Health 2.0 8th Annual Fall Conference highlights include:

• Consumer Tech & Wearables: The newest addition to the Health 2.0 agenda is The Wearable Tech Fashion Runway, which features a multitude of wearable health tech in addition to data utility layer platforms from giants such as Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm, WebMD and Walgreens.
• Big Names, Big Issues, Big Solutions: Notable Industry leaders and companies bring their solutions and knowledge to tackle some of the most pressing issues within health care. Newly added to the agenda are Ryan Howard (Practice Fusion), Mike & Albert Lee (myfitnesspal), Kent Bradley (Safeway),Jonathan Bush (athenahealth), Girish Navani (eClinicalWorks), Andy Krackov (California Healthcare Foundation), Jacob Reider (ONC), Rajni Aneja (Humana), and Dena Bravata, (Castlight Health). A special bonus feature includes a demo of the latest Samsung Electronics platform and product–SAMI and the SIMBand–with President Young Sohn interviewed by Indu Subaiya (Health 2.0). More companies and speakers found on the agenda.
• Health care Data Analytics: This topic covers the volume, velocity, variety, veracity, and value of health care data and analytics. Highlights include genomics, non-invasive diagnosis tools, and integrated data collection to uncover new discoveries, personalize medicine, and develop new care protocols with speakers from IBM Watson, Merck, Predilytics, and many more.
• Start-Ups, Entrepreneurship & Investors: This year, Health 2.0 is poised to offer new opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurs during the fall conference. Traction: Health 2.0′s Start-Up Championship is the inaugural pitch contest enabling series A-ready start-ups to showcase their business plan in front of a judging panel of renowned venture capitalists. The Bootstrapped Basecamp will put the most innovative seed stage start-ups inside the Health 2.0 Exhibit Hall to be found by potential partners, investors and customers.

The 8th Annual Health 2.0 Conference showcases over 200 LIVE demos, 150+ speakers, and 50+ sessions across four full days with an extensive audience of 2,100+ health care professionals, health care and health tech executives, thought leaders, policy makers, and entrepreneurs. A multitude of never before seen technologies will be presented on stage,while the conference offers ground-breaking insights into the policy, tools, and solutions of new health care technology.

Registration information is available here. Prices for the conference are set to increase on Wed. 30th, July.  The full agenda of speakers and companies can be found on the main conference website here.

About Health 2.0

Health 2.0 promotes, showcases, and catalyzes new technologies in health care through a worldwide series of conferences, code-a-thons, prize challenges, and leading market intelligence. Visit www.health2con.com for more info.

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The evening honored Clovis’ finest – those who have shown courage, commitment and leadership in helping shape the city of Clovis.

Clovis Community’s CEO Craig Castro and his family celebrate his “Citizen of the Year” award at the Gala.

 CEO, Craig S. Castro

With Castro at the helm, Clovis Community Medical Center has transformed through a $300 million renovation and expansion. It’s one of the largest development projects in the region’s history, and it has made Clovis Community the only comprehensive hospital in the area with all-private rooms. It’s also the largest expansion investment Community Medical Centers has made since completing the six-story Table Mountain Rancheria Trauma Center at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno in 2007.

Castro’s detailed attention to the patient experience includes beautifully landscaped grounds and patient amenities like room-service style meals, restaurant quality dining, the latest in communication and entertainment technology, as well as the all-private rooms for the patients.

For more than three decades, Castro has served in leadership positions in healthcare and won numerous awards for his management plans and programs. He is the chairperson of the Central California Health Information Exchanges, a co-founder of the Central California Society of Information Management and a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The Clovis Community Medical Center Guild

Clovis Community Medical Center Guild was also recognized for contributing to the lives of Clovis residents through their untiring volunteer efforts at the hospital and philanthropic deeds.
The Guild delivered a huge surprise to Clovis Community’s baby nursery with a $250,000 pledge that will benefit the more than 3,400 babies born in Clovis each year and their families. Clovis resident and Guild president Joyce Morrelli announced the gift at a recent board meeting. This gift raises the Guild to the highest donor recognition level for lifetime giving of well over $1 million. The 40-member volunteer group is now part of the prestigious ‘Leon S. Peters Society,’ the Community network’s highest recognition level.

Since its beginnings in 1954, the Guild has volunteered more than 2,500 hours per month and worked on special projects to help the medical center. A gift shop within the hospital is run entirely by the volunteers. Funds from the gift shop are donated back to the hospital. Over time, the Guild has given thousands of hours and donations to help provide for expansion projects, cardiac catheterization labs, waiting rooms, new televisions for patient rooms and the water fountain that welcomes guests to the new Clovis Community campus entrance.
And each year Guild members hand out three $1,500 scholarships to high school seniors from Clovis schools and help with the Kiwanis and Rodeo Association’s golf tournament.

