Dr. Don A. Bukstein joins Strategic Pulmonary Advisors

Dr. Don A. Bukstein joins Strategic Pulmonary Advisors

Strategic Pharmaceutical Advisors (SRxA) a leading U. S. healthcare strategic marketing consulting and education firm, proudly announces the addition of Don A. Bukstein, MD, as Vice President of Strategic Pulmonary Advisors (SPA), a SRxA affiliated company.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 21, 2008

Strategic Pharmaceutical Advisors (SRxA) a leading U. S. healthcare strategic marketing consulting and education firm, proudly announces the addition of Don A. Bukstein, MD, as Vice President of Strategic Pulmonary Advisors (SPA), a SRxA affiliated company.

Dr. Bukstein is a board-certified Allergist/Immunologist, Pediatric Pulmonologist, and Director of Allergy and Asthma Research at Dean Health System, Inc. in Madison, WI. An Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Family Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he also holds staff appointments at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center, Meriter Hospital, and the University of Wisconsin Hospital.

He received his medical degree cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and fellowships in Allergy and Immunology at National Jewish Hospital and in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Colorado Medical Center. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; and the American Thoracic Society.

Dr. Bukstein is nationally recognized as an expert in the use of Clinical Outcomes in managed care, and as an expert on physician learning and use of medical education to affect positive patient outcomes.

He has been a principal investigator in more than 50 clinical trials focusing on allergic disease, apnea, asthma, sinusitis, and outcomes research. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals including The American Journal of Managed Care, Allergy, Pediatrics, Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management, and lectures extensively to national and international audiences on topics relating to allergic disease, asthma, and quality of life/health outcomes.

Strategic Pulmonary Advisors is a network of experts in pulmonary medicine, operating under the leadership of Peter Dicpinigaitis, MD, and Bradley Chipps, MD. Recognizing the latest addition to the pulmonary team, Dr. Chipps commented, "It is an honor to work with Don. His expertise will help us provide our clients with the very highest echelon of experience and knowledge across the spectrum of disease management in respiratory disease." SRxA operates on a unique business model that utilizes clinical teams of national and international experts who partner with experts in industry and communications to provide the latest information and education in allergy, asthma, immunology, pulmonary diseases, and otolaryngology.

"Since its inception, SRxA has successfully assisted pharmaceutical and medical device companies with innovative educational, clinical, regulatory, and marketing support programs with the utmost degree of scientific integrity. Dr. Bukstein's addition to our team further strengthens our services and our ability to address the needs of our clients worldwide," said Christos Efessiou, SRxA's Chief Executive Officer. In addition to Strategic Pulmonary Advisors, other clinically focused SRxA affiliates include Strategic Allergy Advisors (SAA), Strategic Ear, Nose and Throat Advisors (SENTA) and Strategic Respiratory Advisors - Europe. The company plans to introduce new affiliates in other key specialties in the near future. SRxA is headquartered in Washington, DC with offices in London and Hong Kong.

###

NetSuccess, Inc. Makes Strategic National Expansion Move -- Dallas Web Development Firm Enters East Coast Marketplace With NYC Presence

NetSuccess, Inc. Makes Strategic National Expansion Move -- Dallas Web Development Firm Enters East Coast Marketplace With NYC Presence

NetSuccess, Inc., one of the fastest-growing Web development companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, announces their East Coast marketplace debut with the opening of their NYC presence.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) March 26, 2004

NetSuccess, Inc., one of the fastest-growing Web development companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, announces their East Coast marketplace debut with the opening of their NYC presence. The NetSuccess expansion brings a much needed mid-range alternative to medium to large-sized companies in the area, as well as enhanced local service to their existing East Coast–based clients.

The Eastern region, and particularly the New York Tri-State area, is leading the countryÂ’s economic upswing, especially in NYÂ’s key industrial areas: financial services and pharmaceutical life sciences. NetSuccess will continue their tradition of meeting the specialized Web development and technology needs of firms that must use cutting-edge applications to meet their objectives.

