Health Risk Appraisals are tools that identify and quantify an individual’s risk of morbidity or mortality using demographic, medical and lifestyle information. “Health Risk Appraisals and Medicare”, an evaluation report completed by RAND for CMS, reached the following conclusions.

• Effective Health Risk Assessment (HRA) programs have demonstrated beneficial effects on behavior, physiological variables and general health status
• Interventions that combine Health Risk Assessment (HRA) feedback with the provision of Wellness Plans are most likely to show beneficial effects
• To be effective, Health Risk Assessment (HRA) questionnaires ought to be accompanied by follow-up interventions (e.g., information, support and referrals)

High quality Health Risk Appraisals offer, a computation for individual risk from the following most common diseases and health risk factors.

• Chronic Asthma
• COPD
• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Ischemic heart disease
• Major depression
• Stroke
• Overweight and obesity
• Use of Tobaccos Products
• Mental health
• Immunizations

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Why Pursue Mental Health Integration?

It is the right thing to do: The NCCBH vision statement provides the foundation for our work: We are committed to creating and sustaining healthy and secure communities, achieved through a system that holds the needs of consumers paramount, regardless of their ability to pay.

Vital to this commitment is a network of organizations and advocates promoting services of unparalleled value.

NCCBH members primarily serve public sector consumers, those with severe and persistent mental illness or serious emotional disturbance-the needs of this population are often overlooked in primary care and integration planning. We must assure that their needs as well as the needs of the broader community are appropriately addressed.

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The field of medicine has made impressive advancements both in the diagnosis and treatment of most diseases. But, the soaring prices of health insurance plans make it difficult for low-income wage earners. They claim that getting a health insurance policy is out of their reach.

However, health insurance has been made mandatory by law in California. The need for health insurance both for families and individuals is critical as health insurance provides timely financial security to the insured during sudden medical emergencies. The state of California has a plethora of health insurance companies engaged in fierce competition to provide quality service to its customers. As a result the consumers are the beneficiaries as they can obtain the best plans at the most affordable prices.

Every state in the U.S. has its own health insurance regulatory board to oversee and regulate the practices of insurance providers within their jurisdiction. In the state of California, they aim to provide affordable health insurance outreach programs particularly to medium and low income wage earners. Health insurance laws in California are rigidly enforced.

The Medicaid program was created specifically for low wage earners in California to provide affordable health insurance coverage to the maximum number of uninsured individuals. This insurance outreach program is funded by both the federal and the state governments. There is yet another advantage as some employers do not include the families of employees in their insurance coverage. Such employees can avail of the Medicaid program if they want to include their families in their insurance coverage. Applicants are required to furnish some documents that may include proofs of their employment and income. They will also be subjected to a credit check to qualify.

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UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, and Health Net, Inc. today announced that UnitedHealthcare has completed the previously announced acquisition of Health Net of the Northeast’s licensed subsidiaries and has obtained rights to renew Health Net’s membership in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The transaction has received all regulatory approvals required for completion     “UnitedHealthcare has a long, successful history of providing people in the Northeast with affordable, quality health care options, and we look forward to serving the health and well-being needs of Health Net’s Northeast members as they renew with UnitedHealthcare,” said Jeff Alter, UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer, Northeast Region. “With UnitedHealthcare, Health Net’s members in the Northeast will gain access to one of the largest local and national care provider networks, robust clinical programs, proactive care management and wellness tools, and technology that simplifies and enhances the health care experience.”

“We believe UnitedHealthcare is the best option for our customers in the Northeast,” said Paul Lambdin, president of Health Net of the Northeast. “We look forward to working with UnitedHealthcare on a seamless renewal process that we believe our customers will appreciate. We will continue to maintain the high quality of service our customers have come to expect from us.”

As Health Net’s commercial customers in the Northeast reach renewal dates, UnitedHealthcare will work to enroll them in a comparable Oxford or UnitedHealthcare plan. Until members are enrolled in a replacement plan, their current Health Net benefits remain in effect under their existing Health Net contracts. There will be no interruption to coverage or payments during this transition period.

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Beliefs and Practices in Women Health

• Ramaiah Bheenaveni *

Rural women’s health is an infinitely broad topic. Many Indian women have come from circumstances in which women have limited access to healthcare. Traditionally, there has been discrimination towards women in decision-making; access to resources such as food, education and health care; job opportunities; and in child-rearing and parenting. However, women’s health in rural areas affects everything in their environment from their families to their economies and vice versa. A woman’s health, especially among the poor and illiterate, is often neglected not just by her family but by the woman herself. She is taught not to complain and if she does then she is directed either to use condiments in the kitchen or try faith healing.

Man is unique in that he has a distinct cultural environment of his own. This includes all the conditions in which men are born, brought up, live, work, procreate and perish. Culture as an environment is deeply related to the health of humans. It includes patterns of social organizations designed to regulate a particular society; one can understand the behaviour of people belonging to various sections and predict how an individual of a particular section will react in a given situation. With our knowledge of health, the treatment of diseases among ignorant peoples appears to be strange since they frequently follow practices of praying, wearing of amulets or consulting an exorcist who recites certain verbal formula. Hence, we can say that beliefs and cultural practices are predominately playing significant roles in the human health more peculiarly in the health of women.

Many rural people did not know about the services set up for them at sub-centres and PHC by the government because they did not see any evidence of these services being provided for them. As a part of the awareness programmes, the health workers (ANM) have been organizing to several exposure trips at the villages. It was there that the women were informed about the specifics of various services supposed to be made available to them. This encouraged some of them to ask questions and report on the situation in their PHC. They explained that though a nurse did visit their village it was not a daily visit, nor did she go beyond a certain point in the village, and certainly did not take a round of the village. They made a show of doing their duty by providing nominal services.

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