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Telehealth, the delivery of health services via telecommunications, is a proven method for doctors and patients to effectively communicate from separate locations. This technology is an important resource for transmitting medical advice, information and imaging, but Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services is currently limited to rural areas and specific types of health facilities.
The Thompson-Hulshof legislation would expand Medicare reimbursement to urban and suburban areas and include more facilities, like skilled nursing facilities and home health services. It will also allow doctors to monitor patients remotely.
“People in rural Congressional Districts like ours often have to travel long distances to see a specialty physician,” said Thompson. “We know that telehealth technologies are an effective way to bring high-quality, affordable healthcare to Americans, no matter where they live. This legislation will make sure Medicare recipients can access telemedicine technology in more cities and towns and in more health facilities. As healthcare becomes more expensive, telehealth technology is a great way to help people get the care they need.”
"Telehealth has the potential to make the best treatments and medical professionals available to any American," said Hulshof. "This legislation has broad support from the medical community, as we all share the same goal: to take full advantage of medical and technological advances to save lives and keep people healthy. Telehealth also has great potential to save billions of taxpayer dollars, so this bill is truly a win-win."
The legislation also provides $30 million in grant funding to help health facilities pay for the telehealth equipment and to expand telehealth support services.
Telehealth has shown it provides better management of chronic diseases, reduces emergency room admissions and lowers healthcare costs. Telehealth services can also play an important role in addressing the epidemic of physician shortages in rural America by bringing physician specialty services to remote communities. In addition, faster diagnoses enabled by telehealth allow patients to get care more quickly.
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CLEARLAKE – Joan Rogers, RN, MSN, a 22-year nursing executive at St. Helena Hospital with a long list of health care achievements, has been appointed administrative director for clinical services at Redbud Community Hospital.
“Adding Joan to our leadership staff is part of our focus to improve the quality of care and service we provide our patients,” said Linda Gibson, Redbud’s senior vice president of operations. “We continue to work toward our goal of making Redbud the best critical-access hospital in the state.”
Rogers is responsible for directing Redbud’s nursing care and clinical services. She served in a series of progressively senior positions at St. Helena Hospital, where she is known for her ability to recruit, motivate and unify staff.
Her major accomplishments include growing outpatient surgery services from one temporary bed to a full-service department, overhauling training standards for clinical staff, and working with nurses and teams to achieve outstanding patient satisfaction scores.
“This new position allows me to do the things I enjoy most, including finding compassionate staff and guiding them to deliver the highest level of care for our patients,” said Rogers. “I’ll also continue to work with the leaders of St. Helena Hospital to share best practices and quality initiatives with Redbud Community Hospital.”
Rogers has a B.S. degree in nursing from Walla Walla College and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of San Francisco.
She is a Lake County resident and enjoys spending time with her family and gardening.
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The award comes in the form of a 10-year loan which will be forgiven provided the use of the property does not change during that period.
The new domestic violence shelter will be built on 1.4 acres on the corner of Live Oak Drive and Highway 29 in Kelseyville.
The new shelter will increase the number of available beds for victims of domestic violence from 14 beds to 25 beds.
“This has been a vision of our agency for several years,” states Gloria Flaherty, executive director of Lake Family Resource Center. “Victims of domestic violence will finally have a safe, secure place to stay while receiving all of the assistance they need.”
Services provided at the new shelter will include intensive case management, individual and group counseling, court accompaniment, legal and social services advocacy, life skills development, emergency and nonemergency transportation, nutritional counseling, education advocacy for youth and counseling and a program for children, Flaherty said.
“This has been an arduous process,” said Kathy Fowler, a member of the Lake Family Resource Center Board of Directors. “The state of California thoroughly reviewed Lake Family Resource Center's application to determine if fiscal processes and ability to provide services was of the highest quality. I’m so happy to report that we passed all tests with flying colors!”
Groundbreaking on the new shelter is expected to take place by September 2009.
