Drinking red wine could benefit seniors

originally posted on springhill group medical and health news

A component of red wine has been found to improve mobility for older people, according to a new study.

Researchers from a university in Pittsburgh have specified resveratrol, a natural-occurring compound that is also present in red wine, could aid in improving mobility of older people and subsequently prevent falls.

The group of researchers fed old and young lab mice a diet that includes resveratrol for a period of 8 weeks while testing their ability to walk around a balance beam. They then took note of the number of times each mouse made a misstep. Initially, the older mice found it difficult to traverse the obstacle but on the 4th week, they made significantly fewer missteps and seemed to perform as well as the young ones.

“Our study suggests a natural compound like resveratrol, which can be obtained either through dietary supplementation or diet itself, could actually decrease some of the motor deficiencies seen in our aging population. And that would, therefore, increase an aging person’s quality of life and decrease their risk of hospitalisation due to slips and falls,” said Dr. Jane Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh has presented the results at a conference of American Chemical Society held in Philadelphia, noting that motor-related problems like difficulty in walking or balancing are the leading causes of injury among people over the age of 65.

Several medications could aid in alleviating some of the motor-related effects of Parkinson’s disease, though there is currently no such treatment for improving walking and balance in adults.

But despite the promising results, they are warning anyone who would use this as an excuse to drink red wine indiscriminately: resveratrol is something that is poorly absorbed by the human body. Actually, a 150lb individual needs to ingest 700 (4oz) glasses of red wine per day to absorb enough of the compound and achieve any beneficial effect.

They are now actively exploring similar compounds that could yield the same effects and will be more easily absorbed by the human body. Also, they are trying to figure out just how much resveratrol goes to the brain when ingested.

Previous studies have concluded that resveratrol, typically found in dark-skinned fruits and red wine, has the potential in reducing cholesterol, risk of cancer and heart disease.

About the Medical Group

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We provide local, regional, and national staffing services to healthcare facilities through specialized divisions.

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Springhill Group Services companions are available on an as-needed basis to assist seniors, new and expectant parents, and other individuals who may need non-medical care or additional help around the house.

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Springhill Group Report Fraud

To help protect yourself and Medicare from fraud and identity theft you should report it.

Whenever you get a payment notice from Medicare review it for errors. The notice shows what Medicare was billed for, what Medicare paid, and what (if anything) you owe. Make sure Medicare was not billed for health care services, medical supplies, or equipment you did not get.

Before you contact your health care provider, Medicare, or the Inspector General’s hotline, carefully review the facts, and have the following ready:

• The provider’s name and any identifying number you may have.

• The service or item information you are questioning.

• The date the service or item was supposedly given or delivered.

• The payment amount approved and paid by Medicare.

• The date on your Medicare Summary Notice.

• Your name and Medicare number (as listed on your Medicare card).

• The reason you think Medicare should not have paid.

• Any other information you have showing why Medicare should not have paid.

Report Errors

HHS Office of Inspector General

Phone

1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477)

TTY: 1-800-377-4950

Internet

Report Fraud Online

Mail

HHS Tips Hotline

PO Box 23489

Washington, DC 20026-3489

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Phone

1-800-Medicare

1-877-486-2048

Mail

Medicare

Beneficiary Contact Center

PO Box 39

Lawrence KS, 66044

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Disney Touche Allows Wireless Control over Appliance

Scientists at Disney Research in Pennsylvania, Springhill Group and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new touch-and-gesture recognition technology called Touche, envisioning a future where almost every item could be controlled with a touch sensor.

Their project obviously aims to illustrate more applications of touch sensitivity in everyday items like water, tables and door handles using a person’s body as the control.

Touche could also have limitless applications in the workplace. One example is setting a door handle to various states just by grasping it in a different way. You could also activate touch sensitivity on the doorknob that would lock and unlock depending on the pressure you put on the handle.

