Bulicio

Archive for January, 2012

In 2007, the governor of Minnesota proposed a mental health initiative and the legislature passed it. One of the more important components of the initiative was legislation amending Minnesota’s two programs for the uninsured – General Assistance Medical Care and Minnesota Care – to add to the comprehensive mental health and addictions benefit.

Who Is Covered?

General Assistance Medical Care covers those with income at or below 75% of the federal poverty level who meet one or more of additional criteria known as General Assistance Medical Care qualifiers. Qualifiers include waiting or appealing disability determination by Social Security Administration or state medical review team; or being in a homeless or live in shelter, hotel, or other place of public accommodation.

Minnesota Care covers children and pregnant women, parents, and caretakers up to 275% of the federal poverty level, except that parents and caretakers gross income cannot exceed $50,000. Single adults without children increased to 200% of federal poverty level by January 1, 2008 and will rise to 215% of federal poverty level by January 1, 2009.

What Services Are Covered?

For Minnesota Care, there are limits of $10,000 on inpatient care for any condition (physical, mental health, or addictions) for parents over 175% of federal poverty level and childless adults. For General Assistance Medical Care, inpatient benefits are fully covered. Both programs cover chemical dependency outpatient services. An intensive array of outpatient and residential mental health services are available.

What Is The Cost?

In Minnesota, the Medicaid Temporary Assistance for Needy Families population, General Assistance Medical Care and Minnesota Care are enrolled in comprehensive nonprofit health plans that are responsible to deliver and are at risk for the entire health benefit, including behavioral health. Adding mental health rehabilitative services (including adult rehabilitative mental health services individual and group rehabilitation services, assertive community treatment, intensive residential treatment and mobile and residential crisis services) to Minnesota Care was projected to cost $3.40 per person per month. For General Assistance Medical Care, which includes a homeless population, the cost was $7.01 per person per month. The additional targeted case management service was projected to cost $2.22 per person per month for Minnesota Care and $7.66 for General Assistance Medical Care.

The legislature appropriated a total of $1 million in additional state dollars in fiscal year 2008 and $ 3.5 million in fiscal year 2009 to add the adult rehabilitative services and case management in Minnesota Care. State funds previously targeted for case management were moved from the counties to the state in an amount of $4.4 million in fiscal year 2009.

What Led To Comprehensive Coverage?

The state collected data on the residents served by Minnesota Care, General Assistance Medical Care, and Medicaid managed care plans serving non-disabled populations, and discovered that an increasing number of individuals with serious mental illnesses were in these plans. Several insurance reforms – similar to those included in the national healthcare reform bill – modified the private market, including guaranteed issue in small and large group plans, broader rate bands, parity for mental health and chemical dependency services, medical loss ratios, high risk insurance pool, and others. A lawsuit by the attorney general called attention to health plan denials of payment for court-ordered treatment, for example for civil commitment or out of home placement for adolescents.

Health plans settled with an agreement that behavioral and mental health benefits would be covered by a health plan if the court based its decision on a diagnostic evaluation and plan of care developed by a qualified professional. In addition to the court-ordered services provision, the state contracts and capitation with prepaid health programs (Minnesota Care and General Assistance Medical Care) were amended to align risk and responsibility for services in institutions for mental illnesses, 180 days of nursing home or home health, and court-ordered treatment. There were also highly successful experiments reducing costs and improving outcomes for commercial and non-disabled Medicaid clients who were offered a more intensive community based mental health service that improved coordination with and linkages to behavioral healthcare, primary care, and other needed services.

These demonstrations produced a positive return on investment – $0.38/person/month – and gave the health plans tools to manage the increased risk that resulted from several insurance reforms, including parity, a statutory definition of medical necessity, and the court-ordered treatment provision.

The state supported comprehensive coverage because it sought to provide mental health and addiction services in Minnesota as part of mainstream healthcare. Minnesota’s mental health agency and other stakeholders desired to move mental illness from its historical treatment as a social disease requiring social services to an illness like any other. They wanted to foster earlier interventions and avoid shifting enrollees among different programs in order to access specific services. Operationalizing this change required rethinking medical necessity determinations, provider credentialing, contracting, procedure codes and other processes common to private insurance plans.

How Did It Get Through The Political Process?

Three factors significantly contributed to the political viability of a benefit expansion in the Minnesota Care and General Assistance Medical Care programs:

>> The governor of Minnesota and the administration provided strong leadership. The provisions to expand the mental health benefits in these plans were part of the governor’s mental health initiative, set forth in advance of the 2007 legislative session.