This is the first expansion for NetSuccess and an integral aspect of their overall growth strategy that included the recruitment of competitor MasterLink GroupÂ’s Eric Williamson as vice-president of sales and the recent acquisitions of Anthem Solutions and NetGrowth. To solidify their position in the new regional market, NetSuccess will focus on addressing the areaÂ’s customersÂ’ needs and aligning service offerings with critical business deployments. The mission of their new office is to provide clients with the same quality and personal customer service that have earned the company a Top 10 Web Development Firm ranking in the Dallas Business Journal.

"NetSuccess provides exceptional Web design, application development, systems integration, hosting, marketing and maintenance solutions to companies worldwide. Expanding our presence to the East Coast will allow us to better serve our existing clients, like the World Golf Foundation, United States Golf Association, PGA Tour, SPX Corporation, Edgen Corporation, Color Tyme, and several prominent medical facilities and law firms. Our research shows a lack of mid-range full-service Web development companies in the East Coast region. Our expansion will close the gap between the high concentration of large advertising agencies with interactive solutions divisions and small one-man operations in the area," states Lori Barber-Thomas, president of NetSuccess, Inc.

NetSuccess creates and executes Web design and marketing programs for a variety of industries including medical, high-tech, real estate, healthcare, non-profit organizations, financial, media, education and hospitality. The company specializes in application and portal development, Internet and network infrastructure implementation, identity and access management, security, and other Web-based technology. The companyÂ’s future plans to penetrate the national market include expansion to Fort Worth, Texas, and South Florida.

Visit the companyÂ’s Web site at NetSuccess. net for further information or contact Lori Barber-Thomas.

Lori Barber-Thomas

NetSuccess, Inc.

Phone: (972) 818-9200 ext. 108

Fax: (972) 818-9300

Email: lori@netsuccess. com

Www. netsuccess. net

Evidence In Motion Graduates Thirty-Four Students With Doctorates in Physical Therapy

Evidence In Motion Graduates Thirty-Four Students With Doctorates in Physical Therapy

The Evidence In Motion (EIM) Institute of Health Professions is proud to announce 34 Executive Program in Private Practice Management (Executive Program) graduates who received their Doctorates in Physical Therapy on December 10, 2010. In addition to this 34, 21 students graduated from the Executive Program and 17 of them will receive their Doctorate in Physical Therapy within 90 days. Evidence In Motion’s Executive Program teaches private practice physical therapy owners strategies and provides tools that build competitive advantages.

Louisville, KY (Vocus/PRWEB) January 11, 2011

The Evidence In Motion (EIM) Institute of Health Professions is proud to announce 34 Executive Program in Private Practice Management graduates who received their Doctorates in Physical Therapy on December 10, 2010. In addition to this 34, 21 students graduated from the Executive Program and 17 of them will receive their Doctorate in Physical Therapy within 90 days. Evidence In Motion’s Executive Program teaches private practice physical therapy owners strategies and provides tools that build competitive advantages.

“This is a momentous feat for EIM, each graduate, and the physical therapy profession,” states Larry Benz, DPT, ECS, OCS, MBA, Evidence In Motion owner, and Executive Program Director. “These physical therapists are taking a step in fulfilling APTA’s Vision 2020, which includes the goal that all physical therapy will be provided by Doctors of Physical Therapy by 2020. Physical therapy will be a more highly respected profession and have a greater impact on patient lives because of these Doctors.”

These graduates make a total of 55 DPT's that the Evidence In Motion Institute of Health Professions has conferred though its Transition DPT option as part of its Executive Program. The Executive Program is launching its fourth cohort this January with 41 new students.

Evidence In Motion has formed a strategic partnership with the Private Practice Section of the APTA through its Executive Program. The Executive Program employs faculty from all over the United States who have real private practice experience, as well as solid educational backgrounds. Students not only learn from exceptional faculty, but also build long lasting professional partnerships among each other during the program.

"In today's ever changing healthcare environment with declining reimbursement we found our practice after 9 years on the edge of disaster. Referrals had declined, we were locked into two low paying contracts and our office morale was at an all time low,” explains Bob Bacci, PT, owner of Bacci and Glinn Physical Therapy, and Evidence In Motion Executive Program Graduate. “ Using the tools and techniques learned in the EPPM Executive Program has allowed us to essentially restructure our business; we have eliminated our low paying contracts, our marketing efforts have increased our referrals, our net revenues and profits have increased. We are back to numbers of visits we have not seen for some time. Our staff now takes an active role in providing input and direction of our practice and as active participants morale in the clinic has dramatically changed. Our business is back on the right track and growing again."

