Posts Tagged ‘MHS’

One of the state’s top healthcare plans for Hoosier families on Medicaid, with the help of its mascot RosieRoo (at left),  launched an innovative new program that encourages people to take charge of their personal health while rewarding them for doing so.

At Shalom Health Care Center in Indianapolis, Managed Health Services debuted its new CentAccount Healthy Rewards program, which all members of the MHS healthcare plan can immediately begin utilizing. It works like this: MHS plan members are issued a personalized CentAccount Healthy Rewards MasterCard debit card. Members can earn between $10 and $20 for completing an annual exam, completing well-baby exams for children ages infant to 15 months, completing well-child exams for children ages 15 months to 20 years and having routine, recommended screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes and chlamydia.

Funds rewarded to MHS members for completing these examinations and screenings are loaded onto their CentAccount debit cards and members can use those funds to pay for health-related supplies, like a variety of over-the-counter medications and baby supplies.

Here’s more from Associated Press writer Tom Murphy, whose story appeared in the New York Times, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, ABC News, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and the Chicago Tribune. And here’s the video of the launch of this new rewards program from Shalom Health Care Center on Monday.

Medicaid healthcare plan provider Managed Health Services  is offering no-charge well-child and well-baby check-ups, childhood immunizations and student-athlete physicals for Gary-area residents from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Simpson and Dandridge Pediatrics, located at 720 W. 5th St. in Gary.

MHS will also be providing free flu prevention materials, a “Kids Club” newsletter for children and health-related giveaways and snacks throughout the day. Those attending may also enter an after-school healthy recipe contest sponsored by MHS. Attendees with children ages 6 months to 2 years old are also encouraged to have their children undergo lead testing. Early detection of a child’s exposure to lead results in early medical intervention and treatment.

Thursday’s Gary event is the latest in a series of statewide Health Check Health Day events MHS is hosting to promote a “Live Healthy. Stay Healthy.” message and encourage its members of all ages to schedule annual examinations and routine health screenings with their local doctors.

Free back-to-school supplies are being offered at two Indianapolis locations on Saturday (Aug. 1) thanks to communitywide sponsorships by MHS, one of the state’s leading health plan providers.

One event is being held in the parking lot of the Marion County Health Department at 3838 North Rural Street. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., school-age children can obtain some items they’ll need once classes start in just weeks. Student-athletes can also have their physicals completed at the event. Parents can purchase copies of their children’s birth certificates for a small fee with a valid ID. Free health screenings and immunizations will be offered and there’ll also be games and activities to keep young children entertained.

The other event is at the Martin Luther King Center at 40 West 40th Street. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free back packs, school supplies and more will be available for area families while they last. Parents can take advantage of free glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings offered at the event through a partnership between MHS and Ivy Tech Community College.

At both events, MHS mascot RosieRoo will be present giving high fives and encouraging children to live active, healthy lives. Check out more about RosieRoo and other “Just for Kids” cool things on the MHS Web site.

Managed Health Services and Ivy Tech Community College are partnering this summer to offer free glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings at community health fairs throughout the state.

Nearly 25 technician and medical assisting externs from Ivy Tech’s central Indiana campus will be performing the screenings. Judy Ward, a program director at Ivy Tech’s School of Health Sciences, says the experience that the externs will gain from performing the screenings at MHS events will be invaluable. “To gain actual experience in dealing with many different types of patients in a health screening setting is the type of real-life situation and scenarios that cannot be reproduced in the classroom.”

The free screenings are being offered at a great time. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, more than 8 percent of the adult population has been diagnosed with diabetes compared to the national average of 7.5 percent. Indiana is also burdened with a rising number of children diagnosed with obesity and diabetes. This chronic disease was the sixth leading cause of death in Indiana in 2005, ranking fourth for African Americans, seventh for Caucasians and sixth for Hispanics/Latinos.

MHS currently has heightened diabetes awareness campaigns designed to educate its members about the importance of preventing the onset of diabetes and identify those in need of treatment in several communities, including Muncie, Elkhart, Gary and Bloomington.