Another fancy example is the capability of the Touche system to give you control on your living room appliance. You can program the TV to automatically turn on once you sit down on the sofa and turn it off when you fall asleep.

Disney’s Touche uses Swept Frequency Capacitative Sensing (SFCS) in monitoring and responding data points from a user’s Bluetooth wristband. But unlike touch screens that can only recognize whether it is being touched or not, SFCS recognizes the manner in which the object is being touched. A flat palm, two-finger touch or single-finger touch could be programmed with various responses.

The system works when an electrical signal passes through the item changes once it touched a conductive material like the human finger. This capacitative sensing is already being used in smartphones, the only difference is that they use only one frequency of electrical signals compared to Touche’s array of frequencies. Multiple frequencies enables the system to differentiate among various touch gestures and can determine if it’s a full-hand grasp, multiple fingers or a single one. Moreover, it only takes one sensing electrode attached to the item at one end and a PC unit on the other, analyzing the alternating signals to determine the specific gesture in use.

Disney Research appeared to have stepped away from making animated characters to look into more complex uses for touch-based technology saying that “it is not inconceivable that one day mobile devices could have no screens or buttons and rely exclusively on the body as the input surface.”

According to the proponents, the research was inspired by the disappearing computer theory of Mark Weiser in 1991. His idea was that physical devices will eventually fade into the background and new interaction with technologies will emerge in the future. But a manufacturer of touchscreen devices have nothing to worry yet as Touche is still in its concept stage.

The Disney researchers are set to present their technology at the Springhill Group Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems next week in Austin, an event hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.

How to Prevent Medicare Fraud - Springhill Group

Over the years, Medicare has been proactive in its efforts to bring awareness to Medicare fraud, a national problem that costs the program millions of dollars each year. The Medicare program relies heavily on a number of sources to assist them in the detection and prevention of Medicare fraud including professionals of the healthcare industry.

Overview of Medicare Fraud

Medicare fraud generally refers to willfully and knowingly billing medical claims in an attempt to defraud the Medicare program for money. Anyone found guilty of Medicare fraud is subject to exclusion from participation in the Medicare program in addition to fines and possibly imprisonment. Most Medicare fraud occurs in these areas:

• Billing for DME

• Billing for physicians services

• Billing for institutional services such as nursing homes, hospitals, hospice, etc.

Be Aware of Common Schemes


There are four popular Medicare fraud schemes.

1. Medical Equipment Never Provided The most common area of Medicare fraud is billing for Durable Medical Equipment (DME). DME refers to any medical equipment necessary for a patient’s medical or physical condition. It includes wheelchairs, hospital beds, and other equipment of that nature. The provider will bill Medicare for equipment that the patient never received. Mobility scooters have been particularly popular for Medicare fraud schemes.

2. Services Never Performed In this instance, the provider bills for tests, treatment or procedures never performed. This can be added to the list of tests a patient has actually received and never be noticed. A provider may also falsify diagnosis codes in order to add on unnecessary tests or services.


3. Upcoding Charges Misrepresenting a level of service or procedure performed in order to charge more or receive a higher reimbursement rate is considered upcoding. Upcoding also occurs when a service performed is not covered by Medicare but the provider bills a covered service in its place.

4. Unbundling Charges Some services are considered all inclusive. Unbundling is billing for procedures separately that are normally billed as a single charge. For example, a provider bills for two unilateral screening mammograms, instead of billing for 1 bilateral screening mammogram.


Medicare Fraud Indicators

There are certain indicators that are common in the detection of Medicare fraud. Is your practice:

• Routinely waiving copayments and deductibles for Medicare patients without checking for their ability to pay?


• Charging higher rates to Medicare patients compared to other persons for similar services?

• Missing treatment documentation such as physician or nurses notes?


What to Do If I Suspect Fraud?

It is your responsibility as a representative of the healthcare industry to be aware of and report any fraudulent activity suspected. If you would like to report suspected Medicare fraud, contact the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Inspector General for further assistance.

