HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today three innovative HHS ideas that have been developed as a result of a more open and accessible federal decision making process in collaboration between the public, private sector and the federal government.
Information Streaming, IdeaLab, and YouTube Know What to Do About the Flu and Prevention PSA Contest implement the President's three principles for promoting a transparent and open government: transparency, participation, and collaboration.
HHS initiatives help to facilitate ways for the public and private sector to find the information they need and receive real-time updates, which can fuel entrepreneurial momentum, create new jobs, and strengthen economic growth.
"These examples illustrate our commitment to the President's vision of promoting accountability, collaboration and public engagement," Secretary Sebelius said. "By working together in a transparent manner, we have developed programs that are making real contributions to creating and adopting impactful solutions that protect and improve people's health."
* Information Streaming of HHS biomedical research innovation, part of the National Assets for High-Tech Economic Growth commitment, uses new Web technology to provide real time access to information on technologies available for licensing from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intramural laboratories and NIH Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) opportunities. Access to this and similar information from other federal laboratories on www.data.gov will enhance user driven
innovation.
This project is part of a collaborative effort among the NIH and FDA in the Department of Health and Human Services; the Agricultural Research Service in the Department of Agriculture; the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Department of Commerce; the Department of Energy; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which are working together to increase access to information on publicly-funded technologies that are available for license; opportunities for federal funding and partnerships; and potential
private-sector partners.
* IdeaLab, an innovative Web-based peer-to-peer program that serves as a clearinghouse for collaborative networking for employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). IdeaLab is open and transparent. Anyone working at CDC can post an idea or request help with a project, and then other CDC employees can post their comments, solutions, and similar experiences. IdeaLab does not, however, allow anonymous postings or comments as doing so would be contrary to the intent of creating the site -- which is to promote transparency,
participation, and collaboration.
* YouTube Know What to Do About the Flu and Prevention PSA Contest, reached populations most vulnerable to the H1N1 flu virus, young teens and adults, to take proactive actions such as washing your hands and getting a flu shot. The PSA contest provided a venue to encourage families and students to get involved and reached a large audience with a creative outlet and humor, on a serious subject. More than 250 videos were submitted for review. Subject matter experts selected 10 finalists. The public then voted to select the overall winner. The winning PSA was featured on national television. Other runner-up PSAs are also being seen on a number of national media outlets and can be viewed on www.flu.gov.
NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said, "By using the latest information technologies available, the NIH Intramural Research Program provides instantaneous access to information about opportunities to license NIH inventions or to partner with NIH scientists. This is an important step in accelerating the translation of discoveries into effective therapeutics."
"IdeaLab helps CDC better leverage its brainpower to generate and incubate ideas, solve problems, encourage collaboration, and promote broad adoption of the best solutions by tapping into the knowledge, skills, and creativity of our staff regardless of where someone actually
works, " said Joanne Andreadis, Ph.D., CDC Office of Strategy and Innovation Team Leader. "We have all of these individuals at CDC with a wealth of knowledge they have accumulated over a lifetime of professional and personal experiences -- tapping into that collective knowledge allows us to make good ideas better," Andreadis explained.
"Our PSA Contest tapped the creativity and energy that thrives on YouTube," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Jenny Backus. "We engaged people and they in turn engaged each other. Our important messages about how to prevent the flu reached a new audience of people at increased risk from the H1N1 virus."
These initiatives are in direct response to the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government the President issued on January 21, 2009, his first full day in office, calling for recommendations for making the Federal government more transparent, participatory, and
collaborative.
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Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Members of Over 71 Million U.S. Households Ignored by Universal Healthcare
/PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by PetMedicationCard.com, Inc.:
Here are the facts, most Americans have health care insurance (140 million have either Medicare or Medicaid plus 110 million are in private payer insured plans, which equal 250 million insured), and only 10 million of the estimated 50 million uninsured which have uncovered healthcare claim expenses. Put in terms of percentages, 20% of the 50 million claimants (or 3.25% of the entire population of the United States) don't have health insurance and don't pay their healthcare expenses.
