center's snow angels
By Lisa M. Boyle (Great Falls), The Washington Post, March 11, 2010

Summary: "D.C. hospital fires 11 nurses, 5 staffers for snowstorm absences" and "21 District hospital workers fired for being blizzard no-shows" on dismissals at the Washington Hospital Center missed an opportunity to tell a compelling story. The remarkable story was that more than 1,100 professionals put patients' needs above personal considerations and came to work. In a week in which airports closed and governments were brought to a halt, life-sustaining and often life-saving care continued uninterrupted at WHC. During the week of storms, nearly 750 patients, many critically ill, received the care they needed. Fractured hips were fixed, heart attacks treated, burn victims cared for and, 90 babies were born. None of this would have been possible if not for the selfless professionalism displayed by nurses, technicians, and support personnel who showed up and stayed as long as required. They did what was needed for their patients. Despite their having to work overtime, sleep on cots, and eat hospital food, complaints were few. DC residents should know that no matter what catastrophes befall them, the medical care they have come to depend on will be there. (Boyle is president of the medical staff at WHC and associate chair of the department of surgery.)  |  Read letter

11. Update: Health Wellness and Nutrition Supplement
The Washington Informer, March 11, 2010 

Summary: Efforts in Washington, DC, to fix our broken health care system and provide affordable coverage for all Americans are only part of the battle. Companies and organizations teamed up in this edition to help make a difference in our community and become part of the solution. Outreach is a key part of the health care debate.  |  View supplement

12. Upate: How it works: The Budget Process in Washington, DC
Think Twice Before You Slice, March 2010

Summary: The District's operating and capital budgets identify the programs that are to be funded in the fiscal year and the revenue that'll support these programs. Additionally, the budget document provides a four-year financial plan, which shows the long-term impact of current spending and is a critical tool in ensuring the fiscal health of the District. Both the operating and capital budgets provide stakeholders with information on the operations of the District's approximately 80 agencies. The mayor develops and submits the proposed budget and financial plan for the next fiscal year to the DC Council by March 18. The Council holds public hearings and accepts the mayor's budget or adopts its own version. The mayor may sign or veto the Council's budget. If the mayor vetoes the budget, the Council may override the veto. Once agreement is reached between the mayor and the Council, the budget is adopted and transmitted to the president for submission to Congress for approval. Congress must approve the District's budget as one of the 13 annual federal appropriations bills.  |  Read update

EVENTS

¡Toma Acción!  Taller educativa de Cáncer colorectal y Cáncer de la próstata - ¡Gratis!
Sábado 27 de Marzo, 10 am - 2 pm
Centro Católico Hispano
1618 Monroe Street NW
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Health Quality Improvement Manager, DCPCA

Senior Policy Coordinator, DCPCA

Senior Grants Writer/Specialist, DCPCA

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How to Submit a Post:
Send a brief summary (100 words or less) to HealthNewsAlert (at) dcpca (dot) org. Include links for fliers and/or your organization. If you don't have a Web site or immediate posting capabilities, send an attachment. In the subject line, write HNA POST and the event's DATE. The District of Columbia Primary Care Association is a nonprofit health care reform organization founded in 1996 to improve the health of DC's vulnerable residents by ensuring that they receive high quality primary health care -- regardless of their ability to pay. The DCPCA Health News Alert is prepared to share with colleagues news about health reform efforts, DC politics, local events, jobs, and resources. The summaries are provided for your information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of DCPCA. The circulation for the alert is over 5,000 recipients. Click to: Join DCPCA or Donate to DCPCA.

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Everyone Covered.

Everyone Cared For.

Anyone Can Help.

Health insurance doesn't ensure it'll be easy to find a doctor

Recent health Articles, Events, Jobs, and Resources.