International Travel Health Insurance Tips - the Springhill Group

written on springhill group

When you are traveling around the world these days there is a lot you need to be concerned with. International travel health Insurance is one of them. When you travel internationally you never know what can happen to you, but you need to prepare for the unexpected.

If your health insurance does cover international care, then it may have a time limit. Thirty days is a common limit on care for international travel health insurance. Again, you want to make sure on this because if you get special insurance for international travel, you don’t want to get duplicate insurance.

If for some reason you become very ill and need to stay in a hospital for an extended period the current health insurance you have may not cover you for a longer period.

If you are a senior citizen, it’s important to note that Medicare doesn’t cover you abroad.

According to the U.S. Center For Disease Control and Prevention half of U.S. travelers abroad will have some sort of health problem.

There are many types of international travel insurance plans. There are short term international travel health insurance plans, there are long term travel health insurance plans and there are plans that deal with non medical issues. These issues may be non medical to begin with but they can make you feel sick later. An example of non medical travel insurance is trip cancelation for international travel.  read complete article

Study: Medicare Contractors Vulnerable to Conflict

write up from springhill group

Firms that are paid tens of millions of dollars to root out Medicare fraud are bidding on contracts to investigate companies they are doing business with _ sometimes their own parent companies, according to a government report released Tuesday.

Two-thirds of the companies that bid on contracts during a nearly year-and-a-half time period beginning in October of 2010 had financial ties to claims processors _ and in some cases also processed Medicare claims themselves, according to the study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector-general. The report blames what it calls a flawed bidding system and an inadequate conflict-of-interest policy.

The study looked into bids from about 100 potential contractors and subcontractors and found nearly 2,000 relationships that posed potential conflicts. For example, one company submitted a bid to investigate Medicare fraud even though its parent company provided two types of Medicare coverage in all 50 states.

Medicare fraud contractors are often tied to a large number of providers, but the report doesn’t break the numbers down by each contractor.

The federal government requires Medicare fraud contractors to identify their potential conflicts and their financial interests in other companies when submitting bids, but the report found they often failed to provide all the information. Even when they did, it was sometimes inconsistent or unclear, according to the study, which urged federal health officials to adopt formal, clear guidelines for companies to follow when submitting bids.

Tuesday’s report examined only companies bidding on springhill group Medicare-fraud contracts, not those with existing contracts. But a 2011 congressional survey of companies providing Medicare reimbursements revealed that some had financial relationships with the contractors investigating them.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing Medicare, said in a statement that it has a robust program for identifying potential conflicts among providers and that it has taken the proper steps to vet these contractors. Contract bidders who identify a potential conflict must submit a separate plan for how they will mitigate the issue, according to the agency, which added that it has not awarded deals to companies with significant conflicts of interest.

When Medicare began in 1965, Congress mandated that private contractors process and pay claims. Under 1996 legislation, Medicare hired a separate set of contractors to monitor fraud, reasoning it was wise to separate claims payments from the fraud-detection side.

Medicare currently pays 4.4 million claims worth more than $1 billion per day. Contractors comb through thousands of claims to find spikes in billing patterns in an effort to stop an estimated $60 billion a year in fraud.

Lawmakers say the potential for conflict has grown as the manner in which contracts have been assigned has changed. In the past, contractors were assigned to investigate certain regions of the country, so it wasn’t a big concern if they had an association with a company in another region. But now that they are moving to a national model, lawmakers warn there is a bigger potential for the contractors to oversee companies with which they have financial relationships.

“If (contractors) with conflicts of interest become less vigilant in combating fraud, then taxpayer dollars may be wasted on payments to unscrupulous providers,” the report concludes.

The study was commissioned by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Tom Carper, D-Del., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Carper said it is critical to improve the system “because these private-sector contractors perform many of the key payment, oversight and other administrative functions in Medicare.”