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Issue No. 81
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February 17, 2015
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February continues to highlight National Heart Month.
Staying current with healthcare trends is crucial and this is a great time to brush up on heart disease knowledge and current information.
Are you still reeling from Super Bowl party snack calories? With Valentine's Day having passed only days ago, is the gift chocolate still on your desk? Do you plan to work out this afternoon? Life in the norm can wreak havoc on well-intended health habits. Simple steps offer many different health benefits and National Heart Month is as good a time as any to start putting them into action!
TACT reminds you that, though we are here to answer your health coverage questions, we are also here to help manage your health and health habits! Visit our website to learn more!
You are a partner in health care decision making and you are partnered with a coverage
provider that is thriving.
Now serving ALL of Texas Agriculture -
Contact us for more information
TACT - Dedicated Insurance Professionals
you know and trust...like Family.
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Who? How? Get to Know Us!
Who is behind the scenes? How does it all get done?
 Life, AD&D, Medical, RX, Vision, Dental - are you covered? Are you in need? As one who serves the agricultural industry, you deserve insurance coverage that knows your industry and is personal when striving to meet your need.
Texas Ag Coop Trust's Executive Vice President Cisti Pinkert can assist with customer service, answering your questions, getting you a quote and assisting with insurance needs beyond the contract.
Cisti has worked with insurance for more than a decade and has had a long-running relationship with TACT, having previously worked with TACT in third party administration, before joining the TACT team in 2009.
Cisti notes that her years with TACT have allowed her to see TACT take shape and really find its place in an underserved industry.
"With the broad knowledge and years of experience of the TACT team, the business has been shaped to be competitive in the market for our small sector."
Cisti recalls, "In the beginning, TACT participants had to be members of Texas Cooperative Market Exchange, Texas Cotton Ginners Association or Texas Grain & Feed Association to be eligible. Only recently has the scope of our business changed."
In 2013, the board of Texas Ag Coop Trust voted to remove restrictive requirements, thus allowing the service radius of TACT to encompass all of Texas agriculture.
"The decision has been one that has really served to grow our business. Companies are now eligible to enroll as long as 75% of their main business is in the agriculture field. This defines how the tag 'Serving All of Texas Agriculture' evolved."
Change has been the operative agenda for the last few years. Not only has the scope of service changed for the TACT office, but state and federal law changes brought an onset of new challenges.
According to Cisti, the Affordable Care Act requirements have not impacted TACT, unlike larger insurance companies. "TACT has offered most of the required benefits that have come into law for a number of years," she states. "With our continued education, TACT remains in compliance with Obamacare. And, from a members' perspective, the Obamacare movement affecting TACT has been seamless."
Change in the office structure has yielded vast benefit for TACT as a service provider and for the member participants!
"The office has grown to be an all-inclusive, in-house service provider," notes Cisti. "Last year, the Trust Board of Directors agreed to bring all claims services in house, giving TACT 100% control of the TACT medical plan. What that means," she continues, "is that if you have any questions, you call TACT directly, not a third party administrator. You are not subject to any automation and you always talk with exactly who you need to help with your specific issue."
Cisti's job responsibilities have changed over the years. She continues to handle client services and promotion of the TACT wellness program, accompanying the Trust's wellness nurse, Kathy Payne on group wellness screenings. As well, with the office having grown and adding staff, Cisti now manages employees.
"TACT and our office is growing and changing alongside the growing and changing insurance needs of our ag industry," she says. "It is more than a pleasure to be a hero to our members when they have issues. I feel I have accomplished what TACT hired me to do and made a difference, simply doing my job helping a member in need."
Cisti says the entire TACT staff is working to serve an industry but remains focused on you, the individual. She reminds you, "When it comes to members and to groups, if I don't know you have a problem or a concern, I can't fix it."
 
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Red Sweeps the Nation in Support of Women's Heart Health
Courtesy - American Heart Association
The color red represents strength, joy and power and during American Heart Month in February, it symbolizes the fight against heart disease in women.
One in three women die of heart disease or stroke, according to the American Heart Association. Education and lifestyle changes, however, can prevent 80 percent of cardiac events.
"This is an important opportunity to raise awareness that heart disease is not just a man's disease, to stop and honor the many people struggling with heart disease, and to celebrate the advances we've seen over the years against heart disease and stroke," said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown.
The cause behind the color
Go Red For Women, a movement the AHA started more a decade ago to fight a life-threatening lack of awareness about heart disease in women, which extended to many physicians and researchers.
Since Go Red began in 2004, more than 670,000 lives have been saved, according to AHA statistics. In addition, women have learned more about why they should know their risks and what do to about them.
