Huntington’s disease, also known as Huntington’s chorea, is an inherited, autosomal dominant, progressive, degenerative disease usually seen in middle age. Common symptoms of this condition include sudden, jerky, involuntary movements (chorea) throughout the body; problems with balance and co-ordination; slurred speech; swallowing problems; cognitive defects; irritability or depression; and dementia. This condition is believed to result due to dysfunctional metabolism of cholesterol resulting in degeneration of the brain cells and their interconnections.The Ayurvedic treatment of Huntington’s disease is aimed at controlling the symptoms and treating the basic cause of the disease. Medicines like Kutaj (Holarrhina antidysentrica), Patol (Tricosanthe dioica), Kutki (Picrorrhiza kurroa), Saariva (Hemidesmus indicus), Patha (Cissampelos pareira), Musta (Cyperus rotundus), Guggulu (Commiphora mukul), Psyllium (Plantago ovata), Lashuna (Allium sativum), Amalaki (Emblica officinalis) and Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) are used to regulate and normalize the metabolism of cholesterol. Medicines like Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), Shankhpushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis), Vacha (Acorus calamus), Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) and Mandukparni (Centella asiatica) are used to prevent or slow down the degeneration of the network of brain cells and improve dementia, and cognitive and speech defects.Depression and irritability can be treated using medicines like Brahmi-Vati, Saraswatarishta, Laxmi-Vilas-Ras, Drakshasav and Shrung-Bhasma. Involuntary, jerky movements of the body are treated using medicines like Bruhat-Vat-Chintamani, Maha-Vat-Vidhvans-Ras, Vat-Gajankush-Ras, Sinhanaad-Guggulu, Vish-Tinduk-Vati, Dashmoolarishta, Nirgundi (Vitex negundo), Rasna (Pluchea lanceolata), Erandmool (Ricinus communis), Deodar (Cedrus deodara), Shalparni (Desmodium gangeticum), Prushnaparni (Uraria picta), Bala (Sida cordifolia) and Naagbala (Grewia hirsuta). The entire body is massaged using medicated oils like Mahanarayan oil, Mahamash oil and Mahasaindhav oil. This is followed by steam fomentation of the full body by using medicines like Dashmool-Qadha and Nirgundi-Qadha. Panchkarma procedures like ‘Shirobasti’ and ‘Shirodhara’ are also quite useful in this condition and need to be given periodically on a long-term basis.Patients affected with Huntington’s disease need to exercise regularly, maintain proper nutrition and take up physiotherapy and speech therapy. Family counseling and genetic counseling are also recommended in this condition.
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Why Cloud Storage is a Better Idea for Small Businesses
Like big businesses, small businesses have varied requirements from infrastructure, IT deployment, daily operation, and manpower to data management. However unlike big businesses, small businesses have budget constraints that often limit their scope of expansion and expenditures in the needful projects. Despite the limitations it doesn’t mean that small businesses do not have options. In fact there is a plethora of options available for small businesses to fulfill their wide-ranging business requirements.One of such options is cloud storage, also called as online storage, for data management, which is the biggest need of small businesses. Cloud storage is an answer to all the prayers related to data backup and restore of small businesses which are more prone to data loss/damage as compared to large businesses. According to a survey, 70% of the small businesses shut down within one year of their operations after they suffer major data. According to a survey conducted by Sage North America, about 62% small companies do not have a proper disaster recovery plan in place for safety from catastrophic disasters, man-made debacles, accidental deletions, thefts, power outages, hardware failure. In the same survey, it was concluded that around 33% of the businesses do not have data backup and recovery plans in place because there hasn’t been observed any catastrophic disasters or emergencies in their areas while around 30% said that “have never thought about it”. Around 28% of the participants said that they regularly back up their data because they have major data losses in the past.This is the poorest scenario for any small business that needs to be able to run properly without facing operational hitches which may occur and recue in the absence of a proper data backup and recovery plan. If you run a small business from your home or office, you can understand how vital it is to keep your data organized and safe to be able to meet the tailor-made demands to your clients, protect your business ideas and information from competitors, and from employees who might take advantage of your personal or professional information for monetary purposes among other things.The question that arises here is ‘why small businesses do not pay attention to data backup and recovery plans when they cannot prevent a tornado or other such catastrophic disasters, accidental deletions, thefts, power outages, or hardware failure for that matter from occurring’? Small businesses may be taking this risk because data management is not affordable for them. Besides, regular data backups and recoveries on several devices involve lots of hassles that put them off from maintaining proper data management plans. However with the onset of cloud storage, it has become extremely convenient and affordable for small businesses to maintain data. Businesses can back up their data as many times as they want and access it anytime, anywhere from their computers, Smartphones, tablets, servers, and networks etc. connected to the Internet.Since your data is stored in a cloud server, which is the only place for all your digital possessions viz. emails, contacts, documents, images, family videos, music numbers, social network updates, and bank details etc., the cost of regularly data backups and recoveries drastically come down. It’s is because you don’t have to use multiple hard disks and/or USB devices to store your data. In the cloud server, your data is stored once and forever. You can access, add, delete, edit, re-edit, backup and restore your business data as many times as you want without going through the lengthy and cumbersome procedure.In fact the data stored in a cloud server remains protected and safe from the tactics of hackers. Besides, cloud storage services are scalable as you can store higher volumes of data according to your needs. With cloud storage, it only takes a computer, server or mobile device with an active Internet connection or Wi-Fi to be able to manage the data. Such a flexibility and convenience is absent from the external storage media on which the cost of backing up and recovering data is also very high, in fact the highest.Considering that cloud storage is the only contemporary, affordable, and viable solution for small businesses and users, several major tech giants including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Netgear, and McAfee among others have come up with integrated cloud storage. Cloud storage is around 1,000 times more affordable than the external backup media whose reliability and safety are always at risk due to environment, physical conditions, catastrophic emergencies, accidental deletions, thefts, and other contingencies. Thus, if you own a small business, make sure that you cloud-power your data. It’s your choice to keep spending big money on the external storage media or spend only once and forever with a cloud storage services. It’s your choice if you want peace of mind or want to constantly run around losing business, clients, and money.