CONTENTS

1. Article: Health insurance doesn't ensure it'll be easy to find a doctor
2. Article: Bundled payments cut hospital costs without reducing quality
3. Article: Woman who called 911 for medical issue was denied aid
4. Article: Gardasil vaccine's risks are a concern
5. Article: Nicotine builds, doesn't spike, in brain while smoking
6. Article: Obama launches attack on health insurance companies
7. Article: UDC unveils largest-ever ad campaign
8. Article: DC neighborhood fund open for development bids
9. Audio: Electronic health records
10. Commentary: Got a light, President Obama?
11. Letters to Editor: Retaking the measure of U.S. poverty
12. Editorial Cartoon: Mad about health care

ARTICLE SUMMARIES

1. Article: Having health insurance doesn't ensure it will be easy to find a doctor
By Ruth Samuelson, The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: Samuelson struggled with finding a primary care physician in the District for more than a year. At age 23, she was basically healthy and insured. As she started calling, she got rejected again and again. One practice hadn't accepted new patients in eight years. Another accepted new patients only if they had HIV/AIDS. Her mother found 15 practices in DC. Only two were accepting new patients with her insurance, but they came with relatively poor online reviews. Experts contemplate how to increase the number of PCPs. Bob Phillips Jr., director of the Robert Graham Center, says medical schools could help boost the number of graduates going into primary care by being more discriminating about which applicants they admit. Medical students are more likely to choose primary care if they have life experience, are female, older, married, come from a family of lower income, and are from a rural area. If more family medicine and primary care residents were funded, we'd have more PCPs. DHHS keeps a list of places around the country that are short of primary care providers. Each Health Professional Shortage Areas is given a score of 1 to 25, with a higher score representing a greater need. In DC, HPSAs include Mt. Pleasant/Upper Cardozo (score 16), Anacostia (20), and downtown's homeless population (13). Office rents in the District are very high, while PCPs are paid poorly. That combination means finding a PCP in DC is rare. Samuelson finally visited the Washington Primary Care Physicians in Eastern Market.  |  Read article

2. Article: Bundled payments might cut hospital costs without reducing quality of care
By Manoj Jain, The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: When business is slow or reimbursement goes down, doctors have the option of just cranking up the volume of patient visits and procedures. For most doctors, the motivation isn't greed. It's a combination of concern for patients, clinic availability, and the need to generate additional revenue to offset overhead costs. In nearly all cases, the doctors are making choices that are well within the guidelines of evidence-based medicine. But since most doctors are paid per visit, doubling the number of visits doubles their income. This approach works because patients, insurance companies, and Medicare pay separately for each procedure in the predominant fee-for-service model. It's a design flaw of our health care system, and one of the reasons for spiraling costs. We can patch this flaw without overhauling the entire system. We can start bundling payments. The doctors and the hospital would receive one payment for a given treatment. Doctors and hospitals would develop a contract stipulating the fees each would receive for specific procedures. Pilot programs show that this model works well. (Jain is an infectious disease specialist in Memphis and an adjunct assistant professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.)  |   Read article

3. Article: Woman who called 911 for medical issue says she was denied aid
By Martin Weil, The Washington Post, March 10, 2010

Summary: A woman said that DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel refused to take her to a hospital in December after she complained of breathing problems, and authorities are looking into the matter. Kimberley Kelsey, 39, said rescue personnel showed up at her home on Rhode Island Avenue NW after she called Dec. 22, but told her it didn't sound like she was having breathing problems. He didn't even examine her. The rescue workers left without taking her, but she later called 911 again and spoke to a supervisor. Other rescue workers arrived, and took her to Georgetown University Hospital, where she spent days in intensive care. Kelsey got in touch with the news media after learning recently of an incident in which a child died last month after not being taken to a hospital immediately. The two-year-old was evaluated, but not taken for treatment at first. She was taken after another 911 call, but died the next day. A review is underway. F/EMS files appeared to contain no complaint from Kelsey. The department is looking into the account that the woman gave to the news media.  |  Read article

4. Article: Gardasil protects against cervical cancer, but the vaccine's risks are a concern
The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: Should you expose your young daughter to potential risks from a vaccine that protects against cervical cancer, a disease that she may get 20 to 40 years from now? That's a question millions of parents face as television ads push for girls to receive Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents infection from four types of human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted virus in the U.S. Those four types cause most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts. A new CDC/FDA study -- Reports of Health Concerns Following HPV Vaccination -- found that serious complications occurred, although the rate and severity of most side effects appear to be consistent with those of other vaccines. Consumer Reports reviewed the evidence, and asked and answered these questions: How effective is Gardasil? Who should get the vaccine, and when? What are the risks? What safety precautions can you take with Gardasil? Gardasil is an inactivated (not live) vaccine that protects young women against cervical cancer and genital warts. After reviewing the info, the FDA and CDC continue to find it safe and effective. Consumer Reports' advice: Consider the vaccine after you've discussed its risks and benefits with your physician.  |  Read article