"We must all remember that we are making an impact in this difficult fight, and together we can continue to help build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke," Brown said.
Hundreds of Go Red activities and events will take place in February.
Politicians, celebrities and nearly 300 news anchors donned red clothes, while more than 550 landmarks coast-to-coast were lit red to celebrate on Feb. 6.
The landmarks that went Red included the Wrigley Building in Chicago; the governor's mansion in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the iconic Las Vegas sign; Niagara Falls in New York; Graceland in Memphis; LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans, in Nashville; Penn Station in Philadelphia; and Pikes Place Market in Seattle.
In the Capital Region of upstate New York, nine-month-old Cora Russom and her mother Melissa Russom, who have an abnormal heart rhythm known as Long QT Syndrome, flipped the switch on Feb. 5 to light 29 buildings. One of the buildings, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, takes it to another level, lighting up the building so that it beats like a heart.
Other events included a presentation by Woman's Day magazine of the annual Red Dress Awards on Feb. 10, honoring actress Andie MacDowell and others for their work leading the fight against heart disease in women.
Kicking off Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City is the 2015 Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection, presented by Macy's. It will feature models of all ages wearing designer red dresses.
"I am proud, excited and hopeful to know that so many people across the country are focusing on heart disease through American Heart Month and Go Red For Women events in February," Brown said.
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HHS Proposes Path to Improve Technology and Transform Care
Courtesy HHS.gov
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0. The draft Roadmap is a proposal to deliver better care and result in healthier people through the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information.
"HHS is working to achieve a better health care system with healthier patients, but to do that, we need to ensure that information is available both to consumers and their doctors," said HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. "Great progress has been made to digitize the care experience, and now it's time to free up this data so patients and providers can securely access their health information when and where they need it. A successful learning system relies on an interoperable health IT system where information can be collected, shared, and used to improve health, facilitate research, and inform clinical outcomes. This Roadmap explains what we can do over the next three years to get there."
The draft Roadmap builds on the vision paper, Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A 10-Year Vision to Achieve an Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure, issued in June 2014. Months of comment and feedback from hundreds of health and health IT experts from across the nation through ONC advisory group feedback, listening sessions and an online forum aided in the development of the Roadmap.
"To realize better care and the vision of a learning health system, we will work together across the public and private sectors to clearly define standards, motivate their use through clear incentives, and establish trust in the health IT ecosystem through defining the rules of engagement. We look forward to working collaboratively and systematically with federal, state and private sector partners to see that electronic health information is available when and where it matters," said Karen DeSalvo, M.D., national coordinator for health IT.
The announcement is linked with the administration's Precision Medicine Initiative to improve care and speed the development of new treatments, as well as the Department-wide effort to achieve better care, smarter spending and healthier people through improvements to our health care delivery system. As part of this work, HHS is focused on three key areas: (1) improving the way providers are paid, (2) improving and innovating in care delivery, and (3) sharing information more broadly to providers, consumers, and others to support better decisions while maintaining privacy. The draft Roadmap identifies critical actions to achieve success in sharing information and interoperability and outlines a timeframe for implementation.
The draft Roadmap calls for ONC to identify the best available technical standards for core interoperability functions. With today's announcement, ONC is delivering on this action with the release of the Draft 2015 Interoperability Advisory: The best available standards and implementation specifications for interoperability of clinical health information ("Standards Advisory"). The Standards Advisory represents ONC's assessment of the best available standards and implementation specifications for clinical health information interoperability as of December 2014.
"ONC's interoperability Roadmap will help guide our progress toward seamless integration of electronic health record data," said Mr. Christopher Miller, program executive officer for Defense Healthcare Management Systems within the Department of Defense. "We are proud to be working closely with ONC and other public and private partners to ensure that our health care providers have a complete picture of health information from all sources. The availability of this information increases the medical readiness of our operational forces and enables delivery of the highest quality care that our service members, veterans and their families deserve. We look forward to our continued partnership with ONC as we expand the safe and secure exchange of standardized healthcare data to improve the overall health of our nation."
"The benefits to patients and to the future of American health care in achieving full interoperability are enormous. A system built on accessible information and secure, meaningful data sharing will elevate health care delivery, advance quality and cost-efficiency and enable new strides in medical research. We applaud HHS and the Office of the National Coordinator for making interoperability a national priority and we believe that, by bringing together the ideas and technological expertise from both the public and private sectors, it is a foreseeable and achievable goal," said Mary R. Grealy, president, Healthcare Leadership Council.
