Patient Portals Home Care Path

Patient portals offer a senior access to health care providers through the computer. Patient portals are described as having the ability to save both the patient and the health care provider time. This increases efficiency and productivity. The patient is interacting with their own medical information through the home computer screen.

The patient portal offers a secure connection with the seniors health information over the computer. Portals are bound by HIPAA regulations. A patient portal could allow the senior to register and update required clinic forms on line before the doctor visit to save time in the waiting room. A patient portal would allow seniors to request prescription refills, or view recent lab reports through the internet.

Patient portals provide a safe connection to the one health care organization. A senior using the services of multiple health care organizations would be required to log in to each orgaization individually. This leaves the senior with a fragmented view of their health information.

The use of patient portals will eventually evolve to a complete conversion to a full blown electronic medical records system. Personal health records would become more commonly shared between organizations. The improved availability of information would include privacy and security. The senior would be able to access medical records in one spot on a home computer screen. Faster and more convenient for the senior.

Generic Medication Accepted? Home Care Path

In 2007 the FDA Launched the Generic Initiative For Value and Efficiency (GIVE) program. The program utilized existing resources helping the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modernize and streamline the generic drug approval process. The result of the program is a reduction in the huge back log of abbreviated new drug applications for generic drugs.

A generic drug is a copy of a medication approaching patent expiration. A generic drug must contain the same active ingredients as the original formulation. The FDA uses pharmokinetic and pharmodynamic properties to determine the bioequivalence a generic drug has to the brand name medication. Bioequivalent requirements improve consumer confidence when the drugs dose, strength, route of administration, safety, efficacy, and intended use all match up.

The generic drug and the brand name drug are not identical twins. For example , the use of salt or ester as close variation of original chemical ingredient can be a visible label difference. Drug patents traditionally give twenty years of protection. The patent clock starts ticking during clinical drug trials so the market protection of a drug patent is about seven to twelve years. When the generic drug becomes available the market competition leads to lower prices for both generic and brand name.

Health insurance providers as well as consumers seem to want the lower priced generic medication. Drug manufacturers have adapted to the consumers increased acceptance of generic medications with preemptive processes. The processes have created generic products ready for FDA approval. Faster in store appearance results in a larger market share for the participating drug manufacturer.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com provides non medical in home custodial care for seniors in south central Wisconsin.

What's a Formulary Tier Home Care Path

A formulary is a list of drugs your plan will cover. Drugs on the formulary are grouped in to tiers. The co-payment you pay is determined by the tier that your medication falls under. Tier one will have the lowest co-payment and usually include generic medications.

Tier two has a higher co-payment than tier one and usually includes preferred brand name medications. The plan may have negotiated a lower purchase price with the pharmaceutical company for a preferred brand name drug. This lower price allows the drug to be placed in tier two rather than tier three.

Tier three has the highest co-payment and usually includes non-preferred brand name medications. The health plan will place medication on tier three because it is new, or not fully proven to be effective for the described use. The medication can be in tier three because there is a similar drug on a lower tier of the formulary, that may provide you with the same benefit, at a lower cost.

Some plans will provide the consumer with a list of medications not covered. Typical non- covered drugs include over the counter medications, and some weight loss drugs.

Chronic Nausea Home Care Path

Chronic nausea is an upset stomach that happens frequently over time. Often accompanied by gagging or vomiting. What you eat or drink is very important if you have nausea or vomiting. You do not want to contribute to stomach acid and the burning sensation.

Start by drinking clear liquids to settle your stomach. It is best to sip them slowly, two ounces at a time, no chugging. Two favorites are warm and salty bouillon and room temperature gatorade which also has some salt and sugar. Warm is easy on the stomach. The salt is good to restore electrolytes after vomiting so you do not get dehydrated.

Avoid juices, especially citrus juices. Lemon, lime, orange juice would be too irritating for an already upset stomach. Warm, not hot fluids seem to do the best. Avoid carbonation in beverages. If you must have coke or 7up open them and let them go flat before consuming. The gassiness can distend the stomach further irritating it. The fizz causes belching which contributes to heart burn and acid reflux. Coffee and plain tap water do not seem to provide comfort to the upset stomach. Warm tea has been known to soothe a stomach.