Ensuring Operational Efficiency and Effective Cost Cutting in Healthcare Settings – Best Practices
Operational efficiency has become paramount in healthcare systems with the ever increasing patient base, and the challenge inherent in rising up to the demand for unique patient care services. Healthcare organizations looking to cut down administrative costs find it to be a really testing task and are constantly on the lookout for potent cost cutting strategies. The efforts to cut costs should not prove detrimental to care providers’ vested objective, i.e. ensuring patient and employee satisfaction. Another vital consideration is that no strategy can be successful unless the administrative as well as clinical staff in an organization works in coordination.Using outsourced services has proven beneficial for many healthcare and other businesses looking to save valuable dollars. While it is a known fact that cost cutting is the primary spur for the rise of outsourcing, at present outsourcing has moved much beyond a mere cost saving strategy. Outsourced services such as medical billing and coding services, medical website design and medical website optimization are provided by BPO companies that work side by side with their client healthcare providers. Apart from ensuring cost savings in the range of 20% to 30%, outsourcing is also a way of achieving easy scalability within a short period of time.The Banner Health ModelA recent HBR (Harvard Business Review) blog highlighted how Banner Health, a prominent health system in the US successfully achieved efficiency as well as cost reduction through a successful strategy. Banner Health had lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of plummeting patient volume and reduced reimbursements during the recession. However, they were able to secure $70 million in savings during 2012 – 2013. It is expected that by the year 2017 Banner Health will have $256 million contributed each year to its bottom line by this savings. How did this $5 billion nonprofit system achieve this?They assiduously followed a sensible cost reduction policy, while always keeping in view their core values.Banner Health avoided adopting industry benchmarks in their cost-cutting endeavor and focused on a savings target based on their own performance.
They educated employees of the inevitability of cost cutting measures and the need for a process redesign across the system to improve patient care. They were able to remove the fear of impending layoffs from the employees’ minds. They also convinced the employees how cost cutting would help them invest in new constructive initiatives aimed at better coordinating, standardizing and integrating care provision.People from across the health system were asked to collaborate in cost reduction efforts. This definitely helped them to identify tens of millions of dollars in savings and at the same time ensure support of staff and frontline leaders. Banner’s team invited recommendations from the team to reduce the general and administrative (G&A) costs.
The senior leadership reviewed 123 recommendations, of which 116 (valued at $104 to $133 million annually or 18 – 24 percent of Banner’s G&A expense) were approved. These recommendations included opportunities to save at least $8 million through insourcing second physician reviews of inpatient charts, $4 million in human resource administration by implementing more self-service technology in collaboration with a shared services organization, and $3.5 million by creating an internal facility for drug compounding and packaging. This strategy was successful since by the latter half of 2012, Banner Health could recover $31 million in G&A savings.The team went on to work on its clinical operations as well, beginning with Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix. The physicians at the hospital were included in the team and they were asked to contribute their ideas. Banner Health’s strategy was effective because physicians are a necessary component of any team working to ensure optimum patient care and at the same time bring about significant cost reduction. Clinicians are knowledgeable in clinical functions and operations; they can drive revenue generation and are directly involved in patient care services. Here again the health system could reduce the cost structure by 15% and secured $15 million in direct savings over the next 12 months. Banner North Colorado benefited from the same strategy that was set in motion there as well, capturing more than $13 million in annual savings the first year itself.Banner Health implemented a system-wide optimization program covering all of its 23 acute care hospitals and healthcare facilities. Their success lies in the fact that they were able to create an awareness regarding the significance of cost control throughout the workforce.A Case for OutsourcingWith the healthcare reform and related requirements, healthcare providers and health plans are finding it advantageous to outsource information technology, business processing and call center tasks. Outsourcing will allow a more efficient and potent combination of capabilities and resources. Expert observers endorse the fact that third party collaboration will help ensure better performance, increased efficiency and of course cost reduction. While physicians can make use of an outsourcing service to handle medical billing and coding requirements, there are service providers that use technology to connect payer and provider in real time. With this, providers can check for patient eligibility, referral policies, limits on service and the financial responsibility of patients. Providers can also submit claims in real time.Outsourcing will prove to be a wise investment if it is assigned to a firm that follows the required standards for accuracy and turnaround time. Consider the references and talk to clients using the same company so that an informed decision can be made. It is true that outsourcing involves loss of control to a certain extent, and that is why it is vital to choose a reliable and reputable outsourcing partner.It is apparent that in these tough times, cost cutting has become a necessary measure for all businesses including those involved in healthcare provision. Banner Health’s example proves how all members of a healthcare system can be constructively involved in cost saving efforts. Identifying and implementing best practices in cost reduction, including the use of healthcare outsourcing services is the need of the day for health systems striving to bring about a sea change in the quality and cost of care.