5. Article: Study: Nicotine builds, doesn't spike, in brain while smoking
USA TODAY, March 8, 2010

Summary: Nicotine builds up gradually in smokers' brains rather than spiking after each puff, according to a study that might help point to new ways to help people quit smoking. Nicotine buildup in the brain was gradual over several minutes. A lot of scientists theorized about how fast nicotine gets to the brain, but almost nobody measured the process. Researchers were surprised to find that the rate of uptake was much different from what one commonly hears. The theory has been that there's a spike of nicotine about seven seconds after each puff. The slower rate resulted from nicotine staying longer in the lungs of dependent smokers, which may be a result of the chronic effects of smoke on the lungs. Now that we know there aren't these spikes that were expected, researchers may be better able to develop new approaches to help smokers get what they need from cigarettes, but in a way that's not addictive. A laboratory is working on a mist inhaler to deliver nicotine without any combustion.  |  Read article

6. Article: Obama launches attack on health insurance companies
By Amy Goldstein and Scott Wilson (and Dan Eggen, Michael D. Shear, and Jennifer Agiesta), The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: The White House mounted a sustained broadside against health insurance rate increases. President Obama and his health secretary staged a two-pronged attack in a stern letter to health insurance chief executives and a speech in which he castigated insurance companies 22 times. How much higher do premiums have to rise before we do something about it? Obama and his aides are using these messages to ratchet up the pace and the populist appeal of their rhetoric against the health insurance industry. The barbed tone moves far beyond that of the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama began to say that medical coverage should be accessible and affordable for more Americans. It remains unclear whether the strategy will mobilize support among the public and on Capitol Hill for the legislation that the White House and congressional Democrats favor. Obama asked Congress to conduct final votes on the proposal within 10 days, before lawmakers leave for a two-week break. Democratic congressional leaders are struggling to secure enough votes within their party. Republicans are calling for the proposal to be abandoned, saying that most Americans oppose it. The near-daily demonization of the insurance industry is an attempt by the White House to play to Americans' anxieties about the health care system -- and about the prospect of changing it.  |  Read article

7. Article: UDC unveils largest-ever ad campaign
By Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post, College, Inc., March 9, 2010

Summary: This week, the University System of the District of Columbia launches the most aggressive effort in the history of the university to promote itself. The series of print, broadcast, and online ads is designed to highlight the substantial changes at UDC, which split into separate two- and four-year institutions this school year, as well as improve the school's image in the community and to raise enrollment. UDC's niche revolves around the affordability of the same education in programs that are very well respected. Alan Etter, UDC spokesman, answers these four questions: What's the purpose of this new campaign? What's its scale -- how much is being spent, and on what kinds of ads, where? Which programs at UDC are well-known to the general public, and which are not? Some of the poor public perception of UDC is grounded in statistical fact -- low graduation rates and such. What measures of improvement do you see?  |  Read article

8. Article: D.C. neighborhood fund open for development bids
By Jonathan O'Connell, Washington Business Journal, March 9, 2010

Summary: Builders in a dozen DC neighborhoods are eligible to apply for up to $145,000 in pre-development grant money through the DC Neighborhood Investment Fund. The fund, created as part of the agreement to build Nationals Park, has $5.2 million available this round to support development of either affordable housing projects of at least 10 units, facilities providing community benefits, or mixed-use projects that propose some combination of housing, office space, and community facilities. Projects must be in one of 12 neighborhoods to qualify: Anacostia, Bellevue, Bloomingdale/Eckington, Brightwood/Upper Georgia Avenue, Brookland/Edgewood, Columbia Heights, Congress Heights, Deanwood Heights, H Street NE, Logan Circle, Shaw, and Washington Highlands. Money can be used toward developers' costs related to planning, environmental work, accounting, market studies, soil testing, legal services, and other expenses. Valerie Santos, DC deputy mayor for planning and economic development, issued the solicitation for proposals March 1 with a deadline of May 3. The application process is being managed by a nonprofit, the Washington DC Local Initiatives Support Corp.  |  Read article

