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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #37 - Recorded March 24, 2006

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –  

• College Students Tackle Stress Through Exercise

• Students and Steroids

• Heart Tests for Reduction in Sudden Death

• Nutrition and Chiropractic Symposium

• New York Chiropractors Unite for 1 Day

• Wine Buyers and Food Buying Habits

• CCGPP Best Practices Document Release Delayed

• And Finally, Business Corner discusses Managed Health Care

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #37, recorded March 24, 2006.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

This week’s Episode is sponsored by DaVinci Laboratories.  Please surf to our web site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the DaVinci link for your Health and Nutritional needs.

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And Now for some news ….

College Students Tackle Stress Through Exercise

According to the FitnessBusiness-Pro.com newsletter - A recent survey of more than 300 college students found that many college students experience high levels of stress, and to deal with that stress, a quarter of them turn to exercise. Fifty-one percent exercise three or more times a week with about 40 percent working out at a fitness club or facility.

Experience's 2006 Wellness Poll was completed on Jan. 30, 2006. Students who visited Experience.com were invited to participate in the poll, and 380 voluntarily completed the online survey.

For more information, surf to – www.FitnessBusiness-Pro.com

Students and Steroids

According to the ACAToday.org web site - The Olympic Games serve as a reminder that the lure of being bigger, faster and stronger is powerful, especially for young athletes who feel they won’t have a competitive edge without the use of steroids or other performance enhancers.  Parents of teen athletes are reminded that the Olympic Games provide an opportunity to discuss with children the negative implications of taking steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.

According to a May 2004 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, steroid use doubled among U.S. high-school students between 1991 and 2003. More than 6 percent, or as many as 1 million U.S. students, said they had taken steroids for at least one cycle (8-12 weeks of use).

To help combat this growing problem, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) offers tips to help parents and coaches start a conversation with young athletes.  Encourage your athlete children to talk to a doctor of chiropractic about improving their athletic performance naturally. Doctors of chiropractic can coach your children on proper rest, recuperation, and training techniques to reduce the risk of injuries.  He or she can teach your children proper nutrition to help them achieve their greatest potential. 

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to the ACA’s Patient Info Handout on tips for Preventing Steroid Use in Young People - http://www.acatoday.org/pdf/Steroids.pdf

Heart Tests for Reduction in Sudden Death

According to the HeartCenterOnline.com web site, A group of cardiologists has launched a campaign to encourage people at risk for heart disease to learn their ejection fraction, or ''EF'' -- a measure of the heart's blood-pumping power -- to reduce their risk of sudden cardiac death.

Each year, 450,000 Americans die as a result of sudden cardiac death, which occurs when a person's heart abruptly stops functioning. It often occurs in apparently healthy persons free of symptoms of heart trouble.

Doctors often use echocardiography, an ultrasound test of the heart, to measure EF. It's a painless, noninvasive procedure that can be performed in a doctor's office in under an hour.  A normal EF is 50 percent or higher. An EF of 35 percent or less indicates a weakened heart muscle and increases the risk of irregular heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac death. Other diagnostic symptoms include a history of shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, dizziness or fainting.

The people who should consider having their EF measured, are those with known heart disease or people who are at risk for developing heart disease such as those with multiple risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, family history, or people who have already had a heart attack or angina (chest pain).

As always, COTs HealthBeat recommends contacting a Qualified healthcare professional to see if you are a candidate for this diagnostic procedure.

http://heart.healthcentersonline.com/newsstories/learnyourefreducerisksuddendeath.cfm

Nutrition and Chiropractic Symposium

Palmer College is sponsoring the 5^th Symposium on Nutrition and Chiropractic, April 22-23, 2006.

The Symposium will focus on the topic of Nutrition and the Life Cycle and will include speakers such as Dr. Barry Sears.  Dr. Sears is a leading authority on the dietary control of hormonal responses.  The impact of Dr. Sears’ revolutionary work began with the publication of his landmark book, The Zone.

This high-energy event will also feature renowned experts, peer-reviewed oral presentations, panel discussions, and much more.  Registration is open to chiropractors, staff, students, dieticians and other health professionals.

