CHICAGO, May 15, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Accretive Health, Inc.

/quotes/zigman/570964/quotes/nls/ah AH
-4.13%

announced today that prominent health
care and policy leaders have agreed to convene to develop a process for
implementing national standards for how hospitals and other providers
interact with patients regarding their financial obligations.

This process will create first-of-kind national standards for
understanding expected charges, available resources, counseling, billing
and payment procedures regardless of the ability to pay. An independent
accreditation process will accompany the new standards, providing
patients with assurance that they will be treated compassionately and
fairly.

The group will identify and select an independent non-profit Standard
Development Organization (SDO) to conduct a collaborative process among
practitioners, patient advocates, and other interested parties. Once
concluded, the group will advance the identified standards to a national
accrediting organization.

Accretive Health initiated this process in order to provide clarity and
consistency among providers and, as a result, help ensure a more uniform
and transparent experience for patients as hospitals work to become more
financially stable and bring down the cost of care.

The following noted health care and policy leaders have agreed to serve
as independent conveners of the process:

CHAIRMAN

Michael O. Leavitt — Former Secretary of U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, three-term governor of Utah and former
administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He is currently
the founder of Leavitt Partners, which specializes in the health care
field, and has led numerous large public and private collaborations.

ADVISORS

Tom Daschle — Former U.S. Senator from South Dakota, former U.S.
Senate Majority Leader, served three terms in the U.S. House of
Representatives and is a respected health care thought leader. He is
currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American
Progress and a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive
Council at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Bill Frist, M.D. — Former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, former
U.S. Senate Majority Leader, nationally recognized heart and lung
transplant surgeon and health care thought leader. He was the 2010
Distinguished Professor of Business and Medicine at Vanderbilt
University.

Jamie Gorelick, J.D. — Partner at the international law firm,
WilmerHale, formerly served as U.S. Deputy Attorney General, General
Counsel of the Department of Defense, Assistant to the Secretary of
Energy, and as a member of the 9-11 Commission. She currently serves as
co-chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Ethics.

Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D — Director, Engelberg Center for
Health Care Reform, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, former
Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and
former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He is a
physician and economist.

Donna E. Shalala, Ph.D — President of the University of Miami and
former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
and accomplished scholar, teacher and administrator. She received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in
2008.

Gov. Leavitt, who will lead the group, made the following statement
about the collaboration and the need for standards:

“Hospitals and doctors have a moral and legal obligation to treat
patients medically in emergency situations and to do it in a
compassionate and fair way. In doing so, medical providers face a
dilemma. In order to assure hospitals remain financially viable and
available to patients, they must assist these same patients in making
financial arrangements for payment. Hospitals desire to do that in a
sensitive and appropriate way, however, currently there are no clear
standards to help guide their efforts. This collaboration is an effort
to provide clear standards to help medical practitioners continuously
improve — while at the same time, providing patients with tools to help
them know which hospitals and doctors follow the national standards.”

The selected SDO will convene relevant stakeholders from the health care
industry — including patient advocates, small and large health systems,
privacy experts, physicians, insurers, Medicaid advocates, state
Medicaid officials, trade organizations and others — to evaluate current
counseling, billing and payment practices. They will inventory existing
standards, collect information on industry best practices, solicit
public input, establish requirements for voluntary consensus standards
and select a national accrediting body to certify the standards.

Accretive Health and other interested organizations with responsibility
to assure respectful and compassionate treatment of patients will be
invited to participate. It is anticipated that the conveners will
organize in May and commence their work in June.

Because of the importance of this issue, Accretive Health, along with
participating health care organizations, will provide financial
resources for the creation of the group, which will act independently of
any institution or health care organization in creating national
standards for accreditation. Neither Accretive nor any of the health
care organizations that provide support or input will play any role at
all in the activities of the panel other than being interviewed by the
independent Standards Development Organization to collect data. The
participating organizations will have no insight into the panel’s
conclusions until they are final and announced.