The program is also affordable and flexible for busy practice owners and managers because it employs a hybrid model of online education and on-site intensives, which demonstrates a best-in-education approach. This is the exact approach that Evidence In Motion founders envisioned and have successfully used to graduate over 55 physical therapists in its APTA credentialed Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency and Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship Programs.

For more information on Evidence In Motion’s Executive Program in Private Practice Management call 1-888-709-7096 or email info(at)eimpt(dot)com.

About Evidence In Motion:
Evidence in Motion (EIM) is an education and consultation company whose sole reason of existence is to elevate the physical therapy profession and the role of physical therapists in healthcare delivery. A strong dedication to fostering the creation and assimilation of an evidence-based practice culture within the physical therapy profession is a cornerstone of Evidence In Motion’s mission. They have put in place evidence-based practice treatment pathways in many facilities and aims to promote the global sharing of information and ideas, thus advancing evidence-based physical therapy practice, research and education around the world. Evidence In Motion offers Continuing Education, Residencies, a Fellowship Program, a Musculoskeletal Transition DPT, and an Executive Program in Private Practice Management with optional Transition DPT. For more information, please visit http://www. EvidenceInMotion. com. You can also find Evidence In Motion on Facebook and Twitter.

###

Poiesis Informatics Introduces Speech-Driven Diagnostic Reporting Tool as Part of Workflow Orchestration Suite

Poiesis Informatics Introduces Speech-Driven Diagnostic Reporting Tool as Part of Workflow Orchestration Suite

Clinical documentation solution leverages industry-leading Speech Understanding™ by M*Modal.

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) November 3, 2010

Poiesis Informatics, a developer of healthcare IT workflow solutions, today formally introduced Fluency™, a reporting and clinical documentation tool offered as part of the Poiesis Workflow Orchestration Suite. Comprised of a collection of modules designed to orchestrate an optimized workflow experience through rich interoperability of disparate healthcare systems, the vendor-neutral Orchestration Suite allows for the scaling of radiology groups across multi-site, multi-vendor environments with the authoring, productivity and communication tools that enable subspecialty, high-quality care.

Fluency provides users with sophisticated speech-driven reporting and clinical documentation capabilities by leveraging Speech Understanding™ by M*Modal. The advanced speech technology allows both self-editing and transcription-based workflow models, and works to improve accuracy by continually understanding context and adapting to speech patterns. Fluency goes beyond conventional documentation tools and data tagging to give doctors the insight they require to take actions that increase patient safety, promote continuity of care and reduce costs. Additional physician benefits rendered by the use of Fluency include:
 Uninterrupted physician workflow that promotes adoption and quick learning  Improvements in turnaround time  Automatic structured data output that drives pre-signature alerts and quality reporting  Seamless integration with PACS and RIS  Structured data populated into an EHR “Fluency provides a clinical documentation and reporting solution that was developed specifically with the user in mind and an end-goal of producing substantial improvements in accuracy and quality of care,” said Claudine Martin, President of Poiesis Informatics. “With the integration of Speech Understanding™ technology, physicians will experience superior speech recognition combined with natural language understanding technologies to help them create higher quality, meaningful documents without interrupting their normal workflow.”

Formerly, as part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Radiology Informatics Department and working under the direction of Dr. Paul Chang, the Poiesis founding partners gained extensive experience in healthcare software development and professional services. Today, Poiesis provides a customized and optimized suite of products to a growing customer base that includes some of the country’s top hospitals and healthcare organizations including Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Henry Ford Health System, University of Chicago Medical Center and University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Poiesis will demonstrate the Fluency product and the complete Workflow Orchestration Suite at RSNA 2010, November 28 – December 3, at booth #7021.

About Poiesis Informatics
Pittsburgh, Pa-based Poiesis Informatics develops healthcare IT solutions that orchestrate an optimized workflow experience through rich interoperability of healthcare systems, resulting in measurable improvements in workplace efficiency and quality of care. Their solutions are currently implemented within some of the nation’s top hospitals, including Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Henry Ford Health System, University of Chicago Medical Center and University of Mississippi Medical Center. For more information, please visit http://www. poiesisinformatics. com.

