HONOLULU (AP) For Gerilyn Pinnow, every dollar that goes to treat her son's autism is one less she's able to save for her daughter's college education. That choice is one reason Pinnow and other parents are pushing the Hawaii Legislature to pass a bill that would require insurance companies to cover treatments for autism, a move opposed by some insurers, who say it could lead to higher costs for people seeking coverage. The bill is named after Pinnow's 12-year-old son, Luke, who was diagnosed with autism at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Traveling to get Luke diagnosed cost the family about $10,000, she said. Pinnow, a teacher who lives in Ewa Beach, said she had to tap into her retirement and short-sell her family's house to cover treatment costs. "No other family should have to go through that," she said in an interview Monday. Hawaii lawmakers continue to work out the details of Senate Bill 2054, which would require insurance companies to cover applied behavioral analysis and other treatment options. Applied behavioral analysis is widely viewed as the most effective treatment for autism spectrum disorders. But the Hawaii Medical Services Association, one of the state's largest insurance companies, opposed the … Continue reading →

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Nebraska (KTIV) - Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman stopped in South Sioux City Monday, the day he signed Nebraska's new Autism bill into law. Governor Heineman told the crowd of South Sioux City leaders that the Autism bill is very personal for him. He met a child with Autism at a parent teacher conference, Jacob, who is now referred to as 'the Governor's buddy.' The bill will cause some health insurance plans in the state to provide coverage for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of Autism until the child turns 21. "This is kind of personal for me. I've learned a lot about Autism because of Jacob. It's going to be important for Nebraska and for our state to move forward," Governor Heineman said. Governor Heineman signed the bill alongside Jacob and other families affected by Autism. Originally posted here: Nebraska governor signs bill for Autism treatment … Continue reading →

PUTRAJAYA: Intervention must be part of a national plan that ensures every family from every community has access to quality, affordable health care and services across the lifespan of a person with autism, said the prime minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. She said a comprehensive strategy must include input from researchers, policymakers, educators, and caregivers to cover a wide range of issues, including training of skilled personnel such as psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians, therapists, and early interventionists. Rosmah said the strategy should also encompass policies on insurance, tax incentives and funding for research and evidence-based treatment. "Autism knows no racial, ethnic or socio-economic boundaries and no efforts should be spared to reduce disparities in awareness and access to care," she said when delivering a keynote address at the International Seminar on Autism 2014 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) on Tuesday. Rosmah, who is also patron of the seminar, said research showed that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome would be, hence reducing the average age of diagnosis must be given a priority. She said parents and caregivers should also be assisted in developing education and treatment programmes to enable autistic children and adolescents to reach their … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Apr-2014 Contact: Rachel Champeau rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2270 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences Administering a clot-dissolving drug to stroke victims quickly ideally within the first 60 minutes after they arrive at a hospital emergency room is crucial to saving their lives, preserving their brain function and reducing disability. Given intravenously, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) is currently the only Food and Drug Administrationapproved therapy shown to improve outcomes for patients suffering acute ischemic stroke, which affects some 800,000 Americans annually. Now, a UCLA-led study demonstrates that hospitals participating in the "Target: Stroke" national quality-improvement program have markedly increased the speed with which they treat stroke patients with tPA. Researchers looked at more than 1,000 hospitals participating in the initiative, which was conceived by UCLA faculty and is conducted in collaboration with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The findings of the study are published in the April 23 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers report that at participating hospitals, the average time it took to deliver tPA to patients fell from 74 minutes to 59 minutes. This speedier treatment, they said, was accompanied by improved outcomes, including reduced mortality, fewer treatment … Continue reading →

hide captionTurning the standard ambulance into a specialized stroke treatment unit could help. Turning the standard ambulance into a specialized stroke treatment unit could help. When a patient who has had a stroke enters the emergency room, it's a race against the clock. Those who receive the clotbusting drug tPA within 60 minutes of experiencing stroke symptoms have the best chance of avoiding brain damage or death, but studies show that only 30 percent of patients eligible for treatment with the drug get it within this "golden hour." But that less-than-stellar response can be sped up, according to studies published Tuesday in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a project called Target: Stroke, launched in 2010 by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, hospitals were recognized if they met a goal of treating 50 percent of stroke patients within an hour after they arrive. The best practices to meet that goal include having ambulance staff call ahead and rushing patients to a CT scanner immediately. As a result, hospitals reduced door-to-needle treatment from 74 minutes to 59 minutes in four years, according to data from 1,030 of those hospitals and more than 70,000 patients. … Continue reading →