9. Audio: Electronic Medical Records
WAMU 88.5 FM, The Diane Rehm Show, March 10, 2010

Summary: Recently, $19.2 billion of stimulus funds were set aside for doctors and hospitals making the switch to electronic health records. Diane Rehm updates the EHRs progress to-date and why some practitioners are -- for now -- sticking with paper. Guests included: Dr. Don Detmer, senior advisor, American Medical Informatics Association; Kurt Roemer, chief security strategist at Citrix Systems, Inc.; Dr. C. Martin Harris, chief information officer, Cleveland Clinic; and Dr. Carole Horn, internal medicine, private practice.  |  Listen to audio (scroll down)

10. Commentary: Got a light, President Obama? I hope your answer is 'No.'
By Courtland Milloy, The Washington Post, March 10, 2010

Summary: President Obama's doctors recently gave him some cavalier advice: Continue smoking cessation efforts. Milloy bets that none of those doctors mentioned Obama's lips. The president appears to be wearing purple lipstick. Could it be a brand known as Smoky Residue, that fatally attractive blend of tar, ammonia, arsenic, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and other carcinogenic chemicals that are thoroughly absorbed into porous lips? Obama promised not to smoke in the White House. So does he go to the Rose Garden? The roof? The first lady's vegetable garden on the South Lawn? Obama should be a good role model and set a good example. Tobacco use causes nearly one in five deaths in the U.S. -- more than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined. But understanding the danger hasn't stopped Obama. Motivation is the key -- being jolted by health scares, disgust with yellow teeth (or purple lips), prematurely wrinkled skin, or paying $11 for a pack of cigarettes. Without motivation, the challenges posed by nicotine withdrawal can be most difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. Milloy believes that Obama should put down the cancer sticks and quit now.  |  Read commentary

11. Letters to Editor: A welcome step: Retaking the measure of U.S. poverty
The Washington Post, March 9, 2010

Summary: Janice L. Cooper (interim director, National Center for Children in Poverty, New York): The announcement that the U.S. government will produce an experimental poverty measure ["New formula to give fresh look at poverty"] is a welcome first step toward fixing one of the fundamental indicators of economic well-being -- the U.S. poverty rate. NCCP research demonstrates the flaws of the current measure. A family of four is considered poor if its income is less than $22,050 a year. It takes double that amount for such a family to make ends meet. Any new definition of poverty cannot be supplemental to the current, egregiously outdated definition we now use if America is to get anywhere on this corrosive issue. This news coming from the government doesn't go far enough. NCCP urges continued, aggressive diligence from our lawmakers until a modern, meaningful definition of poverty exists, so we can accurately help the more than 40 million Americans who live in poverty. // Richard Alarcón (member, Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles): Three cheers to the Commerce Department and Undersecretary Rebecca Blank for updating the way the federal government measures people in poverty. By accounting for the realities of a family's budget -- including increased costs of living as well as supplemental income sources and cash assistance -- a more precise map of poverty in the U.S. will be created. Having accurate information on the economic situation of Americans will allow government at all levels to efficiently target its resources and ensure that policymakers have the correct information as they make decisions on the creation, reduction, expansion, or elimination of programs that help those in need.  |  Read letters

12. Editorial Cartoon: Mad About Health Care
By Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, March 10, 2010

Summary: Q: Mr. President… How do we sell our health care reform plan to the majority of Americans who have consistently opposed it…? A: Assure them their pre-existing mental condition will be covered.  |  View cartoon

EVENTS

Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association Annual Meeting
Friday, April 2nd, 8:30 am - 5 pm
KFF Barbara Jordan Conference Center
1330 G Street NW
"The Future of Public Health Leadership: Where Passion Meets Action." Keynote speaker: Shavon Arline, MPH, Health Programs Director, NAACP HQ. Register online.