Media Contact:
Emma Douglas
KNB Communications
203-504-8230 ext. 107
Edouglas(at)knbpr(dot)com

# # #

MessageSolution Exhibits Cloud-Based Integrated Archiving Solution for Email, File Systems and SharePoint at SaaSCon 2010, Kicks off MessageSolution SaaS Tour 2010

MessageSolution Exhibits Cloud-Based Integrated Archiving Solution for Email, File Systems and SharePoint at SaaSCon 2010, Kicks off MessageSolution SaaS Tour 2010

As the global technology leader in the live archiving space, MessageSolution is the first SaaS and on-premise archiving provider in the market to archive and stub for all top-ranked email server platforms, including Exchange, Domino, GroupWise, file systems and SharePoint, delivering compliance archiving for all Unix/Linux-based email servers, and file servers for NTFS/NFS/NSS/Netware.

Silicon Valley, CA (PRWEB) April 7, 2010

MessageSolution, Inc., the global technology leader in live archiving (http://www. messagesolution. com) for email, file systems (http://www. messagesolution. com/File%20Archive. htm), SharePoint, on-premise and Software as a Service (SaaS) in electronic discovery (http://www. messagesolution. com), litigation support, compliance, storage management, and email server migrations, announced the kick off of the MessageSolution SaaS Tour 2010 at the SaaSCon 2010 Expo, exhibiting its first in the market, all-in-one, integrated cloud-based enterprise information archiving (EIA) solution for email, file systems and SharePoint.

As the leading innovator in the live archiving space, MessageSolution (http://www. messagesolution. com) is the first SaaS and on-premise archiving solution provider in the market to archive and stub for all top-ranked email server platforms, including Exchange, Domino, GroupWise, file systems and SharePoint, delivering compliance archiving for all Unix/Linux-based email servers, and file servers for NTFS/NFS/NSS/Netware. MessageSolution Enterprise Migration System helps organizations to migrate between email servers, such as GroupWise or Domino to Exchange bi-directional, and SharePoint or BPOS migration (http://www. messagesolution. com/Migration_with_MS. htm) from multiple source systems. MessageSolution is first in the market to perform simultaneous mail server migration, archiving and stubbing all in one streamlined process, to meet clients' requirements of email server migration and archiving for compliance, server storage management, e-discovery and litigation support.

"MessageSolution SaaS tour is to showcase our unified SaaS archiving (http://www. messagesolution. com/SaaS_Cloud_Archiving_title. htm) solution for email, file systems, and SharePoint. Partners, SME and enterprise customers choose MessageSolution SaaS archiving services and solutions because of the additional functions we have integrated that were only being offered in on-premise solutions, function such as stub attachments or email contents to reduce up to 90% of email server storage requirement (http://www. messagesolution. com/File%20Archive. htm) and still allows users to transparently access emails and attchments from Outlook, OWA, Lotus Notes, DWA, and GroupWise client software." said Jeff Liang, CTO at MessageSolution, Inc.
MessageSolution's SaaS Tour 2010 is designed to introduce to various prospective SaaS partners and customers how MessageSolution's cloud-based archiving allows enterprise customers to take advantage of MessageSolution's newly released all-in-one SaaS archiving solutions at affordable rates. Even the international organizations with multiple locations in different countries still are able to take advantage of MessageSolution's SaaS Global Network's cloud-driven archives in numerous geographical locations, managed by MessageSolution or its international SaaS Partners around the world.

Leading analyst Gartner reported in February of 2010 that the archiving market has evolved to include a broader focus on enterprise information archiving (EIA) and that today's products are predominately focused on the subset of EIA comprised of unstructured user files, email, files and SharePoint.

"MessageSolution leads the SaaS archiving market and was the first to offer unified archiving services of all platforms of EIA, email, files, and SharePoint." Liang continued. "This is for organizations that choose to quickly start affordable archiving without too much hardware investment upfront, and as their business grows they have the option to move archiving in-house with our on-premise solution or continue with our SaaS archiving services".