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Kaweah Delta Medical Center’s helipad received 183 helicopter landings in its first year; 51 of which brought patients to the hospital for care, while 132 transferred patients out of the area to receive a higher level of care.

One of the first inbound flights since the helipad began operating on June 3, 2013, brought Pete Atkins, of Escondido, to Kaweah Delta after he was injured on a horse packing trip in a remote area between Tulare and Inyo counties inaccessible by car.

“I fell on my right shoulder, my elbow jammed into my rib cage and I heard my bones crack,” Atkins said. “If it wasn’t for that helicopter, I think I would have bought the farm. It’s a fact that because there was a helipad I was able to get care and attention much more rapidly.”

At the time, Atkins couldn’t walk and couldn’t get on his horse. His guide came to the rescue riding north until he got to a ranger station where he radioed for help. Not long after, SkyLife’s helicopter landed and Atkins was carried onboard. In 26 minutes, Atkins was at Kaweah Delta.

The $2.7 million helipad was completed with help from $2.3 million in community donations made to the Kaweah Delta Hospital Foundation. It plays a key role in helping Kaweah Delta, the only trauma center between Fresno and Bakersfield. Since the designation in 2011, the number of trauma patients has increased over 200 percent to over 1,000 trauma patients each year.

“The helipad has had far reaching effects for the region,” said Dr. Nichole Meissner, director of trauma at Kaweah Delta.  ”It’s helped trauma victims get treatment faster and treatment in the first hour has a significant impact on survival, especially when it comes to trauma.”

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The high school and college students are part of the network’s first Discover Health Care Volunteer Summer Program. The goal of the program is to help local youth explore various health care careers, assist them to become stronger applicants in the work force and help them discover if health care is the right choice for them.

“It is very exciting to offer a program that will allow our young community members a chance to learn about health care and health care careers,” says Tanya Hutchison, director of Volunteer Resources.

The students will serve 100 hours over a three-month period. They will hear from speakers, such as physicians and nurses, during core sessions which focus on education. They will also receive hands-on experience volunteering at the Gift Shop, Front Desk, Surgery Waiting Area, Birth Center, or Medical Records; or as Ambassador or Emergency Department Ambassador.

“We want our Discover Health Care volunteers to be as close to supporting the patient experience as possible,” says Clay Ipsen, assistant director of Volunteer Resources.

To qualify for the program, the students had to submit an application and undergo an interview at their school. The key qualities recruiters were looking for included a positive attitude, a desire to work in health care and compassion.

“I was interested in this program because my sister was diagnosed with cancer,” says Chloe Smith, a high school freshman who’s participating in the summer program. “Being around her, I see all the interaction she has with the doctors and nurses, and it really inspired me to help people.”

Twins 18-year-old Amber and Samantha Illana are interested in the program because their family members work in the health care field. Their mother works at the Adventist Health Physicians Network Lacey Medical Plaza as a Medical Assistant and their father does lab work for the Navy.

“I just want to interact with people,” says Samantha. She hopes the program will teach her how to make strong connections with people, leadership skills and the opportunity to find the right career path.

Students interested in signing up for the Discover Health Care Volunteer Summer Program in the summer of 2015 can find the application online at www.AdventistHealthCV.com under the Volunteers tab. Submissions will be accepted between January and March. For more information, call 559-537-2740.

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In December 2013, Peggy Silva, a case manager for Adventist Medical Center-Hanford, says a homeless patient was given discharge orders but had no clothes, no phone and no family. In these instances, the department has a small container with clothing inside, but it was down to the bare minimum. So, Silva put together what she could and provided the patient with surgery pants.

“I thought to myself, we need to replenish somehow,” says Silva, “so I organized a clothes drive for all three facilities, Reedley, Selma and Hanford and it did quite well.”

The clothes drive sparked an even bigger movement by the staff. The network’s director of Volunteer Resources Tanya Hutchison heard about the efforts and decided there was a need in the community. She spoke with the volunteer group at Central Valley General Hospital and the AMC-Hanford Volunteer Service League, which dedicated one of its events toward project “Emergency Department Clothes Closet.”

The Central Valley Auxiliary allocated over $1,000 worth of sweats in all different sizes for men and women and even raised money during its Spring Fling luncheon in April.

“I am so blessed to work with these volunteers,” Hutchison said. “They heard about this and took immediate action to help.”