>> An extremely strong coalition of stakeholders formed a mental health action group. This group is co-chaired by a representative from the department of human services and included representation from the private insurance industry and organized and knowledgeable advocacy and provider communities.

>> There was strong support in the legislature for the expansion of benefits in Minnesota Care and General Assistance Medical Care, including from a member of the finance committee in the house, who has a son with schizophrenia. The creation of a mental health division in the health and human services policy committee also helped move the policy discussion forward.

Why Does This Approach to Healthcare Reform Work?

A recent survey of community behavioral health organizations found that on average, 42% of reimbursement for services came from private insurers. While this represents the average, the survey found that there was quite a range in reimbursement sources. For community behavioral health organizations that specialize in services such as Assertive Community Treatment or case management, Medicaid is the predominant reimbursement source, either through fee-for-service or managed care.

Reimbursement from private insurance and Medicaid managed care is uniformly better than Medicaid fee-for-service. In addition to higher rates, the private insurers and Medicaid managed care organizations have been willing to offer special contracts for packages of services for crisis care and hospital discharge plus aftercare.

Many back pain sufferers experience morning back pain. A nagging burning sensation that either represents a pinched nerve or inflammation caused by spending too much time in a bad position (while asleep).

There are really two ways to attack morning back pain. One is by getting a new bed. But they are expensive and may not solve the problem. If you want to go this route, get a Sleep Number bed so it can be adjusted according to your needs.

But most people can’t afford a new bed, much less a replacement if the first choice proves to be no help or makes things worse.

Instead, to help minimize the risk of morning back pain, you should do an extension exercise followed by a stretching of the back before bed time. This will relieve your back of as much compression stress as possible before you go to bed making things have to move farther before initiating new pain.

A few minutes of mild inversion will do better. About 30 degrees for five minutes would be plenty. If you do not have an inversion table, you are strongly advised to get one just as soon as you can.

If you still have morning back pain even if you are doing the stretches before going to bed, it should be easily relieved by doing the stretches again first thing in the morning. Fact is, with a good extension and stretch routine just done before bed and waking up, you will go a long way toward the elimination of the pain entirely.

Morning back pain is not something you should ignore. It is easy to deal with and you can do it by yourself. Best of all, the steps you take for correcting your morning back pain are the same as what you need to do to build or maintain a healthy back.

The end result of effective back pain treatment extends long into the day.

Our lifestyles have changed so fast that our bodies have not been able to adapt to the new way of living. To function properly our bodies require a wide array of vitamins and other nutrients that we do not always get on a regular basis because we do not consume enough fruits and vegetables that contain these nutrients. Some vitamins are required for the body to function properly, while other nutrients prevent diseases. If the human body is deprived of these vital nutrients, it becomes prone to several ailments.

For example, the lack of nutrients like minerals, amino acids vitamins, and essential fatty acids make people feel fatigued. If required quantities of chromium and vanadium are not a part of our diets the blood sugar levels are not regulated properly. This also leads to fatigue.

If selenium and vitamin E are not consumed in adequate quantities, then people become more prone to heart diseases. The risk of getting prostate cancer can be reduced by if proper quantities of zinc, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C, and herbs like Lycopene and Saw Palmetto are consumed.

Now-a-days, we can not have the kind of food that we should have for various reasons. Sometimes our schedules are such that we cannot prepare nutritious food everyday. Thus most of us need nutrition health supplements to stay fit.

However, buying any generic nutrition health supplement will not necessarily have the desired effect because many of these have synthetic ingredients. The disadvantage of synthetic ingredients is that these do not get absorbed into the body easily. The human body tends to reject them at the cellular level. Often these contain artificial additives and preservatives that also hamper the absorption process.

Thus you should choose nutrition health supplements that are manufactured from plants that have been grown organically. The human body finds it easier to absorb such nutrients.

Nutrition health supplements are also required by pregnant women because they cannot also get the nutrients that they need through the food that they eat. Another group of people who require supplements are people who are on weight loss diets. Since such people do not eat the food that ordinary people eat, they have to ensure that they are getting the vital nutrients without increasing their obesity.

These days, good and affordable nutrition health supplements can be purchased though the internet. So go ahead and get back your health by consuming a health supplement regularly.