Once you find the fluid type, amount, and temperature that your stomach can tolerate you can use again as bit of a remedy. You can decide what makes you more comfortable.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com provides non medical in home custodial care for seniors in south central Wisconsin.

Baraboo Wisconsin ADRC Living Well Expo Home Care Path

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com will be participating in The Living Well Expo scheduled for Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the Baraboo High School 1201 Draper Street Baraboo Wisconsin 53913 from 9am to 2pm. Organized by the Sauk County (ADRC) Aging and Disability Resource Center.

The theme is a baseball step up to the plate subject. The atmosphere is light, and fun. Intended to give participants a glimpse of the services available to all in the community. Did I mention the door prizes. The focus is on community education.

The booths will be organized to allow for wide, clear walk ways. Home Care Path will have a variety of hand outs available for the participants to take home. A desk size sheet that lists all the normal ranges for laboratory values. Star gazers can stop by and pick up a lamintated card with their sun sign horoscope information on it. Some Living Well Expo post cards with postage already on will allow participants to fill out a note and drop it in the mail for a friend.

Home Care Path will be in booth 43 near stage area with chairs for seating. Home Care Path provides non-medical in home custodial care for seniors in south central Wisconsin. Please check out the Senior Care Industry blog http://homecarepathseniorcare.blogspot.com

Home Care Path encourages participants to visit all the booths presenting at the Living Well Expo. Getting together at the Baraboo Wisconsin High School will be a fun, fall event.

Bigfoot Zipline 1550 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy Home Care Path

On Tuesday October 5, 2010 Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com participated in a corporate team building seminar. The seminar took place at Big Foot Zipline 1550 Wisconsin Dells Park Way. The focus was long term clarity about what Home Care Path as a corporation is trying to accomplish for seniors despite the seemingly hectec , urgent, activites of the moment staff can experience.

Home Care Path staff were instructed to envision themselves as having accomplished corporate goals while expecting personal ,professional growth. The BigFoot Zipline 1550 Wisconsin Dells Park Way was the perfect setting for this corporate event. Nestled in a very rustic, wilderness area. Cat tails reach up to meet mallard ducks, and gulls in flight. Visible fish swim the waters below.

Home Care Path staff commented repeatedly on how competent and happy the staff working on Big Foot Zipline appeared. The seminar was approximately 2.5 hours long. Home Care Path staff felt they were treated equally, yet with a magical touch of individualized attention. Big Foot Zipline staff were able to step beyond the memorized talks to actually connect with Home Care Path participants.

Standing on the zipline release platforms, Home Care Path staff were instructed to take in the larger picture. Look back at where you have been, and forward to where you are going. Recognize the achievement in simply getting to where you are now. Home Care Path staff were very pleased with the construction of the platforms. Release platforms had wide stair ways with deep steps. Secure railings with platform landings scattered throughout the incline to accomidate short rest periods. Up top was lot of standing room, with sturdy fencing, and benches for seated rest. The landing end of the zipline had a wide roofless garage like appearance. Home Care Path staff expressed a sense of safety with the large landing area where the Bigfoot Zipline guide catches incoming participants. Soft vertical thick pillow like pads adorn the rear of the landing. Both release and landing platforms appear to be anchored in cement pillar foundations like one would see on a high way bridge.

Home Care Path staff enjoyed the base camp experience, where participants are trained to use the Big Foot Zipline. Out in the field with each platform Big Foot guides provided more indepth training. Home Care Path staff were instucted to avert attention from how rocky the sea was to better concentrate on how they planned to bring the ship in. Envision on how you will land upon the next platform. Doing your own part but supporting the other participants along the way. The rustic trails between platforms were clear and easy to navigate. The setting was salted with eye catching attractions. A large crocodile statue, black bear mounts in the tree, turkey on the post, and a traditional native american in full head dress to name a few.

Big Foot Zipline guides apply the harness and double check the harness prior to each glide. Home Care Path staff were reminded while on the zipline of being a player in the game and experiencing all the relevant sensations. Once the glide is complete, participants remain on the landing platform observation area. The player has become the spectator like watching themselves in a home movie. Home Care Path staff are encouraged to recognize how both the role of the player and the spectator contribute to their growth.

