Tips to Lower Healthcare Costs for Small Businesses

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Posted on 19th April 2012 by admin in Business Health Insurance |follow health

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Post-global recession many companies are looking at ways to invigorate their employees and freshen up their businesses.  However, many are looking at ways of saving money as there are still lots of companies feeling the effects of the economic disaster.  But as they say every cloud has a silver lining, and an American company called Intuit have reported that approximately 55,000 new jobs were created by small businesses in the last six months.  Creating new jobs and cutting costs seems to be an impossible task although here are just a few tips on how to cut some money from the healthcare budget:

I)        Adopt an employee wellness programme.  These can be as complex or simple as you wish.  It could be anything ranging from gym memberships to health focus meetings.  By introducing these measures over a period of time it could increase staff morale and fitness and would incur less absence days and cost the company less!

II)      Pull together resources with another company.  The more participants in the programme will lead to cheaper small business health insurance.  It may be a long and arduous task but the benefits could outweigh the negatives.  By enquiring if others companies would like to ‘go in’ with you it could save the necessary £ needed for more staff.

III)    Get lots of quotes.  Don’t just accept one quote for your insurance, get as many as you possibly can and even try and play the companies against one another to get the cheapest quote.  There are lots of price comparison sites out there and also brokers to try and get you the best deal.

I hope these little tips work and get you the savings you need for your company.  Other companies are going to the extreme and going as far as hiring non smokers and extremely fit people to try and reduce the costs of their group insurance schemes.  Hopefully you won’t have to go that far and good luck!

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Reduced side effects for prostate cancer with new treatment methods

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Posted on 17th April 2012 by admin in follow health |follow health news

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New inroads have been made in to tackling prostate cancer caught early on with fewer side effects from the treatment.  The Medical Research Council (MRC) research is proving to be very encouraging and if the same results can be found across a larger sample, it could be an excellent step in curing prostate cancer if caught early.

In the UK alone, there are 37,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, which proves to be fatal to around 10,000 of those diagnosed.  At present treatment for prostate cancer involves using either surgery or radiotherapy on the whole prostate gland, which can result in the surrounding tissue being damaged.  This can result in potential side effects such as impotence and urinary incontinence and can have a serious impact on patient’s lives.

This new process focuses on using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and is used to target a small area of the infected prostate.  HIFU heats the targeted cancer cells whilst causing minimal damage to the unaffected cells around the cancer cells.  The results for the treatment are proving to be positive twelve months after the event, with 9/10 men showing no sign of impotence and no one in the study showing signs of urine incontinence.

If this can be replicated across a bigger sample size then this could be great news for the future of treating prostate cancer caught early on.  The treatment could be a cost effective option with reduced side effects to the way it is currently being treated.

These findings for the use of HIFU treatment are very promising and the Prostate Cancer Charity is impressed with what’s been seen so far.  The research however is only still in the early stages and follow up research will need to be conducted to find out the true potential of using this as a way of treating prostate cancer in the future.

If you would like to be considered for this kind of treatment it is important to talk to your doctor as the research is only in the clinical trial stages at present.  It should also be noted that due to it being in the clinical trial stage, some medical insurance providers may not support the treatment as some providers consider it experimental practices.

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Routine medical tests: how much is too much?

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Posted on 14th April 2012 by admin in health news |international health insurance

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There was some interesting news from over the Atlantic this week , with reports that medical groups  - representing hundreds of thousands of doctors – have issued a list of routine tests that they believe should no longer be carried out automatically.

The list of what’s no longer thought necessary actually quite extensive – and runs to 45 routine tests. Some of them (depending on your perspective) may seem surplus to requirements even without a degree in medicine.

One of the themes running through many of the news reports is that – with an estimated 2 trillion dollars being spent on healthcare in the US annually, an old assumption is being challenged: the more care people receive, the better.

This central belief of course makes sense for those that have something wrong with them – but here’s an example – one of the tests listed as potentially unnecessary is brain scans for those who have fainted but have shown no other symptoms. For the moment it looks like a consensus is emerging that routine testing is something that has up til now been deployed with perhaps too much frequency.

The UK obviously has different criteria for testing – but the US rethink on routine tests provides us with an interesting point of comparison – and could even provide some insight on how our own health services could find new ways of saving money.