On the other hand, more than 71 million U.S. households have livestock and pets that have no health care plan, no insurance and no prescription drug coverage. These uninsured animals are many times original sources of disease and illnesses such as mad cow disease, aids, swine flu, bird flu and other diseases. To humans these uninsured animals' healthcare is a vital component of maintaining the health of mankind. The case for universal health coverage for livestock animals and pets is therefore a compelling one. Universally covering our livestock animals and pets first would allow the government to work out real savings in healthcare for citizens.
"The primary reason human healthcare costs are so high for the insured population is cost shifting," says Rex Bowden, President of PetMedicationCard.com. "Cost shifting occurs when Medicare, Medicaid and the under-insured shift real costs to the private insured. Put another way, 60% of all medical expenses which are caused by the cost shifting groups are paid based on the federal government's payment schedule (meaning they are paid at less than the actual cost). The discrepancies in these costs are then shifted to the private sector and result in 110 million insured Americans paying their own medical costs and the cost of care not paid by the government's reduced payment schedule for Medicaid and Medicare. The proposed universal healthcare bills on both sides of the aisles will increase costs, increase government controls, shift the cheese to a different group, reduce medical miracles and sadly will not improve healthcare in America." In an example of health care run by governments, the MRI wait time in Canada can be up to 6 months for humans, but if your animal needs a MRI it is scheduled for the same day as ordered.
The 2009 / 2010 National Pet Owners Survey exposes the breadth of the healthcare problem for pets and livestock (and therefore the Americans in contact with them) -- 71.4 million households would have at least one uninsured pet, animal, or livestock. Universal healthcare for these animals would save human consumers money by reducing transmission of animal borne illness. It is estimated humans currently spend $12.2 billion annually on pet vet expenditures (according to the American Pet Products Association). By implementing some of the proposed cost savings ideas proposed for humans on animals many of these expenses could be reduced thereby reducing the source of illness and the associated costs.
One of the proposed ideas for humans for cost saving mandated by the federal government is to get end of life savings reductions by counseling people not to go through the all out life saving methods and expenses when humans lives are coming to an end. This is called euthanasia in the animal kingdom, and instant death administered by the veterinarians which has saved pet owners and all livestock owners money. However, this methodology has also shortened the lives of many animals and pets. The case for universal healthcare for these animals is that with universal coverage, the quality of that life would have been better, and they would have lived longer healthier lives.
"Universal coverage would allow for better preventative care," says Bowden. "We think about good health practices such as keeping our blood pressure in check when it comes to ourselves, but we owe it to our pets and livestock to keep them healthy as well. Sometimes pet medications just aren't affordable. Would we place our kids or our parents to the curb for getting sick? Unlikely, but that's exactly what happens to sick pets when their owners can't afford to get them the medications they need -- or worse.
The CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases gives Americans reason to visit www.PetMedicationCard.com. In "Healthy Pets Healthy People, they remind citizens that even an innocent-looking favorite pig, chicken, cow and even my cat can carry the plague. Unlikely," says Bowden, "but sometimes a little bit of reality-based fear is exactly what people need to realize the dangers of doing nothing. By not thinking about healthcare costs for the millions of pets out there, people are potentially putting themselves at risk for minor to serious conditions, disease and infections -- and isn't prevention a priority in cutting our own healthcare costs?"
Americans can start protecting their pets immediately with a free pet medication card from www.PetMedicationCard.com. The free card can be printed from the website after filling out a short form, and is eligible at more than 52,000 pharmacies nationwide. With savings as high as 75% on retail prices of prescription pet medications, Americans may wonder exactly what Washington is waiting for when their pets can get better, and cheaper, coverage than themselves. Or they can stop wondering and use the free card for their own (human) prescription drugs as well, saving an average of 40% without enrolling in any complicated or costly programs.
-----
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Here are the facts, most Americans have health care insurance (140 million have either Medicare or Medicaid plus 110 million are in private payer insured plans, which equal 250 million insured), and only 10 million of the estimated 50 million uninsured which have uncovered healthcare claim expenses. Put in terms of percentages, 20% of the 50 million claimants (or 3.25% of the entire population of the United States) don't have health insurance and don't pay their healthcare expenses.
