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WHITE PLAINS, NY (PRWEB) January 18, 2012

WINFertility, Inc., the leader in Infertility Management Programs for insurers and employers, today announced the extension of its consumer offering to the greater Atlanta region, its fifth major marketplace in as many months. The expansion is designed to increase the availability of affordable, advanced fertility care that remains financially out of reach for many of the nearly quarter million Georgians facing infertility today who are without advanced infertility insurance coverage.

WINFertility has developed evidence-based treatment protocols for IUI, IVF and Third Party Reproduction, delivered by a contracted, credentialed network of fertility specialists. Infertility medications are included in the single, discounted, bundled price for Program participants. There is no age or medical criteria required to enroll in the Program. If treatment is indicated by a participating provider and the patient has no infertility insurance coverage, or has exhausted their benefit, she can enroll in the WINFertility Program. Typical patient savings per IVF treatment cycle can range from $ 5,000 to $ 10,000 or more, depending on treatments and medication doses required.

Incorporated in the unique Consumer Program is access to WINFertility?s FertilityCoach Nurses(SM) on a 24/7 basis for education and care coordination, a Medical Advisory Board comprised of industry-leading Reproductive Endocrinologists and financing programs at preferred rates.

Program Available Throughout Metropolitan Atlanta

Effective today, the WINFertility Quality Discount Treatment Program is available in the greater Atlanta area through Georgia Reproductive Specialists (GRS). Infertility patients in the region are treated at four conveniently located offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Decatur and Stockbridge. The experienced team of specialists at GRS provides a full range of infertility services, from female and male testing and diagnosis, through IUI, IVF, Donor Programs and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). ?The GRS team has long believed that the challenging economic environment should not limit access for couples seeking solutions to their fertility problems?, said Mark Perloe, MD and Medical Director of Georgia Reproductive Specialists. ?We initiated a breakthrough program in Georgia called No Hidden Fee IVF that includes all medical and laboratory procedures that are part of a typical IVF treatment cycle. We were not able to include medications and pharmacy distribution.? According to Perloe, ?By partnering with WINFertility, GRS patients have unique access to a discounted, bundled package that includes both IVF treatment and medications at a much more affordable price, so more people will be able to pursue their family-building dreams. The addition of the WINFertility Treatment Program reinforces the Georgia Reproductive Specialists? philosophy of providing affordable treatment. We expect it to be a terrific partnership and deliver added value to our patients.?

More Access for More Patients

?Georgia is home to almost 10 million people, with nearly half residing in the greater Atlanta area. We are so pleased to be able to offer our unique program to such a large and dynamic marketplace, where so many suffer with the diagnosis of infertility and its associated expenses,? commented Tom Boyajy, COO of WINFertility. ?The WINFertility approach is to promote high quality infertility care at the most competitive cost. The GRS team is recognized for both their patient-centered approach and their clinical results. Coupled with WIN?s proprietary treatment protocols, bundled packages, fertility management expertise, and considerable buying power, we are confident that patients in Georgia will receive the very best treatment value possible.?

?The response WIN has received about our Consumer Program continues to be very positive?, said Boyajy. ?This encouraging reception is due to the compelling financial and clinical benefits of WIN?s offering that are unique in each marketplace we have entered. To continue to meet market demand and provide greater program access to patients who require fertility help, we have accelerated our expansion timetable and expect to announce several more new markets over the coming months.?

About WINFertility

Founded in 2000, WINFertility is the national leader in Infertility Management Programs, annually managing infertility treatment for many thousands of infertility patients for major insurers and employers. WIN is leveraging their decade-long experience and clinical results in the fertility field, direct contracts with fellowship-trained fertility specialists, pharmaceutical manufacturers and national specialty pharmacies, to offer this unique direct-to-consumer program. Now, self-paying patients in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota and New York can enroll in the WINFertility Program and take advantage of WIN?s integrated platform to access evidence-based protocols, quality providers and discounts enjoyed by the largest healthcare purchasers.

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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 30, 2011

A new study released today by the Williams Institute found that five percent of dental offices in Los Angeles County have a blanket policy of refusing dental services to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

The study also found that an additional 5% of dental providers would treat PLWHA differently than other patients in ways that could potentially violate anti-discrimination laws. Examples of such different treatment include only providing the most basic of services to PLWHA, such as a cleaning, or only treating them on certain days of the week or in an isolated room.

?Thirty years into the epidemic, HIV-positive patients continue to face discrimination when accessing dental care,? says study co-author Brad Sears, Roberta A. Conroy Scholar of Law and Executive Director of the Williams Institute. ?While it is definitely encouraging that 90% of dentists in Los Angeles County do treat HIV-positive patients, it is likely that the rate of discrimination is higher in other parts of the country.?