Of course, for those considering spending time overseas long-term then medical cover is – depending on the country you intend to stay in – either obligatory or strongly recommended. The websites of providers such as AXA PPP International are a good starting point for seeing what’s on offer and how to get a quote. For guides to individual countries the Telegraph newspaper has an excellent expat section with detailed background info on a number of popular (and some less well-known) expatriate destinations.

In other news, there has been some interesting info on a news story closer to home: the OFT’s referral of the private healthcare market to the Competition Commission and how one major insurer welcomes this regulatory examination of the industry.

 

Cancer Research: tobacco and the bigger picture

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Posted on 13th April 2012 by admin in Uncategorized

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On the Cancer Research website there’s a very interesting PDF for download which illustrates the differing cancer incidence and mortality across the world. (The file is available here.)

What this infographic tells us – apart form the fact that the disease continues to be a major health issue no matter which country you are resident in – is that some cancers are more prevalent in the developed world. In fact, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International, “The rate for all cancers (for cancers that occur in men and women) was 1.7 times higher in more developed compared with less developed countries” at the last count.

One of the starkest differences is that of lung cancer incidence, with the WCRFI quoting 31.3 per 100 000 people for the developed world versus 19.1 for the less developed countries.

Lung cancer rates are of course partly determined by the prevalence of tobacco use. And while developed countries are often able to offer a high level of healthcare, lifestyles and prevention will be the key to bringing it under control.  One recent measure in England – as anyone living there who’s visited their local supermarket will know – has been the banning of cigarettes on display in larger retailers. The health secretary Andrew Lansley has even gone as far as to state that “we no longer see smoking as a part of life”.

Smoking prevalence has seen a more or less uninterrupted fall over the past few decades, albeit with some noteable blips. Could this latest assault on the visibility of cigarette branding bring the number of new smokers down even further? Time will tell.

 

Public Enquiry Sees Transparency for Law Making

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Posted on 10th April 2012 by admin in follow health |follow health news |health news

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There has been strong interest from the public in order to publish the findings of a risk assessment undertaken in relation to the recent Health and Social Care Bill.  The government were keen to keep the findings from the transitional risk register a secret.  However, under the Freedom of Information act they have lost that particular battle and the findings of the assessment should be published in around a month.

It was thought that the ruling regarding this bill could have an effect on the way other bills are looked into and the risks that were behind the decision making progress.  Top civil servants in the process have to think the unthinkable when making such severe changes to areas such as health and what could possibly go wrong.

Whilst the tribunal was ongoing the Health and Social Care Bill was passed through Parliament and was now a law.  The findings of the risk assessment should no doubt include the fears about the privatisation of certain NHS trusts.  Many private healthcare firms are looking to snap up different arms of the NHS and many trusts are entertaining the idea that this would lead to greater competition thus better quality of care.

The government has already appealed to the information tribunal, no doubt due to the implications it may have on other, future bills.  But it is very much in the public’s interest to have transparency especially when it affects the widespread public for issues as important as the National Health Service.

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Cyberknife – medical technology

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Posted on 5th April 2012 by admin in medical

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It might sound like something from a science fiction film, but CyberKnife technology is at the cutting edge for some types of surgery – find out more in this video:

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Dentists Urged to Seek Health Issues at Checkups

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Posted on 4th April 2012 by admin in Cash Plans |Dental Insurance |health news |healthy living

A university in Cardiff has urged for changes to the dental system and has requested that dentists stark asking about patients drinking habits.  Drinking excessive amounts can lead to mouth cancer and could also cause problems such as oesophageal and larynx cancer.

The paper which was led by Prof Jonathon Shepherd said that dental patients who go for regular check-ups provided a perfect opportunity to identify any issues like the aforementioned.  Binge drinking currently costs the UK economy around £25 billion per year and will only get worse it had been concluded.

The paper which was published in the Royal College of Surgeons’ Dental Journal reported that one in five men are binge drinkers and one in seven women are also.  The paper wanted to see more focus on general health even in such a specific environment such as dentistry.  Many professionals know that dentists can see early tell-tale signs of issues such as cancer.