In a statement, Accretive Health CEO Mary Tolan invited others to join
in the standards-setting process and expressed the Company’s intent to
earn full accreditation:

“We believe strongly the industry will benefit from a thoughtful,
independent, collaborative review and process, and we feel confident the
industry will welcome this as a solution to a difficult, but critical
challenge every patient and medical provider shares. We believe we have
been a positive part of the process to date in our work for leading
health care providers, helping thousands of formerly uninsured
individuals get coverage for care. We hope this group becomes the gold
standard for compassionate and fair patient interaction, reducing system
errors and anxiety among patients about their cost of care, and making
sure they are informed about coverage options regardless of their
ability to pay.”

ABOUT ACCRETIVE HEALTH

Accretive Health partners with healthcare providers to help them more
effectively manage their revenue cycles, strengthen their financial
stability, and improve the quality of care they provide while reducing
overall healthcare costs. Our people, processes and sophisticated
integrated technology complement our clients’ existing resources to
enhance results for patients, physicians and staff. For more information
visit
www.accretivehealth.com .

SOURCE: Accretive Health, Inc.

Accretive Health:
Gary Rubin, 312-324-7813
or
Leavitt Partners:
Natalie Gochnour, 801-509-1198

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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Accretive Health Inc.

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11.37

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Volume: 812,149
May 18, 2012 4:02p

P/E Ratio38.24
Dividend YieldN/A

Market Cap$1.18 billion
Rev. per Employee$336,753

Financial Glossary

Words used in this article:

Queen’s Park Bureau Chief

No vote, no fair.

That’s the message from New Democrats outraged that there won’t be any mandatory local referendums before Ontario’s new casinos are built.

In the wake of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s expansion into 29 potential “gaming zones” across the province, NDP MPP Michael Prue is concerned cities will be forced into hosting gambling houses.

“The government seems determined to plow ahead with casinos whether people want them in their community or not,” Prue told reporters at Queen’s Park on Friday.

“On important decisions like this, people need to be heard. Instead the government plans to replace an open vote with a vague process that’s a recipe for exclusion.”

The Beaches-East York MPP pounced upon a recently passed provincial regulation that requires municipalities to consult with residents on casinos but doesn’t mandate a referendum.

Ontario’s law requiring such casino votes quietly expired nine years ago.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has encouraged OLG’s growth to boost much-needed revenues to the treasury, which faces a $15-billion deficit this year.

Duncan hopes to bring in an additional $1.3 billion in annual profits and create as many as 4,000 jobs with the new privately run facilities.

But he insisted Thursday that only willing communities would have gambling.

“Again, I want to stress to everybody that any municipality that does not wish to have a gaming zone will not be compelled to have one,” he said.

Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19-Trinity-Spadina) said he’s worried that without a civic referendum, a casino could be foisted on Torontonians.

“Constituents are telling me, loud and clear, this will hurt our neighborhoods and local business. They deserve to be heard,” said Layton, whose ward includes parts of the waterfront where a casino could be built.

“(Mayor) Rob Ford and (Premier) Dalton McGuinty may want a casino on the waterfront, but the people who live in this city don’t,” he said.

OLG announced Thursday it would begin seeking proposals from casino operators like Caesars Entertainment by this fall.

Like the New Democrats, the Progressive Conservatives have been urging the minority Liberal government to ensure local municipalities have a say.

Tory MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) is pushing a private member’s bill that would legislate such plebiscites.

“Local communities have to have a referendum before there is a new casino. Let the local people decide,” said McNaughton, whose legislation is supported by some Liberal MPPs.

At city hall earlier this week, the mayor’s executive committee asked staff to study drawbacks and benefits of a casino — possibly at Exhibition Place — and report back before October.

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Available today via digital download on the PlayStation Network and PC systems, the new game update further intensifies this online co-op shooters six dynamic heists, forcing players to rely on quick thinking and teamwork to thwart well-trained law enforcement and successfully execute new objectives and achievements. Enhanced AI capabilities, such as aggressiveness, agility and intelligence, have also been implemented.

