From the Brain Injury Association of Wisconsin:
The Sleep Wellness Institute Research Study
Many people with a traumatic brain injury may feel sleepy during the day, even if the injury happened years ago. Researchers are inviting those with a traumatic brain injury who feel sleepy during the day to take part in a clinical study. This study will assess how well a study medicine works for people who feel sleepy during the day as a result of traumatic brain injury.
To qualify you must:
• Be age 18 to 65
• Have had 1 traumatic brain injury in the past 10 years
• Feel sleepy or tired during the day 5 or more days a week on average
• Be willing to take medical tests and a study medicine for 12 weeks
• Be available to sleep overnight in a sleep lab 5 times (some sleep labs are similar to hotel rooms)
This study will last 14 to 16 weeks (approximately 88 hours total) and include:
• 7 visits
• 4 phone contacts
• 4 overnight sleep studies
• 4 daytime studies, three of which follow the overnight studies
If you qualify:
• You may learn more about your sleep patterns
• You will receive study-related medical care and study medicine at no cost
• You may or may not benefit from study medicine
• Compensation for time and travel may also be provided
If interested in participating in this research study, please contact Skyler Baake at 414-328-5637, skyler@sleepwell.org or Anne Papke at 414-477-4198, anne_papke@yahoo.com.
The Sleep Wellness Institute is located at 2356 S. 102nd Street, West Allis, WI 53227. www.sleepwell.org
Sincerely,
Mark Warhus, Executive Director
Brain Injury Association of Wisconsin
Primary Care Reimbursement Under Health Care Reform
We have heard much about the size of the new Health Care Reform Act, something nearly 2,000 pages. We have heard very little about what is inside of it except that it will cover more people, provide coverage for those with preexisting conditions and expand the coverage by as much as 30 million people. But how is it going to cut costs? And how will it assure that low income people truly have access to medical care?
One of the provisions included in the Senate plan is to increase the reimbursement rate of primary care doctors who are seeing Medicaid patients. See Health Care Business News at http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20091227/REG/312279992/0 In that article they explain:
Our current medical system is built around the concept of a gatekeeper, the primary care or family practice doctor. If you have a problem, it is only through treatment by the family care doctor or referral to a specialist from the primary care doctor that you get treated. Thus it is the gatekeeper who plays the most important role in diagnosis of disease. It is also the gatekeeper who must retain the most overall knowledge of medicine as he must be able to spot a problem across the entire spectrum of medical diagnosis. People think that because they are less specialized they have lower skills. For our system to work properly, that can’t be the case. As capitalist, if we want to attract our best doctors to this role, we have to pay them like our best doctors.
When I look at brain injury diagnosis, I see the enormous role that family doctors have to play. In my model, each concussed person would go back to the Emergency Room the day after his or her injury to be seen by the same doctors who saw them on the day of concussion, to determine if there was continuing or worsening symptoms. That is not what is happening in our current system. What happens in our current system is that the concussed patient is told to follow-up with their family doctor, if they get worse. If the family doctor does not know more about diagnosing a concussion than the average neurologist, then the diagnosis and the documentation of symptomotology that is so important will be missed. The reason that second day documentation is so significant is that without it, it becomes extremely difficult to sort out the issue of whether the symptoms that come later are related to brain injury.
My pet project – had I a lobbyist in my pocket for concussion care reform – would be to require the follow-up visit to the ER. Since I don’t have those kind of connections, this provision to increase access (and compensation to family doctors) is a step in the right direction. Now we must do what we can to educate the primary care doctor that testing for amnesia in the days after the accident will tell us more about the severity of injury and potential for disability than all of the scans that have been or will ever be invented.
One of the provisions included in the Senate plan is to increase the reimbursement rate of primary care doctors who are seeing Medicaid patients. See Health Care Business News at http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20091227/REG/312279992/0 In that article they explain:
A key objective of the bill is to bolster the ranks of the primary care workforce. The legislation includes a raft or new funding and measures aimed to encourage doctors to move into primary care . And in a measure to help increase transparency, the legislation requires HHS to develop a “Physician Compare” web site where Medicare beneficiaries can compare measures of physician quality and a patient’s perception of care.This is an important part of the plan. Primary care doctors are in my opinion, the most important doctors in our system and sadly the lowest paid. See http://www.cejkasearch.com/compensation/amga_physician_compensation_survey.htm
Our current medical system is built around the concept of a gatekeeper, the primary care or family practice doctor. If you have a problem, it is only through treatment by the family care doctor or referral to a specialist from the primary care doctor that you get treated. Thus it is the gatekeeper who plays the most important role in diagnosis of disease. It is also the gatekeeper who must retain the most overall knowledge of medicine as he must be able to spot a problem across the entire spectrum of medical diagnosis. People think that because they are less specialized they have lower skills. For our system to work properly, that can’t be the case. As capitalist, if we want to attract our best doctors to this role, we have to pay them like our best doctors.
