HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week issued quality and financial performance results showing that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have improved patient care and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for the program.

In addition to providing more Americans with access to quality, affordable health care, the Affordable Care Act encourages doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to work together to better coordinate care and keep people healthy rather than treat them when they are sick, which also helps to reduce health care costs. ACOs are one example of the innovative ways to improve care and reduce costs. In an ACO, providers who join these groups become eligible to share savings with Medicare when they deliver that care more efficiently.

In a 114-84 vote, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Monday once again approved the $2-per-pack Philadelphia cigarette tax for city schools.

The measure could get a vote in the Senate as soon as Wednesday. Gov. Tom Corbett has pledged to sign the bill upon passage.

The Philadelphia School District is counting on the cigarette tax to generate $49 million this fiscal year to avoid a slate of more than 1,000 layoffs that district officials warn would turn schools into \”empty shells.\”

In order to generate this revenue, the district says collections must begin by Oct. 1.

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, assured school Superintendent William Hite in August that the district could count on cigarette tax revenue by October.

The House first passed the cigarette tax on July 2, but disagreements with the Senate over unrelated items trapped the omnibus measure in a game of legislative pingpong.

That game may not yet be over.

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via www.newsworks.org

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Grappling with low self-esteem during the \”awkward years\” is nothing new, but today\’s teens have to do it in parallel worlds – online and offline. With the new school year underway, a particularly vulnerable time for teens, a new Teen Confidence survey conducted by Kelton and commissioned by the makers of Invisalign Teen^® clear aligners indicates struggles with appearance add to the angst teens feel, which is magnified in this age of social media.

Gloucester City CRIME REPORT September 13th. – September 19th.

NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — After months of negotiations between the Newspaper Guild and Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME) on a new contract for more than 200 newsroom employees, talks broke down on Wednesday as management claimed they were at impasse after delivering a \”last, best, and final\” offer that would enable the company to send dozens of editorial jobs overseas, further consolidate editorial functions across its magazines and end healthcare benefits for retirees.

Gerhard Arthur Puff

Gerhard Arthur Puff took his first steps toward a life of crime at the age of 20 when, in his home city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was arrested on June 21, 1934 and convicted on a charge of disorderly conduct. Seven years earlier he had come to the United States from his native Dresden, Germany, and only the previous month he had been admitted to U.S. citizenship through the naturalization of his father.

Puff’s next conviction occurred a year later for stealing domestic animals. On August 22, 1935, he was sentenced to serve three concurrent terms of one to five years each in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary. Several months later he was transferred to the State Reformatory at Green Bay.

While at the reformatory, Puff assaulted one of the guards and, on conviction, was sentenced to an additional term of one to 10 years to begin at the expiration of the sentences he was then serving. He was sent back to the State Penitentiary in February, 1937 and was discharged on May 24, 1939 after serving a total of approximately three years and nine months.

TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE

Volume XVI No.38: September 19, 2014

As the first major Atlantic hurricane Eduardo formed this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was brewing up its own storm. Behind closed doors and with little public input, FEMA changed the rules this summer for a number of its programs designed to protect people from the harm of future disasters. Changes that will put lives, property, and taxpayer dollars at risk.