The study used trained ?testers,? researchers who called dental offices posing as potential new HIV-positive patients, to measure the level of HIV-discrimination. In total, 612 dental offices in Los Angeles County were contacted in 2007 and 2008. Calls to the offices were made in English and Spanish, and by callers who said they had private dental insurance as well as Denti-Cal, a dental benefit tied to California?s Medicaid program (that was largely de-funded in 2009).

The study also found that the rate of dentists having unlawful blanket policies of refusing service to PLWHA is lower than that of other health care providers that have been previously studied. Similar studies of health care providers in Los Angeles County conducted by Sears between 2003 and 2006 found that 55% of obstetricians, 46% of skilled nursing facilities, and 25% of plastic surgeons had such policies.

?The study suggests that consistent legal enforcement and education efforts, both during dental school and afterwards, have had a positive effect on dentists, and have thus created expanded access to care for PLWHA,? says Sears.

The most common reasons that the dentists gave for refusing to accept HIV-positive patient were that the dental office was not equipped to treat HIV-positive patients and that extra infection control precautions would be required.

?Dentists can treat HIV-positive patients safely and effectively,? says study co-author Fariba S. Younai, Professor of Clinical Sciences & Vice Chair, Division of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry. ?The same standard infection control precautions should be used with all patients and every patient should be treated as if they had a blood borne disease. Thus, every dental office should be equipped to treat HIV-positive patients.?

Despite the overall lower rate of discrimination, the study found that levels of discrimination were twice as high for PLWHA who had Denti-Cal as opposed to private dental insurance. In addition, dentists who were older and who did not go to dental school in the United States were more likely to provide a discriminatory response.

Rates of discrimination were also higher in areas of Los Angeles County with higher rates of HIV-infection, and with more low-income people, people of color and women among the infected. Specifically, rates of discrimination were significantly higher in the San Gabriel Valley and South Public Health Service Planning Areas (SPAs), as compared to other parts of Los Angeles County.

?The findings indicate that training and education efforts over the past 20 years have had a positive effect. Many of the dental clinics tested responded with affirmations such as, ?Of course we would accept you -we do not discriminate here.? However, the data also suggest the need for more targeted education efforts to ensure equal access to dental services for all PLWHA,? says study co-author Tom Donohoe, Associate Professor of Family Medicine at UCLA?s David Geffen School of Medicine and Director, UCLA/Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center.

About the Williams Institute

The Williams Institute advances sexual orientation law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates it to judges, legislators, policymakers, media and the public. A national think tank at UCLA Law, the Williams Institute produces high quality research with real-world relevance. For more information, go to: http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/home.html

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(Vocus/PRWEB) March 01, 2011

The Nursing Home Complaint Center says, “We are calling March,National Nursing Home Abuse, and Neglect Awareness Month, for all US nursing home patients, and their loved ones. Just as an example of the problem, we believe needless sepsis infections, bed sores, septic shock, broken bones, wrongful death, and elder abuse in our nation’s nursing homes are at, or beyond epidemic levels, and we want to hear from family members who have proof the sick, or deceased family member was mistreated, or not treated at all-with the result being a wrongful death, or they are now in a ICU at a nearby hospital.” They say, “One of the biggest problems we see in the vast majority of our nation’s nursing homes is staffing levels, are not high enough to meet Medicare, or Medicaid standards, with the result being dead patients, or patients suffering from sepsis, bed sores, or septic shock, or broken bones.” The group says, “We desperately need family members, or loved ones to keep journals, or logs related to each time, and date they last saw their family member in a US nursing home, and their condition at that time.” If a family member of a nursing home patient has specific information about severe neglect, or abuse involving a nursing home, and their loved one, please call the Nursing Home Complaint Center immediately at 866-714-6466, or contact the group via its web site at http://NursingHomeComplaintCenter.Com

The Nursing Home Complaint Center is also urging nursing home staff members to step forward if they have proof of intentional short staffing, patient neglect, concealing what really happened to someone’s mom, or dad, in the instance of a severe infection, a broken bone, or even a wrongful death. The group says, “many nursing home employees see it, but are too afraid to say something about it. Please call us, if you know of intentional nursing home abuse, neglect, or wrongful death.” They say, “we also want to hear from nursing home employees who have significant proof of Medicare, or Medicaid fraud. If you can prove intentional short staffing, needless Medicare cognitive, ambulatory, or speech tests, there can be huge rewards for this type of information-provided its provable.” Nursing home patient family members, and or nursing home employees are encouraged to call the Nursing Home Complaint Center with any serious concerns, or proof of wrong doing, patient abuse, or patient neglect anytime at 866-714-6466, or they can contact the group via its web site at http://NursingHomeComplaintCenter.Com

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