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Find the NCC on Facebook!
The National Chlamydia Coalition is now on Facebook. To follow the NCC, simply visit our page and click the "like" button. Don't forget to share it with your friends and colleagues!
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August is National Immunization Awareness Month!
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Check out this toolkit with resources to plan activities in your community.
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Dear Colleague,
Welcome to NCC News. This online newsletter was created to keep you up-to-date on all things chlamydia and related areas of interest. We hope you will find it useful and informative. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues who also may find it of use. |
 | New Report Reviews State Confidentiality Laws |
A new report released by the Guttmacher Institute, Confidentiality for Individuals Insured as Dependents: A Review of State Laws and Policies, reviews state-level legal requirements related to confidentiality for patients with private insurance and examines steps some states have taken to protect confidential access to care  for dependents. The report found that privacy concerns about health information can be important for individuals when seeking a broad range of health care services, and these concerns may be particularly acute for individuals seeking sexual and reproductive healthcare. Laws in almost all states can preclude confidentiality for dependents, with half the states requiring or presuming the sending of an explanation of benefits. At least eight states have adopted statutes or regulations that could provide a starting point for giving dependents the confidentiality protection they need.
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ACA Gives Women Access to Free Preventive Services
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Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as of August 1, 2012 approximately forty-seven million women now have access to eight new prevention-related health care services without paying out of their own pocket. The eight new prevention-related services are:
- Well-woman visits
- Gestational diabetes screening
- Domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling
- FDA-approved contraceptive methods, contraceptive education and counseling
- Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling
- HPV DNA testing for women 30 or older
- Sexually transmitted infections counseling for sexually-active women
- HIV screening and counseling for sexually-active women
To learn more about the health care services covered under the Affordable Care Act, go to http://www.healthcare.gov/prevention.
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Extra-genital Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Infections
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In the next installment of the Research Translation Committee's Hot Topic series, John Papp from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discusses the testing of extra-genital sites for chlamydia and gonorrhea, especially within the high risk MSM community.
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2010 STD Treatment Guidelines Updated
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CDC recently updated their Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines, 2010 and an exclusively oral treatment regimen is no longer recommended to treat gonorrhea. CDC now recommends a  dual therapy of injectable ceftriaxone in combination with a second antibiotic, either azithromycin or doxycycline. The injectable ceftriaxone is more potent against gonorrhea than the once recommended oral antibiotic cefixime and, when paired with the additional oral antibiotic, might slow the emergence of drug resistance gonorrhea. Visit www.cdc.gov/std for more information about the treatment changes and resources to increase awareness about the emerging threat of drug resistant gonorrhea.
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Updated State Data on Adolescent Reproductive Health
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The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) has updated their reproductive health data sheets, Adolescent Healt h Facts. The state and national factsheets contain data on high school students' sexual behaviors, HIV/AIDS education, birth control use, and relationship violence, as well as teen birth rankings by state. To learn about the reproductive health of adolescents in your state and see how they compare to national figures, see the OAH website.
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| Medicaid Expansion Under the ACA
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According to a study by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, women of reproductive age account for 4.6 million of an estimated 15 million uninsured who can now obtain coverage under the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion. The ACA provides funding to expand Medicaid coverage to residents with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The study found that approximately half of the 15 million individuals who are potentially eligible for coverage under the Medicaid expansion are ages 19 through 34.
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| Bedsider Now on Someecards!
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There is now a series of Bedsider-themed cards from Someecards! In case you didn't know, Bedsider is an online birth control support network for women 18-29 operated by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The goal of the campaign is to help women find the method of birth control that's right for them and learn how to use it consistently and effectively. Have fun, love your body, use birth control...and send your friends Bedsider someecards! |
| Become a Great American Condom Campaign SafeSite! |
The Great American Condom Campaign (GACC) is a youth-led grassroots movement to make the U.S. a sexually healthy nation. GACC members distribute condoms on college campuses across the United States, educate their peers about sexual health, and organize to improve the policies that affect young people's health and lives. During the Spring Semester last year, 500,000 condoms were distributed to students on 787 campuses in all 50 states. SafeSites also collected over 2,000 signatures and sent over 1,000 photo valentines to Congress in support of no cost birth control. Applications to be a Fall Semester SafeSite are open through September 1, 2012.
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