Home Care Path staff whole heartedly agreed nothing can compare to the thrill received from completing the Big Foot Zipline course. Staff described over coming fears, improved team work, and a better understanding of the important service Home Care Path provides to the community. Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com would like readers to consider this as a corporate reference for the BigFoot Zipline 1550 Wisconsin Dells Parkway. Home Care Path staff would encourage any organization considering a team building function to utilize the service of The BigFoot Zipline. We loved it, and will be back!!!

Preserving Social Security Home Care Path

Social Security provides a lifetime income annuity(recurring payments) with onset approximately 65 years of age. Social Security adjusted for inflation pays a set monthly amount for life. Legislator's continue to recognize the importance of maintaining the financial contract that provides payments (monthly distribution) for a person's life time. Social Security is peace of mind.

The Presidential Administration has used budgetary regulations to insure mandates to preserve Social Security can be met. The administration has increased the budget for The Social Security Administration for 1.1 billion dollars above 2009 levels. Mandates to support Social Security will be carried out by the administration if the budget assigns public money to fuel the change. The added budgetary funds require The Social Security Administration to increase 2010 (more jobs) staffing to better provide needed services.

The Social Security Administration will enhance services like processing initial retirement, disability claims, and disability appeals. Staff will need to verify hundreds of millions of Social Security numbers as well as ongoing issuing of 18 million Social Security cards. Systems will need to be advanced to insure Social Security benefits (public money) are paid only to eligible beneficiaries and in the correct amounts.

Baby Boomers have come to realize Social Security is an annuity that will provide a bigger return if you live a long life and keep collecting for many years. Social Security generates an income for your houshold upon retirement. Legislator's have stated Social Security is probobly the most important and most successful program that the United States has ever established.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com is a senior care industry site with free access

Health Reform Improved Information Sharing Home Care Path

Health care reform challenges health delivery systems to improve information sharing. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) will be required to work together sharing information as a way to demonstrate improved quality and efficiency.

Accountable Care Organizations will interconnect network health care providers throughout the defined service area. The service area will be larger, regions. An integrated information system will provide each of the participating health network providers a means to accurately identify patients and quickly aggregate, consolidate key electronic portions of their medical records. Less time, less labor, more money available to serve patients.

An emergency room nurse could retrieve a presenting patients medical records (emergency department, clinical notes, discharge summaries, lab-pathology-radiology results, prescription, referral data, and more) immediately. The information on the nurses computer screen would be an accumulation of all past visits recorded by participating network providers. This reduces duplication. Patient satisfaction is improved as they are not sent home to try an earlier prescribed treatment that did not help.

This is a network of health care providers capable of sharing patient specific information. Critical data can be drawn from all providers serving the region in which the patient resides. Safer prescribing. Patients will begin to expect the benefits of expansion in data sharing. The focus is on improving the quality of health care across the region through enabling technology that links care givers through a common system , with key patient data. Better for patients and health care system delivery costs are reduced.

Cranberries in Garden Home Care Path

Cranberry (vaccinium) has strong antibiotic properities with unusual abilities to prevent infectious bacteria from sticking to cells lining the bladder and urinary tract. Thus, it helps prevent recurring urinary tract (bladder) infections. Cranberry also has antiviral activity.

Cranberries can be grown in a raised bed of sand and peat. Gardeners allow one foot between plants and sides of the bed, and two feet between plants. Take about one half foot of the top soil away. Now add a half and half mixture of peat and sand to fill in the six inches you removed. Gardeners recommend adding bone meal (1 cup), epsom salt (1cup), and rock phosphate (1cup) to the peat and sand mixture.

Set your cranberry plants slightly lower than the surface. Fertilize with high nitrogen emulsion in spring and again when the fruit sets. Cranberries do not adapt to a high ph (potential hydrogen) soil mix. The longer cranberries stay on the bush the sweeter they become. Try to hold off untill the first heavy frost.

Researchers no longer believe cranberries raise the urine to high acidic concentrations. Any acidic effect of cranberries is very mild, not likely to be harmful or irritating to the bladder.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com provides nonmedical in home custodial care for seniors in south central Wisconsin.