AMC-Reedley had the most success with the clothes drive. The extra clothing came in handy when a patient who was discharged from another hospital, wearing hospital-based yellow paper pants, arrived in the Emergency Department. Reedley staff clothed the person with items from one of the containers.

Although the containers are meant for clothing, someone put a stuffed animal inside one. When a young child at AMC-Reedley needed lab work done, a staff member knew just what to do.

“The child was very scared, crying,” Silva said, “so somebody knew the stuffed animal was in the bin and they went to retrieve it and gave it to the child.” This kind act helped comfort the child that day.

Donations of clothing, socks and shoes can be made to the Emergency Department Clothes Closet by contacting Peggy Silva at 559-537-2396. Monetary donations can also be made to the Foundations at 559-537-0760.

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The Community Care Clinic in Oakhurst will begin welcoming patients on June 2. The upstairs and downstairs clinics in the two-story building were formerly operated by Clovis Community Medical Center, who invited AH to take over operations.

“We were chosen because of our focus and expertise in rural health care,” said Diane Rose, the clinic’s regional director.

By adding a clinic in Oakhurst, the Community Care network now makes up 33 hospital-based rural health clinics and is the second-largest in the nation. The Oakhurst site expects to see 1,000 patients a month.

“For us to come in and implement our model of care, it means a lot to the community, and they’re very excited to have us,” Rose said.

To prepare for the transition, the clinic will close for five days beginning yesterday, May 28 and reopen on June 2 under the new ownership. The clinic will be open seven days a week to accommodate community members and visitors.

“The community is a huge tourist attraction,” Rose said. “It’s the Gateway to Yosemite but in the winter, due to weather, sometimes it’s difficult to get in and out, so the accessibility of our clinic is important.”

Both floors of the clinic will be utilized by current Oakhurst staff and physicians who have joined the network. Six providers will be on-hand: three physicians and three nurse practitioners. Patients who need to see a doctor right away will be able to make same-day appointments downstairs. Those who have scheduled appointments will go upstairs to see their regular doctor for physicals, pap smears and other wellness-related matters. Other services include family medicine, lab, X-ray, mammography and ultrasounds.

The clinic is located on 48677 Victoria Lane in Oakhurst. It will be open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. for scheduled appointments and seven days a week, from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. for same-day appointments. For more information, call 559-683-2711.

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“This study clearly demonstrates that diet beverages can in fact help people lose weight, directly countering myths in recent years that suggest the opposite effect – weight gain,” said James O. Hill, Ph.D., executive director of the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center and a co-author of the study. “In fact, those who drank diet beverages lost more weight and reported feeling significantly less hungry than those who drank water alone. This reinforces that if you’re trying to shed pounds, you can enjoy diet beverages.”

The 12-week clinical study of 303 participants is the first prospective, randomized clinical trial to directly compare the effects of water and diet beverages on weight loss within a behavioral weight loss program. Conducted simultaneously by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Center for Health and Wellness in Aurora and Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education in Philadelphia, the study shows that subjects who consumed diet beverages lost an average of 13 pounds – 44 percent more than the control group, which lost an average of 9 pounds. More than half of the participants in the diet beverage group —64 percent — lost at least five percent of their body weight, compared with only 43 percent of the control group. Losing just five percent of body weight has been shown to significantly improve health, including lowering the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

“There’s so much misinformation about diet beverages that isn’t based on studies designed to test cause and effect, especially on the Internet,” said John C. Peters, co-author of the study and the chief strategy officer of the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. ”This research allows dieters to feel confident that low- and no-calorie sweetened beverages can play an important and helpful role as part of an effective and comprehensive weight loss strategy.”

Study participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups:  those who were allowed to drink diet beverages, such as diet sodas, teas and flavored waters, or those who were in a control group that drank water only. With the exception of beverage options, both groups followed an identical diet and exercise program for the duration of the study.

In addition to losing 44 percent more weight than the control group, the diet beverage group also:

• Reported feeling significantly less hungry;
• Showed significantly greater improvements in serum levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) — the so-called “bad” cholesterol; and
• Saw a significant reduction in serum triglycerides.

Both diet soda and water groups saw reductions in waist circumference, and blood pressure.

This latest study adds to the body of research demonstrating that diet beverages do not hinder, but in fact help, with weight loss. In particular, two studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers from the University of North Carolina in 2012 and 2013 randomly assigned non-dieting participants to drink either water or diet beverages. While both groups cut their food intake significantly, after six months the diet beverage group had a greater likelihood of reaching a meaningful (5 percent) amount of weight loss compared to the control group. The diet beverage group also experienced a greater reduction in dessert consumption than the water group. Overall, the findings suggest that diet beverages do not fuel a preference for sweet foods and drinks.

