BizPR.us – US Free Press Release Submission and Distribution

www.benefitpackages.com — There has been huge controversy over the Anthem Blue Cross premium increase that was scheduled for March 1st 2010. Brian Sassi, President of Anthem’s California’s individual business unit, responded to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius request for a justification of the increase February 11^th with a five page response that can be summarized as follows:

• Net income per member per month was $12.62 in 08 which was less than their two not-for-profit competitors.
• Individual California business comprises only 10% of their 8 million members.
• The reported 39% increase on individual members’ plans includes adjustments for aging, and affects only a small percentage of plans participants -other options were given to mitigate increases such as adding a deductible.
• After increases a 40 year old Los Angeles woman with a $1,500 deductible can enroll for $156 monthly.
• Reasons for increase include normal cost shifting from Medicare, MediCal and the uninsured.
• Economic recession has encouraged healthy members to drop their policies-in-turn causing the risk pool to include a higher percentage of high claim members.
• IN 09. Anthem lost $58 million on HIPAA plans (available after COBRA is exhausted) and 10 million in Ca Major Risk, the only PPO in the State’s high risk pool.

Anthem submitted their request for a premium increase to the Department of Insurance more than 60 days before the scheduled increase and was not told that further scrutiny would be required. An independent actuarial firm did review their medical loss ratios (MLR’s) before the increase request was submitted.

When publicity hit from the size of the increase those in public office yelled foul. The size of the increase coupled with fact that Anthem Blue Cross’s parent company, Wellpoint Inc., earned a record $2.7 billion in profits for the last quarter of 2009 was not going to fly in these tough economic times. The broad brushed fear mongering of the press and politicians is scaring all Anthem members. The large percentage increase didn’t affect employer based plans nor senior plans. Additionally, the biggest numbers cited were on a minority of plans and those members were given other options.

The question for this agent is whether or not Anthem should soften the blow of the increase with money earned from other business sectors or other states: for example, should they mitigate the premium increase of Ca. individual business with profits made from large employer groups in other states. Should each plan and portfolio have to be profitable every year? If laws limit increases irrespective of profits your obviously going to hurt the viability of the carrier. A carrier might not want to sell individual health insurance for folks under sixty-five if other lines such as commercial are more profitable.

On the other hand, if individual health insurance is generally profitable, and certain years it’s not, shouldn’t spreading the risk among a larger pool be what carriers are supposed to do? Having quality affordable health insurance should be one of the reasons that someone would prefer to have a policy with a giant like Anthem. Certainly there would need to be an even playing field among carriers. This is one more argument for common sense reform. Carriers aren’t the evil empire, especially carriers like Anthem Blue Cross who are losing millions of dollars to help folks with insurability issues through state risk pools and other means.

ABOUT BENEFITPACKAGES.COM

Since 1987, www.benefitpackages.com has been providing the residents of California with the best health insurance solutions. This full-service agency represents most of the major Californian health insurance carriers (including the Anthem Blue Cross of California). If you would like to get in touch with one of the agency’s experienced and fully licensed insurance agents simply call the toll free number on 1-800-356-3615 or send an email to info@benefitpackages.com.

For More Information:

Benefit Packages
Larry Hurwitz
23801 Calabasas Road, Suite 1010
Calabasas, CA 91302
Phone: 800-356-3615
Fax: 818-704-6143

Popularity: unranked [?]

Age brings wisdom but along with it comes some wrinkles too. For most people, this sign of aging is something that they would rather do without. More and more people desire youthful looking skin and go to great lengths to achieve it. There are many cosmetics doing the rounds in the shops and there is a great market for these too. Most of these creams and lotions promise a lot more than they can deliver and they come with side effects. Chemical peels for skin rejuvenation is recommended as an effective solution for aging skin and damaged skin.

There are several reasons apart from aging which cause the skin to lose its youthful elasticity. Blemishes and acne can leave unsightly marks and spots on the skin. Sun damage causes the skin to develop dark spots and wrinkles appear faster than they should. Pigmentation also may affect the skin in an adverse manner. Fine lines appear under the eye and lips very early in life due to a fast paced lifestyle coupled with lack of sleep.