Key features of the new game update include:
o Masks of Disguise: Presidential masks are now available to those players that have reached level 145. Players can grab a Golden mask when all heists are completed on OVERKILL 145+. BEEEF masks have also been added to the game, and can be picked up in the lobby.
o OVERKILL 145+: Players that have reached level 145 can now play on a new difficulty called OVERKILL 145+, which opens up the possibility for new events and achievements. It also unlocks new weapons, such as the crowbar to open doors, as well as leaderboards.
o Drop-In: With the added in-game drop-in ability, players can set the server to allow for others to join the game mid-heist. Players can also filter players by setting server reputation and difficulty requirements.
o SWAT Tactics: The SWAT captain has trained a slew of new recruits, resulting in challenging new tactics and counter measures for players to face on each of the heists.
o Sweet Moves: Players can check out new weapon animations for the Shotgun. Law enforcers now move more tactically than ever before. Even civilians have new dance animations in the DIAMOND HEIST.
o Portrait Window Additions: Players can now see the name of the character they are currently playing in the portrait window while in game.
o Compare Worldwide: PC Players can now view statistics on how many players in the world have completed the different heists on all difficulties through the SELECT HEIST menu.
o Expanding Field of View (FoV): PC Players can now choose what FoV they want to use ranging from 60 to 100 through the advanced graphics menu.
o DIAMOND HEIST Music: For PC players, as a token of appreciation to the community, 200 of the most dedicated career criminals nicknames have been immortalized in-game. The DJ has added a new music track, doing shout-outs to 200 players in the community.

This game update is available for download at no additional cost on STEAM and on the PlayStation Network.

If you havent already played Quake 4 it contains multiplayer modes for Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Tourney, Capture the Flag, Arena CTF and DeadZone. Allowing you to finally fight it out with other Mac users. Great game all the same and worth the cash if you enjoy traditional first person shooters, but nothing new to see.

The Quake 4 single player mode continues the story of Quake II by pitting the player against a cyborg alien race known as the Strogg. The game follows the story of a Marine named Matthew Kane who is a member of the fabled Rhino Squad.

Source: Redmond Pie

And am I planning on writing a novel? Well not so much. Oh, Im not saying it wont happen, Im slowly writing my childhood memoirs and have every expectation of publishing them eventually, but right now? No. I have so much on the go right now, so many different tasks lined up one might be led to believe that I had ADHD.

Oh, yeah forgot there for a minute.

On Tuesday night I entered the classroom with some trepidation. As you heard in Wednesdays post, I had forgotten my medication on Tuesday. That was not my only cause for concern, however.

What could possibly go wrong?

The last time I set foot in a classroom I was, by my own estimation, normal, a norman, a standard issue human male – 1959 model. The course I was taking back then was, surprise, a writing course. Freelance Writing.

The course was comprised of equal amounts of writing and the mysteries of querying periodicals with such skill that they would turn you down at their own peril (or at the peril of the survival of their publication). The teacher of that course? Zoë Kessler (you may have heard of her?).

By the end of that course I had become friends with my teacher. I sensed a kindred spirit, but had no idea how kindred that spirit was. Within three months of the beginning of that freelance writing course I was convinced that I knew way more about ADHD than a casual observer should. And I knew it from an inside perspective, Id been living it.

Within six months I had been diagnosed (you have to ask for an assessment, there apparently are no roving bands of psychiatrists seeking out and identifying ADHDers though there really ought to be).

Back to present day

So on Tuesday night, I was wondering how much my life would change this time. And, of course, as youve heard already, I went into the very first class un-medicated and almost late. I hate being late and being almost late is stressful for me. On top of those two big things (big for me), I was having a bad day, I had found out the day before that I had an appointment on Tuesday 100 plus miles away. I had to give up my day to this road trip and wondered all the way home if I shouldnt just give the course a miss. I chose to attend.

Decisions, decisions

Was it the right choice? Well, I didnt meet anyone with any unknown disorder that I might be afflicted with, other than the disorder of being a writer, and Im already aware of that affliction. Its a nasty one for which there is no medication currently available, but Ive learned to live with the symptoms reasonably well.

