| The national teen birth rate has plummeted 63 percent to its lowest level over the last 20 years, but with 1,700 babies born every week to girls under 18, the rate is still too high, according to a report released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read the story |
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Wednesday, April 9, 2014
U.S. Teen Birth Rate At Historic Low, But Girls Deliver 1,700 Babies Every Week, CDC Says
Monday, April 7, 2014
Reframing Cultural Norms to Promote Healthy Relationships
 A new groundbreaking report outlines effective lessons to prevent intimate parter violence (IPV) among immigrants and refugees. Over the course of three years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Strengthening What Works program evaluated IPV prevention initiatives serving different youth and adult Asian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Arab, and Hispanic communities. Case studies chronicle the efforts and showcase the importance of culture to improve health and relationships. Read the key findings > |
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Mountain States RHEC Webinar Announcement: Advancing Health Equity through Cultural Competency, April 17
Are you interested in learning how to build and sustain a culturally competent organization?
Join Us for the Webinar!
DATE: April 17, 2014
TIME: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time
SPEAKERS:
Susana Centeno Perez, MPH, Region VIII Women’s Health Coordinator
Renee Gamino, Associate Director-Outreach, AARP Wyoming, Mountain States RHEC member
Mailyn Salabarria, Community Outreach Coordinator & Translations Associate Manager, One World Translation
The Mountain States RHEC is one of ten regional health equity councils formed in 2011 as a part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA). The NPA is a national movement with the mission to improve the effectiveness of programs that target the elimination of health disparities through coordination of leaders, partners, and stakeholders that are committed to action. The Mountain States RHEC is a coalition of leaders and health disparities experts representing several sectors and the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The Mountain States RHEC envisions a region free of disparities in health and healthcare, where all people attain the highest level of health.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
New Clinics in Salt Lake Valley
Because of funding from the Affordable Care Act and other sources allocated to address primary care in our area, below is a list of new clinic locations open and accepting patients:
Intermountain
Neighborhood Clinic
Glendale
Community Learning Resource Center
1388
Navajo Street (1340 West)
Salt
Lake City, Utah
Hours:
Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm, Closed 12pm - 12:30 for lunch
Provides
primary healthcare services to the residents of Glendale Middle School and
Mountainland Elementary School boundaries.
Dental
services available
Midtown South Salt Lake CHC Clinic-Grand Opening April 7
2253 S State Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
Mid-Valley Health Clinic
Utah Partners for Health
8446 S. Harrison Street (Copperview
Recreation Center)
Midvale, UT 84047
Hours: MTWF 8:00 am -
5:00 pm. TH 12:00 - 8:00 pm
Sliding Fee Schedule available with
proof of income
Medicaid/Medicare accepted
Call for other insurance
accepted
Midvale CBC Community Clinic
7852 S Pioneer Street
Midvale, Utah 84047
Located in Midvale Middle School
(south end of school parking lot)
Free Medical Clinic for qualified
patients
Medical Clinic hours: Tuesdays 1:00 -
5:00 pm, Thursdays 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Physical Therapy Clinic hours:
Saturdays 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Dental services available 7 times per
month upon availability.
Dental hygienist services also
available to dental program patients.
Call for information about fees and
services.
Call 801-566-6190 Monday - Thursday
10:00 am - 4:00 pm for an appointment.
Services available to all qualified
individuals, preference for Midvale City residents
Molina Health Clinics
Molina Medical- Salt Lake
City
2196 West 3500 South
West Valley City, Utah
84119
|
Molina Medical- Orem *
1409 South State
Street
Orem, Utah 84097
*Clinic located in Utah County.
|
Hours of Operation
Monday-Friday 8:30 am
- 5:30 pm
Closed for lunch 12:30
- 1:30 pm
Phone: 877- 385-7822
|
Sacred Circle Clinic
Confederated
Tribes of the Goshute Reservation
660 S. 200 E. Suite 250
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00
pm
Tribal members
priority, but will see others as well.
Medicaid/Medicare/CHIP/PCN
Call for other
insurance accepted
*This list has been provided as a courtesy only and should not be considered an official list of all clinics and services.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
April is Minority Health Month
The Utah Dept of Health (UDOH) Office of Health Disparities (OHD) and partners are offering free health screenings and education classes.
FREE Medical Screenings for Utah's Underserved Sponsored by OHD and Partners
By appointment only
OHD and Centro Hispano
Tuesday, April 8 from 4 to 7 pm
For more information and to schedule an appointment contact Joel Loredo at joell@centrohispanouc.org or 801.665.0258
Spanish-speaking services available
OHD and Hawaiian Cultural Center
Thursday, April 3 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm
For more information and to schedule an appointment, contact Kathleen Madsen at kkmadsen12@gmail.com or 801.471.4635
Interpretation services available
OHD and People's Health Clinic
Wednesday, April 16 from 11 am to 2 pm
For more information and to schedule an appointment contact Rachelle Doucette at rachelle@phcpc.org or 435.333.1885
Spanish-speaking services available
Pre-scheduled and walk-in appointments available
OHD and Maliheh Free Clinic
Thursday, April 3 from 4 to 7 pm
For more information and to schedule an appointment, contact Leanna Davis at ldavis@malihehfreeclinic.org or call 801.266.3700 ext 106
Interpretation services available
OHD and Somali Community Self Management Agency
Wednesday, April 2 from 1 to 4 pm
For more information and to schedule an appointment contact Ghulam Hasnain at saltlakeamerican@yahoo.com or call 801-671-6709
Interpretation services available
Huntsman Cancer Institute Screening Events
Screenings are free and open to the public. Spanish translation available.
