Daily Health Insight

Friday, August 23, 2013

Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation Release User's Guide To Health Insurance Marketplaces

HAMPTON, Va., Aug. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) and the National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF), the nation's leading patient advocacy organizations, have collaborated with InsureUStoday.org and developed a comprehensive user's guide to help consumers access insurance products in the forthcoming Health Insurance Marketplaces, also known as Exchanges. The release is in advance of open enrollment, to begin October 1, 2013, with plan coverage beginning January 1, 2014.

"Come October, health care consumers will gain access to a new array of coverage possibilities and as advocates for patients across the United States, we are proud to present and distribute the 2013 Health Reform and You, User's Guide to Health Insurance Marketplaces, " said Alan Balch, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of PAF and NPAF. "Health Reform and You is an easy-to-read informational booklet designed to assist patients and consumers in understanding the changes and opportunities taking place in health care insurance for Americans."

Available in hard copy and online, the 2013 Health Reform and You User's Guide to Health Insurance Marketplaces is accessible by calling 1 (866) 207-8023 or at www.patientadvocate.org/marketplaces.

"PAF and NPAF are taking the lead on distributing the User's Guide to stakeholders across the country to ensure this vital information reaches patients and consumers who will need direction and guidance as they embark on a new way to access health care coverage," added Nancy Davenport- Ennis, founder and Chairman of the Board of both PAF and NPAF. "PAF and NPAF are pleased to continue our mission to help every American in their quest for affordable health care. "

The 2013 Health Reform and You User's Guide introduces consumers to health insurance basics and new opportunities in easy to understand language, beginning with an introduction to what health insurance is, its necessity and options for procurement. The publication then introduces health insurance marketplaces as a new method for obtaining health coverage, helps consumers learn how to determine what coverage is appropriate for them and familiarizes the reader with assistance opportunities for those who cannot afford health insurance. The publication also addresses certain common questions and special circumstances that consumers may have, including what happens to a consumer's coverage if they move to another state, miss the enrollment period, and other scenarios.

About PAF: Patient Advocate Foundation is a national non-profit organization founded in 1996, that seeks to safeguard patients through effective mediation assuring access to care, maintenance of employment and preservation of their financial stability. PAF's professional case managers received and resolved 109,147 cases in 2012 to patients representing 309 different diagnoses or health conditions. PAF services are available to all patients, patient families, and medical professionals, offering nineteen programs and services ranging from case management to co-pay relief, as well as specialized support through the MedCareLine and the Financial Fund Division. Patient Advocate Foundation serves patients from all 50 states, and has physical locations in the top patient referral states including Texas, Florida, California and Virginia. For more information about Patient Advocate Foundation, please visit www.patientadvocate.org.

About NPAF: NPAF's mission is to be the voice for patients who have sought care after a diagnosis of a chronic, debilitating or life-threatening illness. NPAF has a seventeen year history serving as this trusted voice. NPAF is also the coordinator of the Regulatory Education and Action for Patients (REAP) Coalition. The advocacy activities of NPAF are informed and influenced by the experience of patients who receive direct, sustained case management services from our companion organization, Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF).

About InsureUStoday: InsureUStoday.org is a collaborative effort of healthcare stakeholders to add clarity and take the confusion out of healthcare reform. Our goal is to help improve your understanding of the benefits experienced as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (known simply as the Affordable Care Act). Visit www.insureustoday.org for more information.

SOURCE Patient Advocate Foundation

Source: www.prnewswire.com

Exercise safe for kidney disease patients

Exercise safe for kidney disease patients
Exercise can be safe and effective in people with kidney disease, even if they have other related health problems, researchers have found.

Shire and Santaris extend their strategic alliance to discover and develop LNA-drugs in the rare genetic disease field

International biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies for a range of diseases including metabolic disorders, infectious and inflammatory diseases, cancer and rare genetic disorders. ...

HOERSHOLM, Denmark and SAN DIEGO, Aug. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announced that its long term partner, Shire has extended the existing partnership in the rare genetic disease space.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100111/SPLOGO)

Under the terms of the extended agreement, Shire will have the right to nominate additional collaboration targets for drug discovery and development. Santaris will receive an upfront payment and, consistent with the initial agreement, is eligible for research support, pre-clinical, clinical and sales milestones and royalties on each product emerging from the collaboration.

Henrik Stage, President & CEO at Santaris Pharma A/S stated: "Our collaboration with Shire is very important to us so we are very pleased with the decision to extend the agreement and allow for more drug discovery and development programs. We believe the LNA drug platform offers a unique opportunity to develop drugs against the rapidly expanding number of disease targets in the rare genetic disorder space."

Albert Seymour, VP, Discovery Research, Shire, stated: "We are delighted with our partnership with Santaris, whose expertise and capabilities in LNA antisense therapy complement Shire's drug discovery and development strengths. Our hope is that the partnership will eventually translate into novel drugs that will help patients suffering from debilitating rare diseases lead better lives."

About Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) Drug Platform
The LNA Drug Platform and Drug Discovery Engine developed by Santaris Pharma A/S combines the company's proprietary LNA chemistry with its highly specialized and targeted drug development capabilities to rapidly deliver LNA-based drug candidates against RNA targets, both mRNA and microRNA, for a range of diseases including cardiometabolic disorders, infectious and inflammatory diseases, cancer and rare genetic disorders. LNA is also sometimes referred to as BNA (Bicyclic or Bridged Nucleic Acid). LNA-based drugs are a promising new class of therapeutics that are enabling scientists to develop drug candidates to work through previously inaccessible clinical pathways. The LNA Drug Platform overcomes the limitations of earlier antisense and siRNA technologies to deliver potent single-stranded LNA-based drug candidates across a multitude of disease states. The unique combination of small size and very high affinity allows this new class of drugs candidates to potently and specifically inhibit RNA targets in many different tissues without the need for complex delivery vehicles. The most important features of LNA-based drugs include excellent specificity providing optimal targeting; increased affinity to targets providing improved potency; and favorable pharmacokinetic and tissue-penetrating properties that allow systemic delivery of these drugs without complex and potentially troublesome delivery vehicles.