In the chemical peels procedure for skin rejuvenation, chemicals are applied to the face in varying proportions depending upon the requirement. This acts like an exfoliant and removes the dead skin cells so that the underlying new skin is visible which looks fresh and youthful. Chemicals applied depend on whether the treatment is for superficial or deep layers of the skin. Superficial chemical peels require no downtime and are also referred to as lunchtime peels. These are ideal for fine lines and spots caused due to sun damage and stress.

Alpha hydroxyl acids are now being used as chemical peels to treat acne and blemishes. They are effective in reducing the sebum in hair follicles which considerably reduces acne formation. This can also cause the skin to look lighter and clearer than ever before. For wrinkles and irregular pigmentation doctors opt for treating the middle or deep layers of the skin. A peeling agent with more concentration is used which softens wrinkles and smoothens the texture of the skin. This causes the skin to tighten and look younger. There are chemical peels with higher concentration to treat severely damaged skin very effectively.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Arm lift surgery procedure works great for sagging arms caused by age and loss of weight. Losing weight causes the skin of the arm to become loose, resulting in a flabby appearance.

Brachioplasty is a cosmetic surgical procedure which lifts the loose arm skin and gives a toned look to the entire arm area. It helps in providing well-shaped arms, making the skin smooth, firm and well-contoured. Brachioplasty involves minimum side effects. However, chances of developing scars do exist. There is minimum pain or discomfort in this procedure as it is carried out under local anesthesia.

Advantages of Brachioplasty

• Removes extra flab from skin
• Tucks the loose skin folds
• Tightens and tones the arm muscles
• Prevents sagginess of arm skin
• Keeps the arm looking youthful

The Ideal Candidate for Brachioplasty

Brachioplasty works well for people who have lost weight over a short period of time. The sudden decrease in the fat causes the arm skin to sag heavily. This is a condition which does not repair by itself as the skin has lost its elasticity after having supported accumulated fat for years. Diet and exercise alone are not adequate to bring firmness to the skin. This arm lift surgery also works well for conditions such as sagginess of skin caused due to aging, chronic tanning and general loss of elasticity of arm skin. Brachioplasty helps people to overcome self consciousness about their appearance and restores their confidence. It ensures great looking arms. The person is able to wear all kinds of short-sleeved or tight fitting clothes. Arm lift surgery for well shaped arms can really go a long way in making one look good and feel great.

Popularity: unranked [?]

ERP Community Site, ERP.com www.erp.com Releases Software Reviews Module for Leading ERP Applications

ERP.com (www.erp.com), a leading ERP industry site for enterprise resource planning community site targeting ERP professionals and ERP vendors releases new software reviews module for leading on-premise and web based ERP applications on the market.

ERP software, an acronym for enterprise resource planning software, are company-wide IT systems and applications developed to connect all business processes, activities in every department of the organization.

“Enterprise applications have seen a resurgence in demand over the last decade particularly in the last few years as cloud computing, web based applications have been making the benefits of ERP applications affordable and available to smaller businesses.  It’s difficult to navigate through all the offerings in the market today, and a compilation of reviews and features for the leading ERP software solutions in one site is valuable for companies sourcing the best fitting solution for their organization” says Sam Patel, Business Development Manager for ERP.com.

ERP.com also provides users with enterprise system technology tips by industry experts and free tools such as the ERP Software Finder™ available to all ERP.com members to save valuable time and resources during the ERP software selection process. ERP.com is also a connector for business development, lead generation and job postings for its member base.

About ERP.com

Based in Los Angeles, California, ERP.com is a professional community site focused on offering the most current information on enterprise resource planning and a forum for ERP practitioners to collaborate, share tips and tools, market and develop sales leads within the hi-tech business community.