"Interoperability plays a critical role in improving the quality, cost, and patient experience of care and is foundational to both consumer decision-making and new models of health care delivery and payment," said Janet Marchibroda, director of the Health Innovation Initiative and executive director of the CEO Council on Health and Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "We applaud ONC's leadership in creating the roadmap and releasing the standards advisory, as well as its ongoing commitment to public engagement in shaping a path forward."
"While we have made great strides as a nation to improve EHR adoption, we must pivot towards true interoperability based on clear, defined and enforceable standards," said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell, F.C.H.I.M.E., C.H.C.I.O. "This Roadmap incorporates a tremendous amount of stakeholder input and articulates a clear path towards interoperability. It is a cornerstone in the continuing evolution of federal health IT policymaking."
"The HHS interoperability roadmap announced is an important step forward for all of us committed to a data-driven approach to improving health care. If the public and private sectors will work together on solving the interoperability challenge, we have a chance to significantly improve the practice of medicine and, most importantly, the health of patients across this country. I applaud HHS for its leadership in this area, and I look forward to partnering with the agency on this important initiative," said Jennifer Covich Bordenick, CEO, eHealth Initiative.
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Farm Bill's One Year Anniversary;
Vilsack Highlights Bill's Progress
 Feb. 7 marks the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the 2014 Farm Bill.
On Feb. 5, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack summed up the progress on every title of its implementation.
Vilsack offered a detailed update on the farm bill, along with a fact sheet showing efforts made by the agency to reach out to farmers and families affected by the bill's changes, according to Farm Futures.
He shared an update on farm programs and stressed the importance of upcoming dates. The cutoff to reallocate base acres is Feb. 27. Farmers have until Mar. 31 to select or make changes to their elections on either the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARS) program or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program by contacting their local Farm Service Agency office. Also, farmers' conservation compliance forms are due June 1.
Vilsack said Farm Bill priorities began with disaster assistance and dairy programs, as well as getting information on new crop programs in the hands of farmers. He also highlighted farm bill programs that help beginning farmers, grow economic development and support rural communities.
Click here for the fact sheet on the implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill.
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Top Healthy Habits
for your Heart
WebMD Health News
Jan. 8, 2015 --
 You can dramatically lower or nearly wipe out your chances of a heart attack and heart disease by following healthy lifestyle habits.
Two recent studies show it's true whether you're a man or a woman, and even if you already have risk factors like high cholesterol.
The healthy habits for guys and ladies aren't quite the same (although they're similar), and researchers didn't directly compare what works for men vs. women.
WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN:
One of the new studies followed nearly 70,000 women for 20 years. The women reported on their habits, such as diet and exercise, and gave the researchers other health information every 2 years. At the start of the study, the women were an average age of 37 and none haddiabetes or diseases of the heart or blood vessels.
Not only did the women who followed all six healthy habits nearly get rid of their heart attack risk -- cutting it by 92% -- they also lowered their odds of getting a risk factor, like high blood pressure, by 66%.
Here are the six habits that mattered:
- Don't smoke.
- Have a normal body mass index (BMI).
- Get moderate to vigorous exercise for at least 2.5 hours a week.
- Watch 7 or fewer hours of television weekly.
- Drink one or fewer alcoholic beverages daily.
- Eat a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, or omega-3 fatty acids -- as well as limit sugary drinks, processed and red meats, trans fats, and sodium.
Meeting all of these habits can be a lofty goal. Less than 5% of the women followed them all, according to the study.
But it's not a case of all or nothing, says study leader Andrea Chomistek, ScD. She's a researcher from the Indiana University Bloomington School of Public Health. "Even women who reported only one or two healthy behaviors had a lower risk of heart disease than those who did zero," she says.
Having a normal BMI had the most impact on lowering the risk, she says.
Even for women who developed risk factors, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, following at least four of the habits was linked with a lower risk of getting heart disease, compared to women who followed none.
The study reinforces research showing that what works for older women also works for younger women -- those who are premenopausal and who may not consider themselves old enough for a heart attack, she says. These habits are important because the overall death rate from heart disease in the U.S. has increased among younger women ages 35 to 44.
WHAT WORKS FOR MEN:
In another recent study that looked at men and heart  disease, Swedish researchers followed more than 20,000 men from 1997 through 2009. At the study start, the men were ages 45 to 79 with no histories of heart or blood vessel diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. They gave the researchers info on their health habits during the study, too.
The researchers found that following these five habits cut men's heart attack risk by 86%:
- Don't smoke.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Drink alcohol moderately: about two or fewer drinks daily.