MessageSolution SaaS multi-tenancy archiving solution is selected by OEM SaaS Partners (http://www. messagesolution. com/Hosting_Firms. htm) around the world because of MessageSolution's design philosophy of architecting for scale and its patent-pending storage and database technology, leveraging low-cost storage grids to maintain the lowest-cost growth possible to operate while still delivering exceptional performance. Today MessageSolution holds the industry scalability record of archiving data from tens of thousands of users on one single archive server, 5-8 times over competitors. MessageSolution also delivered the first 64 bit application in the market to support 64 bit machines.

Field-proven in markets filled with low-grade computers and storage bricks, such as Africa and Asia, and through cost-effective global implementations performed online, MessageSolution's design philosophy allows MessageSolution cloud-based archiving systems to consume minimum hardware and storage resources for large-scale millions of user bases and long-term archiving operations at a fraction of the cost required to run competitors' SaaS or hosted services. This allows MessageSolution to offer the lowest cost SaaS multi-tenancy solution to be deployed in global partners' data centers to maximize partners' service profitability at the lowest cost-growth ratio, thereby fully utilizing partners' expertise in providing fully managed archiving services designed for organizations of all sizes. The cloud-based archiving services managed by MessageSolution are also cost-effective.

MessageSolution's multi-tenancy solution is also a favorite choice of organizations such as public school districts or government entities with multiple subordinate divisions. School districts' dozens of schools require multiple separate archive tenants divided accordingly, while the central archive is collectively managed by the school district's master IT administration team at the district's data center.

MessageSolution's SaaS, Hybrid and On - Premise archiving supports all major email servers, including Microsoft Exchange Server, IBM Lotus Domino Server, Novell Groupwise Server Scalix, Kerio, Postfix, Postpath, Zimbra, Imail, Qmail, Sendmail, MDaemon and Sun server, etc., as well as delivering archiving for SharePoint, and for file systems on NST/NFS/NSS/Netware. MessageSolution Enterprise Archive Suite can be run on both Windows or Linux OS, supports VMware, and also is the first archiving solution and service in the market to simultaneously cross-support archiving for all compatible mail servers.

MessageSolution will be exhibiting among selected business partners in the heart of Silicon Valley at the SaaSCon Expo in Santa Clara, at booth #113 from April 6-7, 2010. The MessageSolution SaaS Tour 2010 will continue throughout the U. S., making stops at numerous archiving, storage and Cloud computing events, such as Interop 2010, HostingCon 2010, etc.

About MessageSolution, Inc.
MessageSolution is the global technology leader in email, file system, and SharePoint archiving for electronic discovery, compliance, content storage management, and email server migrations. With products and services delivered both on-premise and as Software as a Service (SaaS), MessageSolution enables organizations to mitigate risk, reduce costs and storage requirements, optimize server performance, and comply with industry and federal regulations. Based in Silicon Valley, California, MessageSolution maintains operations in North America, Europe, and Mainland China, along with distribution channels in Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia Pacific.

MessageSolution Enterprise Email Archive, Enterprise File Archive, Enterprise SharePoint Archive, and Enterprise Migration System are on-premise solutions and Software as a Service (SaaS) archiving services implemented for organizations across all industries, including finance, health care, education, manufacturing, government agencies and non-profit organizations worldwide. MessageSolution software frees IT administrators from daily maintenance and increases overall employee productivity. For more information, visit http://www. MessageSolution. com (http://www. MessageSolution. com).

MessageSolution is actively working with partners around the world to work with global clients of all sizes. Please visit our web site for more information on the Global Partner Network Program (http://www. messagesolution. com/partners. htm).

What Differentiates MessageSolution Products
On-premise and SaaS customers continually emphasize MessageSolution products' excellent overall performance, support of all major email servers, and ease of use combined with a rich feature set. MessageSolution provides sub-second data retrieval, an intuitive interface, and ease of deployment and maintenance. MessageSolution's intelligent back-end design significantly reduces installation requirements, backup time, and the need for technical support.

MessageSolution Enterprise Email Archive™ deftly manages petabytes of data daily, a powerful enterprise archiving solution. Electronic discovery and litigation support are empowered by the archive's built-in search engine, which searches through millions of emails within seconds across global locations and data centers. Users can access their archive through their email client, browser, or BlackBerry.