In the meantime, fundraising efforts will continue in order to reach the goal of $3 million needed to build the new facility.
Lake Family Resource Center expects to raise at least another $1 million from grants and awards, but at least another $600,000 will need to be raised locally to meet the total funding necessary to complete the project.
The center's board of directors is kicking off a capital campaign to raise the needed funds.
If you would like more information about the Freedom House Domestic Violence Shelter Project, or would like to assist in the fundraising campaign, call Gloria Flaherty at 262-1611 or email
Lake Family Resource Center is a 501(c)3 public benefit nonprofit organization; donations made to Lake Family Resource Center are tax-deductible.
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Wiggins, who chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, said that even though commercial fishing remains one of the nation’s most dangerous professions, the number of men and women in that industry who lack health insurance is “three to four times greater than the national average.”
Her measure, Senate Joint Resolution 31, calls on the President, Vice President Dick Cheney, and members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to enact the “Commercial Fishing Health Care Coverage Act,” which is contained in two federal bills, S. 2630 and HR 5404, introduced by a bi-partisan group of Congressional representatives. If they were to become law, the federal bills would authorize funding to coastal states for planning and implementation of health care programs specific to the needs of a state’s commercial fishing fleet.
SJR 31 has yet to be scheduled for its first hearing. The bill reads as follows:
“WHEREAS, The fishing fleet of California and the nation is essential to provide to the public local fish and shellfish resources, treasured for their flavor and health benefits, to defray imports of seafood from other nations and mitigate the United States seafood trade deficit, to produce fish for export, and to create employment and economic activity in our coastal communities while maintaining and enhancing the historical, cultural, and tourism value of those regions; and
“WHEREAS, Commercial fishing, America's oldest industry, remains one of the nation's most dangerous professions, fraught with economic uncertainty, thus difficult to meet the needs of private insurers to develop group health care or offer individual coverage to fishing men and women and their families; and
“WHEREAS, Fishing incomes are often lower than the national average and fishing men and women struggle with market forces beyond their control, including fluctuations in fish stocks, import competition, rising fuel costs, and natural disasters; and
“WHEREAS, Fishing men and women working aboard United States registered fishing vessels, along with seamen employed on United States merchant vessels, were provided health care from 1799 to 1981, inclusive, through the nation's marine hospitals, which grew into the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) and its contract physicians; and
“WHEREAS, Fishing men and women were never covered under worker's compensation laws due to access to "maintenance and cure" provided to them until 1981 by the USPHS and, since 1981, have found it difficult to find health care coverage tailored for the fishing fleet, creating a population of fishing men and women lacking health care coverage at three to four times greater than the national
average; and
“WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts identified fishing men and women as an "at risk" population, even before it mandated health care coverage for all its citizens and, since 1997, has provided low-cost health care coverage for its fishing families; and
“WHEREAS, The Massachusetts Fishing Partnership Health Plan provides coverage to over 2,000 fishing men and women and their families, reducing the rate of Massachusetts fishing families without health care coverage from 43 percent to 13 percent; and
“WHEREAS, The success of the Massachusetts Fishing Partnership Health Plan serving as a model to address the health care crisis facing the rest of America's fishing fleet, members of the Massachusetts and Alaska congressional delegations, in a bi-partisan and bi-coastal effort in the United States House of Representatives and Senate to reestablish federal support for health care for the United States fishing fleet, have introduced "The Commercial Fishing Industry Health Care Coverage Act of 2008," S. 2630 and H.R. 5404, to authorize funding to coastal states for planning and implementation of health care programs specific to the needs of a state's commercial fishing fleet; now, therefore, be it
“Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the California Legislature memorializes to the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate that the health care crisis facing America's fishing men and women is acute, threatening the economic viability of the nation's fishing fleet and its associated public benefits and urges, therefore, passage of the Commercial Fishing Health Care Coverage Act; and be it further
“Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.”
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