A Luv Affair
Saturday, April 10th, 10 am - 4 pm
True Reformer Building
1200 U Street NW
April 2010 is Family Strengthening Month, including pampering for parents (mind, body, and soul). Enjoy a massage, manicure, aroma therapy, beauty makeover, African head wraps, or a haircut -- plus the 2010 awards luncheon honoring parent leaders. Sponsored by Strengthening Families DC Initiative, Parents Anonymous of DC, and many community businesses. For parents, caregivers, and guardians. Free child care, lunch and door prizes. You must register in advance by calling (202) 299-0900 (extension 22), sending an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or faxing to (202) 299-0901. Include your name, phone number, number of people attending, and how many children need child care.

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JOBS

Staff Accountant (Full-Time)
Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care
Mary's Center is a community health center whose mission is to build better futures through the delivery of health care, education, and social services. They embrace their culturally diverse community and provide the highest quality care regardless of ability to pay. Nice environment, great work hours, and excellent benefits. The staff accountant will be primarily responsible for maintaining/managing contract files, keeping up-to-date invoicing to contractors/grantor agencies, maintaining professional relations with program grant/contract monitors, and assisting Mary's Center's Finance Department with other duties assigned by the controller. Qualifications: Minimum of two (2) years experience in a nonprofit contract/grant management setting. BA in Accounting or Finance preferred, or equivalent experience. Requires experience in working with computerized accounting systems; ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks; strong analytical and organizational skills. Ability to work/communicate effectively in a team, across organizational lines, and with Board of Directors, donors, vendors, and community. Send your resume or CV and salary requirements to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or fax to (202) 332-0541. Indicate the position you're interested in applying for in your cover letter.

Health Quality Improvement Manager, DCPCA

Senior Policy Coordinator, DCPCA

Senior Grants Writer/Specialist, DCPCA

More Job Postings...

RESOURCES

DC Takes On HIV
HIV impacts every part of Washington, DC. We know that when our residents, government, communities, churches, and business work together, we can take on HIV and make a healthier city for us all. Whether you want an HIV test, find or get condoms, or living with HIV or know someone who's living with HIV and needs care, treatment, or other services, the DC Takes On HIV Web site is your one source to get information and get connected to help.

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How to Submit a Post:
Send a brief summary (100 words or less) to HealthNewsAlert (at) dcpca (dot) org. Include links for fliers and/or your organization. If you don't have a Web site or immediate posting capabilities, send an attachment. In the subject line, write HNA POST and the event's DATE. The District of Columbia Primary Care Association is a nonprofit health care reform organization founded in 1996 to improve the health of DC's vulnerable residents by ensuring that they receive high quality primary health care -- regardless of their ability to pay. The DCPCA Health News Alert is prepared to share with colleagues news about health reform efforts, DC politics, local events, jobs, and resources. The summaries are provided for your information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of DCPCA. The circulation for the alert is over 5,000 recipients. Click to: Unsubscribe, Join DCPCA, or Donate to DCPCA.

Get informed. Stay involved. Take action.

Everyone Covered.

Everyone Cared For.

Anyone Can Help.

DC's new "Know Where You Stand" HIV ad campaign

Recent health Articles, Events, Jobs, and Resources.

CONTENTS

1. DCPCA News: DC RHIO – Amalga Trainings
2. CHC News: Avon Foundation awards Whitman-Walker Clinic a grant
3. Article: DC to give away free female condoms to fight HIV/AIDS
4. Article: AIDS virus can hide in bone marrow
5. Article: Senators try to lift ban on gay men donating blood
6. Article: Many women avoid calling 911
7. Article: Germs in gut may be to blame for big appetite
8. Article: Friend of cancer patient leads urgent search for donor cells
9. Article: Your health care legislation questions answered
10. Letter to Editor: A death that was inevitable
11. Obituary: Louise Grass; SOME volunteer
12. Update: DOH's new "Know Where You Stand" HIV ad campaign

