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Month: June 2011

Changes to Dental Coverage for Connecticut Adult Medicaid Patients

Changes to Dental Coverage for Connecticut Adult Medicaid Patients

As the State of Connecticut works on balancing its budget, there are changes to the dental services that adult Medicaid patients can receive.  As an example, effective July 1st periodic oral exams and dental cleanings are now limited to once every year instead of every six months for healthy adults.  What does this mean?  Well, if you’ve been coming in every six months to have your teeth checked and cleaned, you’re probably going to have to wait longer between checkups. …

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National HIV Testing Day Recap

National HIV Testing Day Recap

Monday was National HIV Testing Day and last week there was an article in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report about the results of an expanded HIV Testing Initiative last year.  Approximately 20% of the estimated 1.2 million persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States at the end of 2008 were not aware of their infection The report describes the results of nearly 2.8 million HIV tests from October 2007 until September 2010.  Nearly 30,000 people…

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Governor Gary R. Herbert of Utah

Governor Gary R. Herbert of Utah

Conversations on Health Care focuses this week on Utah’s innovative health insurance exchange. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Governor Gary Herbert about the creation of their exchange in 2007, why it’s unique and what lessons other states might take from Utah as they begin planning their own exchanges.

National HIV Testing Day

National HIV Testing Day

Today, my Facebook wall and my Twitter feed is full of reminders that today is National HIV Testing Day.  Last week, we provided testing at our sites in Meriden and New Britain.  Today we are providing testing at our site in Meriden.  Have you been tested? The importance of testing was brought home to me in an email that Dr. Marwan Haddad sent to CHC staff working on promoting National HIV Testing Day.  I am sharing part of that email…

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#FF #NHTD

#FF #NHTD

The title of this blog post might not make sense to people that don’t use Twitter a lot, so let me explain.  On Twitter, it is common to use a ‘hashtag’.  This is an abbreviation preceded by a pound sign or ‘hash mark’.  #FF is the hashtag for ‘Follow Friday’.  Follow Friday is a tradition on Twitter of listing interesting other people to follow on Twitter.  There are many people on Twitter, and it can be difficult to find someone…

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The Nurse Practitioner Residency Program and the Future of Nursing

The Nurse Practitioner Residency Program and the Future of Nursing

Earlier this week, I received an email from Kerry Bamrick about CHC’s Nurse Practitioner Residency program: On Thursday, June 16,, 2011 Margaret Flinter and I were invited to Princeton, NJ to attend New Jersey’s Regional Action Coalition Meeting.  New Jersey was selected as one of 5 pilot states in the Unites States to participate in the prestigious: Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.  The purpose of the action coalition is to guide the implementation of the recommendations of the Institute…

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