By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon FORT LUPTON – A clinic with roots caring for migrant farm workers in an old onion shed offers one of the most sophisticated models in Colorado for integrating mental health with primary care. “If you come to my health center, your chances of also seeing a mental health counselor are great,” said Dr. Tillman Farley, medical services director for Salud Family Health Centers. “Wall Street bankers don’t get the care that we give our patients.” The mental health counselors don’t wait for a doctor or other health provider to invite them into a patient’s room. They see all…
Category: Trends In Health Care - Part 17
By Mikaila Ellis Fethke Altenbern Colorado continues to lag behind most other states on immunizing babies and toddlers and a new book asserts that parents have given in to irrational fears rather than heeding overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are safe. The Colorado Health Foundation this week released its annual Health Report Card. Colorado ranked 30th in the nation for immunizations in children aged 19 to 35 months. That’s better than 2002 when Colorado ranked dead last in the country, but worse than 2008 when Colorado had improved to nearly 80 percent vaccination rates. Only 65.2 percent of Colorado’s infants were fully vaccinated…
By Diane Carman Colorado once again laid claim to being the fittest of the 50 states in 2010 with an obesity rate of 19.1 percent well below the national figure of 34 percent. When the statistics were released last summer, the chorus of self-congratulations could be heard from the Cherry Creek trail to the top of Mount Bierstadt. Behind those numbers lurks the specter of a far different future for the state, however. Childhood obesity here appears to be out of control. Lisa Piscopo, vice president of research for the Colorado Childrens Campaign, crunched the latest numbers from the National…
By Diane Carman Colorado once again laid claim to being the fittest of the 50 states in 2010 with an obesity rate of 19.1 percent well below the national figure of 34 percent. When the statistics were released last summer, the chorus of self-congratulations could be heard from the Cherry Creek trail to the top of Mount Bierstadt. Behind those numbers lurks the specter of a far different future for the state, however. Childhood obesity here appears to be out of control. Lisa Piscopo, vice president of research for the Colorado Childrens Campaign, crunched the latest numbers from the National…
By Rebecca Jones EdNewsColorado Keeping kids thin and fit is no small order in 2011. Schools experiment with countless ideas to battle childrens obesity. Theyve tried cooking classes, nutrition education, inviting kids to work in school gardens, improving cafeteria food, banning sugary snacks. Theyve upgraded playgrounds, tinkered with recess, mandated daily physical activity, organized bike clubs and revised physical education standards. Theyve coached parents, coached teachers, coached lunch ladies, coached coaches. Yet for all the different approaches, the empirical evidence proving what works and what doesnt is remarkably sketchy. Evidence-based anti-obesity programs that repeated studies have proven effective simply dont…
By Diane Carman Dr. Daniel Feiten has been shepherding babies and their parents through the challenges of childhood and adolescence for more years than he cares to count. He is a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he received the Career Teaching Scholar Award in 2009. He is one of the founders of Greenwood Pediatrics, one of the largest practices in Colorado. And, to his dismay mostly out of necessity he has become an expert on childhood obesity. So lets start with a little good news. Its my favorite success story, he said….
Just call me liar of the year Reprinted with permission from Kaiser Health News ByMichael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute Tomorrow night, President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a chamber that just voted overwhelmingly to repeal his health care law. Before you believe anything I might have to say about that, however, theres something you should know: I am a liar. Just before the holidays, the fact-checking journalists at PolitiFact.com gave their Lie of the Year award to the claim that ObamaCare is a government takeover of health care.Backed…
Doctor asks, Why did you come to the ERtoday? This question emphasizingtoday is common practice in emergency departments helps us figure out how urgent a patients illness might be. But its a loaded question. Rephrased, it could easily mean, Do youreally believe you are seriously ill, or is it just that you couldnt wait to see a regular doctor? Read the full report from Time.
The Houston hospital where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is being treated is one of the few hospitals in the country using cognitive rehabilitation therapy. The Pentagons health program, Tricare, hasrefused to cover cognitive rehabilitation therapy for the tens of thousands of service members who have suffered brain injuries in the line of duty. Read the report from ProPublica.
Electronic health records touted by the White House as a key way to improve health care in the United States may actually do little to improve quality, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Read the report from Reuters.