For more information, please visit: www.erp.com or contact us at info@erp.com.  For sales and partnership opportunities contact: sales@erp.com.  For affiliate marketing and PR questions contact:affiliates@erp.com.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Nowadays, dentistry transcription service is in great demand since dentists who have a busy practice have found it as the best option to save time and money spent in managing the medical records of patients. Dentistry transcription services are available for almost all specialties of dental medicine including pedodontics, orthodontics, oral pathology, radiography, prosthodontics, periodontics and endodontics.

State-of-the-art, Dedicated Dentistry Transcription Service

Various dentistry transcription firms offer service with innovative and complete solutions from dictation capture to document distribution and storage. These companies are equipped with the most advanced equipment, technology and manpower to meet the most demanding dictation and transcription requirements.

Dental transcriptionists transcribe recorded audio files and document files in various formats into written documents. Utilizing various text references, they transcribe medical records such as consultation reports, laboratory reports, clinic notes, chart notes, progress reports, history and physical reports, discharge summaries and research reports.

Achieve the Best Possible End Result

Dentistry transcription service is easy, efficient and cost-effective. With the support of high quality providers, clients can benefit from:

• HIPAA compliant transcription practices
• HL-7 and other interfaces to a range of HIS, CIS and EMR systems
• Digital handheld recorders
• Toll-free or onsite phone-in dictation services
• State-of-the-art technology
• 99% accuracy via three levels of quality checking
• Transferring of transcribed files through secure file transfer protocol or browser based 256 bit AES encryption
• 24/7 customer support
• Competitive pricing
• High data security
• Secured access for authorized users to all transcribed reports

Entrust Your Transcription Work with the Right Service Provider

Many online and offline service providers are available in the transcription industry. Accuracy and attention to every detail are of prime importance among the factors that help you in selecting the right provider. Reliable dentistry transcription service providers are a real boon to practicing dentists since they enable dental professionals to find more time to spend on healthcare and related core activities.

Popularity: unranked [?]

What is Opioid Withdrawal?

The withdrawal syndrome is what holds people back from quitting addiction to narcotics or opioids. It is not that a person addicted to Oxy-Contin or Heroin not desiring a life without opioid drugs, rather it is the painful withdrawal syndrome that makes them so apprehensive that they refrain from trying. The syndrome resembles an extremely severe case of the flu, and uncontrollable tearing, nasal discharge, yawning, sneezing, anorexia, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, itch, and aches. For patients who are debilitated or dehydrated, there could be serious complications.

What is Rapid Detox?

Traditionally, without the help of any medications to temper the effect of opioid withdrawal, patients go through an extremely difficult 5 to 6 days of withdrawal when they try to quit narcotics “cold-turkey” fashion. The extreme discomfort prompts most patients to give up before the can quit the addiction. By some definition, “oral medication rapid detox” is a 3 to 5 day course treatment using primarily pills, such as Clonidine and Naltrexone. Patients still experience significant opioid withdrawal. Ultra Rapid Detox, also known as Rapid Detox, actually is a one day treatment where patients receive intravenous naloxone medication under deep sedation or general anesthesia. Essentially, Rapid Detox concentrates 6 days of narcotic withdrawal into 10 hours. The discomfort would be too great for an awake patient to bear, thus the general anesthesia. The advantage is that patients wake up from the anesthesia and the Naloxone intravenous infusion, with most of the physical component of the addiction eliminated.

Possible complications for the true Rapid Detox or Ultra Rapid Detox:

Rapid heart rate, hypertension, diarrhea, aspiration, pulmonary edema, and post-procedure feeling of exhaustion lasting 7 to 10 days.

Prevention of complications related to Rapid Detox:

In order to prevent the complications related to rapid detox, it is imperative that the procedure be performed by a board-certified anesthesiologist with more than 10 year experience in giving general anesthesia to patients with multiple medical problems. Also the doctor should have more than 10 year experience in pain management with knowledge of narcotic medications and their effects.

Treatment of post rapid detox exhaustion:

Intra-muscular injection of vitamin B12 and other B vitamin would offer a longer term effect in reducing the subjective feeling of exhaustion. Vitamin B and C complex pills, taken 3 times a day, are also recommended. Further, Green Tea Extract pills are recommended to patients. In addition, daily exercise, hot-shower, hot-bath, rich meals are highly recommended for the 2 weeks following rapid detox.

