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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #154 - Recorded June 20, 2008

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and Informational Podcast, and Proud to be the #1 Search Result for Chiropractic Podcasts in the iTunes Podcast Directory.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –

• New NCQA program to evaluate health promotion

• Gorham’s Disease

• IRS issues new limits for 2009 HSAs

• Flip-Flops and Foot Pain

• And Finally, Health Corner presents a discussion of Uninsured Americans

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow!

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #154, recorded June 20, 2008.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

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And Now for some news ….

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New NCQA program to evaluate health promotion

Proposed standards and measures for a new Wellness and Health Promotion (WHP) product-evaluation suite from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has been released for public comment. Members of the public are invited to comment on the measures through June 30.

The program will examine organizations that provide services to employers and health plans that seek to help employees and other participants better manage their own health. Nearly two-thirds of employers in the United States offer such services, such as health coaching, smoking cessation, and obesity management programs.

The proposed programs reflect the wide variety of health promotion services currently offered in the market. The Wellness and Health Promotion product suite includes a broad-based accreditation program for organizations that offer comprehensive wellness services as well as certification for organizations that only offer specific components, such as health appraisals and self-management tools.

NCQA is also proposing a separate accreditation program for organizations that offer stand-alone weight management or smoking cessation programs.

NCQA’s new Wellness and Health Promotion program will examine whether wellness companies use evidence-based methods to improve and maintain good health. The comprehensive accreditation program assesses several key areas in health promotion, including whether:

• Wellness programs are implemented in the workplace,

• Individual health information is properly safeguarded,

• Services, such as coaching, are provided to help participants develop skills to make healthy choices, and

• Continuous efforts to improve program quality are in place.

The Wellness and Health Promotion product suite is slated for launch in early 2009.

Surf to www.ncqa.org for more information.

Gorham’s Disease

Here’s one that many practitioners may not have heard about or remember from school…. A condition referred to as Gorham’s Disease.

Gorham’s Disease is a very rare bone disease, disabling and progressive. This disease is characterized by the progressive vanishing of the bone (osteolysis), often associated with the abnormal swelling of the blood vessels (angiomatosis). The bone vanishing may affect only one bone or extend to the soft tissues of nearby bones, without necessarily being followed by an infections or tumorous cause.

Gorham's disease is the result of an extremely rare bone disorder. Normally bones replenish themselves through a cycle of bone dissolution and re-growth. In some rare cases, bone loss occurs and progresses in certain areas of the body but no new bone growth takes place. This may occur in just one bone or several bones very closely located adjacent to the affected bone. Fibrous tissue then may appear in areas of bone loss, leading often to a fracture. When a fracture occurs, the disease may progress more quickly.

Surf to our Show Notes for some links about this rare disease - http://www.gorhams.org/gorhams_disease_en.htm

http://www.rarediseases.org/search/rdbdetail_abstract.html?disname=Gorham's%20Disease

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/38/9/904

IRS issues new limits for 2009 HSAs

The amount of money individuals who contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) will go up in 2009.

The US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued new guidance on the maximum contribution levels for  HSAs and out-of-pocket spending limits for High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) that must be used in conjunction with HSAs. 

These amounts have been indexed for cost-of-living adjustments for 2009.

• New annual maximum contribution levels for HSAs are:

• Eligible individual with self-only coverage, $3,000; 

• Family coverage, $5,950; and

• Catch-up contribution for individuals who are 55 or older, $1,000 for 2009 and all years going forward.

Individuals who are eligible on the first day of the last month of the taxable year (December for most taxpayers) are allowed the full annual contribution (plus catch-up contribution, if 55 or older by year end); regardless of the number of months the individual was eligible during the year.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to the US Treasury Department’s Web Site for specific information - http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/hp975.htm

Flip-Flops and Foot Pain

Flip-flops are a mainstay of summertime footwear, but they can be
painfully bad for your feet and legs, new research shows.

Researchers from Auburn University in Alabama studied the biomechanics of the flip-flop and determined that wearing thong-style flip-flops can result in sore feet, ankles and legs.

“We found that when people walk in flip-flops, they alter their gait,
which can result in problems and pain from the foot up into the hips
and lower back,'’ said Justin Shroyer, a biomechanics doctoral student who presented the findings to the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis.

For the study, the researchers recruited 39 college-age men and women and asked them to wear flip-flops or athletic shoes. They then had them walk a platform that measured vertical force as their feet hit the ground. A video camera measured stride length and limb angles.

Mr. Shroyer notes that he himself owns two pairs of flip-flops, and  
the research doesn’t mean people shouldn’t wear them. However, flip-flops are best worn for short periods of time, like at the beach or for comfort after an athletic event. But they are not designed to
properly support the foot and ankle during all-day wear, he notes.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this NY Times article - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/summer-flip-flops-may-lead-to-foot-pain/?em&ex=1213156800&en=6c9338602a676756&ei=5087%0A=

Health Corner – In this week’s Health Corner, we replay a brief PBS NewsHour with Jim Leher report on a recent report from the journal Health Affairs discussing how more than 25 million Americans with health insurance did not have sufficient coverage for their medical expenses in 2007.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this video –

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june08/underinsured_06-10.html

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Finally, I leave you with the following quote:

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."
– Anonymous

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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