Additional research published in 2009 on weight loss maintenance, drawn from the National Weight Control Registry, found that successful weight loss maintainers drank three times more diet beverages than those who had never lost weight.

The study was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from the American Beverage Association.

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“We’ve spent several years planning and expanding to meet our community’s healthcare needs ,” said John Kass R.N., CNO and interim COO at Clovis Community Medical Center. “And with just a few months to go we’re very proud of this beautiful campus, its technology and facilities, that were all designed with the ultimate patient experience in mind.”

Photo courtesy Socrates Lozano, KFSN-TV ABC30. Construction continues on the $300 million-plus expansion and renovation of Clovis Community Medical Center as labor & delivery and postpartum services moved into the newly remodeled Women’s Pavilion.

Over the last few weeks, changes have transformed the hospital’s campus both inside and out:

• Labor & delivery and postpartum moved into the newly remodeled Women’s Pavilion, which is now fully occupied.

• Construction continues to expand the obstetrics triage area, which will be completed in early June.

• The fifth floor of the bed tower opened for medical/surgical patients adding 40 additional all-private rooms for a total of 208 in the hospital.

• Construction began on a second medical office building at the north end of campus. It’s expected to open in 2015.

• A major campus landscape project continues to transform the 42-acre campus into a park-like, environmentally friendly setting – using reclaimed water, making the hospital the largest user of reclaimed water in the city of Clovis.

Still to come in the $300 million-plus project is the second phase of pharmacy and laboratory improvements and completing finishing touches on the main lobby and surgery areas. All these are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2014.

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The Women’s Choice Award is the only distinction that identifies the nation’s best healthcare institutions and signifies both hospitals’ commitment and passion for creating an extraordinary healthcare experience for women and other patients. The award is also the lone recognition program that measures against the needs and preferences of women.

Of the seven measures reported by emergency departments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), women rate “door to diagnostic time” or “door to doctor,” as the most important criteria when selecting an emergency room. Both Hanford and Selma hospitals have among the lowest times in the nation for those measures.

“Our emergency teams work hard to provide high-quality care and an excellent patient experience,” said Wayne Ferch, president and CEO of Adventist Health / Central Valley Network.

As the collective voice of female consumers, the Women’s Choice Award provides women with recommendations they can trust, from other women.

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The survey highlights the very real impact the winter price surge had on household finances and quality of life.  Of the 76% of Americans responsible for paying their utility bills and who had higher bills this winter over half (56%) said their day-to-day lives were impacted with these higher bills this winter.  For example, those impacted said they were forced to set thermostats lower than was comfortable (32%) and forced to cut back on leisure activities (28%).  Nearly one fifth (19%) also reported that higher electricity costs limited their ability to buy necessities, such as groceries, food and healthcare – suggesting lower-income households may have been forced to decide between heating their home and eating a meal.

“Americans are rightfully concerned about higher electricity prices.  If EPA continues to push forward with unrealistic standards for coal-based power plants, consumers’ fears will become locked-in for the foreseeable future,” Hal Quinn, NMA president and CEO, said.  “The leap in electricity bills consumers saw this winter is as much the result of EPA’s policies as it is the cold weather.”

According to NMA data, EPA’s far-reaching regulations will result in over 20 percent of the country’s coal-powered electricity – the nation’s largest component of electricity generation — being removed from the energy grid by 2020 if not sooner, which puts greater price pressure on natural gas and alternative fuels to fill the gap.

“Unfortunately less diversity of our power resources will endanger utilities’ ability to provide a reliable supply of energy at the lowest cost to consumers,” Quinn said.

According to the survey, 70 percent of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that new EPA regulations to eliminate coal-powered electricity from the nation’s energy mix, if approved, will also lead to electricity black-outs and brown-outs this summer.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acting Chair Cheryl LaFleur said at the agency’s April 1, 2014 technical conference on the winter’s effects on regional transmission organizations’ markets and operations that on some days this past winter, the energy grid was “pushed to the edge,” jeopardizing the ability to  provide uninterrupted electricity to Americans in all regions of the country.

“This winter served as a warning about the importance of maintaining a diverse energy mix to fulfill the high demands we place on the nation’s power supply,” Quinn said. “The EPA’s power plants regulations have moved too far, too fast.   We hope this survey demonstrates to policymakers that American families want and need the dependable, affordable electricity that EPA proposals currently threaten to remove.”

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