ARTICLE SUMMARIES

1. DCPCA News: DC RHIO – Amalga Trainings
DC Primary Care Association, March 2010

Summary: DCPCA conducted hands-on training sessions last week for new users of the DC Regional Health Information Organization (DC RHIO) health information exchange (HIE) system. For many of the attendees, it was their first opportunity to use the live system and try their hand at looking across multiple community health centers and hospitals to find data on their patients. Eighty-three attendees represented all six of our early adopter health centers – Bread for the City, Family Medical and Counseling Service, Inc., La Clínica del Pueblo, Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care, SOME, and Whitman-Walker Clinic. The attendees were enthusiastic about the new HIE system and the opportunity to practice using the DC RHIO in real scenarios. In addition to the training sessions for health centers, DCPCA conducted offsite training at Georgetown University Hospital with their emergency department doctors via conference call. The DC RHIO went live on March 1st. For more info, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Senior HIT Coordinator, at (202) 638-0252 ext. 202.  |  View photos

2. CHC News: Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund Awards Grant to W-WC
Whitman-Walker Clinic, News Release, March 8, 2010

Summary: The Avon Foundation awarded a $45,000 one-year grant to Whitman-Walker Clinic to increase awareness of the life-saving benefits of early detection of breast cancer. It's the ninth year that the program received Avon Foundation for Women funding to support its work on this important health issue and in recognition of the excellence of the program. In 2009, W-WC's Breast Health Initiative educated 1,000+ women with information about the importance of early detection of breast cancer, performed 550+ clinical breast exams, and referred 550 women for mammograms. This vital program will continue to provide breast cancer screening navigation in 2010. In addition, the Breast Health Initiative will provide onsite mammography at the clinic through its partnership with the George Washington University Mammovan. The Breast Health Initiative will also implement a peer health education program targeting underserved women in wards 6, 7, and 8.  |  Read release

3. Article: D.C. to be first U.S. city to give away free female condoms to fight HIV/AIDS
By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, March 6, 2010

Summary: The District will become the first city in the U.S. to distribute female condoms free, part of a project that'll make 500,000 of them available in beauty salons, convenience stores, and high schools in parts of the District with high HIV rates. The distribution could begin within the next three weeks in parts of wards 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, where a study showed that large numbers of African American heterosexuals engage in risky sexual behavior that could easily lead to infection. The move is an official acknowledgment of the futility of relying solely on the use of male condoms, which have been distributed District-wide for nearly a decade, to stem DC's epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Female condoms give women more power to protect themselves from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases when their partners refuse to use protection. The project is funded through a $500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund, a subsidiary of MAC Cosmetics, which contributes to numerous city programs, including two of the District's needle exchange programs. The grant helped DC buy the condoms at wholesale prices from the Female Health Co. and provide them for distribution by social service organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Community Education Group, and the Women's Collective.  |  Read article

4. Article: Researchers: AIDS virus can hide in bone marrow
USA TODAY, March 7, 2010

Summary: The virus that causes AIDS can hide in the bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness. The HIV virus can infect long-lived bone marrow cells that eventually convert into blood cells. The virus is dormant in the bone marrow cells, but when those progenitor cells develop into blood cells, it can be reactivated and cause renewed infection. The virus kills the new blood cells and then moves on to infect other cells. In recent years, drugs reduced AIDS deaths sharply, but patients need to keep taking the medicines for life or the infection comes back. While the drugs battle the active virus, some of the disease remains hidden away to flare up once therapy is stopped. One hide-out was found earlier in blood cells called macrophages. Another pool was discovered in memory T-cells. But those couldn't account for all the HIV virus still circulating. Finding these sources of infection is important because eliminating them would allow AIDS patients to stop taking drugs after their infection was over.  |   Read article

5. Article: Senators: Lift ban on gay men donating blood
USA TODAY, March 5, 2010

Summary: The time has come to change a policy that imposes a lifetime ban on donating blood for any man who has had gay sex since 1977, 18 U.S. senators said. Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban, said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who joined 16 other Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in writing the FDA commissioner. The lawmakers stressed that the science changed dramatically since the ban was established in 1983 at the advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Today donated blood must undergo two different, highly accurate tests that make the risk of tainted blood entering the blood supply virtually zero. The senators said that while hospitals and emergency rooms are in urgent need of blood products, healthy blood donors are turned away every day due to an antiquated policy and our blood supply is not necessarily any safer for it. Kerry compared the effort to lift the blood donation ban to legislation he backed in 2008 to end the law banning people with HIV from traveling and immigrating to the U.S. That ban was lifted last year.  |   Read article

