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Healthcare professionals are a high-risk occupational
group for exposure and infection rates. In some areas of the
world, if a health care worker is positive for an infectious
disease, (s)he may be denied employment in a specific or for
the total area of healthcare. Laws have been enacted that
will deny employment of a health care worker if this worker
is positive. (This action gives the general public a false
sense of security.) Some hospitals are currently requiring
health care professionals to pass a pre-employment medical
to determine the health care status of this potential new
hire.
Needle stick injuries are not uncommon. Thousands of health
care workers each year are injected with patients' blood
when needles that have been used to perform often
life-saving procedures suddenly become virulent projectiles
penetrating a palm, a wrist, a finger, a thigh.
Approximately 800,000 U.S. health care workers will be
injured by patient needles this year, according to estimates
used by the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Combined estimates from the CDC and EPINet-a computer-based
standardized injury tracking system used by about 1,500 U.S.
hospitals-suggest that more than 2,000 of those workers will
test positive for new infections of hepatitis C, another 400
will get hepatitis B and 35 will contract the AIDS virus.
While AIDS is the most feared infection, hepatitis B and C
are also serious and life threatening. Both diseases can
lead to liver damage, cirrhosis and cancer. A vaccine is
available for hepatitis B, which has helped reduce the
number of health care workers infected each year from a high
of 17,000 in 1983.
"Every year up to a million health-care workers receive a
needle stick, and for many it is a death sentence," says
Andrew Stern, international president of Service Employees
International Union, the largest health care workers' union
in the country, which is campaigning to have all workers use
specially designed safety needles. "It's an outrage. This is
a preventable crisis. More die of needle sticks than died in
the ValuJet crash, but ValuJet sparked all kinds of
investigation."
The Hepatitis C Virus epidemic brings large risks to
workers' compensation programs and requires new risk
management techniques. The workers' compensation industry
has generally not recognized these risks, although it is
becoming aware of the new challenges that the Hepatitis C
Virus epidemic brings. There is much uncertainty about
employers' and insurers' liabilities for Hepatitis C
Virus-infected workers. The authors intend that, by
presenting the results of our actuarial analysis, this
report will help define the issues and that our
recommendations will reduce the industry's long-term
financial exposure.
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Document Name & Link to Document
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Description
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File Size /Type
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A Portrait of the HIV+ Population in America |
Despite the dramatic growth in our knowledge about
HIV/AIDS treatment over the past 15 years, several
fundamental questions about HIV care still exist: How
many persons in the United States receive regular care
for HIV infection? What are the characteristics of that
population? How much care do HIV-infected individuals
use, how much does it cost, and who pays for it?
Policymakers, researchers, and the national community
depend upon reliable answers to these questions to help
guide their decisions in allocating future resources to
HIV treatment and research. |
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Chronic Disease Management: Evidence of Predictable
Savings |
The available research evaluates different interventions
and different diseases in different settings among
different populations according to different
methodologies. Not surprisingly, the findings of these
studies vary. However, an evidence base characterized by
heterogeneity leading to mixed results is not the same
thing as “no evidence.” Our reading of a wide range of
peer-reviewed literature was designed to pierce the veil
of heterogeneity that defines the evidence base. Our
analysis leads to the conclusion that well-designed care
management programs can generate a positive “rate of
return on investment” |
Pfd 414 kb |
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Colorado
House Committee Passes Bill Requiring Coverage for Hepatitis
C Treatment for Emergency Services Workers
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Colorado House Business Affairs and
Labor Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that would allow firefighters, police officers
and emergency services workers to receive workers' compensation
coverage for hepatitis C treatment
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Continuation
of article re: Needle Stick Risk
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Hundreds of medical workers become infected
with the AIDS or hepatitis viruses from accidental punctures
each year
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Direct
cost of needle sticks and blood exposures
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Approximately 800,000 U.S. health care
workers will be injured by patient needles this year,
according to estimates used by the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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PDF 48KB
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Health
care exposure
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Exposure to toxins and infectious diseases
from occupations
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PDF 471KB
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Health
care fraud
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Insurance Magazine report-mid way is report
about Healthcare fraud
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PDF 346KB
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Health Spending
Projections Through 2013 |
The rate of growth in national health expenditures is
projected to fall to 7.8 percent in 2003 because of
slower private and public spending growth. However,
during the next ten years health spending growth is
expected to outpace economic growth. As a result, the
health share of gross domestic product (GDP) is
projected to increase from 14.9 percent in 2002 to 18.4
percent in 2013. The recently passed Medicare drug
benefit legislation (not included in these projections)
is not anticipated to have a large impact on overall
national health spending, but it can be expected to
cause sizable shifts in payment sources. |
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HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF Southeast Asian American
Elders
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While Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants have the
Vietnam War, refugee experiences and acculturation
issues in common, there is wide diversity within and
across the ethnic groups that comprise the Southeast
Asian population. These include: degree of
Westernization and acculturation, education and literacy
in the home country; migration history; social class and
social backgrounds; English and other linguistic skills;
social supports; age at immigration, and years in the
United States. |
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HEALTHCARE
WORKERS SORE OVER NEEDLES FDA WON’T BAN
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A nursing safety expert asked how many
hundreds of medical workers need to die from contaminated
needle sticks before the agency bans standard needles
and syringes that are causing the injuries.
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Insurance
Personnel |
Within the private
sector, the insurance industry has been at the forefront
of the societal response to HIV/AIDS, often in the
‘firing-line’ from AIDS activists resulting from the
industry’s HIV testing policies.
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Pdf 372 kb
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POLICY FOR STUDENTS EXPOSED TO OR INFECTED WITH
HEPATITIS B VIRUS, HEPATITIS C VIRUS, HUMAN
IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS OR OTHER BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS |
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology
of America (SHEA)
have developed guidelines and recommendations on
measures to be taken by the health care community to
avoid the transmission
of bloodborne
pathogens. These policies emphasize the teaching and
practice of
universal precautions. In addition, these guidelines and
recommendations have suggested that an infected Health
Care Worker (HCW) not engage in
exposure
prone invasive procedures, although these procedures
have not been specified. Further, the original CDC
recommendations published in 1990 did not encourage
virus specific management strategies. Since these
original documents, additional epidemiologic data has
been accumulated in order to provide evidence based
decision-making opportunities for protecting both the
HCW and the patient when an
exposure to
blood or body fluids has occurred. |
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Tip
of iceberg
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Insurance Report warning looming Hepatitis C Virus crisis
to the Health Care Industry
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PDF 445KB
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Trends in Access to Routine Care and Experiences with
Care-2001 |
The
quality of the health care received by Americans is an
issue of public policy concern for several reasons.
First, the level of quality of the health care delivery
system affects the capacity to provide timely,
accessible, effective and efficient medical care to the
population in need of services. Secondly, estimates of
quality of health care are vital to evaluate the costs
and outcomes of health care delivery and to help
identify potential areas where improvements are
necessary. Finally, all components of the population
may not be receiving care equally. |
Pdf
513 kb |
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Withholding and Withdrawing Life-prolonging Treatments:
Good Practice in Decision-making |
This
guidance develops the advice in Good Medical
Practice and Seeking Patients' Consent:
The Ethical Considerations It sets out the
standards of practice expected of doctors when they
consider whether to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging
treatments. |
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Workers
Compensation Report
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Insurance Report- The Hepatitis C Epidemic:
A Significant Risk for Workers’ Compensation
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