Category: Health care
By Philip Newswanger
philip.newswanger@insidebiz.com
The Oscar-winning film, "The King's Speech," about George VI's struggle to overcome his speech impediment, amplified a debilitating handicap.
Many notables throughout history have struggled with stuttering or stammering, such as Winston Churchill, and James Earl Jones, who was the voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars."
Local philanthropist Josh Darden is a member of this club.
He struggled to form sentences from grammar school through high school.
Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk has received a $1.8 million grant to research a new preventive treatment for diabetes and heart disease. The five-year research grant is from the National Institutes of Health.
The funding will support research on how to stop chronic inflammation - a trigger for disease among the overweight.
By Danielle Walker
danielle.walker@insidebiz.com
Health care providers in the state have teamed up to propose legislation that would encourage teamwork between physicians and nurse practitioners.
Two state groups, the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners and the Medical Society of Virginia, a physician-led group, outlined a team-based care model that would reduce paperwork and provide better access to care for patients.
By Susan Smigielski Acker
Correspondent
Walgreens, one of three major drug stores in Hampton Roads and the nation's largest, no longer accepts the Express Scripts prescription plan, so customers must take their prescriptions elsewhere.
Express Scripts is the pharmacy provider for the Tricare military health plan, which covers active service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees, families and survivors.
Walgreens stopped accepting Express Scripts on Dec. 31, 2011, because of a dispute over reimbursement amounts, according to both sides.
By Danielle Walker
danielle.walker@insidebiz.com
Stihl Inc.'s new health and wellness center in Virginia Beach became accessible to employees last week.
The facility at 2700 Avenger Drive, Suite 109, will serve the company's 2,000 Virginia Beach workers. Bertram Kandziora, chairman of the executive board for Stihl Group, dedicated the building Nov. 7.
More than a year after launching a free clinic for employees, Tecnico Corp. and MHI Ship Repair Services are planning to expand health care offerings to more workers.
Both companies are owned by American Maritime Holdings Inc.
The CEO and COO of Norfolk-based AMH, which employs nearly 1,000 people, are negotiating with other companies in the ship repair industry to use their health clinic and pharmacy at 816 Industrial Ave. in Chesapeake.
The executives are tight-lipped about who they're in talks with.
Sentara Princess Anne Hospital is not just the latest addition to Sentara Healthcare's network of facilities in the area. The Virginia Beach hospital is indicative of a change occurring in the health care industry, as the need for services continues to grow.
The $173 million facility, which is jointly owned by Sentara Healthcare and Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System, set a precedent in Virginia when it opened Aug. 4, according to sources at the state level and in the industry.
Not all business groups view health care reform as anathema.
In one corner, you have the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Small Business Association, both of which oppose the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, derisively called Obama Care.
In the other corner are groups like the Main Street Alliance and Businesses for Shared Prosperity, which support the new health care legislation and are pushing to implement it.
A U.S. Census Bureau report released Sept. 13 showed that the percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance had decreased from 2009 to 2010.
The report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in the nation used 2010 census findings.
In 2010, 55.3 percent of people were covered by employment-based health insurance, down from 56.1 percent in 2009. Figures showed that 170.8 million people were covered by employers in 2009, compared to 169.3 million last year.
Virginia is laying the groundwork for an integral part of health care reform with a plan for its health benefit exchange.
Implementation of an exchange - defined as a marketplace for competitive insurance options - is something each state is required to do by 2014.
If states haven't formulated a detailed plan for an exchange by Jan. 1, 2013, the federal government will step in to do it for them. And health care leaders in the state aren't planning to let that happen.