Did you know that lower back pain affects up to 90 percent of Americans? Unfortunately, medical practitioners cannot find a specific cause of the pain in about 85 percent of lower back pain sufferers. To alleviate some of the pain and, at times, eradicate it altogether, try establishing a regular routine of lower back pain exercises.

Between 10 and 30 minutes of lower back pain exercises helps patients recover, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Of course, check with your physician before attempting any of the following exercises.

Wall squatting

Stand with your back against a sturdy, firm wall, heels wedged at the floor and wall’s corner. Step away from the wall, forward, until your feet are positioned about 12 inches in front of you. They should be shoulder-width apart. Create a 45-degree angle by slowly bending your knees, while tightening your ab muscles. Hold this squat for 5 seconds. Return to the starting position with your back against the wall. Repeat this exercise 10 times.
Cat and camel stretches

Get on all fours on top of a yoga mat or towels. Your hands should be under your shoulder and knees under your hips. Rest your head by releasing your neck, allowing your head to flop downward. While you do this motion, round your back by tucking your hips under yourself, making a curve that points upward. Count to five and release. Do this 10 times. Return to the starting position. Look toward the ceiling while dropping your stomach toward the floor, making your back arch. Count to five and release. Do this 10 times.
Knee to chest stretching

Lie on your back on a yoga mat or towel, with knees bent pointing toward the ceiling and feet flat on the floor. Use both hands to pull your right knee to your chest and hold this position for 30 seconds. Release and return to starting position Repeat the same exercise with the left leg. Lastly, pull both knees toward your chest and hold them, one in each hand, for 30 seconds.

Start an exercise routine today. These simple lower back pain exercises might just give you the relief you need.

Negative Calorie Effect in Foods

Whatever food we eat, our body has to work hard to digest it and absorb. Some foods need more energy than the others in the process of digestion. It is likely that there may be certain foods that require more calories to digest than the caloric content of the foods themselves. In fact there are certain foods
in nature which possess this property. Such foods may be termed as negative calorie foods because these foods take these extra calories from the body fat. Similarly there may be foods that require the same amount of calories as the calorie content of these foods. Such foods are effectively of zero calorie.

The secret of negative calorie effect lies in the fact that these foods use more calories to digest then actual calories. The overall effect of these negative calorie foods in our body is that of using calories from body. These foods are mostly
natural plant foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils and legumes.

If you eat a food high in fat, your body will expand almost no calorie and the fat very easily goes to your waistline. On the other hand, the more you eat these negative calorie foods, the more you have a feeling of fullness, thereby leaving a little chance of eating other fatty and oily foods. The other important thing about these negative calorie foods is that these can form part of a perfectly balanced diet.

There are a large number of foods that combine low calories, delicious taste, and excellent negative calorie properties. Include these foods in your daily meals. You will get maximum benefit if you eat them in raw natural form, with little butter or oil. The most important thing about these negative calorie foods is that you will never feel hungry if you are on a diet with negative calorie foods.

Copyright 2004 P. Mehta

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We always dreamt to get beautiful skin, shining hairs, healthy nails and blinking sparkling eyes but all these things completely depends on our diet. The food that we eat is of utmost importance to achieve desirable skin. As we know, less water causes blotchy, dull skin & acne so; we should consume 7-8 glasses of water daily. We can replace refined flour with whole grains as during the refining process, the Vitamin B, proteins and fibers are also removed.

Fat is considered the bad word in the world. That is the reason why gym members are rising day by day. Even in restaurants fat free dishes receives a special attention and many industries have created to the fat free preoccupation by supplying food labeled fat free or low-fat.

You have heard many times people talk of women with thunder thighs and men with huge bellies. The reason behind this is that the extra fat tends to settle around the stomach region in men and near thighs and hips in women.

Many herbal and medical have blocked fat metabolism. The bottom line on the beauty and health fronts is that if you want beautiful skin with fewer wrinkles or to speed up your metabolism, you need to eat the right kind of fats.

Benefits of eating right fat

There are lots of benefits associated with eating right fat and beauty. These beneficial fats stimulate the production of collagen. It also improves the blood circulation in the layer below the skin that supplies nutrients for the creation of new and healthy skin cells.

Fats keep the moisture of skin maintained from inside. Fats are very crucial for the absorption of the fat soluble vitamin – A, D, E, and K and the beneficial phytonutrients like carotene, lycopene and lutein need fat to be absorbed also.

Proteins are essential for repair of body tissues. Our skin and hair needed a balance amount of protein as its deficiency can give way to dull and dry skin as well as scalp.