TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: Besides holding a rare special session, the full Legislature will meet in a way unlike ever before. A small number of lawmakers will meet in the state Capitol in Cheyenne and the rest will take part by video conference. Lawmakers have drafted five bills, four of which have mirror versions so the House and Senate can consider them simultaneously, and plan to wrap up no later than Saturday. The bills would: — Give Gov. Mark Gordon guidance in allocating $1.25 billion in federal Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. Legislators propose putting the money toward emergency public health costs, aid for families and businesses, economic development programs including infrastructure projects and, to the extent federal law allows, replacing public revenue lost during the pandemic. — Help ensure that people who fall ill from the coronavirus can collect unemployment benefits and not be evicted for missing rent payments. — Alter state funding calculations for school districts and authorize Gordon to make certain emergency funding transfers between state agencies. — Allocate up to $275 million in interest-free loans and other aid for businesses affected by the coronavirus. — Give legal immunity to businesses whose customers contract the coronavirus, a proposal to be initially taken up by the Senate only. The public can monitor the proceedings online. Journalists will keep an eye on things from the House and Senate galleries. Wyoming’s previous special session in 2004 involved an ultimately unsuccessful constitutional amendment to limit payouts in medical malpractice cases.

SOLUTION: Rare Wyoming Legislature special session to take on COVID-19.

PROBLEM: - Frustration over limited time spent with patients. - Inordinate amounts of time inputting required data. - Side effects including high levels of stress. The patient? Herself. The remedy? “I did the research and found direct primary care,” said Anderson-Elder of Windsor. And in June she joined Dr. Frank Morgan at Balance Health in Greeley, a direct primary care clinic he founded four years ago in Greeley. Leaving her family practice at UCHealth Medical Clinic in Windsor after seven years wasn’t an easy decision, she said, but it was the right decision for her. Many physicians — from all specialties — share Anderson-Elder’s frustration and levels of stress incurred while working in insurance-based health care systems. In the 2018 Medscape National Physician and Depression Report, 42 percent of family physicians admitted to having burnout or depression, listing “too many bureaucratic tasks (charting, paperwork)” and “too many hours at work” as the leading factors in burnout. Although direct primary care has been around for some time, it is just now gaining a toehold with both physicians contemplating the switch to a different way of providing care and patients willing to give it a shot, so to speak. In 2017, there were more than 600 direct primary care clinics in the U.S., 10 percent of those in Colorado, according to the Colorado Independent. Anderson-Elder said in her research she found 1,000 out of the 80,000 family doctors practicing in the U.S. have gone the direct primary care route. DIRECT PRIMARY CARE What is direct primary care? And why the interest? First and foremost, the major difference is that direct primary care does not accept insurance. Patients instead pay a monthly membership fee that includes unlimited visits, calls and emails, along with many routine services and access to prescriptions and lab work at a reduced cost. For the physician, it means quality time spent with patients and no more time filling out paperwork to satisfy health insurance company regulations. What the monthly fee is varies from clinic to clinic. At Balance Health, it is $99 for adults, $180 for couples and $30 for children. Those who sign up for direct primary care are asked to sign an annual contract but can be released from it with 30 days’ notice, Anderson-Elder said. “We want to be accessible to our patients. We don’t want them to go to urgent care or ER if they don’t have to,” she said. And yes, that includes calls at 3 a.m., but if it can wait till morning, the patient is worked into that day’s schedule. Anderson-Elder typically sees eight to 17 patients per day, depending on whether it’s cold and flu season. And she spends as much time as needed with them. At her previous practice, she was limited to spending 15 to 20 minutes per patient. “People service their cars,” she said. “They should do the same thing with their bodies. You should be looked at and tuned up.” While most people think of going to the doctor only when they don’t feel well or need a physical for work or school, Anderson-Elder said she likes to see patients even when they feel healthy so she can check in on their well-being and talk about proper nutrition. “Oftentimes patients think they’re healthy, but then we do an exam and sometimes find things,” she said. Direct primary care works best when combined with a high-deductible health plan, Anderson-Elder said, for those times when unexpected surgeries are scheduled and for patients who suffer from chronic illnesses. But she said about one-third of her patients have no health insurance at all. She also noted direct primary care should not be confused with concierge medicine, which also provides direct access to providers for a flat fee but still bills insurance companies for services provided. Another key distinction between the two is direct primary care is mentioned in the Affordable Care Act as an acceptable option for receiving medical care without insurance, while concierge medicine is not, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. And last year, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Colorado HB17-1115, which establishes that direct primary health care can operate without regulation of the division of insurance. Windsor Republican Rep. Perry Buck was a primary sponsor of the bill. Patients at Balance Health also can tap into other healthy-living services for additional fees. Dr. Dana Morgan, a family care physician, specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Balance Health also has a small fitness gym replete with trainers and classes. Wellness coaching also is offered. Leaving her practice in Windsor, though a hard decision, has been the right prescription for her, she said. “I no longer take paperwork home,” she said. “I’m happier and less stressed.” ___ Information from: The Tribune of Greeley, Co, http://greeleytribune.com

SOLUTION: Windsor doctor joining direct primary care movement.

PROBLEM: The death toll from the virus rose to 14 after an elderly woman died in an aged-care facility in New South Wales (NSW) state where several residents and employees have tested positive for the virus, according to NSW health officials. The country’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped by 469 to 3,635 on Saturday, the federal health ministry said, from less than 100 at the start of March. The case number has leapt about 30% since Thursday, with most infections in NSW and Victoria states. As of midnight on Saturday, all returning citizens from abroad will be put into compulsory quarantine in hotels for two weeks at the government’s expense. Military personnel will help ensure travelers comply with the new rules. “There’s so many parts of the world where this (coronavirus) is running rampant and I think every returned traveler is a significant risk,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a televised briefing. Two-thirds of the cases in Australia have been traced to contact with people returning from overseas, government health officials said, although community transmission has been growing. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said harsher enforcement of social distancing could be necessary if community transmission began to rise “at a rate that we are not comfortable with”. Australia’s state and federal governments have sent some mixed messages about social distancing and other containment measures, leading to widespread confusion. While there is no national order to stay home, entertainment and other mass-gathering venues have been shut and authorities have urged people to cancel house parties and other social gatherings. Victorian police closed beaches on Saturday after hundreds of people flocked to the waterside a day earlier in a repeat of scenes the previous weekend at Sydney’s Bondi beach. Police said they had attended a backpacker hostel at Bondi on Friday night to prevent a “free sausage sizzle” that had been advertised at the venue, amid concerns that young people in particular are not taking social distancing seriously. Victoria and South Australia states implemented on-the-spot fines for people and businesses breaking social distancing rules, following similar measures introduced by NSW. While beaches and some parks were closed in various parts of the country, department stores were allowed to remain open under rules requiring shoppers to stay 1.5-metre (5 feet) apart. That has not helped the major retailers much, with Myer Holdings shutting all its stores for four weeks from Sunday amid a slump in consumer spending. Woolworths Holdings, which owns David Jones and Country Road Group in Australia, also said it would close 280 small-format fashion stores for at least four weeks from Sunday, with 5,000 staff to be stood down. In Queensland state, more than one million people were required to visit polling stations to vote in council elections on Saturday. The state government asked them to bring their own pens and practice social distancing.

SOLUTION:
Australia tightens social distancing rules to fight coronavirus.