Robert "Sam" Tessen, Executive Director
NewScope
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NEWS BRIEFING
FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
August 15, 2008
Robert "Sam" Tessen, Executive Director
Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
It's how you act that determines how you feel, not how you feel that determines
how you act.
David H. Sandler
IN THIS ISSUE, FOR YOU:
ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS
LAUBENBERG TO CHAIR PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE
REPORT: TEXAS SHORT MORE THAN 4,500 PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS
SIX RULES DOCTORS NEED TO KNOW
OVERHAUL OF TEXAS FOSTER CARE SYSTEM INCLUDES E.H.R. IMPLEMENTATION
CORNYN PRAISES HEALTH CARE IN TEXAS
CHECKLISTS TO HELP PEOPLE 50 AND OLDER STAY ON HEALTHY TRACK
A LOOK AT INSURANCE ISSUES IN TEXAS, ONE PERSPECTIVE
LARGE PERCENTAGE OF USERS TURN TO WEB FOR HEALTH INFORMATION
WALK-IN CLINICS' EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IS SLOWING
"LAUGH AS MUCH AS YOU BREATHE AND LOVE AS LONG AS YOU LIVE."
ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT
MEETINGS:
District 7 Thursday, August 21st
Austin, TX
District 8 Thursday, Aug. 28th, 6:30 p.m.
Utopia World Cuisine
Corpus Christi, TX
District 10 Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 27-28th
Inn of the Mountain Gods
Riudosa, New Mexico
(Contact Pat Hanford, DO, for details)
August 23 HealthFind (to match rural communities with physicians and
future physicians)
Hotel Intercontinental, Dallas, TX
For more info or to register:
www.torchnet.org/calendar.html
Labor Day September 1, 2008
September Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
LAUBENBERG TO CHAIR PUBLIC HEALTH
COMMITTEE
(Austin) - Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland), today, announced the appointment of
Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Rockwall) as chair of the House Committee on Public
Health. Rep. Laubenberg has served as vice chair of the committee, and she
replaces Rep. Dianne Delisi (R-Temple) who retired from the Texas House of
Representatives last week.
http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/local/local_story_224155004.html
From: The Quorum Report, EDITOR: Harvey Kronberg,
www.quorumreport.com
REPORT: TEXAS SHORT MORE THAN
4,500 PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS
By Mary Ann Roser, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 11 August 2008
AUSTIN - By 2015, Texas would need more than 4,500 additional primary care
doctors and other medical professionals to serve all of its residents who have
limited access to health care, according to a report being released today by the
National Association of Community Health Centers.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/11/0811docshortage.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=52
From: Texas Weekly News Clips, by Printing Production Systems, Inc.,
www.texasweekly.com
SIX RULES DOCTORS NEED TO KNOW
(Tony Cenicola/The New York Times)
Why are patients mad at doctors? Maybe, suggests medical blogger Dr. Robert
Lamberts, it's because doctors aren't following the rules.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/six-rules-doctors-need-to-know/
From: Health, The New York Times, The New York Times Company,
www.nytimes.com/
OVERHAUL OF TEXAS FOSTER CARE
SYSTEM INCLUDES E.H.R. IMPLEMENTATION
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has implemented an EHR system for
the more than 30,000 children under its supervision, Government Technology
reported July 22.
The program, called Health Passport, is part of an overhaul of Texas' foster
care system and is the first of its kind in the country, according to the online
publication. The goal is to provide a more complete and accurate snapshot of a
child's medical history than was previously available.
Health Passport gathers a child's medical data from an array of companies, state
agencies, and practitioners into one location where it is accessible by
guardians and physicians, the publication reported. The system updates most
information automatically and follows a child upon placement in a new foster
home.
Moving children from one home and set of guardians and physicians to another
creates special security concerns, according to the article. The system employs
unique identifiers for users and 19 access levels that recognize distinct user
roles; foster parents are unable to alter data pertaining to a child's office
visit history, for example. Anytime a user logs in, the system automatically
checks the daily updated list of individuals who should have access.
Click here to read the Government Technology article:
http://www.govtech.com/tt/378424?id=&story_pg=1
From: EHR Connection, HCPro, Inc.,
www.hcmarketplace.com
CORNYN
PRAISES HEALTH CARE IN TEXAS
By ALAN
BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle, 12 August 2008
HOUSTON - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, representing the state with the highest share
of population without health insurance, said Tuesday that Texas is a national
model for improving access to health care because it limited lawsuits against
doctors.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5940196.html
From: Texas Weekly News Clips, by Printing Production Systems, Inc.,
www.texasweekly.com
CHECKLISTS TO HELP PEOPLE 50 AND
OLDER STAY ON HEALTHY TRACK
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the AARP have released two
new checklists -- for men and women -- of recommendations for healthy behaviors,
preventive medicine and screening tests for people over age 50. Yahoo!/HealthDay
News (8/9)
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ppipix.htm
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/men50.htm
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/women50.htm
From: SmartBrief, SmartBrief, Inc.®,
www.smartbrief.com
A LOOK AT INSURANCE ISSUES IN
TEXAS, ONE PERSPECTIVE
Texas Impact has prepared a new resource to help frame the policy discussion we
hope will happen around TDI and private health insurance reform. "A New
Diagnosis: Reforming the Private Market to Improve Health Coverage for Texans"
analyzes the private health insurance market here and how it under-serves the
people of Texas. It examines common policies that other states have used to make
private health insurance more accessible and affordable. And it recommends
changes to Texas law that would allow more Texans to get the coverage they need.
http://texasimpact.org/PDFs/NewDiagnosisReport.pdf
From: Texas Weekly Soapbox, by Printing Production Systems, Inc.,
www.texasweekly.com
LARGE PERCENTAGE OF USERS TURN TO
WEB FOR HEALTH INFORMATION
About 75% of those who use the Internet look for health information, according
to data from the Pew Internet Project. In a "typical" day, 10% of Internet users
say they search for health-related information, up from 7% two years ago. More
women use the Internet for health information than do men, and younger users
look for it less often than do older users. The Health Care Blog (8/7)
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2008/08/75-percent-of-i.html
From: SmartBrief, SmartBrief, Inc.®,
www.smartbrief.com
WALK-IN CLINICS' EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
IS SLOWING
Although walk-in clinics are expected to grow to 1,500 locations nationally by
the end of the year, momentum is starting to slow, say observers. Wal-Mart
Stores recently shuttered 44 of its retail-based clinics. Star Tribune
(Minneapolis-St. Paul) (8/11)
http://www.startribune.com/business/26850829.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUX
From: SmartBrief, SmartBrief, Inc.®,
www.smartbrief.com
"LAUGH AS MUCH AS YOU BREATHE AND
LOVE AS LONG AS YOU LIVE."
Summer vacation was over and Little Johnny returned back to school. Only two
days later his teacher phoned his mother to tell her that he was misbehaving.
"Wait a minute," she said. "I had Johnny with me for three months and I never
called you once when he misbehaved!"
Desperation is a fellow shaving before stepping the scales.
Did you hear about the dyslexic lawyer who studied all year for the bra exam?
Teacher: How do you spell "dog"?
Pupil: d, o, g, enter.
My kids can hardly wait for school to start again. Misbehaving just isn't as
much fun when you don't have a big audience.
I can tell it's back-to-school time again. This morning I caught my son in front
of the mirror practicing his stomach ache faces.
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I hope that this information is helpful. Please feel free to give me any feedback or suggestions on the information in the updates. They are really only as good as the information is useful. So the more useful the information is or can be, the better the updates are.
Respectfully submitted,
Robt. J. "Sam" Tessen
Executive Director
