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Posts Tagged ‘Health’

We live in a complicated world requiring complex skills. We must prepare our children to cope and to compete. They need reading, social studies, science and math more than ever, but they also need social skills, problem solving, superior reasoning and good mental health. There is a societal need to reduce the incidence of violence in our schools, as well.

When children and teens are focused on problems at home or within themselves, they often do not do well in school. School success and good mental health are intrinsically tied together. Additionally, school success and good mental health are linked to life success. Identifying those youth who are in need of help can reduce suffering and improve mental health, school success, and life success. Good mental health aids development, learning, interpersonal relationships, and the ability to cope with stress more effectively.

Approximately 1 in 5 children & adolescents (20%) experience the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder during the course of a year. These children are estimated to have severe emotional or behavioral problems that significantly interfere with their daily functioning. Yet, less than one-third of the children under the age 18 with a serious disturbance receive any MH Services. Often the services they do receive are inadequate or inappropriate (Children’s Defense Fund). Ten percent of children in any given classroom (3/30) are ready to learn at the curriculum level (Dr. Adleman & Dr. Taylor UCLA School Mental Health Project).?Only 16% of all children receive any mental health services. Follow through for children receiving mental health services in school is much greater than those referred to community services. Of the 16% that receive MH services, 70-80% receive that care in a school setting (healthinschools.org), yet less than 10% of all school districts in the United States currently have an established School Based Mental Health Program (Center for School Mental Health Assistance, Dr. Mark Weist 2001, University of Maryland).

To assess the effectiveness of school based mental health (SBMH) services in reducing emotional, school, home, and behavioral problems of youth, Robert Schmidt, MA and Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D. collaborated on the evaluation of outcomes for a SBMH program for a rural mid-Atlantic School district. Coordination of mental health services with educators, Department of Social Services, the Department of Juvenile Services, and the Development Disabilities program contributed to the program’s success.

The project began in 1999 with a Federal grant to the school district and the project is ongoing. Youth were referred to the project from teachers, guidance counselors, parents, student self-referrals and other agencies such as the Departments of Social Services and Juvenile Services and Law Enforcement. The student’s scores on the Devereaux, BASC, CARE and several school measures such as absenteeism, disciplinary referrals, violence related suspensions, and other suspensions were measured at the beginning of services and at the beginning and end of each school year.

From 1999 to 2004, 36% youth were referred because of symptoms of depression, 26% because of family problems, and 24% because of behavior problems. Examples of reasons for referral to the program included: crying in class, child can’t stay focused, student found out mom is terminally ill, youth’s parents going through divorce, and recent sexual abuse. There were 84 referrals to the program in 1999, compared to 437 students in 2002 and 239 students in 2003. Peak referral times were in October and February. Youth in the transition years of sixth and ninth grades were referred to the program most often. In 2000, 2,132 mental health sessions were provided, in contrast to an amazing 15,763 sessions in 2003.

A group of 632 students who participated in the program showed significantly improved attitudes toward teachers and school, mental health symptoms, and self-esteem during and after services. Students participating in SBMH in years one and two had significantly better school attendance (56 and 57% increase) when compared to non-participants (66 and 59% decrease). Additionally for the group of participants, absenteeism increased 44% before participation and decreased 53% during participation.

Students had a significant (40%) decrease in disciplinary referrals when compared to non-participants (20% decrease). Participants in years one and two had a significant decrease in suspensions (32% and 27%) from school when compared to non-participants (33 and 16% increases). Parents reported that their children were having significantly fewer problems after receiving services. Youth self-reported significantly improved commitment to school, interpersonal relationships and self-esteem, as well as fewer stress related problems. Students reported significantly reduced school maladjustment and clinical maladjustment and improved attitude toward parents and emotional well-being.

Evaluation of the success of the program revealed several key components. One important component was having a central school/mental health coordinator to be an organizer, ombudsman, problem solver, program evaluator, and coordinator of the two systems. Additionally, the mental health service must be an integral part of the school system, not just an adjunct or add-on. Mental health staff need to communicate and attend meetings with school personnel. Mental health professionals can provide workshops and consultation to teachers, guidance counselors, and administrative staff.

Funding for the project came from mental health third party billing and grant funding. Supplemental funds allowed mental health professionals to attend meetings, consult with school personnel, and provide services for children and youth who do not meet medical necessity criteria of their insurance companies. It is also important to include families as an essential part of the program.

