Impact Factor:1.137 | Ranking:21/36 in Social Sciences, Biomedical | 81/136 in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | 5-Year Impact Factor:1.396Source:2012 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2013)
Forensic mental health inpatients in medium-secure settings have a limited capacity for sexual expression during their stay in hospital. This is due to a number of factors, including a lack of willingness on behalf of staff to engage with sexual issues, as a result of safety fears and ambiguity regarding the ability of the patient to consent. Furthermore, UK forensic medium-secure units do not provide conjugal suites for patients to have sexual relations, with their spouse or other patients. To date, there is no empirical research on how forensic psychiatric patients (or service users) manage their sexuality, while in hospital and when released into the community. Here, we present an analysis of semi-structured interviews with patients at a UK medium forensic unit, in order to explore these issues further. More specifically, we examine how the public exclusion of sexuality from these units results in sexuality being experienced as sectioned off or amputated, such that a new form of sexuality emerges, one that has been cultivated by the psychologically informed practices operating within the unit. This process, we argue, produces a psychologically modified experience, a new form of self-relation that continues to modify when released into the broader ecology of the community. © 2013 SAGE Publications. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC
Applegate Organics Mild Cheddar cheeseApplegate Naturals American cheese, $4.99 for 8 oz.
Applegate Organics Provolone cheese, $5.99 for 5 oz. 
Cracker Barrel Cracked Black Pepper Cheddar cheese, $3.99 for 8 oz.; at select grocery stores.
Mini Babybel Bonbel, $3.99 for 6.
Polly-O Shredded Low-Moisture Part Skim MozzarellaOrganic Valley Vermont Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese, $12.59 for 16 oz. 
Sargento Ultra Thin Sliced Pepper Jack cheeseSargento Natural Reduced Fat Colby-Jack snacks, $4.79 for 12.
A Blueprint for Tax Reform and Health ReformLeonard E. Burman 
By David Pittman, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today CHICAGO -- The percentage of claims incorrectly processed by health plans fell for the third straight year to 7.1% in 2013, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).
The error rate of commercial health plans in the National Health Insurer Report Card has dropped significantly since the 2011; that year, the report found that more than 19% of all medical claims were incorrectly processed. Last year, the AMA found about 9.5% of claims were incorrectly processed.
The AMA released the report Monday at its annual meeting.
The survey is based on a random sampling of nearly 2.6 million electronic claims from 450 physician practices submitted between February and March 2013. Payers included were Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation, Humana, Regence, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare.
The AMA estimated that more than $43 billion could have been saved if commercial insurers had paid claims correctly since 2010. If insurers sent a timely, accurate, and specific response to every claim received, billions of dollars in administrative waste would be prevented, the nation's largest physician group said.
The AMA report card also found great variation in the accuracy of commercial payers.
For example, UnitedHealthcare processed 97.52% of claims accurately the first time. Regence trailed all other insurers included in the report card, with an accuracy of 85.03%. Medicare led all insurers with an accuracy of 98.10%.
The AMA report card showed medical claim denials fell by nearly half in 2013 after a sharp spike upward last year. The denial rate went from 3.48% in 2012 to 1.82% this year.
The timeliness of medical claims processed has also improved by 17% since the AMA first started its report card in 2008.
The AMA added an "Administrative Burden Index" this year to rank commercial insurers according to their level of unnecessary cost. The burden index -- which gives each commercial plan a "star rating" in various areas, such as the burden associated with claim denials -- is a way to allow physicians to translate the AMA's health insurer report card into meaningful practice.
"The high administrative costs associated with the burdens of processing medical claims annually should not be accepted as the price of doing business with health insurers," AMA Board Member Barbara McAneny, MD, said in a release.
The report card found administrative tasks with health plans -- avoidable errors, inefficiency and waste in the medical claims process -- cost an average of $2.36 per claim for doctors and payers.
But again, there was great variation between payers. Cigna had the best cost per claim at $1.25, which was 47% below the commercial payer average. Health Care Service Corporation had the worst cost at $3.32 per claim -- 41% above the commercial average.
Overall, $12 billion a year could be saved if health plans eliminated unnecessary administrative tasks, the AMA said -- an amount equal to 21% of physicians' total administrative costs to ensure accurate payments from insurers.
At its 2008 meeting, the AMA launched its Heal the Claims Process campaign, which has a goal of reducing the cost of managing claims from as much as 14% of revenue to 1%.
David Pittman
David Pittman is MedPage Today’s Washington Correspondent, following the intersection of policy and healthcare. He covers Congress, FDA, and other health agencies in Washington, as well as major healthcare events. David holds bachelors’ degrees in journalism and chemistry from the University of Georgia and previously worked at the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas, Chemical & Engineering News and most recently FDAnews.
Register TodayEarn Free CME Credits by reading the latest medical news
By Salynn Boyles, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San FranciscoA growing number of state-run websites are designed to help consumers compare the cost of healthcare services, but most lack critical pricing information and aren't all that useful, a study found.The study authors suggest that by focusing information on services that are predictable, non-urgent, and subject to deductibles (e.g., routine outpatient care for chronic diseases), greater relevance to patients could be provided.