Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Hipaa As A Regulatory Model: Early Experiences And Future Prospects, Karl Polzer

National Health Policy Forum

In the context of the debate over bolstering consumer protection in health care without imposing excessive costs or onerous regulatory requirements, this paper examines the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as a regulatory model. The paper reviews the provisions of the legislation, examines the roles of the Department of Labor and the Health Care Financing Administration in implementing HIPAA, raises issues surrounding implementation and enforcement, and examines the usefulness of the HIPAA model as a vehicle for applying consumer protection measures.

A Study Of The Knowledge And Attitudes Of Physicians Toward Victims Of Spouse Abuse, Ramani N. Garimella

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to measure the knowledge and attitudes of physicians toward victims of spouse abuse. All 150 practitioners in the specialities of emergency medicine, family medicine, obstetrics-gynecology and psychiatry, in a large area general hospital are included in the sampling frame; 76 responded (RR = 51%). Knowledge and attitudes were measured using the Physician Survey on Spouse Abuse. Rosenberg's Tripartite Model of Attitude formed the theoretical basis for this study. Participants were 72% male, 90% white, 88% currently married, with a mean age of 44 years (SD = 7.99). Mean years in practice was 14.61 (SD …

Margins As Measures: Gauging Hospitals' Financial Health, Karen Matherlee

National Health Policy Forum

Recognizing the considerable controversy over ways to measure hospitals' financial viability, this issue brief reviews various ways to assess their fiscal strength. The paper looks first at operating margins, traditional measures that some experts say are inadequate when considered alone. It then explores several recommendations: (a) net income, liquidity and cash flow, and debt burden, suggested by the National Advisory Panel; (b) factors that determine year-to-year changes in hospitals costs, such as hospital input price inflation, changes in care patterns, and the complexity of patients treated, put forth by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; and (c) 35 financial indicators and …

Examining The Links Between Retirement And Health Insurance: Implications For Medicare Eligibility, Nora Super

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief examines trends in labor force participation and health care coverage for early retirees, as well as the relationship between retirement and health insurance and health status.

In The Affirmative, Vol.6, No.3 (Mid-March/Mid-April1999), Mike Martin, The Aids Project

In the affirmative (1993-1999)

No abstract provided.

Knotted Log Rolls Off Truck And Kills Logger At Sawmill, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 42-year-old logger (the victim) was killed when he was struck by a log rolling off a loaded truck at a sawmill. At about 6:10 a.m., the victim and the truck driver arrived at the sawmill with a load of logs on the 20-foot flatbed truck. The stack of logs was rounded above the height of the 53-inch standards and secured by only one chain on the middle of the load. When they arrived, the victim got out of the truck and assisted the driver in backing the vehicle into place for unloading. The victim was in view of the …

Screening Seniors For Risk Of Functional Decline: Results Of A Survey In Family Practice, Dawn M. Dalby, John W. Sellors, Fred D. Fraser, Catherine Fraser, Cornelia Van Ineveld, Laura Pickard, Michelle Howard

Kinesiology and Physical Education Faculty Publications

To measure functional status, determine risk of functional decline and assess consistency between responses and standardized instruments. Design: A mailed survey which measured functional impairment, recent hospitalization and bereavement. A positive response on at least one of these factors indicated that the individual was “at risk” for functional decline. A random sample (n=73) of “at risk” subjects (specifically, family practice patients aged 70 and older) were assessed by a nurse. Results: The response rate was 89% (369/415), 59% of seniors were female and the mean age was 77.1 (SD=5.5) years. Self-reported risk, based on activities of daily living (ADLs), was …

Providing Outpatient Prescription Drugs Through Medicare: Can We Afford To? Can We Afford Not To?, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

The continuing debate over the issue of Medicare coverage for outpatient prescription drugs gave rise to this background paper, which discussed several key questions: Whose responsibility is it to provide coverage? Who should be covered? What should be covered? Who should pay for prescription drug coverage? How should costs be controlled? In addition, the paper explored options for structuring a Medicare outpatient prescription drug benefit. It also contained a glossary.

