February 2005, Volume 5, Issue 1
Special Points of Interest (click topic)
Research News
Nurse-Midwifery Services
Midwest Surgical Center
Contraceptive Insurance Awareness Campaign
Ask The Doctor
Health News
True or False?
Historical Facts
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__________________________
Suzanne Trupin, MD, FACOG
2125 South Neil Street, Champaign, IL 61820
PHONE (217)356-3736
FAX (217) 356-5849
www.womenshealthpractice.com
Currently Enrolling Studies
STUDY - Menopause
According to the North American Menopause Society, about 4,000 women in the United States and Canada reach menopause each day.
80-85% of menopausal women experience symptoms such as:
30% of menopausal women will have severe symptoms. These symptoms can make daily life uncomfortable and unmanageable.
A research study is being conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of an investigational medication in menopausal women with persistent symptoms.
Women interested in volunteering for the study must:
Participation in the study requires at least five office visits over a period of up to 22 weeks, and includes study-related medical care, including health assessments, lab tests, and study medications.
Women interested in volunteering or learning more about the study can contact Women’s Health Practice.
STUDY - Osteoporosis/Osteopenia—The Silent Disease
Up to half of all women 50 and over will suffer at least one osteoporosis-related fracture in their lives.
Risk factors for developing osteoporosis/osteopenia include:
Osteoporosis Research Study: We are seeking volunteers to participate in a clinical trial evaluating a once-yearly investigational medication for the prevention of osteoporosis.
To qualify you must be:
If you quality, you will receive during the study:
STUDY - Heavy Menstrual Bleeding
Do you experience heavy menstrual bleeding on 2 to 5 days of your regular menstrual period? Does heavy menstrual bleeding keep you from your normal social and work activities?
If you answered yes to these questions, you may qualify for a research study of an investigational drug for heavy menstrual bleeding. This investigational drug is not a hormone.
You must:
If you qualify you will receive study drug and study related procedures including physical exams, electrocardiograms, eye exams and laboratory tests at no cost. You will also receive compensation for your time and travel.
For more information, please call Women’s Health Practice, 217-356-3736.
STUDY - Have You Stopped Taking Weekly Osteoporosis Medications Because of Gastrointestinal (GI) Side Effects?
A 12 month research study for an investigational medication is underway for postmenopausal women who have stopped taking their weekly osteoporosis medication at least 3 months ago. Participants will have a choice of once monthly oral tablets or every 3 month intravenous (IV) injections.
Eligible participants will be provided study-related procedures and study medications at no cost. In addition, participants may receive reasonable reimbursement for time and travel.
If you are interested in finding out more information about this research study, please contact Women’s Health Practice at 217-356-3736.
Lori Farneti, C.N.M.
Certified Nurse Midwife
Lori attended the University of Illinois at Chicago for her Master’s Degree in Midwifery and passed the National Certification of the American College of Nurse Midwives Examination in June 2004. Lori received her Registered Nurse degree in 1996 and has worked in various settings throughout her career. Lori realizes that every woman is unique and plans to provide personal gynecologic and/or obstetric exams for women of all ages. The midwifery model of obstetric care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life events. Midwives deal with “normal” aspects of a woman’s health. When problems arise, the physician may be consulted.
The purpose of the Nurse Midwifery Service is to provide alternative, full-range gynecology/obstetrical services to healthy women. In accordance with the values of Women’s Health Practice, this care will be humanistic, family-focused and individualized, preventative, satisfying and safe. We will strive to be a leader in the community and the profession.
We believe that a woman and her family should be involved in decisions regarding their health and well-being. We believe, also, that pregnancy and childbirth are healthy, normal life events, and that the care and education of women and their families should continue in a life-long process. We believe that the role of the nurse midwife includes educating, listening to, advising and supporting women and their families. It is our philosophy that medical interventions should be used only when necessary, not routinely. It is our goal to provide care that is personalized and dignified.
For more information about our midwifery services, we invite you to visit our midwifery website at http://www.whp-childbirth.com or contact Lori at Lori.Farneti@womenshealthpractice.com or 217-356-3736, ext. 109.
Midwest Surgical Center, L.L.C., located at Women’s Health Practice, mailing address PO Box 11285, Champaign, Illinois 61826-1285, was established to provide a legal entity for our existing ambulatory surgical center, which is devoted primarily to performing surgical procedures. Midwest Surgical Center, L.L.C., is operated in conjunction with Women’s Health Practice and remains under the same ownership and direction of Dr. Suzanne Trupin.
What does this mean to you as a patient? For any outpatient procedure performed at Midwest Surgical Center, as at a hospital or other ambulatory surgery center, a predetermined facility fee will be charged for your surgical procedure performed, and will vary based upon the type of surgery/procedure. This fee includes pre-operative evaluation, use of the operating room, post-operative recovery services, and routine drugs and supplies. This fee is separate from the doctor's professional fee, anesthesia services provided by the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, pre-operative testing, laboratory work, pathology, EKGs, etc., which will be billed independently by the physician, anesthetist, and/or laboratory performing these tests/services.
Prior to your surgery, a member of our business office will call your insurance company to obtain benefit information (deductible, coinsurance, copayments) and preauthorization (if applicable) for both the physician and facility.
