Posts Tagged ‘Public Health’

CGHaupt
Courtney
Gray Haupt

Health Reform: Special Delivery for Christmas

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Amidst dipping public support for health care reform that dropped from 45% of Americans saying the country would be better off with health reform passage down from 54% in November, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's most recent poll, the Senate passed the last two procedural measures needed yesterday and today to cut off debate and move its health reform package forward. With identical votes of 60-39, Senate leaders secured the necessary support to block GOP filibuster attempts, setting the stage for Christmas Eve passage of the bill, H.R. 3590. A compromise was reached between Senate Democrats and Republicans yesterday to schedule a vote for 8:00 AM tomorrow morning.

Of the 47 million Americans currently without health coverage, the Senate health reform package would provide coverage for 23 million uninsured. The House bill would cover 17 million. The price tags of the two chambers' bills differ as well, with the House bill costing an estimated $1.052 trillion and the Senate legislation coming in at $871 billion. (more...)

Posted in Health Care Industry, Health Care Reform, Health Policy, Public Health
By CGHaupt | No Comments »

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cdumaual
Cherry
Dumaual

Reaching Physicians through Their Mobile Devices

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Physicians are increasingly using mobile devices for information. So it's important for health care communications professionals and marketers to connect meaningfully with these health care practitioners.

Finding highly effective ways to communicate is all the more essential when you consider that a 2008 survey of 4,700 physicians revealed that 70% use their mobile devices four to five times or more a day to get information.

At a recent Webinar on Mobile Marketing to Doctors, insights that resonated the most with me pertain to what we, as healthcare communicators and marketers, can do to help our clients leverage the might of mobile communications and connect them meaningfully to HCPs. (more...)

Posted in Health 2.0, Public Health, Technology
By cdumaual | No Comments »

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asellers
Amanda
Sellers

Gazing into the Crystal Ball for the Future of Medicine – It’s Actually Not that Unclear

Friday, November 13th, 2009

At the recent 2009 Mid-Atlantic Bio Conference, one of the panels focused on the concept of "personalized medicine" - a buzz word that has quickly made its way into the everyday vernacular of the health and medical community.  According to Dr. Mark Sobel, Executive Officer of the American Society for Investigative Pathology, the definition of personalized medicine is delivering the right medicine to the right person at the right dose.  Seems simple enough, right?

Well, it's certainly more complicated than it seems - just as we are all individuals, it also means we all respond to medicines in very different ways.  Each individual has an inherited genetic variability that affects how a person responds to a specific treatment, including how your body processes and distributes the medicine.  As a result of these individual responses, the majority of the most highly prescribed drugs aren't working for thousands of patients - not only is this ineffective in treating patients, but it is also a waste of highly-valuable health care resources. (more...)

Posted in Public Health
By asellers | No Comments »

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Allison Brown
Allison
Brown

Part III: Public Health in Philadelphia

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

APHA Explores Food and Physical Fitness

The 137th Annual American Public Health Association (APHA) Meeting is bustling in Philly.  The Spectrum team continues to explore panels, sessions and posters to learn the latest in public health.

Food and Fitness in Focus

During this morning's sessions at APHA, Linda Jo Doctor, MPH from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation hosted a discussion at the "Youth Involvement in Community-based Participatory Research Projects" roundtable. She spoke about multiple initiatives aimed at engaging community members to produce real health outcomes.

Both the Food and Fitness and The School Food FOCUS initiatives are working to increase access to and bring affordable, regionally grown and nutritious food options to communities and schools throughout the country. In addition, the Food and Fitness program is collaborating with organizations in nine communities to create sustainable "fitness" environments for community members to become active. (more...)

Posted in Public Affairs, Public Health, Research, Uncategorized
By Allison Brown | No Comments »

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Christina Plourde
Christina
Plourde

Part II: Public Health in Philadelphia

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Today was the first full day of sessions and posters at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.  Our Spectrum team spread through the conference and heard some interesting things, including:

Menu Labeling and Policy

In a session on menu labeling in New York City, Portland, and Seattle, research and policies were compared.  The Spectrum blog has previously written about research conducted in NYC.   The session started off with a discussion about why menu labeling is important; James Krieger asked the room to guess how many calories are in a variety of fast food meals, ranging from Burger King to Pizza Hut.  The Pizza Hut Cream Chicken Alfredo Pesto Pasta has a startling 3,270 calories per serving.  That's nearly double the recommended calories for adults in an entire day.

There are currently 16 jurisdictions that have passed and/ or are currently implementing menu labeling initiatives.  Additionally, the health reform legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday evening includes a menu labeling provision, which would preempt any state and local legislation.  The provision would only require calorie information to be posted, unlike some jurisdictions where fat, sodium, and other nutritional information is made available. (more...)

Posted in Health Policy, Public Affairs, Research, Technology, Tweets, Uncategorized
By Christina Plourde | No Comments »

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CMorrison
Catherine
Morrison

Evidence Based Menus

Friday, October 9th, 2009

"Is there a healthy future? Obesity and with it diabetes are getting worse. The human and financial costs are enormous. There is emerging evidence based on how to address obesity both from a public health standpoint and from a policy standpoint. I do not think that we can wait for perfect evidence and in fact I think the existence of evidence will be facilitated by action with programs which are implemented and then rigorously evaluated. The question I think before us and what we have to weigh as a group as we consider the weight of the nation is whether we as a society are willing to take the actions necessary to reverse the epidemic of obesity."

That was Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July of this year at the first ever conference on obesity, The Weight of the Nation, in Washington, DC.  The statement struck me at the time, because the public health community - particularly the academic side - is very focused on the need for evidence.  However, sometimes, you just have to try something and see if it works. The current obesity epidemic couldn't provide better justification for trying new ideas.

(more...)

Posted in Public Affairs, Public Health
By CMorrison | No Comments »

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