On the other hand, more than 71 million U.S. households have livestock and pets that have no health care plan, no insurance and no prescription drug coverage. These uninsured animals are many times original sources of disease and illnesses such as mad cow disease, aids, swine flu, bird flu and other diseases. To humans these uninsured animals' healthcare is a vital component of maintaining the health of mankind. The case for universal health coverage for livestock animals and pets is therefore a compelling one. Universally covering our livestock animals and pets first would allow the government to work out real savings in healthcare for citizens.
"The primary reason human healthcare costs are so high for the insured population is cost shifting," says Rex Bowden, President of PetMedicationCard.com. "Cost shifting occurs when Medicare, Medicaid and the under-insured shift real costs to the private insured. Put another way, 60% of all medical expenses which are caused by the cost shifting groups are paid based on the federal government's payment schedule (meaning they are paid at less than the actual cost). The discrepancies in these costs are then shifted to the private sector and result in 110 million insured Americans paying their own medical costs and the cost of care not paid by the government's reduced payment schedule for Medicaid and Medicare. The proposed universal healthcare bills on both sides of the aisles will increase costs, increase government controls, shift the cheese to a different group, reduce medical miracles and sadly will not improve healthcare in America." In an example of health care run by governments, the MRI wait time in Canada can be up to 6 months for humans, but if your animal needs a MRI it is scheduled for the same day as ordered.
The 2009 / 2010 National Pet Owners Survey exposes the breadth of the healthcare problem for pets and livestock (and therefore the Americans in contact with them) -- 71.4 million households would have at least one uninsured pet, animal, or livestock. Universal healthcare for these animals would save human consumers money by reducing transmission of animal borne illness. It is estimated humans currently spend $12.2 billion annually on pet vet expenditures (according to the American Pet Products Association). By implementing some of the proposed cost savings ideas proposed for humans on animals many of these expenses could be reduced thereby reducing the source of illness and the associated costs.
One of the proposed ideas for humans for cost saving mandated by the federal government is to get end of life savings reductions by counseling people not to go through the all out life saving methods and expenses when humans lives are coming to an end. This is called euthanasia in the animal kingdom, and instant death administered by the veterinarians which has saved pet owners and all livestock owners money. However, this methodology has also shortened the lives of many animals and pets. The case for universal healthcare for these animals is that with universal coverage, the quality of that life would have been better, and they would have lived longer healthier lives.
"Universal coverage would allow for better preventative care," says Bowden. "We think about good health practices such as keeping our blood pressure in check when it comes to ourselves, but we owe it to our pets and livestock to keep them healthy as well. Sometimes pet medications just aren't affordable. Would we place our kids or our parents to the curb for getting sick? Unlikely, but that's exactly what happens to sick pets when their owners can't afford to get them the medications they need -- or worse.
The CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases gives Americans reason to visit www.PetMedicationCard.com. In "Healthy Pets Healthy People, they remind citizens that even an innocent-looking favorite pig, chicken, cow and even my cat can carry the plague. Unlikely," says Bowden, "but sometimes a little bit of reality-based fear is exactly what people need to realize the dangers of doing nothing. By not thinking about healthcare costs for the millions of pets out there, people are potentially putting themselves at risk for minor to serious conditions, disease and infections -- and isn't prevention a priority in cutting our own healthcare costs?"
Americans can start protecting their pets immediately with a free pet medication card from www.PetMedicationCard.com. The free card can be printed from the website after filling out a short form, and is eligible at more than 52,000 pharmacies nationwide. With savings as high as 75% on retail prices of prescription pet medications, Americans may wonder exactly what Washington is waiting for when their pets can get better, and cheaper, coverage than themselves. Or they can stop wondering and use the free card for their own (human) prescription drugs as well, saving an average of 40% without enrolling in any complicated or costly programs.
-----
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www.georgiafrontpage.com
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