Our goal is to sell 200 $8 plates of BBQ from 11AM – 2PM!

We cannot do it without your help!

Please visit stanberry-ins.com/bbq for more details!

If you are not in town or would just like to make a donation to the cause, please go here stanberry-ins.com/donate

Thank you!

p.s. We love you Linda! Although you are retired, you are just as big a part of the Stanberry Insurance family now as you have ever been!

The Hot Pink Mamas will be sponsoring Full Throttle For The Tatas a benefit Motorcycle Poker run to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.  The funds raised will pay for mammograms for women in the local area that do not have insurance and do not qualify for Medicaid.  Funds will also be donated to the Med West Breast Cancer Center, to purchase
Post -Op garments for women that can’t financially afford to purchase them.

A Beautiful Ride For A Worthwhile Cause
When:  October 22, 2011
Where:  Starts @ Jackson County Justice Center

Stops along the way:

• Cherokee Harley Davidson
• Mile Post 462 Blue Ridge Parkway Big Witch Overlook
• Milepost 451.2 Blue Ridge Parkway Water Rock Knob Visitor’s Center
• WNC Cancer Care  Parking lot located in MedWest Physicians Park Upper Level
• Final Stop Mark Watson Park

Cost :  $20.00 per Rider.   This includes, t-shirt, poker hand, and meal ticket.

• First Bike out @ 9am
• Last Bike out @11 am
• Last Bike in @ 1pm****

• $150.00 Best Hand
• $50.00 Worst Hand
• Door Prizes
• BBQ Dinner after Run

Full-Throttle For The Tatas Poker Run Pre-Registration Form and T-Shirt Order Form

To Reserve your spot and ensure your T-Shirt size, please click on the Pre-Registration Form. Mail it and your check for $20.00 to the address on the form. Be sure to get it back by October 19, 2011

The federal grant provides funding to improve health insurance premium review processes

RALEIGH — Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin today announced that the N.C. Department of Insurance has been awarded $1 million in federal funding to help the agency implement requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, specifically for making improvements to the current health insurance premium review process.

“A little over a month ago, our staff submitted the premium review assistance grant to the federal government. I am pleased that North Carolina was approved for this funding,” said Commissioner Goodwin. “The Department of Insurance has a lot of work ahead of us to implement the new federal health care reform initiatives. We will use this federal funding to review our existing procedures, hire new staff and improve consumer outreach specific to approving rate changes to health insurance plans.”

The Department’s grant application identified the following measures to improve the rate review process in North Carolina:

• Seek outside review of actuarial processes to determine areas of improvement in the process.
• Seek additional authority to expand prior rate approval to small and large employer group health and association group health plans via the N.C. General Assembly.
• Hire additional staff to accommodate increased rate filings and their review.
• Increase transparency and accessibility:
  • Improve the access and readability of rate filings that are currently posted on the Department’s website.
  • Seek authority via the N.C. General Assembly to require insurers to create consumer-friendly summaries and increased public information for rate filings.
  • Seek input and consider planning for public comment and public hearings on rate requests.

A copy of the grant application is available on the Department’s website, www.ncdoi.com/healthcarereform.

Consumers with questions about the PPACA legislation may call the Department’s consumer helpline, 1-800-546-5664, or visit www.ncdoi.com/healthcarereform.

Stanberry Insurance Agency raised $2,200, overwhelmingly reaching the original goal of $1,000. Through hard work and dedication, the Stanberry team held a profitable yard sale earlier in the spring to raise money as well as teaming up with O’Malleys Pub and Grill for a percentage night. To continue fundraising at the event, our team sold Root Beer and Coke Floats as well as a few hamburger meals.

Throughout the evening and into the early morning hours, team members walked the track which was lighted by luminaries to honor and remember those who have battled cancer. A deejay provided entertainment those wee morning hours to keep the crowds spirited and to energize the tiring walkers. Stanberry had four team members who camped out at the event and walked all night long—even through a light drizzle of rain!

Stanberry Insurance Agency is honored to be part of such a wonderful cause. Not only was the event a great opportunity for the community to come together and have some fun but it was for a great organization that fights to save lives every day! Stanberry will continue to help fight cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for years to come.

But what can the iPad do for health IT?

Laptops have already become a staple for many doctors, but many tech experts believe the iPad will prove the perfect companion for physicians and other healthcare providers looking to embrace health IT technology.

The primary reason the iPad is thought to be a perfect fit for health care workers is convenience. Not only is the iPad far lighter than a laptop–weighing in at just 1.5 pounds–but its battery life, 10 hours, nearly doubles the 6 or so hours touted by most high-end laptops. With a starting cost of $499, it’s a bargain compared to most laptops on the market today.

Just imagine: An iPad application (or even a physician-specific operating system, perhaps) designed for physicians would undoubtedly offer a user-friendly interface. And adding EHR (Electronic Health Records) technology to a sophisticated piece of equipment like the iPad would be a cinch.

Physicians who are able to pull up medical records and other necessary data quicker could spend more time speaking directly with the patient, including more eye-contact, an element studies have shown to be crucial in boosting patient satisfaction. The number one complaint patients have about medical care and treatment is the lack of time doctors are able to spend with them. In a 15 minute appointment, the doctor might only actually see and talk to patient for 5 minutes. Doctors spend over 50% of their time wading through administrative paper work and documentations so in essence the iPad might be the solution to this problem.

But even those experts who believe the iPad will become ubiquitous in the health care industry don’t believe it will happen overnight. The iPad, released April 3, has been on the market just a month so it’s too early to tell whether or not it will catch on.

The iPad can be useful for personal health, too. The iPad, like the iPhone, brings a wealth of health and medical information to your fingertips. One application, Carter’s Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine, was specifically designed for the iPad. It offers 1,800 pages of medical information, totaling 12,000 entries. It also offers full-text search, an interactive diagram of the human body, browsing history and more.

The iPad also offers applications to help users keep fit. Hundreds of applications offer information such as nutrition labels for different foods (340 calories for one cup of egg nog?), tools to track the user’s daily calories consumed, body mass index, exercise history and more.

As it relates to health care, the iPad could be a game-changer, or it could be much ado about nothing. Only time will tell.