6. Article: Your Health: Many women avoid calling 911
By Kim Painter, USA TODAY, March 8, 2010

Summary: If you think you're having symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, call 911. The emergency medical technicians who respond are trained to assess and treat patients right away. They also provide the quickest route through hospital doors and into the hands of doctors and nurses at a time when mere minutes can determine life or death, recovery or lasting disability. But the simple message to "call 911" clearly needs more attention. Just over half of women surveyed by the American Heart Association said they would do so if they thought they were having a heart attack. Instead, many women would call their doctors, take an aspirin, or get to a hospital on their own. About 80% would call if they thought someone else was having a heart attack. But failure to call 911 isn't just a female problem. Many men also respond to ominous symptoms with denial. People don't want to believe they're having a heart attack or stroke. Many people also fear calling attention to themselves, being wrong or embarrassed.  |   Read article

7. Article: Germs in gut may be to blame for big appetite
USA TODAY, March 5, 2010

Summary: Germs in the gut may help drive appetite, says new research into the link between obesity and bacteria. Previous studies showed that overweight people and normal-weight people harbor different types and amounts of microbes that naturally live in the intestine. To determine why, scientists are peering into mice. Researchers noticed that mice with an altered immune system were fatter than regular mice, and had a collection of disorders -- high blood pressure, and cholesterol and insulin problems -- called metabolic syndrome, often a precursor of heart disease and diabetes. Everyone is born with a sterile digestive tract that within days is flooded with bacteria from first foods and the environment. Altered immunity in these mice meant somewhat different bacteria grew in their intestines than in normal rodents -- driving bigger appetites, metabolic syndrome, and a low-grade inflammation believed key to obesity's illnesses. Researchers transferred bacteria from the fat mice directly into the germ-free intestines of normal newborn mice -- and those mice began eating more and developed inflammation and insulin problems. Restrict access to food and the altered mice don't gain weight, but still experienced the other symptoms. People are getting obese because they're eating more, but research suggests the reason they're eating more may not simply be that calories are cheap and available. Increased appetites may result from changes in intestinal bacteria.  |  Read article

8. Article: Friend of cancer patient leads urgent search for donor cells
By Nicole Norfleet, The Washington Post, March 6, 2010

Summary: Doctors had told Lindsay Rawot, 22, that her blood cancer treatments weren't working and that she would need a blood stem cell transplant, a procedure that takes cells from the blood or from the marrow of the pelvic bone. Her old roommate, Emily Roesing has spent weeks of lunch breaks and after-work meetings organizing a local drive for bone marrow donors, trying to help Rawot and others with similar health problems. Roesing has assumed the role of the event's promoter. She and her current roommates used a network of friends to try to mobilize the neighborhood and rally people around Rawot's cause. Roesing is hopeful that someone who goes to the event might be able to help her friend. The event took place Saturday at the Edmund Burke School. Rawot's brother wasn't a match for marrow donation, which put her in the same category as most patients who need a donor: She'll have to depend on a stranger. Only four out of 10 patients who could benefit from bone marrow transplants receive them. DKMS Americas is the bone marrow donor center organizing the drive. The organization spent about $100,000 to register more than 1,600 donors at other Rawot-inspired donor drives in New York City, Long Island, and Indiana University.  |  Read article

9. Article: Q&A: Your health care legislation questions answered
By Eugene Kiely and John Fritze, USA TODAY, March 7, 2010

Summary: Read the answers to nine questions you may have about President Obama's attempt to pass health care legislation: (1) What does President Obama mean when he says he wants an "up or down" final vote on health care? (2) What is reconciliation? (3) Why are Democrats using reconciliation? (4) How would reconciliation work? (5) When would this happen? (6) Is health care legislation guaranteed to pass through this process? (7) What are the potential problems in the Senate? (8) Hasn't reconciliation been used before? (9) How would the health care bill change if it went through this reconciliation process?  |  Read article