Conclusion:

Rapid Detox (Ultra Rapid Detox) can be performed with high degree of safety if it were conducted by physicians who are board certified in both anesthesiology and pain medicine with more than 10 year of experience in each. The complications are related to general anesthesia and magnified opioid withdrawal, as well as the medication Naloxone. Only experienced anesthesiologists who are used to dealing with sick patients undergoing long courses of general anesthesia and ICU patients should perform the procedure. Further, the post-treatment feeling of exhaustion experienced by patients can be reduced with a few simple techniques.

Thomas Yee, MD

R1888@aol.com

Popularity: unranked [?]

How does rapid detox work? Why does rapid detox work? From personally performing hundreds of rapid detox procedures successfully, this writer has continuously modified and improved on not just the practical clinical protocol but also a theoretical understanding of opiate addiction and rapid detox. We know it works, but why does it work. From a scientific curiosity, we search for a theoretical basis for our practical clinical success.

Imagine a heroin addict trying to quit cold-turkey style. If he can hang in there for 8 days, by the grace of God and with super-human willpower, overcoming the insufferable physical withdrawal, then he will have successfully quit the initial phase of addiction. He will have overcome the physical addiction. Much psychological work needs to be done by him and hopefully his counselors to beat back the mental craving.

What if we can keep this hypothetical heroin addict asleep for the 8 days? It is reasonable to assume that he would wake up from the sleep feeling free of physical addiction to opiates, feeling no physical withdrawal. What if we can use certain medications and technology to shorten this time period from 8 days to 8 hours? That is rapid detox as being performed in this clinic.

Rapid detox is not black magic. It is accelerated removal of opiates from both the opiate receptors and from the body’s blood circulation. In accomplishing the first part, removal from the receptors, it only takes minutes. In accomplishing the second part, removal of opiates from the body’s circulation, the body’s own kidneys and liver need time; these organs need between 4 to 8 hours to eliminate the opiates from the body. That is why we need to keep the treatment going under anesthesia for at least 8 hours. Otherwise, waking the patient early will result in a patient feeling massive withdrawal.

In the body of an opiate addict, the opiate receptors in the brain, the spinal cord and the gastrointestinal tract are like spoiled children addicted to having a lollipop constantly in their mouths. Imagine a daycare center with 100 such kids. Conventional quitting approach is akin to taking away the lollipop from one child at a time, compelling the child to throw a crying temper tantrum fit for 3 hours. At the end of 3 hours, the crying becomes a whimper and finally stops because the child begins to realize that tantrum will not bring back the lollipop; he begins to adapt to a life without lollipop. One child at a time, we are looking at 300 hours of crying temper tantrum. In rapid detox, as we do it, we would yank out all 100 lollipops at the same time, producing an earth-shaking collective temper tantrum. At the end of 3 hours, however, all 100 children begin to pipe down and reluctantly begin to adapt.

We have observed this in the hundreds of patients we detox. Since our procedure lasts 8 hours, we get to observe the amazing transformation every time. Initially, when the naloxone first enters the blood stream of the patient, he would instantly react under anesthesia, by various involuntary movement of the hands, feet, sneezing, yawning, twitches, etc. Soon, depending on the depth or dosage of the opiate preexisting opiate addiction, the patient would calm down, exhibiting less and less involuntary movement. Invariably, after between 20 minutes to 3 hours, all movements cease except for regular breathing motions. This appears to be a manifestation of the child-like opiate receptors, after throwing temper tantrum, finally giving up and beginning to adapt to a opiate-free brave new world. When the patient wakes up after 8 hours of treatment, he is free of the physical withdrawal and the bulk of physical addiction.

Case after case, patient after patient, we have observed this phenomenon. Opiate receptors do adapt, as long as we take away nearly all opiate in the body. If the residual opiates molecules are in enough quantity to reoccupy certain critical proportion of the overall population of the opiate receptors, then the patient would manifest withdrawal reactions again. We have seen this in those patients who have chronically injected heroin into muscles producing scarred-in pockets of heroin. After rapid detox, when they massage those muscles, they would feel physical withdrawal.

