Care Transitions Across Sites
When transitioning patients from one healthcare setting to another, it’s not uncommon to encounter gaps in care that have the potential to negatively impact their health. To remedy this problem and reduce associated costs, organizations are taking steps to better plan for a patient’s care transitions and close these gaps in care. These simple strategies can have a significant effect on health outcomes, likelihood of readmission and ER visits, cost to patients, providers and insurers and the burden on caregivers and family members. This white paper from HIN is based on HIN’s April 2009 e-survey in which respondents were asked to share their organization’s experiences with care transitions.
To download this complimentary white paper, please visit:
http://hin.com/library/caretransitions.html
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Vegetarian Diets May Help in Disease Prevention and Treatment
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has concluded that vegetarian diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes.
Vegetarian diets are often associated with health advantages including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, according to ADA’s position, stated in a position paper published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The paper states that “vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals. These nutritional differences may explain some of the health advantages of those following a varied, balanced vegetarian diet.”
To learn more about this research, please visit:
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/media_22003_ENU_HTML.htm
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Health Coaching Trends in 2009
The health coaching field is evolving, as it is becoming more widely accepted as a means of helping patients better manage their health conditions. HIN's Survey
of the Month revisits this field to find out how and to what extent healthcare organizations are implementing health coaching into their organizations. Complete HIN's Survey of the Month on Health Coaching Trends in 2009 by July 31 and receive a free executive summary of the compiled results. Your responses will be kept strictly confidential.
To participate in this survey and receive its results, please visit:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/...
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When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) were given caffeine — the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day — their memory impairment was reversed, report University of South Florida (USF) researchers at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Back-to-back studies published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease show caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to AD, both in the brains and in the blood of mice exhibiting symptoms of the disease.
A move backward in readiness to change should not be perceived as a failure on the client's part but rather as an opportunity to readjust behavior goals, observes Kate Larsen, president of Winning LifeStyles, Inc., an ICF-certified professional coach and a WellCoaches® faculty member and mentor coach. The author of "Progress, Not Perfection" notes that there's value in reminding clients that health coaching is a journey and in checking coaching egos at the door to improve listening skills and allow clients to own their behavior change goals.