10. Letter to Editor: A death that was inevitable
By Joseph Wright (Upper Marlboro), The Washington Post, March 8, 2010

Summary: The most recent incident of misjudgment by DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel in the case of a two-year-old child points to how little progress has been made in improving the agency's level of service as was promised in the aftermath of the David Rosenbaum case in 2006 ["D.C. EMS faces review in death of girl, 2"]. The scope of practice for emergency responders doesn't include making independent transport decisions based on presumptive diagnoses. The decision not to immediately transport a two-year-old with respiratory symptoms is inexcusable. As a pediatric emergency physician, EMS medical director, and advocate for quality emergency medical services for children, Wright has stated often for the public record before the Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary just how little attention DC F/EMS has paid to preparing its workforce in the care of children. It was only a matter of time before a pediatric Rosenbaum case surfaced. (The writer is senior vice president of Children's National Medical Center.)  |   Read letter

11. Obituary: Louise L. Grass Board Member, Volunteer
By Adam Bernstein, The Washington Post, March 7, 2010

Summary: Louise Grass, 90, a lifelong Washingtonian and a past board member of the German Orphan Home and Swiss Benevolent Society, both in the District, died of renal failure Feb. 28 at the Washington Home hospice. Grass did volunteer work with the DC Society for Crippled Children, Meals on Wheels, and So Others Might Eat. She was a member of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, a civic group. Louise Lowe grew up in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighborhood and recalled playing on the White House lawn and in Lafayette Square as a child. She was a 1937 graduate of Western High School and during World War II did administrative and clerical work for the Army Map Service.  |  Read obituary

12. Update: Fenty Administration Announces New "Know Where You Stand" HIV Ad Campaign
DC Department of Health, News Release, March 5, 2010

Summary: Mayor Adrian Fenty and DOH officials announced a new campaign for DC residents to know where they stand in their relationships. The campaign is part of the District's continued focus on promoting HIV testing and the appropriate use of condoms as key to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The campaign encourages people in relationships to ask three questions: Do we know our HIV status? Is it just the two of us in the relationship? Do we use condoms? Protecting your and your partner's health will also protect the health of all DC residents. The $75,000 multimedia public awareness campaign includes Metro, print, and bus stop shelter ads. It also includes a three-part radio ad series where a couple discusses the three questions over dinner. The campaign was developed from DOH scientific studies on the HIV health behavior of heterosexuals and men who have sex with men. The studies showed that about half of District adults didn't know their partner's HIV status, that many believed their partner was having sex with other individuals while in their relationship, and between one-third and one-half weren't using condoms. Residents are able to find free HIV testing and get free condoms by calling 311, visiting www.DCTakesOnHIV.com, or texting DCWRAP to 365247.  |  Read release

EVENTS

Mautner Annual Gala
Saturday, March 20th
Omni Shoreham Hotel
The theme of this year's gala is 20/20 Perfect Vision and features X, Y, AND Z. Buy tickets online. The Mautner Project works to improve the health of women who partner with women, including lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals, through direct and support service, education, and advocacy.

FREE Seminars on Living Well with Cancer
Seminar #3 - Transitions for Life
Saturday, March 27th, 8:30 - 11:30 am
The National Rehabilitation Hospital Auditorium
Washington Hospital Center's Campus
102 Irving Street NW
Adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers are invited to attend Washington Hospital Center's new 2010 series of three, free Saturday morning seminars on Taking Care, Taking Control. Registration and parking are free. Register online, or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at (202) 877-3915.

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JOBS

Health Quality Improvement Manager, DCPCA

Senior Policy Coordinator, DCPCA

Senior Grants Writer/Specialist, DCPCA

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RESOURCES

Asking the Right Questions:
A Guide to the DC Council 2010 Oversight and 2011 Budget Hearings for Residents with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their Families
The Arc of the District of Columbia, February 2010, Report, 56 pages
The guide provides information on current and upcoming DC Council oversight and budget hearings. In particular, the guide offers questions related to services for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families that the public may wish to track during the hearings.

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