Last year at this time I was elected to the Office of UOAA President-Elect, a position that would have found me assuming the Office of President on January 1st, 2012. However in early October UOAA’s Managing Board of Directors received a message from Kristin Knipp advising us that for personal reasons she found it necessary to resign as UOAA’s President.
Kristin had served as our President for only a short time, but had been active in our organization for a number of years. During her term she made substantial contributions to our public image by bringing us into the electronic social networking world of today. She was responsible for communicating our Mission Statement, overseeing the development of our modernized logo, initiating this blog, coordinating the re-design of our website and instituting Ostomy Awareness Day.  While we did not request her resignation, we certainly respect her decision and agree that her family must come first. We wish her well in all her future endeavors.

So here we are having our first official dialog. I live in Vernon Hills, Illinois, am married to Barbara and together we have 5 sons. I have had an ileostomy for 38 years and have been an active leader in both UOA for 15 years and in UOAA since its formation in 2005.  I believe in the mission of the UOAA, and am excited to have the opportunity to further the outreach programs we have in place and to complete those currently under development.

It has become clear to me over the last few years that we in the ostomy community are being made to feel inadequate or embarrassed by how the media portrays us on TV, or discusses, and yes, even jokes about our conditions on radio or in print.  Let me assure you all right now, that I am committed to bringing the REAL facts of how ostomates LIVE, to the rest of the world. In a world, where years ago subjects like breast cancer or autism could not be discussed, we have evolved into a world where these issues are now dinner conversation. We too, because of the fact that ostomy surgery save lives, MUST bring our positive message to the public. We should be proud of who we are and need to let others in our same situation know that by becoming involved with us, together WE can reach out to those who would rather have cancer or an inflammatory bowel disease than face ostomy surgery.

I know I can count on you to join me and all of our other tremendously talented UOAA volunteers in our journey to educate, inform and change the world’s perception of WHO we are. We are your neighbors, your clergy, your co-workers and your friends.

I look forward to continuous input from all of you, as my door, phone and e-mail are always open to comments. I encourage your participation and involvement along with your passion, and know that we can break the stigma that the term “ostomy” still carries.

Sincerely,

Dave Rudzin
800.826.0826

It’s getting closer every minute! How much closer?  How many days till August 7, 2011 (the first day of the  Conference)?    There’s a countdown on that page, to tell you how long you have to save your pennies and make your plane reservation.

Hope to see YOU there!

A new generation of DNA tests for colon cancer seems likely to improve the detection both of cancers and of the precancerous polyps that precede them. The tests, if validated, could reduce the burden of disease substantially by detecting tumors at an early stage, including those not picked up by a colonoscopy.

Please continue reading this interesting copyrighted article at the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/health/10cancer.html?ref=nicholas_wade

Patients will find it easier to appeal the denials of health insurance claims under rules being issued Thursday by the Obama administration, which is trying to boost political support for the new health-care law by highlighting advantages for consumers.

The regulations guarantee consumers the right to appeal denials — directly to their insurers and then, if necessary, to external review boards.

The external-review requirement will apply, for the first time, to companies that are self-insured — ones that pay their employees’ claims directly rather than buying insurance to cover their workers.

“This is huge,” said Sara Rosenbaum, head of the department of health policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

Most states already guarantee consumers the right to external appeals, though their rules vary widely. Only Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota do not have external review laws.

“The rules issued today will end the patchwork of protections that apply to only some plans in some states, and simplify the system for consumers,” according to a White House fact sheet.

However, the rules don’t apply to “grandfathered” plans — those that existed on March 23, when the health law was enacted. Plans can lose their “grandfathered” status if they make significant changes to their plans regarding costs or benefits.

Still, by next year, an estimated 31 million people in employer-sponsored plans and 10 million more in individual plans will benefit from the new appeals rights, according to the White House.

Advocates hope the changes will give consumers a fairer shot at fighting back when their claims are denied. Insurers deny claims for many reasons: They may determine that a treatment is not medically necessary, for example, or that it’s experimental. Sometimes denials relate to coverage of pre-existing health conditions.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main health insurance lobby, supports efforts to create uniformity in the appeals process, said spokesman Robert Zirkelbach, who has not yet seen the final rules. “We have encouraged every state to have a third-party review system,” he said.

But appealing insurers’ denials is easier in some states than others. Many consumers don’t know that they can appeal. “Not enough consumers know this is an option that they have,” said Angel Robinson, a consumer advocate in the Iowa Insurance Division.

To change that, the administration is providing $30 million in grants to states to strengthen consumer assistance offices.

Administration officials said they hope states that do not have an external review system will set up one using the new rules. If they don’t, a federal review system will be set up for them.

Under the regulations, states are “encouraged” to adopt the new standards by July 2011.

The new regulations take effect for plan years starting Sept. 23. But they won’t automatically apply to residents in states that have existing external review laws until next July. That’s to give states time to adjust to the new standards.

If states fail to change their rules by next July, their residents will then be able to rely on the federal standards. But federal officials are still working out the details of how that would be done.

The system can be hard for patients to navigate.

When Craig Washington suffered a stroke in June 2009, his health plan denied more than $28,000 in claims for the two weeks he was hospitalized in Chicago. The insurer said his stroke was due to a preexisting condition, and because he had been uninsured before starting a job that April as executive director of Roseland Community Hospital Foundation, the plan denied his claims. Washington lost two appeals with his health plan.

Now he’s appealing to an independent state review panel. “It’s exhausting,” he says.

Galewitz and Andrews are reporters for KHN (http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org), an editorially independent news service and a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care policy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Kristin led the UOAA Management Board of Directors at a successful and energizing strategic planning session last week, so please be on the look-out for advances and new elements within UOAA – and be prepared to continue to help UOAA achieve its goals.

When used for bowel cleansing before colonoscopy, the products can very rarely cause acute phosphate nephropathy, resulting in permanent kidney damage. 

See the FDA information, and access the page where you can file your own adverse event concerning any FDA-approved product, at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/OSP_solution/default.htm .

See more information from the Colorectal Cancer Coalition (C3) at this link.

So if your New Year’s Resolution includes having a colonoscopy or other colon text, please get a new recommendation from your physician for the bowel prep that will be needed.