About Santaris Pharma A/S
Santaris Pharma A/S is a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies. The Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) Drug Platform and Drug Discovery Engine developed by Santaris Pharma A/S combine the company's proprietary LNA chemistry with its highly specialized and targeted drug development capabilities to rapidly deliver potent single-stranded LNA-based drug candidates across a multitude of disease states. The company's research and development activities focus on infectious diseases and cardiometabolic disorders, while partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies include a range of therapeutic areas including cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious and inflammatory diseases, and rare genetic disorders. The company has strategic partnerships with RaNA Therapeutics, Bristol-Myers Squibb, miRagen Therapeutics, Shire, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Enzon Pharmaceuticals. As part of its broad patent estate, the company holds exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture and sell products that comprise LNA as active ingredient for studies performed with a view to obtaining marketing approval. Santaris Pharma A/S, founded in 2003, is headquartered in Denmark with operations in the United States. Please visit www.santaris.com for more information.

Santaris Pharma A/S^® is a registered trademark of Santaris Pharma A/S. Santaris^TM and LNA-antimiR™ are trademarks of Santaris Pharma A/S.

SOURCE Santaris Pharma A/S

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Could Mobile Health Become Addictive?

Could Mobile Health Become Addictive?
By Joseph Kvedar, MD The hype over mobile health is deafening on most days and downright annoying on some. So it is with some reluctance that I admit that mobile has the potential to be a game-changer in health. I’ve professed enthusiasm before, but that was largely around the use of wireless sensors to measure [...]

By Joseph Kvedar, MD

The hype over mobile health is deafening on most days and downright annoying on some. So it is with some reluctance that I admit that mobile has the potential to be a game-changer in health. I’ve professed enthusiasm before, but that was largely around the use of wireless sensors to measure physiologic signals and SMS text as a way to deliver messages to patients and consumers. For several years, the industry has been awash with smartphone apps (by a recent count more than 40,000). At the Center for Connected Health, we started looking at mobile health as far back as 2008 and could not justify the excitement around smart phones and apps at that time, mostly because our patient population did not demonstrate significant enough adoption of smartphones to justify development in this area.

I felt very unpopular at all of the major conferences. I talked about our success with text messaging as a tool for engaging pregnant teens in their prenatal care and helping patients battling addiction to stick with their care plan, while others were touting the virtues of their various apps.

It’s worth noting that our primary focus at the Center for Connected Health has been patients with chronic illness. As such, we are every bit as concerned about the 85 year old with congestive heart failure as we are about the young professional with hypertension. However, across the population of people with chronic disease, smartphone adoption has lagged. I felt like our strategy was vindicated when my friend Susannah Fox published research showing that folks with two or more chronic illnesses (independent of other variables such as age and socioeconomic status) use technology in the context of their health less than others.

The world of patient care appears to be catching up to the rest of mobile. Not that I would ever endorse the irrational exuberance shown for mobile health apps in general, but some recent data points that changed my thinking are worth noting.

The first was when Dr. Kamal Jethwani, our head of research, was telling me about close-outs for one of our clinical trials. In this particular trial, the intervention involved twice-daily SMS text messages. The patients were recruited from a neighborhood health center in an underserved community. As part of the exit interview we asked informally about smartphone adoption. We were surprised to hear it’s at about 60%! Not only that, but several of the patients asked, “Why are you guys using texts? Why don’t you have an app?”

This was a turning point for me. Not long after that, I heard a compelling NPR story about making technology addictive. It seems those of us who own smartphones check them obsessively (by some counts 150 times/day). The reason seems to be that we are seeking either new information or new connections. Looking at that tiny screen is, well, addictive.

We published a paper recently where we looked at two home-hub transmission technologies. The context was a diabetes program where patients were asked to check their glucose twice a day and upload the results to our database (via the Internet). Some folks had a device that required them to push a button to accomplish the upload and some had a ‘passive sensing’ device that required no button push. The results were impressive. Those that did not have to push a button were significantly more adherent to their plan and had better health outcomes.

The opportunity seems too good to pass up. Contrast checking a screen compulsively 150 times/day with so much lack of engagement that merely pushing a button is too much to ask.

Mobile health offers us many transformational opportunities. We can use smart phones as a data upload/home hub device. We can use them as a device to engage the consumer around health content. We can use them to display health-related information at just the right moment in just the right context. We can use the cameras to capture relevant health information (e.g., home test results). We can use them to message you in the moment with contextually relevant, motivating messages.

Add to the list that we can harness the addictive properties of these devices to, perhaps, make health addictive.

I am really intrigued by this concept. As I’ve done some early research on it, I’ve discovered that the term addictive is edgy and maybe even too controversial. An addiction is something you can’t stop. We’ve heard about folks who are obsessive about exercising or checking certain vital signs to the point where it is beyond healthy.

I don’t mean that. But going back to that example of pushing a button, if I could make it easy for people to engage in their connected health data and improve their health as they are looking at their smartphone screens 150 times/day, that might make a difference.

What do you think?

Joseph Kvedar, MD is the Director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners Healthcare. This post originally appeared at cHealth Blog.

Benefits of Gymnema Sylvestrae ( Gurmar ) - Weight Loss and Diabetes Herbal Supplement

Gymnema sylvestrae Preliminary human evidence suggests that gymnema may be effective in the management of blood sugar levels in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as an adjunct to conventional drug therapy, for up to ... Here is the full post.