Vol. 22 No. 1 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Review Of Breaching The Margins: Three Stories Of Aids And Sexuality In The Asian And Island Pacific (Films: Not A Simple Story/Out In Silence; China Dolls; And The Loser), Douglass P. Drozdow

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Contributors: Vol 22 No. 1, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 22 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue 1

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 22, No 1 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal

Tribal Environmental & Natural Resource Assistance Handbook, White House Domestic Policy Council, Native American Fish & Wildlife Society

Native Health Database Full Text

This handbook was developed by the Domestic Policy Council Working Group on American Indians and Alaska Natives (Working Group). This handbook is intended to provide a central location for federal sources of both technical and financial assistance available to Tribes for environmental management.

Welfare Reform And Its Impact On Medicaid: An Update, Judith D. Moore

National Health Policy Forum

Welfare reform, enacted in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), had a profound impact on the Medicaid program, delinking Medicaid from the new TANF program and for the first time allowing Medicaid eligibility to be divorced from welfare status. This paper reviews the national impact of this decoupling, describing research, implementation activities, and the impact of new state welfare programs on health programs in general.

Log Rolls Off Truck At Sawmill Killing Employee, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

In December 1998, a 31-year-old male (the victim) sawmill employee was killed when struck by a log that rolled off the top of the truck. He was preparing the truck to be unloaded when the log rolled off. While most of the logs received by the sawmill were delivered by independent loggers, the company did own one boom truck that their employees used to pick up timber. This was the truck the victim was driving the day of the incident. At the time of the incident, he was working alone.

When the victim returned to the sawmill, the logs were …

Lumber Company Employee Falls 48" From Storage Rack To His Death, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Falls

In October 1998, a 58-year-old male truck driver/yard worker died of traumatic head injuries when he fell 48" from a storage rack. The employee had climbed onto the storage rack to retrieve 3/4" round molding, 8 feet in length for a customer to load into his truck. The employee placed his feet on pine boards that were being stored on the middle row and was trying to retrieve molding being stored above (approximately 9 feet off the floor). After he cut the bundle string to release the individual molding pieces, he began to pull the pieces out which were being …

Biological Terrorism: Is The Health Care Community Prepared?, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief provides an overview of biological warfare and discusses the role of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state health departments in detecting biologic agents. The brief also highlights the issue of threat assessment and discusses ways to improve the current level of preparedness as well as steps needed to convert the public health system into our best form of civil defense.

Medicare Hmo Pullouts: What Do They Portend For The Future Of Medicare+Choice?, Nora Super

National Health Policy Forum

National policymakers became alarmed in the fall of 1998 when, contrary to expectations, nearly 100 Medicare HMOs announced their decisions to pull out of Medicare in certain areas or to reduce their service areas. This issue brief explores the reasons plans withdrew from certain areas, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 provisions that most directly influenced these decisions, the impact of the withdrawals on Medicare beneficiaries, and policy options for ensuring the viability of the Medicare+Choice program.

Exposure To Atmospheric Radon, Daniel J. Steck, R. William Field, Charles F. Lynch

Physics Faculty Publications

We measured radon (²²²Rn) concentrations in Iowa and Minnesota and found that unusually high annual average radon concentrations occur outdoors in portions of central North America. In some areas, outdoor concentrations exceed the national average indoor radon concentration. The general spatial patterns of outdoor radon and indoor radon are similar to the spatial distribution of radon progeny in the soil. Outdoor radon exposure in this region can be a substantial fraction of an individual's total radon exposure and is highly variable across the population. Estimated lifetime effective dose equivalents for the women participants in a radon-related lung cancer …

Log Rolls Off Truck At Sawmill Killing The Truck Driver, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

In November 1998, a 32-year-old male truck driver was killed when he was struck by a log that rolled off the top of his tractor trailer truck while preparing the truck for unloading at a sawmill complex. The victim accompanied by his father, had picked up a load of logs and transported them approximately 220 miles to the sawmill complex. He arrived at the mill with the logs secured by straps and stacked well above the standards of the trucks trailer. He drove to an unloading area. The victim and his father exited the truck and while the father waited …

Filling The Geriatric Gap: Is The Health System Prepared For An Aging Population?, Janet Firshein

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief explores the field of geriatrics, the ways practitioners meet the health care needs of the elderly, training gaps, and the impact of Medicare payment policies on the delivery of health care to older Americans.