In the first quarter of 2009, MessageSolution became the first archiving vendor in the market to deliver a true 64-bit application that runs on a 64-bit OS machine.

MessageSolution delivers the industry's highest enterprise-class scalability and holds the industry record of archiving tens of thousands of users on one single MessageSolution archive server, 5-8 times over competitions. Competitive vendors archive on average 3,000-5,000 users on a single archive server, much less than MessageSolution archiving system's scalability and flexibility. A high in-process compression rate combined with Single Instance Storage (SIS) de-duplication of message, attachment and file archiving slows archive storage growth.

MessageSolution Enterprise Archive Suite™ further reduces organizations' storage costs by using only 25% of the original mail server storage space for live content archiving. MessageSolution's products support all Latin-based languages, as well as all character-based languages, such as Japanese and Chinese.

###

IHealthSpot, Inc Named as Finalist in American Business Awards(sm) 7th Annual Stevie® Awards will be Presented on June 22 in New York City

IHealthSpot, Inc Named as Finalist in American Business Awards(sm) 7th Annual Stevie® Awards will be Presented on June 22 in New York City

IHealthSpot, Inc was named a Finalist in the 2009 American Business Awards for its Interactive Orthopedic Patient Education Library.

Margate, FL (PRWEB) May 26, 2009

The American Business Awards are the nation's premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U. S.A. are eligible to submit entries to the ABAs - public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.

More than 2,600 entries from companies of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration in more than 40 categories, including Most Innovative Company, Best Management Team, Best New Product or Service, Best Interactive Multimedia, Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program, and Best Corporate and Environmental Responsibility Program. iHealthspot is competing in the "Interactive Multimedia" category for its "Interactive Orthopedic Patient Education Library".

IHealthSpot's interactive video library includes 70 conditions and treatments for orthopedics, pain management and physical therapy. The videos are 3-4 minutes in length and include detailed visual information on causes, symptoms, surgical and non-surgical treatments and rehabilitation for each condition in easy to understand language. The content has been developed entirely in-house using the most detailed 3D model of the human anatomy available today and is currently live on hundreds of physician websites throughout the country.

Steve E. Meadows, MD, CMO and board certified, fellowship trained orthopedic surgeon who directed the effort, commented, "We are very excited to be named a finalist in the American Business Awards. This prestigious honor is a testament to the quality and accuracy of our animations and video product and recognizes the development team who worked so hard creating it. It also reinforces our goal to help all physicians and therapists to better educate their patients through the interactive content on their websites.

Stevie Award winners will be announced during the annual gala on Monday, June 22 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Six-hundred executives from across the U. S.A. are expected to attend. The ceremonies will be broadcast on radio nationwide by the Business TalkRadio Network and hosted by Cheryl Casone of Fox Business Network.

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs will select Stevie Award winners from among Finalists in final judging that will continue through June 3. Finalists were chosen by business professionals nationwide during preliminary judging in April through early May.

About iHealthSpot, Inc.
IHealthSpot Inc. is a leading Web development, Interactive marketing and patient education provider developing cutting edge website, patient education and technology solutions to the medical industry. The company's core product focuses on enabling medical practices to market themselves with a full-featured website that includes everything from online communication tools and easy updating to award winning patient education.

IHealthSpot, Inc. is a subsidiary of Action Online Technologies, Inc., a leading edge technology company voted one of the top 25 Web Development companies in South Florida, specializing in helping clients leverage the power of the Internet through creative interactive solutions. Action Online Technologies, Inc.'s subsidiary Action Online, LLC is a leading provider of Web technology solutions to the hospitality industry

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www. stevieawards. com.

Supporting sponsors of The 2009 American Business Awards include High Performance Technologies Inc., John Hancock, Lifelock, RCN Corporation, Softpro, and Ultimate Software. Media sponsor is the Business TalkRadio Network. Localization partner of the 2009 Stevie Awards is Lionbridge.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www. stevieawards. com/aba (http://www. stevieawards. com/aba).