When I look at brain injury diagnosis, I see the enormous role that family doctors have to play. In my model, each concussed person would go back to the Emergency Room the day after his or her injury to be seen by the same doctors who saw them on the day of concussion, to determine if there was continuing or worsening symptoms. That is not what is happening in our current system. What happens in our current system is that the concussed patient is told to follow-up with their family doctor, if they get worse. If the family doctor does not know more about diagnosing a concussion than the average neurologist, then the diagnosis and the documentation of symptomotology that is so important will be missed. The reason that second day documentation is so significant is that without it, it becomes extremely difficult to sort out the issue of whether the symptoms that come later are related to brain injury.
My pet project – had I a lobbyist in my pocket for concussion care reform – would be to require the follow-up visit to the ER. Since I don’t have those kind of connections, this provision to increase access (and compensation to family doctors) is a step in the right direction. Now we must do what we can to educate the primary care doctor that testing for amnesia in the days after the accident will tell us more about the severity of injury and potential for disability than all of the scans that have been or will ever be invented.
Health Care Reform Now Awaits Reconciliation
The New York Times is the world’s best newspaper. I learned that in Journalism school almost 40 years ago. It is still true today. Like all newspapers, it is at risk of failure because of the revolutionary shift in advertising revenues caused by the rise in the internet. I never subscribed to the New York Times, because I was a Midwesterner and it just didn’t seem practical. Well the NY Times is now part of my daily reading, because they have perhaps the best online newspaper: http://nytimes.com. I sure hopes the webpage helps the newspaper survive.
I was newly impressed with the NY Times this morning when I read their analysis of the two health care proposals in our Congress, the House version and the Senate version. I think it is a must read for anyone concerned about the health care debate, or about the health of brain injured people. That article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/policy/22health.html?hp If you are required to register to get to this page, by all means, register. In fact, make the http://nytimes.com your home page, I did.
This article has the most comprehensive explanation of the two bills in Congress and a simple and reasoned explanation of which aspects of each bill should be retained. We hope that our Senators are capable of seeing the big picture and allowing small compromises to get this historic legislation passed. We hope our progressive colleagues in the House don’t blow up the coalition on Health Care Reform over a liberal agenda that can wait for another day.
Read the details. This comes under the category of things you need to know as a citizen.
I was newly impressed with the NY Times this morning when I read their analysis of the two health care proposals in our Congress, the House version and the Senate version. I think it is a must read for anyone concerned about the health care debate, or about the health of brain injured people. That article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/policy/22health.html?hp If you are required to register to get to this page, by all means, register. In fact, make the http://nytimes.com your home page, I did.
This article has the most comprehensive explanation of the two bills in Congress and a simple and reasoned explanation of which aspects of each bill should be retained. We hope that our Senators are capable of seeing the big picture and allowing small compromises to get this historic legislation passed. We hope our progressive colleagues in the House don’t blow up the coalition on Health Care Reform over a liberal agenda that can wait for another day.
Read the details. This comes under the category of things you need to know as a citizen.
Health Care Reform Gets Over its Biggest Hurdle
Congratulations to Harry Reid for getting a health care reform bill thru the Senate. After 50 years of effort, the Democrats have almost done it. The next step is reconciliation with the House version and even though the outcome isn’t perfect, it is a huge step. While President Barack Obama has gotten criticism from every direction in the process, he must get high grades for this achievement. When he signs a Health Care Reform bill into law, it will be a moment in history as historic as his election.
I admit that there have been times in the last few weeks when I wondered if the special interest control of our legislatures might ultimately mean that the American system of making laws was broken. But Obama, Reid and Pelosi have found a way to get this done. The found a way to get it done despite the most intensive lobbying effort in history and a complete blockade of legislative cooperation by the Republicans.
Is this the bill that would have best for me? Of course not. I would have preferred the Medicare buy in at 55 because of course, I am 56. Is it the bill that would have been best for all Americans? Probably not. But is it a tremendous step towards coverage for all? Yes it is. After 50 years of nothing, after the collapse of the last major attempt led by two of the great politicians of the last 50 years, Bill and Hillary Clinton, to get this bill out of the Senate is remarkable.
There is some sausage making left over, but when it is done, millions will have health coverage that didn’t, and even though it isn’t everyone, it is still millions whose will have access to medical care.
I admit that there have been times in the last few weeks when I wondered if the special interest control of our legislatures might ultimately mean that the American system of making laws was broken. But Obama, Reid and Pelosi have found a way to get this done. The found a way to get it done despite the most intensive lobbying effort in history and a complete blockade of legislative cooperation by the Republicans.
Is this the bill that would have best for me? Of course not. I would have preferred the Medicare buy in at 55 because of course, I am 56. Is it the bill that would have been best for all Americans? Probably not. But is it a tremendous step towards coverage for all? Yes it is. After 50 years of nothing, after the collapse of the last major attempt led by two of the great politicians of the last 50 years, Bill and Hillary Clinton, to get this bill out of the Senate is remarkable.
There is some sausage making left over, but when it is done, millions will have health coverage that didn’t, and even though it isn’t everyone, it is still millions whose will have access to medical care.