In general patients report little or no physical withdrawal after rapid detox, and can move on with their lives undergoing the very important psychological counseling afterwards without any need for Naltrexone. We have also observed that after patients awaken from anesthesia, if we inject additional naloxone or give patients Naltrexone pill too soon afterwards, they sometimes report feeling of residual physical withdrawal. While if we hold off Naltrexone pill for 10 days after rapid detox,

The patients do not report feeling residual physical withdrawal. So what does this tell us?

This suggests that after rapid detox, if we do nothing to further irritate the receptors, not giving them opiates, nor challenging them again soon with naloxone, patients tend to feel no physical withdrawal or physical craving for opiates. This also suggests that the opiate receptors, when viewed as a population of receptors, exhibit group behaviors different from individual receptors’ behaviors. Hypothetically, if say 60 percent or more of all receptors are binding to opiate molecules, then there is no feeling of withdrawal. If between 10 and 60 % of receptors are binding to opiates, then there is feeling of withdrawal. If less than 10% of receptors are binding to opiates, then also there is no feeling of withdrawal. Within this small minority of receptors, about 10 % or less, if there is active displacement of opiates by naloxone or naltrexone, then the patient would feel moderate physical withdrawal. If this small minority, over the following days, gradually loses the opiate molecules through natural dissociation and metabolism, then there is no feeling of withdrawal.

Perhaps, in conclusion, both the speed of losing opiate molecules from receptors and the overall percentage of opiate-bound receptors contribute to the physical withdrawal and the physical craving in opiate addiction. Also, in conclusion, back to our original example, if a heroin addict could sleep for 8 days straight under adequate anesthesia, then he would be free from physical addiction. By shortening a heroin addict’s cold-turkey quitting torture from 8 days to 8 hours, still keeping him asleep under anesthesia, we have arrived at a practical technique of rapid detox. Our understanding and the proper formulation of the theory behind this success is now beginning to grow.

By Thomas C. Yee, MD

Medical Director

Board-certified in both Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

www.rapid-detox-clinic.org

Las Vegas Rapid Detox Medical Clinic

(800) 276-7021

Popularity: unranked [?]

Leading ERP Community Site, ERP.com www.erp.com Releases it’s Top ERP Software Finder to Filter The Leading US Enterprise Software Solutions Instantly for Members of the Enterprise Resource Planning Community.

ERP.com (www.erp.com), a leading enterprise resource planning community site that brings together ERP practitioners and software vendors with the latest industry information, resources, and software applications reviews launches it’s ERP software selection tool to streamline the complex software selection process that is involved with qualifying the hundreds of ERP software solutions available on the market today.

Surprisingly roughly 50 percent of all US ERP software implementations fail.  A key driver for the success of an ERP implementation begins with choosing the right application. The ERP software solution chosen should fit hand and glove with a company’s size, growth, users, and industry, just a few parameters.  “Finding the best fitting solution is complicated requiring a lot of man hours just to come up with a short list of alternatives to even begin the detailed software selection due diligence. I start my search on the internet looking for ERP software reviews, but get bombarded with paid ad sponsorships.  The ERP Software Finder helps me just get the facts quickly and a short list started” Says Debbie Garofalo an enterprise consultant for Kaiser Permanente, a leading health care organization.

The Top ERP Software Finder™ available to all ERP.com members was developed to help to help streamline the software selection process and is queries results based on feature preferences and not on paid ad sponsorships.

What is ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning?

Enterprise Resource Planning is a company-wide information technology system developed to connect all business processes, activities and data in every department of the organization. For more information, please visit: www.erp.com or contact us at info@erp.com.  For sales and partnership opportunities contact:sales@erp.com.  For affiliate marketing and PR questions contact: affiliates@erp.com.