In a time when all programs are struggling to cope with funding cuts, collaborative programs, such as this one can make services more efficient and cost effective. Many families of troubled youth are involved in more than one service, in addition to the school. Coordination of multiple services is beneficial to the families and helps improve outcomes for youth.

This project demonstrated that school based mental health services improved student well-being, behavior and school success, while showing a significant decrease in violence and other behavior problems at home and at school. The study is ongoing and a second site has been added.

Medical billing services encompass a variety of activities, the main purpose of which is the complete processing of bills and the filing of claims with insurance companies, so that the clients of such medical billers, i.e. physicians, be paid the appropriate amount in due time. The typical medical billing services are provided independently of clinics and hospitals. Nowadays, medical billing is carried out with the help of medical billing software. The clients’ billing data is input and sent to insurers, whilst adhering to the current laws and regulations. The services provided by medical billers also include providing answers to the questions and concerns of both insurance companies and patients, as well as following up overdue payments, should the case be such. Aside from the advantages that derive from the type of services mentioned above, medical billing services can be used to assess the profitability of certain insurance contracts. Medical billers can generate reports for private practices and perform cash flow analysis.

As has been said before, medical billing encompasses many activities and covers all the fields of activity within the health care industry. Mental health billing services are available from a series of medical billing providers. Or if you choose to do your mental health billing yourself, you can opt for one of the recommended technology solutions, which have been specifically designed for mental health professionals. In fact, your mental health billing needs can be met in a variety of ways. You can resort to a mental health billing service to take this matter completely off your hands, or you can have professional mental health biller remotely log into your computer and use your already-existing mental health billing software.

Mental health billing services and mental health billing software represent the best and most effective way to get billing done professionally. The most notable advantages that derive from using a professional mental health billing service or appropriate mental health billing software are cost reductions, time effectiveness, less paperwork, an increased number of clients, a reduced number of missed appointments, as well as opportunity to keep your client database.

An experienced mental health biller will play an important part in your health care team. He or she interacts with insurance companies and stays up to date with everything that concerns regulations and procedures. An experienced mental health biller processes claims quickly and thoroughly, which translates into reduced costs and less time spent on doing your medical bills. Mental health billing, much like any other type of medical billing, requires in-depth knowledge and time to handle claims, which your staff may not have. Conversely, experienced mental health billing service providers have combined skills of bookkeeping, interpersonal communication, basic medical knowledge, as well as office and computer skills, which are essential in running an efficient practice.

Mental health billing services are available from various providers. It is your responsibility to choose the best and most efficient mental health billing service that will contribute significantly to the smooth running of your practice. Some services include billing professionals working at home and telecommuting bills, using an already-existing database or one that your mental health billing provider sets up especially for your practice.

For more resources about mental health billing or even about Mental health billing service please review this website http://www.mymedicalbillingservice.com

Nowadays many people live in a fast paced world that leaves them reaching for a fast meal from convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Unhappily, these types of food include chemicals and food colors that are harmful to health.

Nutrition Supplement a Real Live Nutrition

The term “Nutrition supplement” is very well-known to most of us but do we understand why it is so essential? Nutrition, by phrase-book definition, is the summation of the processes by which someone takes in and utilizes food substances. The most important advantage of using food substances are the ingestion of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, herbs, etc. These are some of the stuff that keeps our body hale and hearty.

What is Nutrition Supplement?

When folks do not get sufficient nutrients through food and while diet does not work, people go around getting help from various types of nutrition supplements. A nutrition supplement is added to the diet to compensate the deficiency. The supplement increases the intake of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, etc. Without proper nutrition, you wont be healthy and fit. Health and fitness go hand-in-hand and it is truly possible for everyone to improve their lives through dietary changes and regular exercise.

How To Use Nutrition Supplement?

These days, lot of people use some type of nutrition supplement. In 1996 alone, people spent more than .5 billion on dietary supplements, according to Packaged Facts Inc., a market research firm in New York City. Nutrition supplements are found in several forms: nutrition bars, tablets, capsules, powders, liquids, etc. A lot of supplements do not need any recommendation. You can buy them in health food stores, grocery stores, drug stores, or through online shopping. But you should be very careful about buying because many supplements available on the market do not meet FDA standards.

Cheap quality and imitation supplements are quite common and there is hundreds of scammer lurking everywhere, especially online, to cheat gullible consumers. Always buy from renowned and trustworthy manufacturers and dealers to ensure that you are not gulping down some unwanted or even dangerous preparations.

