Say what you will about PETA, but their campaign to boycott puppy mills is the only solution to the problem they present. If people would stop buying the puppies, there???d be no profit in it for the breeders. To find out more about the abuse the poor dogs suffer at the hands of those breeders, please visit http://www.helpinganimals.com/f-puppyMillPrison.asp
Category: Life
Life
This just came from the ACS. Thanks to everyone who contacted their senators!
This week we have made tremendous progress in our fight to secure more funding for cancer research and programs. This victory is especially important after Congress cut cancer program and research funding for the first time in more than a decade last year.
Yesterday, the United States Senate voted 73 to 27 in favor of the Specter-Harkin amendment to the Senate budget resolution. This amendment included an additional $7 billion in funding for education and health programs, much of which will go to funding critical health and cancer-specific programs at the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Senate also approved a budget amendment sponsored by U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to provide an increase of $390 million for cancer research and prevention programs in the FY’07 budget.
Specifically, the Feinstein-Mikulski-Collins Cancer Research and Prevention Funding Amendment would provide:
– $244.6 million increase in the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the National Cancer Institute and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities;
– $120.48 million increase in the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fund the following programs:
o The National Cancer Registries Program,
o The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program,
o Colorectal Cancer Screening, Education and Outreach,
o Skin Cancer Prevention Programs,
o The Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign,
o Ovarian Cancer Awareness,
o The Geraldine Ferraro Blood Cancer Program.
– $25 million increase in the budget for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for the Nurse Reinvestment Act/Nursing Programs.
These victories would not have been possible without the hard work of ACS CAN advocates throughout the country. Nationwide ACS CAN advocates generated nearly 10,000 emails and phone calls to senators in favor of the amendments. Your efforts made all of the difference. You are responsible for this incredible victory.
We should take time to celebrate our successes, but also know that this is still the beginning of the process and there is a long road ahead and much work yet to be done. The U.S. House still needs to act and final funding decisions will not be made until the appropriations process this fall.
While we know that there are no guarantees in our fight for more funding, we do know that there would have been no hope of increased funding this year without the passage of these critical amendments.
Thanks again for all of your great work! Your voice is being heard.
What a good movie! It was even better than I expected. Transamerica stars Felicity Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame, and is a quirky tale about a male to female transgender who is about to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. Huffman’s character experiences more than just a physical transformation by the end of the movie. This isn’t meant to be a movie review or a spoiler. I just really liked it and was glad I went to see it. Thanks to all my friends who made yesterday one of the most fun days I’ve had in a long time. Sorry about getting to the restaurant late!
We’re having some warm days here in NC. It was about 80 today and will be in the low 80s tomorrow. We have a weather station at work. You can see it here. We’ve had a very mild winter so far. I can’t think of a time this winter when I could wear my winter coat and not be uncomfortably warm.
Last week , when I was driving to Winston-Salem, I heard a loud noise, like something hit my car. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I noticed a crack on my windshield. It keeps getting bigger, so I need to do something about it. Seems like the problems never cease!
This evening I was calling cancer survivors to let them know about the annual Relay for Life. I made about 30 calls and got in touch with about 20 people, I think. Everyone I talked to was looking forward to attending. It was good talking to them. We all have something in common. I got to talk to a few people who were at or near their 5 year anniversary of being cancer-free. I had to call one man back to ask one of my required questions because I lost track of what I was supposed to be doing.
Tomorrow I see Dr. Hurd at Wake Forest. I have to make some notes about what I need to discuss with him. Right after I went of dex last week (for the week off), I had a lot of pain in my right leg. I worry about AVN, having been on steroids for so long, and so much. I just have to have it checked out, because I’d rather complain about something that turns out to be nothing than end up having to have hip replacement surgery.
There’s also been a lot of buzz about Zometa and ONJ lately. I don’t think I should be having it any more than every 3 months anymore. I’ve been having it every month for 3 years now. Some doctors stop it for their patients after 2 years.
This was posted on the ACOR MM list. I hope we’ll all take some action!
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For those of you who do not live in the US, I apologize. I also apologize for adding this to everyone’s email. I haven’t don’t this before so …
Apparently someone in the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) has come up with the following idea to save money. They will limit the number of times that certain laboratory tests will be reimbursed. CMS calls these tests Medically Unbelievable Edits (MUE’s).
Here are some examples of what will happen:
If a patient has a culture and sensitivity that determines what bacteria might be causing an infection and which antimicrobials will/will not work, then you can only have two per day. So don’t have bacteria in three places on the same day. One culture will have to wait for the next day
We all know of people who get more than one unit of blood per day in out-patient settings. Well, under this regulation, you will only be able to get 1 crossmatch per day which effectively limits you to one unit per day. And that will dramatically affect the treatment of anemia in out patients.
In the case of serum protein immunoelectrophoresis, CMS proposes to pay for only one assay per day. Specifically, you can get an IgG level but not an IgA or IgM on the same day.
In the case of flow cytometry, they will pay for 2 probes on any given day. Would you prefer CD5 and Cd 19 or CD20 and CD38 because you need to space them out over time? Where you usually can get a panel of molecular diagnostic markers performed at the same time, they will only pay for 1 a day. So, if your cells need to be tested with 10 markers, you need to have 1 performed per day.
In addition to detracting significantly from patient care, laboratory personnel will probably not refuse to perform these tests. But they won’t be able to bill Medicare for them. That means that they will either try to eat the cost (although that breaks a 19th century federal law on fraud and abuse) or charge the patient – except in those states that have no balance billing laws. Small laboratories such as Physician Office Laboratories or clinic laboratories or community hospital laboratories may go bankrupt and close or severely limit their service.
My suggestion is to call/email your Senators and Representatives to have them put pressure on CMS to withdraw this idea. You can also write directly to
Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.
Administrator
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: CMS-1502-FC
Room 445-G, HHH building
200 Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20201
The comment period ends on March 30 and unless turned back will go into effect on July 1, 2006.
—
Susan J. Leclair, Ph.D., CLS(NCA)
Chancellor Professor
Department of Medical Laboratory Science
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747-2300
Here’s a picture of Buddy after a haircut. We’re about to go out for a walk, which is his favorite time of day. He always knows when it’s time, because I put on my shoes. I actually can’t stand wearing shoes since I got neuropathy from the thalidomide. No longer do I have the joy of buying comfy new shoes.
Buddy is half collie and half golden retriever. His head is definitely retriever. However, he has no interest in retrieving anything!