Let's be Smoke Free!

Its that time of again! The Great American Smokeout was November 21st this year. This day puts emphasis on why it is important to quit smoking now! Over 30 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world. Smoking causes about 1 in 5 deaths. Although the amount of people smoking has greatly dropped there are still many groups of people that smoke more than others disproportionately. 

If you quit smoking, you will see health benefits immediately. It takes a lot of courage and will power to quit smoking, but with the tools and knowledge, anyone can do it. 

The Great American Smokeout began over 40 years ago by the American Cancer Society to provide an opportunity for people who smoke to commit to healthy, smoke -free lives – not just for a day, but year-round. According to the ACS website: "The Great American Smokeout provides an opportunity for individuals, community groups, businesses, health care providers, and others to encourage people to use the date to make a plan to quit, or plan in advance and initiate a smoking cessation plan on the day of the event. The Great American Smokeout event challenges people to stop smoking and helps people learn about the many tools they can use to help them quit and stay quit."

For Tools to Help you Quit Smoking:

• Be Tobacco Free.gov
• Cancer.org
• Smoke Free.gov
• Tips From Former Smokers

Paramount Advantage: NCQA Rating & Open Enrollment Communication

Congratulations to our Corporate Partner, Paramount Advantage!

Paramount Advantage Medicaid recently earned a rating of 4 out of 5 in the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Medicaid Health Insurance Plan Ratings 2019-2020. This is the highest NCQA rating of all five Medicaid managed care plans in Ohio.

“We are very excited about our NCQA results. Paramount is dedicated to consistently providing quality experiences to our Medicaid members and providers. Our employees have impacted this rating through their daily interactions. We are extremely proud of their hard work and dedication,” says Lori A. Johnston, president, Paramount Health Care.

NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of healthcare organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the performance measurement tool used by more than 90% of the nation’s health plans. It rates each health plan on dozens of quality measures related to consumer satisfaction, prevention and treatment.

Paramount Advantage members and their families receive the following benefits at no cost to them:

·        Medical coverage

·        Dental cleaning

·        New glasses

·        Flu shots and immunizations

·        Rides to medical appointments

·        Access to many local doctors, hospitals, dentists, and pharmacies

·        Rewards just for going to routine appointments like wellness and prenatal checkups

Medicaid members can switch from other Ohio plans to Paramount during open enrollment from Nov. 1 – 30. All they need to do is call the Ohio Medicaid Consumer Hotline at 800-324-8680 or visit www.ohiomh.com. Representatives are available Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

To learn more about NCQA ratings, visit:
http://healthinsuranceratings.ncqa.org/2019/search/Medicaid.

To learn more about Paramount Advantage, visit:
paramounthealthcare.com/Medicaid

Diabetes Awareness Month

Diabetes Awareness Month

Every November shines awareness on Diabetes. In the US, 30 million people have some form of diabetes and 1 in 4 of them don’t know they have it yet. Most people with this disease have type 2, but others have type one. Over 84 million people have prediabetes too. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US. 

Type 2 Diabetes is when your body doesn't respond to insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Since your pancreas can’t keep up, your blood sugar rises thus causing prediabetes and eventually type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar can be damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

Type 1 Diabetes makes up about 5% of people with diabetes. No one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes, but it can be managed. By living a healthy lifestyle, controlling your blood sugar, getting regular health checkups, and getting diabetes self-management education, you can live a long healthy life.

Learn More about Diabetes:

•  Beyond Type 1
•  National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases
•  Diabetes.org
• Diabetes Quick Facts