The good news is that there is also plenty of information available to help you make a choice about the best nutritional supplement for you.

Nutrition Supplement as a Juice Powder.

One of the latest and most beneficial types of nutrition supplements currently available on the market is “nutrition supplement juice powders”. People have many queries about nutrition supplement juice powders. Are they good? What are you getting with them? According to the manufacturers, these powders contain high levels of protein and low levels of carbohydrates.

Even though conventional multivitamins and other dietary nutritional supplements are affordable and abound in drugstores and other retail, the “nutrition supplement juice powder” is very popular among many consumers all over the world.

The importance of diet and nutrition should be at the top of your to do list. Good nutrition is the start to optimum weight and good health that will last a lifetime.

The health care industry has undergone some significant changes over recent years. A series of new administrative difficulties were brought about by the need to deal with complicated insurance forms and prepare insurance policy procedures. As a result, many practices choose to outsource their medical billing to independent professionals. Mental health practices are no exception to this rule.

When it comes to handling your mental health billing, you are presented with several options, the most common of which are as follows: you can try to do your mental health billing yourself, you can hire new staff to do that for you, or you can use one of the many mental health billing services available on the market. There are some advantages and disadvantages to each of these alternatives.

Doing your mental health billing yourself is cost-effective, but it can be very time consuming, and have a negative impact on the efficient running of your practice, including a reduced number of patients and many missed appointments. If you opt for hiring your own staff to handle your mental health billing, you will eventually find that this course of action is neither time nor cost-effective. Hiring new billing staff requires extra space, as well as extra costs with payroll and payroll taxes. On the other hand, outsourcing your billing to a mental health billing service company emerges as a very good option, as it equals efficiency, time-effectiveness and the opportunity to control your costs.

When you choose to outsource your billing to medical billing professionals, there are numerous advantages on your part. Mental health billing service equals professionalism, experience and specialization, which is exactly what the efficient running of your practice requires. A mental health billing specialist can perform most of the major services that healthcare insurance encompasses, such as paper and electronic billing, super bill design, electronic claim submission, dead claim recovery, claim entry, annual code updates, insurance verification, patient setup, consultation, fee reviews, eligibility testing, customized service for your practice, reporting, etc. And when the mental health billing service that you choose includes the use of exclusively designed mental health billing software (either your already-existing one or the one that that they provide), things couldn’t be simpler.

You are probably aware of how demanding the mental health billing task can be, and how no more than a minute error can lead to your insurance application being rejected. Such errors can be easily avoided with the assistance of a professional mental health billing service.

In conclusion, using a mental health billing service is both effective and efficient. The advantages on your part include time and cost effectiveness, less paperwork, fewer missed appointments, more clients, compliance with HIPAA, and the opportunity to keep a client database. Your mental health biller can work from his or her home and log into your computer to use your already-existing database or one that will be set up especially for you. If you are already using mental health billing software, your mental health biller can work on that. If not, all your mental health billing can be handled with the help of specially designed billing software that professional billers can provide for you.

For more resources about mental health billing or even about Mental health billing service please review this website http://www.mymedicalbillingservice.com

Sleep is a Necessity, Not a Luxury

Millions of people suffer from chronic and pervasive sleep disorders. But what you are about to read is not about traditional sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, night terrors, restless leg syndrome, or narcolepsy. For information on those conditions, I ask you to check with a professional source in that area. What I am providing for you here is the most preventable type of sleep disorder and problem; self-imposed sleep deprivation.

What happened to us? When did things begin to change regarding one of our most basic and necessary functions for health and wellness? When did sleep become frowned upon and why? Was it the Industrial revolution? Was it the Technology age? Who did the brainwashing?

When did sleep become a bad habit, a sign of laziness and, pardon me, a luxury?

Well, finally the research is out. But sadly, it seems that no matter how much information is put out there with statistics and fancy research results, many people are NOT heeding the call to sleep. The worst of it is that we are not listening to our own intuition and biological clocks. Well this is your “wake-up” call asking you to sleep more and sleep better.

How Sleep Deprivation Harms You

Did you ever hear or say the phrase “I’ll sleep when die”? Well, guess what? Lack of sleep will catch up to you and cause you overall and long-term harm which could actually lead to premature death, or at least have you looking like a zombie!