However, some insurance companies will not quote facility fee benefits to us. In this case, you as the patient would need to contact your insurance company directly for facility benefits.
If Midwest Surgical Center is an ‘out-of-network facility” with your insurance plan, Midwest Surgical Center has agreed to accept the out-of-network benefit coverage rate. You will not be balance billed for the difference between in-network and out-of-network coverage rates. For example, if your in-network coverage rate is 90% and out-of-network coverage rate is 70%, you will not be balance billed for the 20% difference.
For more information about Midwest Surgical Center, visit www.midwestsurgicalcenter.com or call 217-390-1084.
Contraceptive Insurance Awareness Campaign
On Friday, January 14, 2005, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced a coordinated outreach effort to inform women that private insurance plans that provide coverage for outpatient drugs or services are now required to cover all FDA-approved contraceptive services and prescriptions. Contraceptive Coverage in Health Insurance became effective January 01, 2004. Illinois is the 22nd state to enact contraceptive coverage legislation.
“Right now, women pay 68 percent more in out of pocket health care costs than men do because of the cost associated with reproductive healthcare. Women pay too much for their health care. If insurance companies can cover Viagra for men, it is only fair that they be required to cover birth control for women”, said Governor Blagojevich.
If your employer’s health plan doesn’t provide contraceptive coverage:
There are exceptions to this law. Some large employers can choose to self-insure and are not regulated by Illinois state law. Instead, they are regulated by the federal government under the federal ERISA rules; there is no federal law requiring contraceptive coverage in health insurance. In other states, some women have filed lawsuits against employers based on sex discrimination. Several cases have resulted in successful rulings or settlements forcing these companies to provide contraceptive coverage in their health insurance. The Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act allows health insurance companies with moral or religious objections to refuse to cover any form of health care they oppose. There may be religiously affiliated health insurance companies that will invoke this right to refuse and not comply with the contraceptive coverage law.
Ask The Doctor
“I missed one of my birth control pills. What should I do?”
If you miss one “active” pill:
If you miss two “active” pills in week 1 or week 2 of your pack:
If you miss two “active” pills in a row in week 3:
If you miss three or more “active” pills in a row (during the first 3 weeks):
If you are on 28-day pack pills:
If you forget any of the seven “reminder” pills in week 4:
Finally, if you are still not sure what to do about the pills you have missed:
Americans Diagnosed With Osteoporosis Increased Seven-fold Over Past Decade.
A recent study estimates as of 2003 3.6 million people had been diagnosed with osteoporosis compared with half a million in 1994. The number of physician visits for osteoporosis jumped to 6.3 million last year from 1.3 million in 1994. Widespread ads and campaigns have raised awareness about osteoporosis. Nevertheless, osteoporosis remains remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. Osteoporosis affects 10 million Americans, mostly women, who face a high risk of debilitating bone fractures. An additional 34 million have less severe bone thinning that also increases the risk.
-Adapted from Archives of Internal Medicine 164(14):1525-1530, July 26, 2004
Jan Dedrick, C.M.A., Senior Research Coordinator. The International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) announced that Jan Dedrick, C.M.A., Senior Research Coordinator, at WHP has been recognized as a Certified Densitometry Technologist (CDT). Jan attended an ISCD Bone Densitometry Course and passed a rigorous exam on bone density testing for osteoporosis. There are over 5,000 certified clinicians and technologists worldwide. Certification in bone densitometry is a demonstration of proficiency and is a requirement for some insurance companies and HMOs. Congratulations to Jan on this accomplishment!
Genital warts are caused by a virus.
TRUE. Warts are caused by the human papillomomavrius (HPV), There are more than 100 types of this virus—more than 30 of those types cause infection in the genital area.
The virus can be caught from a toilet seat.
FALSE. HPV infection is transmitted from one person to another during sexual activity.
HPV does not always cause warts.
TRUE. A person can have the virus but not have warts or may not know the virus is there.
Using a condom during intercourse can prevent HPV from spreading.
FALSE. HPV can infect any tissue in the genital region, so it can spread from areas that are not covered by a condom. It is important to use a condom, though, to decrease HPV transmission and help prevent transmission of other diseases.
Genital warts may sometimes go away on their own without treatment.
TRUE. The body’s immune system can make the warts go away.
Once warts are removed, they never come back.
FALSE. Sometimes warts do not return, but sometimes they do because HPV infection remains in the body.
Genital warts can cause cancer.
FALSE. It is really the HPV virus that causes cancer—some types of HPV cause warts and some do not. Some types of HPV can cause cancer and some do not. The types of HPV that cause genital warts are not the same types that cause genital cancer. If certain types of the virus stay in the body for a long time, the risk of cancer is higher.
Semmelweis discovered that hand washing was the key to prevention of childbed fever, a discovery that became the greatest single contribution to prevention of maternal mortality. The controversy this caused, however, became so intense that he died within a few weeks of being committed to a mental asylum in 1865.
In humans, spontaneous births peak in the early morning between 3 and 4 o’clock. In harmony with this is the peak in nocturnal release of pituitary oxytocin accompanied by nighttime uterine contractions.
