YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE FOR PROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE NEWS JULY 2013 / $5
SOU TH LOU ISIANA ED ITION
On Rounds Physician Spotlight Dr. Christy Valentine Rising Phoenix
From the devastation of a barrage of hurricanes arose a phoenix, bringing renewed hope to New Orleans residents facing the upcoming storm season. Lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Isaac spurred local physician Christy Valentine to create PhoenixLink Solutions, an online portal for patients and physicians to stay connected during disasters ... page 3
Louisiana Hospitals Seek Funding Protection By TED GRIGGS
Each year, for the past five years, Louisiana’s hospitals have gone to the Jindal administration and the state Legislature and asked for Medicaid funding help. And each year, the cash-strapped state government’s answer has been more cuts, roughly $260 million, or 26 percent, since 2009. But this year, the Legislature overwhelmingly approved two measures that will let voters decide whether hospitals can put up the money to draw down federal funds for Medicaid. Hospitals and their supporters say the bills will help stabilize funding through constitutional protections. Opponents, who included the non-partisan Public Affairs Research Council and the liberal Louisiana Budget Project and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, say constitutional protection means the state will have even less flexibility in budgeting matters. Opponents argued that if voters approve the amendments, higher education will suffer because it (CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
SurviveDAT!
A program for younger breast cancer survivors in Louisiana By BARBARA mCCoNNELL
What do Angelina Jolie and 2013 Miss America Pageant contestant, Allyn Rose have in common? They are young, beautiful, and both have elected to have bilateral mastectomies without an actual diagnosis of breast cancer due to a combination of family history and possession of the BRCA-1 gene mutation. And that has put the younger breast cancer patient in the center of a national news frenzy and increased public curiosity. People don’t always think about a young woman developing the disease, especially since both incidence and mortality rates increase exponentially with age, with the median age being 61 years at time of diagnosis. The younger patient has unique priorities from an older woman including: bearing and nursing children, body image, jug-
Conference Offers PAD, CLI Solutions Fourteen years ago, when Dr. Craig M. Walker organized the first New Cardiovascular Horizons conference, he had a number of goals ... page 6 Britney Temple, fitness trainer and SurviveDAT! audience
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