I was tired when I attended this course, and may not have been paying enough attention; Im not sure I remember everything that I was supposed to take in, but I remember keeping my ticks and outbursts in check better than I expected to be able to.

But than again

Another blogger, Lori Twining, who was attending this course commented “You know, it was kind of like, you were challenging me to win the “Class Clown” title or something?” Maybe Id better make sure I take my meds next Tuesday. I really do want to learn as much as I can, but more importantly for me is my desire not to be the cause of others learning less than they could, if I were not in attendance. Ill keep you all posted on how that goes and whether or not I fail.

And, Ill let you know if my novel is forthcoming anytime soon.

At least four units at the Dural Business Centre on Old Northern Road caught fire just before 2.30am today.

The centre is next to a Caltex service station.

Adobes new offering, Creative Cloud, brings the companys expansive and expensive range of legendary publishing and art applications, Flash development software and other tools to all via an affordable software as a service solution.

The Cloud Gets Design Power

Adobe has long ruled the roost in the creative world with its suites of design and creation apps. Despite the high retail prices, updates to apps like InDesign, PhotoShop and Flash Builder are eagerly lapped up by creative types working on the latest quad-core Mac and PC systems. Whats another few grand for the best software?

Not all designers are so well off, and many smaller companies have armies of designers, developers and tweeners, slaving away on older versions. For anyone in that pickle, a solution is at hand, $49 a month access to pretty much all of Adobes output on a year-long contract (with cheaper special offer pricing for existing customers).

He is a crested gecko because he has these fuzzy things all over his eyes, McKee said. He is from a little island near Australia called New Caledonia.

Fran Mapel, a second-grade teacher at Grimes, said she took an animal habitat class McKee taught last summer and one of the perks of the class was to have zoo personnel bring live animals to her classroom at no charge.

Not many of these kids have been to a zoo, so this was a good opportunity for the students to see animals up close, Mapel said.

Among other things, Mapels second-grade science curriculum covers animal life cycles, habitats and the interdependence of organisms.

This week, the story in our reading series was Beginners World Atlas, and we learned about the continents, Mapel said. The class I took, along with the chance to have live animals make a close-up visit, enabled us to meld everything together.

A creature the students could not touch, however, was a Chilean rose hair tarantula, a large spider that made some of the students pretty nervous.

We dont let people touch it because she has these hairs all over her body, McKee said. When people or animals touch her, she can release those hairs and they make you itch.

McKee brought a female tarantula to the classroom. She said people who decide to get a tarantula as a pet typically get females.

Female spiders live about 15 years and males only live about four years, she said.

Another animal that was popular with the students was an African pygmy hedgehog. It was covered with little spikes that felt like toothpicks.

The spiked things are his hair, McKee said. They have a chemical in it called keratin, which is what your fingernails are made of. When he gets scared, he curls himself up in a tight little ball and the spikes stick up in different directions.

McKee also said the hedgehog can bounce around in the ball shape it makes.

If a predator comes up to it, the hedgehog can use his spikes to defend itself, she said. The only way he can protect himself is to roll up in a ball and bounce.

While the students enjoyed seeing the animals, McKee hopes they took something away from her 40-minute presentation.

Since they were learning about continents, I wanted them to see animals from the different continents, she said.

Other animals McKee brought were an Australian blue-tongue skink and a fox snake, which lives in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest.

Scientists working off Russias far eastern coast have captured footage of what they believe to be the first ever adult, all-white orca whale sighted in the wild. According to Reuters, scientists and students from the Far East Russia Orca Project spotted the whale twice off the coast of the Bering Island in Aug. 2010. Scientist hope to confirm soon whether the orca, nicknamed Iceberg, is an albino.

According to US National Library of Medicine, Albinism (from Latin albus, white) is a congenital disorder in which pigment in the hair is partially or completely absence due to a lack of an enzyme found in melanin. Here are some other animals that have this unique and rare trait.

Author: Edecio Martinez

Credit: Far East Russia Orca Project/RTV