KANSAS CITY, Mo. When a person is having a stroke, 30,000 nerve cells die each minute that passes without treatment. A big study finds efforts by some hospitals to get a drug to patients sooner aresaving more lives and preventing disability. Shirley Robertson is piecing a quilt for her granddaughter. Her ability was in jeopardy in February when she suddenly had trouble seeing out of one eye. Then her leg went numb. Robertson immediately thought it could be a stroke. Something was wrong and called 911, she said. An ambulance rushed Robertson to Research Medical Center where they quickly did some blood testing and took her to the CT scanner. The scan showed she didnt have brain damage yet, and she didnt have bleeding. Her stroke was caused by a blood clot. That meant she could get tPA, a drug to bust up the clot and reverse the stroke. The time from the door of the emergency room to injecting the drug was 51 minutes. Sooner you get the drug, the better the results are, said Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed, a neurologist at Research. Robertson said her stroke symptoms quickly went away. Within an hour, I was almost well, she said. … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Apr-2014 Contact: Martin Ebinger, M.D. martin.ebinger@charite.de The JAMA Network Journals Using an ambulance that included a computed tomography (CT) scanner, point-of-care laboratory, telemedicine connection and a specialized prehospital stroke team resulted in decreased time to treatment for ischemic stroke, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. In acute ischemic stroke, thrombolysis (dissolving of blood clots) using intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the treatment of choice after excluding bleeding in the brain by imaging. Past studies have shown time-dependent benefits of tPA, with early treatment associated with better outcomes. Apart from delayed patient presentation, management inside and outside of the hospital contributes to treatment delays. Recent data from the United States indicate that less than 30 percent of patients have a door-to-needle time for receiving tPA within the recommended 60 minutes. A recent study reported time-savings for 12 tPA administrations performed in a special ambulance with a CT scanner and laboratory. Little is known about the overall effects of specialized ambulances for treating patients with stroke, according to background information in the article. Martin Ebinger, M.D., of CharitUniversittsmedizin Berlin, Germany, … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Apr-2014 Contact: Laura Kurtzman Laura.Kurtzman@ucsf.edu The JAMA Network Journals The majority of adults surveyed indicated they would want administration of clot-dissolving medications if incapacitated by a stroke, a finding that supports clinicians' use of this treatment if patient surrogates are not available to provide consent, according to a study in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. "In life-threatening emergencies involving incapacitated patients without surrogates, clinicians may intervene without obtaining informed consent, applying the presumption that reasonable people would consent to treatment in such circumstances. Whether this rationale applies to the treatment of acute ischemic stroke with intravenous thrombolysis [administration of clot-busting agent] is controversial because this intervention improves functional outcomes but is not life preserving. Nonetheless, the presumption of consent to thrombolysis for ischemic stroke has recently been endorsed by professional societies," according to background information in the study. Winston Chiong, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues examined presumption of consent by comparing preferences for treatment of acute ischemic stroke with thrombolysis and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR; in which the presumption of consent is generally accepted) in a nationally representative sample of U.S. … Continue reading →

Hospitals that make an all-out push for faster stroke care get a clot-busting medication to patients more quickly, prevent more in-hospital deaths and are able to send more survivors straight home, rather than to a nursing facility, a new study shows. The study was conducted in more than 1,000 hospitals and published online Tuesday in the journal JAMA. It provides some of the best evidence that hospitals can hasten stroke care and get better results by adopting several key strategies. Those include getting alerts from ambulance workers when stroke patients are en route and speeding up brain scans, lab tests and medication mixing once patients arrive. Still, the study suggests such efforts can be for naught if patients show up too late to benefit from the medication ?? called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Guidelines call for use within 4.5 hours of the first symptoms and within an hour of arrival at a hospital. The study is "more evidence that for stroke, every minute counts," says lead author Gregg Fonarow, a heart specialist at the University of California-Los Angeles. Researchers looked at 71,169 patients with ischemic strokes, the kind caused by blood clots. They compared those treated in the years 2003-2009 … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Apr-2014 Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2262 The JAMA Network Journals In a study that included more than 71,000 stroke patients, implementation of a quality initiative was associated with improvement in the time to treatment and a lower risk of in-hospital death, intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain), and an increase in the portion of patients discharged to their home, according to the study appearing in the April 23/30 issue of JAMA, a neurology theme issue. Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA; an enzyme that helps dissolve clots) reduces long-term disability when administered early to eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke. These benefits, however, are highly time dependent. Because of the importance of rapid treatment, national guidelines recommend that hospitals complete the evaluation of patients with acute ischemic stroke and begin intravenous tPA therapy for eligible patients within 60 minutes of hospital arrival. However, prior studies demonstrate that less than one-third of patients are treated within the recommended time frame, and that this measure has improved minimally over time, according to background information in the article. Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues examined the results of a national quality improvement initiative (Target: … Continue reading →