Here below are the most common effects of the lack of proper sleep:

Fatigue and exhaustion.
Irritability and foul mood.
Your physical appearance is affected adversely, meaning people who don’t sleep enough look unhealthy, sunken in, older than their physical age-have you heard of beauty sleep?
Increased risk of diabetes.
Increased risk of cardio-vascular disease.
Pre-mature aging.
Weight gain.
And possible increased cancer risk.

Purpose of Sleep and Its Benefits-From Sleeping Beauty to Beauty Sleep

Sleep is most assuredly a biological, mental, emotional and spiritual necessity. Just like we need air to breathe and food for sustenance to survive, sleep is a required activity, and not an optional habit. Here are some of the documented benefits of sleep:

Biological: While you sleep, there is restoration and recovery of your cells, muscles and organs, including your biggest organ-your skin. Human Growth Hormone and Melatonin are released while you sleep and that is essential to healthy skin, hair, nail growth and anti-aging benefits. There is also the release of antioxidants and increased immune system strength. With enough sleep there is increased energy, and we can all use more of that during our waking life.
Mental: With more sleep, you can expect a sharper mind, better concentration, and increased memory. A more intelligent world is a better world.
Emotional: Forget being crabby. With restorative sleep you will have better and balanced mood, less irritability, higher optimism.
Spiritual: Two of my favorite reasons to sleep are to “work things out” and increase in natural intuition. We are only beginning to understand and explore both the physical and the metaphysical benefits of sleep. From personal experience and the research I have conducted, I can tell you that when you sleep at your body’s optimal level, your intuition and psychic ability are increased. You may also tend to remember your dreams more clearly and with more detail and that provides invaluable insight into your life issues, challenges and desires.
Physical: Sleeping works above and below. The result is literally increased beauty by increasing your overall health and giving you a refreshed appearance everyone will notice.

Your Sleep Process

How many hours do you sleep? Do you feel it is more productive to sleep less and work more? Are you feeling vital and energetic?

I say “your sleep process” because each person’s sleep cycle is. There is no cookie-cutter sleep recipe. The amount of sleep you need varies from anyone else’s in your life. Even if you sleep the same amount of sleep as someone you know, the way you drift off, your style of sleeping, the sleep position in your bed, your dream life, kind mattress or pillow you need, etc. is all your own. But more often than not, the amount you need to feel refreshed, alert and healthy will be somewhere between 7 and 9 hours. There are also factors like your age, phase of life and general health condition that affect how much sleep you need. However some people need less and some, like me, need as much as 11 or 12 hours sometimes to feel rested.

Most people do not get nearly as much sleep as they need out of guilt or the conditioned belief that sleep is a bad habit. But in the process of sleep certain biological, mental and spiritual necessary processes occur. It may take time to find the amount of sleep that works for your highest health benefit. So make that time for yourself-you are worth it.

What the Heck is Sleep Hygiene-Creating a Sleep Conducive Environment and Banishing Sleep guilt

I don’t know who came up with the term “Sleep Hygiene” but it sounds like, cleaning your sheets, or a showering before bed kind of thing. That is obviously not what it means. I believe the term does not accurately represent what it is trying to portray which is what I call, creating a Sleep Conducive Space (SCS).

Some sleep experts claim to restrict your bedroom, (assuming you sleep in a traditional bedroom) to sleep and sex only. But this is simply not realistic. But what is doable is to create the most conducive environment for yourself as possible. This process begins outside and into your bed. General useful considerations are:

Watch your caffeine intake, alcohol intake or medications.
Do something that lowers the temperature of your room to the cooler side.
Gentle stretching and certain gentle yoga poses.
Darken your environment (whether or not you are a day or night person).
Quiet a restless mind by having note pad and pen and list quickly all that’s on your mind to deal with another time then RELEASE it.
Try to use soft and pleasant scents like lavender sleep sprays.
Try soft nature sounds, or you respond to silence and there is a lot of noise around you use a white sound machine to block out unpleasant noise.
Ask a doctor or other professional about supplements like Melatonin, or Valerian root etc.

In the end, the way you choose to create a sleep conducive space, will again, be unique and customized to you. If you do the research, reacquaint yourself with your natural biological clock, and trust your intuition, you will no longer succumb to the myth the less sleep is better. You can count on being on your way to better overall health. For a healthier, youthful and more beautiful you, go ahead, slumber Away.