For more information, visit www. iHealthSpot. com or http://meddb. eznetpublish. ihealthspot. com/VideoDemos (http://meddb. eznetpublish. ihealthspot. com/VideoDemos)

Press inquiries contact:
(954) 978-2184 or info (at) ihealthspot (dot) com

# # #

Allsup Explains Importance of Work History for your Social Security Disability Benefits

Allsup Explains Importance of Work History for your Social Security Disability Benefits

As SSDI applications grow, claimants can benefit from understanding the role of their past employment

Belleville, IL (Vocus) August 26, 2009

Work history plays an important part in your application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, according to Allsup, a nationwide provider of Social Security disability representation and Medicare services.

"You might feel that your injury, disease or condition is obvious enough to make you eligible for disability benefits, but the type and amount of work you've done throughout your career is another major factor in the disability benefits you may receive," said Mike Stein, assistant vice president of claims at Allsup.

The Social Security Administration recently reported that more than 3.3 million people are expected to file for disability benefits in fiscal year 2010, resulting in a 27 percent increase over fiscal year 2008.

"More people are applying for disability benefits, and there's a strong likelihood that people don't understand how their work history factors into this process," said Mr. Stein. The SSA follows a five-step sequential process to evaluate applications for disability benefits, and examiners make decisions based on medical documentation, age and work history, among other factors.

SSDI is a federally mandated insurance program overseen by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that operates separately from the retirement and SSI programs. SSDI provides monthly benefits to individuals who are under full retirement age (age 65 or older) and who can no longer work because of a disability (injury, illness or condition) that is expected to last for at least 12 months or is terminal. Individuals must have paid FICA taxes to be eligible. More details are provided in the SSDI Overview on Allsup. com.

Disability Benefits and Four Keys of Work History
To help individuals understand the importance of their work history, Allsup outlines the following four key components that someone's work experience plays in their disability application.

1. Work history indicates if you are currently insured. As a taxpaying worker, you have been contributing to the federal Social Security Disability Insurance program through your payroll (FICA) taxes. "You can look at this like paying your auto insurance premiums," said Mr. Stein. "A portion of every paycheck goes to the Social Security Administration's retirement and disability program through those taxes."

One of the basic qualifications when applying for SSDI benefits is that you must be currently insured, which means that you have recently paid into the disability insurance program. Specifically, you must have paid for 20 quarters in the past 10 years to qualify. You can "buy a quarter" by earning a certain amount during a specific calendar year. For example, if you earned $1,090 in 2009, you bought a quarter. If you earned, $1,050 in 2008, you bought a quarter. You can earn up to four quarters in one year. In the past 10 years, you must have purchased at least 20 quarters or more to qualify for SSDI benefits. Individuals disabled before age 31 have lesser requirements.

2. Work history indicates if you are fully insured. This is a second qualifier that you must meet in order to be considered for SSDI benefits. There are two ways to determine if you are fully insured. The first method is to determine if you have 40 quarters of coverage. (Note: You can earn up to four quarters each year.) Having 40 quarters of coverage means you are fully insured. A second method is to have six quarters of coverage, plus one quarter of coverage for each year after the year you reach age 21. To help illustrate, someone who is 27 years old likely only needs 12 quarters of coverage to be fully insured.

3. Work history is used by the SSA to determine whether you are disabled. A decision about your disability claims is not solely based on your medical condition. At steps along the way in the SSDI process, federal examiners look at your ability to perform work that you have done in the past as well as your ability to perform any work. In particular, your employment experiences during the past 15 years are the most relevant to the evaluation of your SSDI claim. (Read more about general disability guidelines on Allsup. com.)

4. Work history also is used by the SSA to determine your amount of benefits. Your employer is required to send the SSA a copy of your W-2 form each year to show the amount of Social Security taxes paid. The SSA tracks your earnings and taxes paid, and when or if the time comes, this information is used to determine your SSDI benefits and retirement benefits. (Read more about understanding your Social Security statement on Allsup. com.)

If you're not certain you are eligible for SSDI based on your work history, you may contact the Disability Evaluation Center at (800) 279-4357 for a free evaluation. An Allsup professional can help you determine if your past work experiences, earnings and current medical conditions may qualify you for SSDI benefits.

ABOUT ALLSUP
Allsup is a nationwide provider of Social Security disability, Medicare and workers' compensation services for individuals, employers and insurance carriers. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009, Allsup employs about 600 professionals who deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. The company is based in Belleville, Ill., near St. Louis. For more information, visit http://www. Allsup. com.

###