Turning Point Acupuncture
Email Newsletter
Volume 4 Number 2
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
What times we live in! So much is going on in the world, at Turning Point Acupuncture and in my personal life, it is hard to know where to start.
I've organized it this way:
Contents
1. The Best: Deb's Baby Boy!
2. The Ugly: Living in War Time (and how to deal with fear, anxiety and anger)
3. The Bad: Dr. R plans surgery
4. The Good: Wonderful New Staff
5. For Your Own Protection: The new HIPAA regulations
5. Neither Bad or Ugly: Ephedra, the True Story
7. Turning Point Spring Schedule: Allied Health Practitioners
1. The Best: Deb's Baby Boy!
On April 12, 2003 our office manager Deborah Oster Pannell and her husband Ivor had a baby boy Josiah. He weighed 8 lbs.15 ozs. We are thrilled to welcome him. You can see the baby pictures here:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/josea.html
2. The Ugly: Living in War Time (and how to deal with fear, anxiety and anger)
Regardless of ones political position on the war in Iraq, the current state of affairs in the Middle East, the issue of personal security (especially here in NYC), the state of the economy etc. most of us cannot help feeling emotionally fragile. We feel fearful, anxious and angry. For me I feel reverberations of the Vietnam era, and also the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Living in War Time.
After September 11th I wrote a newsletter titled: Post Traumatic Stress - The Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In it I detailed the effects of this trauma on the body from a Chinese Medical perspective and use that viewpoint to give concrete advise on how to cope. Self care techniques, e.g., acupressure points, are illustrated and their use described.
I have expanded this advise to a web page for use at this time:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/trauma.html
3. The Bad: Dr. R plans surgery
Many of you know that, as a result of my other incarnation as a dancer, I have traumatic osteoarthritis in my hips. I have posted some pictures of me earning my bad hips on this web page:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/dance.html
While I have managed well over the past five years since my original diagnosis, the limitation can no longer be managed. Therefore on June 19th I am scheduled to have hip replacement surgery. I will probably be out of the office for a few weeks. Naturally I will continue as the Medical Director of the practice overseeing all matters related to individual patient care, as well as the vision and day to day policies of Turning Point. I fully expect to look at the Turning Point patient charts while I'm in the hospital!
4. The Good: Wonderful New Staff
So the good news is that we have three wonderful new acupuncture staff members in the practice. Many of you have met some of the them since they have been assisting Shane Hoffman and me in the past months as they get used to our style and philosophy of treatment. "Acupuncture for Urbanities" is Turning Point's slogan and this perspective will affect how each practitioner will formulate treatment.
The new acupuncture staff members are:
Dorene Hyman, MS, LAc
Thea B. McCallion, MS, LAc
Amanda J. Silver, MS, LAc
Their bios and pictures are found here:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/docbios.html
We also welcome Hector Mendez to the Turning Point administrative staff. Hector has extensive background dealing with the public. We are glad to have his calm, competent and patient presence in the office. He and Ihsan Bracy will be handling all the front desk matters. Nancy Lewis Jones is our acting office manager.
Patricia Lockery has left Turning Point to focus her full attention on her career in Dance. We wish her all the best.
5. For Your Own Protection: The new HIPAA regulations
With the onset of the electronic age, the federal government has recently published the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) designed to further protect the privacy of your health information. This “privacy rule” protects health information that is maintained by physicians, hospitals, other health providers, and health plans. As of April 14, 2003, all health care providers will be required to comply with these privacy standards to protect the confidentiality of your heath information. This includes paper records, oral communications and electronic formats (such as email) and the electronic submission of medical insurance forms.
As specifically concerns privacy at Turning Point, we never release any information about a patient unless permission is first obtained from the patient. This includes phone or written inquiries from insurance companies, law firms or other interested parties.
With the institution of electronic billing, privacy issues are indeed complicated. In this office we only process electronic billing for Medicare patients. New Medicare software from New York State has been designed to protect your privacy. All other billing is done by hand.
Please know that every time you sign an insurance claim form you give your insurance provider permission to obtain information from the practitioner listed on the form.
With regard to email, the practitioners at Turning Point will use your email address to communicate with you by request, after office hours and for patients in distant locations. The medical director sends this electronic medical newsletter approximately quarterly. Anyone can opt to be removed from that mailing list as instructed at the close of this email.
I have posted extensive information about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on the Turning Point Acupuncture website for your examination.
www.nycacupuncture.com/hipaa.html
6. Neither Bad or Ugly: Ephedra, the True Story
There has been so much in the press these past months about the dangers of taking the herb Ephedra, particularly by athletes trying to lose weight. The Chinese have safely used the herb for thousands of years by combining it with other herbs to counteract its side effects and by prescribing its use for only short time periods. It has never been used for weight loss in Traditional Chinese Medicine and certainly not combined with caffeine and other stimulants!
We are fortunate to have Andrew Gaeddert, the CEO of the herb company Health Concerns, to discuss this fascinating herb in the essay found at the link below. He also outlines what changes his company will make in reformulating their products without Ephedra to accommodate the public's safety concerns.
http://nycacupuncture.com/ephedra.html
7. Turning Point Spring Schedule:
Acupuncture:
Starting June 2nd a completely new schedule will go into effect featuring the new staff and extended hours.
Shane Hoffman will see patients Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays. My hours will be covered by the new staff (while I do cheerleading until June 19th).
For details see:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/patientinfo.html
Allied Health Practitioners:
John Smith is back! He will resume massage therapy on May 10th.
Lourdes Guzman will continue to be offer Reiki treatments on Saturdays.
Look for more about our Saturday Allied Health Practitioners in the future.
For details see:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/patientinfo.html
Yours in peace,
Naomi Rabinowitz, MD
15 April 2003 (updated 18 May 2003)
Turning Point Acupuncture
1841 Broadway, Suite 509
New York City, NY 10023
212 489-5038
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copyright 2003 Naomi Rabinowitz. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter may be reproduced or transmitted in its entirety only, including this copyright line.
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