About ERP.com

Based in Los Angeles, California, ERP.com is a professional community site focused on offering the most up to date and relevant information on enterprise resource planning and a forum for ERP practitioners to collaborate, share information, market and develop sales leads the hi-tech business community.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Trial to evaluate the role of surgery, pathology and profiling in patient recovery

www.corigroup.org – Anton J. Bilchik, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., in collaboration with California Oncology Research Institute (CORI), University California Los Angeles and the United States Military Cancer Institute, recently received National Cancer Institute funding to do the first international colon cancer trial evaluating the role of quality surgery, standardized pathology and molecular profiling.

Colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.  The CORI Group has shown that there is a great deal of variation in the quality of surgery and pathology. Surgeons are not removing enough lymph nodes and small cancer cells are being missed by pathologists because of inadequate pathology staging techniques. This work has been presented at international conferences and published in several peer-review journals.

“The results of this trial will have a major impact on how colon cancer is managed in the world, explains Dr. Bilchik.  “Our goal is to help identify those patients that are cured by surgery alone and those that may benefit from additional chemotherapy.”  With participating sites including UCLA and at Walter Reed medical centers, the program is designed to accrue 300 patients over two years with a 3 year follow up.

About CORI Group: Since its inception in Santa Monica, California in 2008, the California Oncology Research Institute (CORI) has been committed to providing early diagnosis and treatment of cancer through clinical and basic science research focusing on surgical technologies, along with innovative and novel treatments. Through scientific collaborations and alliances, CORI has established itself not only as a regional cancer institute in Southern California, but also as a global leader in cancer research with a strong presence across four continents.  CORI can be found online at http://www.corigroup.org.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Leading Enterprise Resource Planning Site www.erp.com Offers ERP Software Selector Wizard for Easy Filtering of Hundreds of The Leading ERP and CRM Solutions Currently In The Market.

ERP (www.erp.com), the leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) community website bringing together ERP, enterprise resource planning, practitioners with ERP software, and enterprise systems integrators announced its free software selection tool, ERP Software Selector Wizard to all ERP.com members.

With this time saving tool, ERP professionals looking for the optimal solution for their organization can simply and at no cost filter through hundreds of the leading on-premise, software as a service (SaaS) and open source enterprise application to narrow down product option in their software selection due diligence.

ERP.com will offer this valuable tool to all members and will sort software products on the market in an unbiased methodology using the input provided by the user regarding industry, company size, feature and functionality preferences.  ERP software vendors are all open to submit their solutions to ERP.com for inclusion in the ERP Selector Wizard Product database.

ERP.com is focused on bringing relevant tools, information, and business collaboration to the ERP community which is comprised of the ERP practitioner, integration consultant, and vendor. The ability to get a starting list of the right ERP products for a particular company is difficult to do as most listing are heavily advertiser focused and prioritized.

“The ERP.com software selector lists products simply by their industry focus, company size focus, and feature focus.  This tool can provide in minutes what an IT manager could spend a day or more trying to pull together” says Sam Patel, Sales Director at Central Desktop a leader in SaaS based collaboration software.

In addition to the latest ERP products on the market, the ERP.com Software Selector Wizard developed by Hathway Tech, will continually update its product database on a weekly basis to provide the most current ERP products database available for free.

What is ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning?

Enterprise Resource Planning is a company-wide IT system designed to coordinate all business processes, resources, and information, such as manufacturing, inventory, sales, marketing, accounting, finance, logistics and administration. ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirement planning) and is now recognized as a business solution covering all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization’s business, size or charter. Non-manufacturing businesses, non-profit organizations and governments now all use ERP systems.  For more information, please visit: www.erp.com or contact us at info@erp.com.  For sales and partnership opportunities contact: sales@erp.com.  For affiliate marketing and PR questions contact: affiliates@erp.com.

About ERP.com

Based in Los Angeles, California, ERP.com was founded in early 2007 by former entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives from the enterprise technology sector.  ERP.com is a professional community site focused on offering the most up to date and relevant information on enterprise resource planning and a forum for ERP practitioners to post content, insights and reviews, and market their product and services within the hi-tech business community.

Popularity: unranked [?]