Author Archive

Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star Banner
By Christopher Curry

A community nonprofit group is trying to gain traction for an electronic patient information and records sharing system for small medical offices and providers.

The service, MyHealthStory, was a point of focus during Thursday morning’s summit at Santa Fe College for health care staff and administrators.

The system evolved out of a string of community meetings years ago and a partnership that includes WellFlorida Council, Santa Fe College and the Heart of Florida Health Center in Marion County. Together, […]

The 2nd Annual Health Information Summit, intended for health care staff, administrators and physicians interested in getting the latest info on HIPAA, is set for Thursday morning at the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall, 3000 NW 83rd St.

Lasting from 9:30-11:30 a.m., the summit will provide community education specific to HIPAA, the federal law that deals with privacy of health care information. The session is also intended as a follow-up to last year’s summit in providing updates regarding current health care initiatives.

From 9:45-10:30 a.m., Kimberly […]

Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star Banner
By Christopher Curry

Most insurance companies operating in Florida will raise rates next year for health plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act.

On Monday, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that, according to information insurance companies provided to the state, premiums for plans purchased through the health care law are expected to rise an average of 13.2 percent in 2015.

In Florida, 14 companies filed to offer plans through the health care exchange next year. Three of them will be […]

Suwannee Democrat
By Joyce Marie Taylor

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Mark Lander offered a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on a community health improvement plan at their meeting on Tuesday, July 16.

“Part of our Hamilton County steering committee for health is a project that has been going on for about two and a half or three years, with steering committee meetings looking at health issues within Hamilton County and ways to address those issues,” said Lander. “More specifically, what we can do to […]

Gainesville Sun
By Christopher Curry

Tuesday’s conflicting court decisions have cast a cloud of uncertainty over the future of President Barack Obama’s health care law in Florida and about $4.8 billion in subsidies the state’s low- and middle-income residents could use to purchase coverage.

More than 983,000 state residents have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and 91 percent of them receive financial assistance through the type of tax subsidies a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court panel said could go only to people in states with […]

Palatka Daily News
By Brandon D. Oliver

A state medical organization earlier this week released health and socioeconomic statistics comparing nearly 20 counties to state averages.

Putnam County was among Alachua, Bradford, Lake and 12 other counties that were in the study released by the WellFlorida Council.

The study reported that in Putnam, the average teen birth rate is more than two times higher than the state average, and the average number of emergency room visits in the county is higher than the state average.

The study, which can […]

WellFlorida News Release

GAINESVILLE, Fla.  (July 8, 2014) — Health data for each county in North Central Florida and the collective region has recently been published on WellFlorida Council’s website (www.wellflorida.org).

WellFlorida, the region’s health planning council, provides annual county health profiles to help residents and community leaders get a snapshot of the health status of each county and how it compares to the state.

The data represents the health status of over 1.6 million residents across 16 counties: Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, […]