Free Skin Cancer Screening on Saturday, April 12
Free Oral Cancer Screening on Saturday, April 26
Call 801.585.0605 to schedule an appointment
Living Well With Chronic Conditions Classes
Sponsored by Intermountain
Sponsored by Intermountain
Classes at TOSH
April 1-May 6 (every Tuesday from 1-3:30)
Sept 9-Oct 14 (every Tuesday from 1-3:30)
To register, call 801.314.2201
Classes at Glendale Community Learning Center
April 14-May 19 (every Monday from 11-1:30) with lunch provided
To register, call 801.408.8635
Open Enrollment is over. Didn't finish the process? Good news: you have a few more days.
April 1 from Healthcare.gov https://www.healthcare.gov/
We know many of you worked hard to finish enrolling in a health plan in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Sometimes despite your best efforts, you might have run into delays caused by heavy traffic to HealthCare.gov or our call center, maintenance periods, or other special situations that prevented you from finishing the process on time.
If that happened to you, don’t worry – you still may be able to get covered in 2014.
If you were trying to enroll on our system by the March 31 enrollment deadline for coverage in 2014 and didn’t finish, we may still be able to help you get covered.
· Log in to your online Marketplace application on HealthCare.gov and finish the enrollment process – you’ll need to just confirm online that you were still trying to enroll on March 31.
· Or contact the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596. The Call Center can help you complete your enrollment over the phone. TTY users should call 1-855-889-4325. Be sure to tell our customer service representative that you’ve been trying to enroll.
Don’t miss out on the health coverage you need. Let us help you finish your enrollment today.
Tips For New Obamacare Coverage: Stay In Network, Avoid Out-Of-Pocket Costs
Congratulations. You bought insurance through one of the online Affordable Care Act exchanges, possibly after days or weeks of trying to get the site to work.
Don't relax. Joining the plan is only the first challenge. Now you have to understand it.
But you need to follow the rules. And the boilerplate explanation you got from the insurance company may be hard to understand.
What do members need to know about these plans that they probably don’t?
Carry your membership card everywhere.
Make copies. It'll save huge amounts of hassle if you have an unexpected doctor or hospital visit.
Understand your plan's doctor and hospital network.
Insurance companies negotiate participation and payment rates with a network of providers to control costs.
"A lot of these exchange plans, in order to stay affordable, have much smaller networks than people are used to," says Nancy Metcalf, a senior editor for Consumer Reports. For many new members, "just because their friend has a plan and can go to a particular hospital doesn't mean that they necessarily can."
You can check a plan's directory -- either online or often part of the documents you receive when you enroll -- to find out if specific physicians are part of your network. You can call doctors' offices to confirm, too.
Stay in the network!
The health law says that, once you join a qualified plan, you won't pay more out of pocket per year than $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family.
But this applies only to in-network care. Whether you’re in an HMO that pays almost no out-of-network benefits or a PPO that covers some, the pocketbook protections don't apply if you use a non-network doc or hospital.
Non-network providers also frequently bill you far more than what they charge patients intheir networks for the same procedure.
Try to stay in-network even if it's for emergency care.
Insurance plans do have to pay for non-network emergency visits under the health law. If you're in a car crash far from home you can’t be picky about which hospital saves your life.
But non-network hospitals often "balance-bill" the difference between what your plan pays and what they charge, which is often much more.
Avoid all emergency rooms unless it's really an emergency.
Traditionally, health plans came with a modest copayment for an emergency visit -- maybe $150.
But many policies sold under the health law, even those in the more expensive "gold" category, not only have ER copays of several hundred dollars but also subject ER charges to the overall deductible. (Copays are flat fees for specific services. Deductibles are what you pay out of pocket before the insurance kicks in.)
That means you could be billed for the full cost of an emergency visit -- up to the out-of-pocket limit.
"This is a huge difference and will really hurt the unsuspecting person," says John Jaggi, an Illinois insurance broker. "We're putting a lot more people into that exposure here."
Broken leg? Head to the hospital. Sprained ankle? Maybe wait until the urgent care center or doctor's office opens.
Pay monthly premiums on time and accurately.
"Do not mess around. Pay your premium," admonishes Karen Pollitz, a consumer specialist at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (KHN is an editorially independent project of the foundation.) "Otherwise that will be the end of you and you won’t get to sign up again until the next open season."
(Open enrollment for 2014 coverage ends March 31. Open enrollment for 2015 begins Nov. 15.)
Even underpaying the premium by a few cents could give the insurance company grounds to kick you off, she said. Insurers allow a brief grace period if you get behind -- somewhat longer if you're receiving premium subsidies -- but they will terminate coverage for nonpayment.
Register online with your new insurance company.
Insurance sites are good for tracking claims. Increasingly they also let you shop around for the best deals on non-emergency treatment.
"Your health plan might pay one imaging center half what it pays another imaging center," Metcalf said. "That's really important if you've got a big deductible."
Save paperwork. Make sure you really owe what doctors and hospitals bill you for.
"Now is a good time to become a pack rat," says Pollitz. "If you’ve got any concern, it really is worth it to make a call and get them to explain what they did."
If you don't get satisfaction from providers or insurers, try regulators.
Check the insurer's explanation of benefits detailing your claims. It may show a phone number for a consumer assistance program in your state to help deal with medical coverage.
Here is a list of consumer assistance programs. This list has contact information for state insurance departments and other regulators.
Do read the plan's summary of benefits and coverage.
"Get it and print it out, because that has the details of your plan," says Metcalf. "How it works. What do you have to pay in order to go to a primary care doctor? Is it before or after the deductible?
"How big is your deductible? How much does it cost to go to the emergency room?"
It's not like reading John Grisham. But the subjects -- your health and your money -- are really important.
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