Farmer Killed When Tractor Punctures Gas Line Causing An Explosion, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 62-year-old male was killed when the tractor he was operating punctured an aboveground gas line. He had recently moved to the area and was in the process of acquiring some land for farming. The land was overgrown with weeds and brush about 5 feet high. On a warm, clear afternoon he went out to clear the land with a tractor and rotary mower. Although the incident was unwitnessed, apparently he began mowing the field near a roadway and was likely on the third pass when the front of the tractor ran into an aboveground valve of a natural gas …

In The Affirmative, Vol.6, No.1 (Mid-January/Mid-February 1999), Mike Martin, The Aids Project

In the affirmative (1993-1999)

No abstract provided.

The Continuing Decline In Medicaid Coverage, Leighton Ku, Brian K. Bruen

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Metaphor Graphics To Depict Sleep Research Results, Judith A. Floyd

Nursing Faculty Research Publications

Many nurses are not familiar with the highly technical language of research and the types of graphics that researchers use to communicate findings, creating a major barrier to research utilization in nursing. In an effort to find alternative approaches to displaying research results, W.G. Cole introduced "metaphor graphics" a decade ago as a way of graphically representing knowledge. He proposed that data be summarized using visual metaphors - i.e., abstract signs and symbols - to show patterns and convey meaning. Viewing human beings as imperfect processors of information who tend to reason using pattern recognition and mental models, Cole hypothesized …

Housing And Population Health: A Review Of The Literature, Stephen Hwang, Esme Fuller-Thomson, J. David Hurlchanski, Toba Bryant, Youssef Habib, Wendy C. Regoeczi

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

Research into the relationship between housing and health has frequently been narrowly focused, fragmented, and of marginal practical relevance to either housing or health studies. Population health research, in its reference to the importance of the social and physical environment, rarely mentions housing. While it has been recognized for some time that there is a need for the development of a co-ordinated, integrated and cumulative body of housing and health research, there is still very little formal co-ordination between housing policy and population health policy. More attention needs to be paid to measuring the nature and extent to which better …

Alertness-Supporting Activities For Control Room Operators In Automated Industrial Plants, Roger C. Jensen

Safety Health & Industrial Hygiene

A survey of control room operators in a nuclear power plant identified practical activities for maintaining alertness during the early morning hours. Nine on-duty operators rated 16 activities they were allowed to do on shift. Activities most effective for alertness were splashing cool water on the face, drinking coffee, and doing things that used muscles. The least effective activities were passive monitoring and studying for exams. The large range of ratings indicates that activity has a major role in operator alertness during the early morning hours.

Carboxy-Terminal Conversion Of Profibrillin To Fibrillin At A Basic Site By Pace/Furin-Like Activity Required For Incorporation In The Matrix, Michael Raghunath, Elizabeth A. Putnam, Timothy Ritty, Daniel Hamstra, Eun-Sook Park, Mathias Tschödrich-Rotter, Reiner Peters, Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Dianna M. Milewicz

Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Fibrillin-1, the main component of 10-12 nm microfibrils of the extracellular matrix, is synthesized as profibrillin and proteolytically processed to fibrillin. The putative cleavage site has been mapped to the carboxy-terminal domain of profibrillin-1, between amino acids arginine 2731 and serine 2732, by a spontaneous mutation in this recognition site that prevents profibrillin conversion. This site contains a basic amino acid recognition sequence (R-G-R-K-R-R) for proprotein convertases of the furin/PACE family. In this study, we use a mini-profibrillin protein to confirm the cleavage in the carboxy-terminal domain by both fibroblasts and recombinantly expressed furin/PACE, PACE4, PC1/3 and PC2. Site-directed mutagenesis …

Genetic Monitoring In The Workplace: A Tool Not A Solution, Lillian Trettin, Catherine Musham, Richard Jablonski

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors differentiate between genetic monitoring and screening, and discuss the potential risks and benefits of predictive testing technologies.

Kentucky Partnership For Farm Family Health And Safety Coloring Book, The Kentucky Partnership For Farm Family Health And Safety

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.