For more information, call 800-452-5032.

New York Chiropractors Unite for 1 Day

On March 7th, 2006, Chiropractors from across New York united in Albany with one voice for the greater good of the profession and the people that they serve. New York has two state organizations for Chiropractors that are working together in the area of legislation. The NY Chiropractic Council and The NY State Chiropractic Association are accomplishing this through a legislative task force, which has continued to work for the second consecutive year to organize New York Chiropractors to create a presence at the state capitol.

There are 2 main issues that affect all NY Chiropractors. These are:

1. The Insurance Equality Law of 1998:

In 1998, Governor George Pataki passed a law in NY that entitled patients to a minimum of 15 insured chiropractic visits. This provided the chiropractor and his or her patients at least 15 visits before the carrier could request documentation supporting medical/clinical necessity. However, the insurance companies have found ways to circumvent the intention of the bill. In fact, it is not uncommon for an insurance company to require a patient to make a co-payment that exceeds the allowed fee for that service. These issues have been presented to NY’s Attorney General, Elliot Spitzer. The original law has now been “technically corrected” to remove any loopholes that the insurers may use. This bill is in the insurance committee currently and has plenty of interest from the legislature.

2. The Workers Compensation Equality bill:

NY Chiropractors are currently paid one global fee for Evaluation and Management service 99213. Depending on doctor’s zip code, he or she would be reimbursed approximately $30 for this code. The fee parity among providers is non-existent. A patient willingly chooses Chiropractic care, and a provider wants to deliver the best care possible.  Other healthcare Providers in the Workers’ Comp System are reimbursed based on the type of service they perform and also generally at a higher fee schedule.

If you are a Chiropractor in New York State , please call 800-426-6922 for more information about how you can make your voice heard.

Wine Buyers and Food Buying Habits

A study in the British Medical Journal looked at whether people in Denmark who buy wine buy healthier food items than those who buy beer.

According to the study, wine buyers bought more olives, fruit and vegetables, poultry, cooking oil, and low fat cheese, milk, and meat than beer buyers. Beer buyers bought more ready cooked dishes, sugar, cold cuts, chips, pork, butter or margarine, sausages, lamb, and soft drinks than wine buyers.

The study concluded that wine buyers made more purchases of healthy food items than people who buy beer.

As always, COTs HealthBeat recommends discussing any Dietary questions or habits with a qualified healthcare professional, especially with certain risks involved with alcohol consumption.

For more information, surf to the March 4, 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal – http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/

CCGPP Best Practices Document Release Delayed

In an update to a story from HealthBeat episode #35, release of the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) Low Back "Best Practices" draft document, which was anticipated in February, has been unavoidably, but minimally delayed, due to needed additional editing prior to release.

The Low Back draft, the culmination of more than three years of collaborative work, includes review of thousands of scientific articles, rates them for quality and utility according to internationally recognized standards, and will combine the results with expert consensus conclusions where literature evidence is lacking. The CCGPP Commission teams expect the document to provide a reliable, readily accessible and scientifically defensible tool for clinicians, patients, government regulators and others to make informed decisions about chiropractic low back care. Review and synthesis of the enormous volume of information, and the Commission's commitment to the scientific principles of Best Practices development, as well as its efforts to provide the most comprehensive and current data possible has led to a temporary delay in the documents release.

The Low Back draft is expected to be available for stakeholder review by the end of March. The Low Back chapter is the first of seven condition-based chapters planned, with subsequent chapters including neck conditions, soft tissue, and thoracic spine among others expected to be released sequentially about every other month.

Some reports have indicated that the neck chapter has already been released, but that is incorrect.

For more information, surf to - www.ccgpp.org

As always, please surf to our Podcast Show Notes at ChiropractiRadio.com for a full listing of web references mentioned in today’s show.

And remember - COT’s Healthbeat always recommends discussing any nutritional or exercise lifestyle modifications with a qualified healthcare professional.

Business Corner

In this edition of HealthBeat’s Business Corner, I discuss the current state of Managed Healthcare and the Insurance industry with Dr. Dale Cohen.

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“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office.” 
- Robert Frost

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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