A recent article release in the Daily Express revealed that AXA PPP carried out a survey with regards to people’s opinions on heart and cancer diagnosis.  This news will surely come as no surprise to AXA PPP dental insurance patients as they continue their campaign for awareness to all cancers and providing people with plentiful information on this subject.

Workplace health – the office pet?

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Posted on 3rd April 2012 by admin in follow health news |workplace wellbeing

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If you’ve ever given any thought to dogs in the workplace, it’s probably something you’d associate with people whose working life is with animals professionally, such as police dog trainers. Either that or the slightly left field creative environment where it seems that fun is factored in to the day’s schedule – such as at Google, whose dog friendly policy is well known – and amusingly written about in this post from Mashable.

But it seems there could be more to having an animal along to work than simply as a  bit of laid back employee benefit at cutting edge companies. According to recent research findings from the States, having your dog with you at work can actually help to keep stress at bay and contribute to workplace health. The research findings, entitled “Preliminary investigation of employee’s dog presence on stress and organizational perceptions”  with its purpose described thus: “Provides the first quantitative exploratory study of the effects of pet dogs in the workplace setting on employee stress and perceptions of satisfaction, support and commitment.”.

While this study was only preliminary – and given that only a single company was used for the survey (at a single location) its results are only an indication of what a full scientific study could eventually bring. Although for the pet owners among us neither this result nor that of any future survey along the same lines is likely to provide a surprise.

Then again, for the few who are allergic to dogs, the effect could be more or less the opposite.

Health Watchdog Under Intense Scrutiny

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Posted on 2nd April 2012 by admin in follow health news |health news

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England’s health and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission, still has some way to go before it is at a standard acceptable enough to operate correctly a group of MP’s have warned.   A number of reports were commissioned and have already claimed in a casualty in Cynthia Bower, the head of the CQC has announced that she will be leaving her post.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee announced it still had concerns about the CQC’s performance and stated already is has been a failure up to this point so far although there had been significant improvements in the last few months.  The regulator was originally set up to monitor approximately 20,000 hospitals to care homes in the public sector but wasn’t responsible for private healthcare facilities.  In the last year it has found itself in a quagmire of controversy.

A documentary by the BBC uncovered how elderly patients were abused by care staff at the Winterbourne View residential home in Bristol.  The CQC came under heavy attack as they were seen to be failing their residents and they listed a number of failings that the care home was guilty of.  Simple standards were not being met, lack of inspections were being carried out, a whistleblowers helpline and the failure to employ staff for important positions were all attributed to the homes failings.

It was concluded that the CQC’s involvement and the failure to have standards met were detrimental to the quality of care and the unsafe environment people are being looked after in.  In order to become a successful regulator the CQC will have to become a far better and more efficient service to comply.

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Major cancer research project increasing chance of personalised treatments

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Posted on 30th March 2012 by admin in Uncategorized

With the growing number of anti-cancer medications being developed for those with different genetic structure, private healthcare organisations may have difficulty financing the different options.

Scientists from across the UK, US and Europe have recently produced an encyclopaedia supplying information on hundreds of varying cancer cells and how they react to a number of different types of anti-cancer medications.  This dataset should provide the means to speed up the development of different cancer cures for those with different genetic makeup.

The information was published today in Nature, the international journal of scientific research, supplying over six hundred types of cancer cells and one hundred and thirty different cancer preventatives.  The information is said to be a great foundation for future research in this area as it is the largest database of this type of information to date.  Most of the work was developed at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Britain in conjunction with a number of cancer research centres around the world.

The authors of the encyclopaedia hope that, moving forward, the information will be a valuable database for those in the field of study and will work towards helping to increase treatment options for cancer sufferers.  Professor Daniel Haber, senior author of the project, states that their work on the project is helping to move towards a more molecular based treatment model for cancer therapeutics away from the current tissue based treatment sufferers are receiving.  Moving forward, they want the information used in clinical trials to see where the research can be utilised to improve the treatment of those with cancer.

The research is already providing great results as it was discovered that childhood bone cancer cell, Ewing’s sarcoma is susceptible to treatments specifically for breast and ovarian cancer.  Further, it is believed that this new way of treating the cancer cell may be a much safer method of treatment for those young adults and children suffering from the disease.

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