 

Live Whole Nutrition: Nutrition supplement is a term known by most of us. So what is nutrition supplement and why is it so important? Nutrition, by dictionary definition, is the sum of the processes by which someone takes in and utilizes food substances. One of the main advantages of utilizing food substances is the intake of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, herbs, etc. These are the things that make our body healthy.

Nutritional Products: When people don’t get enough of nutrients through food they intake and when the planned diet doesn’t work, people turn to the get help from some type of nutrition supplements. A nutrition supplement is added to the diet to make up for a nutritional deficiency. The supplement increases the intake of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, etc. But you have to be careful when thought of buying some supplement, since supplements are required to meet FDA standards.

Nutrition Supplement – How To Use?: These days, lot of people use some type of nutrition supplement. In 1996 alone, people spent more than .5 billion on dietary supplements, according to Packaged Facts Inc., Read the rest of this entry »

Whenever a mental health professional starts his or her practice, they usually do mental health billing on their own. This can be a good thing at first because learning more about the business they are in allows them to grow as professionals. However, after they have seen how mental health billing works, they have to take into consideration one important aspect: is it to their advantage to keep doing mental health billing themselves?

The answer is no. By continuing to do their own billing, mental health professionals will only spend more money than using other services, they will waste precious time that can be put to better use and, on the long run, they will also lose patients. So, what are their alternatives? Read the rest of this entry »

Home Health Care Nursing Information and Overview

Home health care is allowing the patient and their family to maintain dignity and independence. According to the National Association for Home Care, there are more than 7 million individuals in the United States in need of home health care nurse services because of acute illness, long term health problems, permanent disability or terminal illness.
Home Health Care Basics

Nurses practice in a number of venues: Hospital settings, nursing homes, assisted living centers, and home health care. Home health care nursing is a growing phenomenon as more patients and their families desire to receive care in their homes. The history of home health care stems from Public Health Nursing where public health nurses made home visits to promote health education and provide treatment as part of community outreach programs. Today academic programs train nurses in home care and agencies place home health care nurses with ailing individuals and their families depending on the nurse’s experience and qualifications. In many cases there is a shared relationship between the agency and the academic institution.

Many changes have taken place in the area of home health care. These include Medicare and Medicaid, and Long Term Care insurance reimbursement and documentation. Read the rest of this entry »

A mental health billing service covers many activities, but there is one main goal that any medical biller has, and that is to process treatment descriptions and file claims. A mental health billing service uses special software to handle all billing problems, generate cash flow reports or see what are the insurance contacts that generate the most money. Mental health billing services also include follow- ups in cases of overdue payments, answering insurance company or patients’ concerns or questions or even offer training to their clients.

There are several reasons why a professional should use mental health billing services instead of doing his/ her own mental health billing. First of all, a mental health billing service saves their practice a lot of time and money. A mental health professional’ s time is put to better use when he or she is seeing patients, instead of doing mental health billing. There are many time- consuming aspects to doing mental health billing and some of these aspects include looking into insurance benefits or appealing denied claims. This job is better done by a medical biller who has the required experience to easily obtain the necessary information. An experienced medical biller plays an important role in the mental health billing service provided to health professionals. Moreover, by using a mental health billing service, the health professional will spend less money than hiring his/ her own staff or doing the mental health billing by him/ herself. Investing in new employees’ training, wages and accommodation requires a substantial amount of money. If he or she decides to do mental health billing on their own, then precious time will be wasted, and time is money. The best solution would be to use a mental health billing service.

Second of all, a mental health billing service means less paperwork. The whole mental health billing process is done by using the computer, the internet and special software, which means that paperwork will be reduced considerably. Of course not all paperwork can be left in the hands of the medical biller, Read the rest of this entry »

Improving the Mental Health System

According to a news release that was dated May 9, 2006, the “Standing Senate Committee On Social Affairs, Science and Technology” in Canada recommended the creation of a Canadian Mental Health Commission that will be responsible for significantly upgrading the Canadian mental health system. As stated by Senator Michael Kirby, the Chair of the Committee, “The Senate Committee is committed to improving the range, quality and organization of health and support services that are required by the tens of thousands of Canadians who are living with mental illnesses and addictions.”

Funding The Proposed Change

Based on an extensive three-year study on mental health and addiction, the Committee determined that it will cost .36 billion over a 10-year period for this mental health system upgrade. Read the rest of this entry »