- Be physically active -- walk or cycle at least 40 minutes daily.
- Have a waist circumference of less than 37 inches.
The researchers, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, found that only 1% of the men followed all five healthy habits.
A healthy diet and moderate drinking had the most impact on reducing men's risk, they found.
A Heart Doctor's Opinion
The researchers gathered some of their information from participants' self-reports, which might not always be accurate. Most participants in both studies were white, so results might not apply to people from other ethnic backgrounds.
Even so, the research gives valuable perspective about how bad health habits, even in young adults, can have ill effects, says Ravi Dave, MD. He's a cardiologist at the UCLA Medical Centers in L.A. and Santa Monica. He reviewed the findings but didn't participate in the studies.
"You really can see your bad habits, at a certain point in time, negatively influence you in the future," he says.
In the past, he says, women were often told, even by their doctors, that they were protected from heart disease until they reached menopause. The recent study on women "changes the mindset of doctors now not to give that bad advice anymore," he says. Women, like men, need to pay attention to good habits early in life, he says.
How to Get Started
 First, figure out why you aren't taking on more healthy habits, Dave says. He finds that stress prevents many people from doing so, as well as "leads to a lot of these [unhealthy] behaviors," he says.
One good way to bust stress, he says, is to exercise. For some people, exercise can be ''me time." For others, it can be time with family or friends.
Both studies suggest a valuable payoff, he says. Even if you practice just some of the healthy habits, you are likely to stay free of heart disease.
Make those habits part of your normal routine, Dave says, similar to brushing your teeth in the morning.
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Texas Ag Coop Trust
915 Austin Street
Levelland, TX 79336
806-747-7894
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Texas Ag Coop Trust
Officers, Board of Trustees
Kimberly Tullo-Holcomb
TACT Executive Director
Lubbock, TX
Jim Turner, Chairman
Dalhart Consumers Fuel Association
Dalhart, TX
Bret Brown, Secretary/Treasurer
Ag Producers Co-op
Sunray, TX
Ben Boerner
Texas Grain & Feed Assn.
Fort Worth, TX
Craig Rohrbach
Parmer County Cotton Growers
Farwell, TX
Dean Sasser
Farmers Coop Elevator
Levelland, TX
Tony Williams
Texas Cotton Ginners' Association
Austin, TX
Paul Wilson
United Cotton Growers
Levelland, TX
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Texas Ag Coop Trust
is endorsed by:
Texas Grain & Feed
Association
Texas Cotton Ginners Association
 Texas Coop Marketing Exchange
Texas Corn Producers
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A Healthy Future Begins With TACT
effective January 1, 2015
Want to know how to do your part in keeping your Health Insurance
Premiums from Increasing next year?
Use the In-Network Providers in Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)! PHCS contracts with physicians, hospitals and ancillary services (lab, equipment, sleep studies, radiology centers, etc.) at a discounted rate. These providers can be found by visiting the TACT website (www.TxAgCoop.com) and clicking on the "Find your Provider" link, enter your group number and click find my provider. This will provide you with a link to obtain a list of all PHCS in network providers.
There is a very good reason why your employer has chosen PHCS as your PPO provider. Cost Savings. Your employer is self-funding the employee health plan; in simple terms this means your employer is paying for every claim that employees and the covered dependents incur. When your employer is considering next year's health plan, and if there are many out of network claims that cost the health plan a considerable amount of money, the employer has no choice but to raise premiums or reduce benefits.
EXAMPLE:
If you go to an in-network radiology facility for an MRI, the contracted rate and total cost is $639.73.
If you go to an out of network radiology facility, there is no contracted rate and the total cost is $2,850.
Let's say your deductible is $500 and your plan pays 80%. (With your out of network benefits - guess what; you and your employer will end up paying more of the cost.)
Make sure that you and your physician use PHCS providers. You can go to the TACT website www.TxAgCoop.com and click on the "Find Your Provider" link, enter your group number and click find my provider. This will provide you with a link to a list of in network providers with Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS).
If everyone would do their part in keeping costs down, you might be pleasantly surprised at health plan renewal time!
***See your office manager for NEW ID card****
If you have any questions or need assistance locating an in-network provider,
PLEASE CALL Texas Ag Benefit Administrators at 1-806-568-2600.
What can we do to help you? What questions do you have? We are here to answer your questions.
You are a partner in decision making and you are partnered with a thriving coverage provider.
Keeping YOU the priority. Keeping YOUR NEEDS in perspective.
With TACT, YOU are our business.
TACT - Dedicated Insurance Professionals
you know and trust...like Family.
Next Issue: March 4, 2015
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