Be Thankful for Postage Stamps

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"...Thanksgiving is well documented by the stamps that come to life in our albums. We can use them to remind us of the history of the holiday and to serve as visual aids when we explain the holiday to the youngest who share our turkey banquet," writes Janet Klug in a recent Refresher Course article that appeared in Linn's Stamp News.

"Ah, the stories that stamps can tell. And for a hobby that teaches so much and provides endless fascination, I am truly thankful," pens Klug.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Shown above, We Give Thanks Stamp issued in 2001.

To learn more about Thanksgiving stamps, click here.

Post Office Tests Same Day Delivery

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The Associated Press (AP) reports, "Emboldened by rapid growth in e-commerce shipping, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is moving aggressively this holiday season to start a premium service for the Internet shopper seeking the instant gratification of a store purchase: same-day package delivery."

According to Hope Yen of the AP, "Teaming up with major retailers, the post office will begin the expedited service in San Francisco on Dec. 12 at a price similar to its competitors. If things run smoothly, the program will quickly expand next year to other big cities such as Boston, Chicago and New York. It follows similar efforts by eBay, Amazon.com, and most recently Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which charges a $10 flat rate for same-day delivery."
Yen goes on to pen, "The delivery program, called Metro Post, seeks to build on the post office's double-digit growth in package volume to help offset steady declines in first-class and standard mail. Operating as a limited experiment for the next year, it is projected to generate between $10 million and $50 million in new revenue from deliveries in San Francisco alone, according to postal regulatory filings, or up to $500 million, if expanded to 10 cities."
To read the entire article, click here.

Dear Santa I've Been Really Good This Year

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Can't figure out what you want Santa to bring you?

Well Potomac Stamps may have the solution. They're offering gift certificates to buy supplies and other cool stamp collecting stuff.

According to their website, "When you buy a gift certificate, the amount is released to YOUR account. You can then email any amount you wish to any person with an email address. Your email can be customized with a personal message, too!"

Certificates come in $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100 amounts.

Click here to visit their site.

Maryland Stamp Club Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

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According to reporter David Driver in an article that appears on the Baltimore Sun website, Maryland's Howard County Stamp Club was started in 1972.
While the club may be celebrating its 40th anniversary, the majority of its members are significantly older than 40.

"At the recent meeting, all but one of the members there were men and most were in their 60s and 70s, But over the years, the club meetings have attracted at least two youths, as well as college faculty members, computer programmers, an antiques dealer, a retired Navy officer and some in the medical field," writes Driver.

Aldona Pilius is one of the club's few female members.

She's quoted in the piece as saying, "You go to a stamp show and everyone is in their 60s and 70s...
"It is basically for old men. There you have it."

 Shown above, David Mann, left, of Laurel, Gordon Trotter, center, of Columbia, Edmund Midura of Columbia, and Ove Christiansen, right, of Ellicott City, look through stamps at a Howard County Stamp Club meeting.

To read the entire article, click here.

Postage Stamp Ornaments for Your Christmas Tree

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Paula Hrbacek writes on  Examiner.com website that one way for stamp collectors and others to have fun during the holidays is to make a Christmas ornaments like the one shown here.

Hrbacek says,  "Buy or make paper Mache ornaments. Use a decoupage liquid, such as Mod Podge, to glue and varnish the stamps to the ornament. Begin by arranging the stamps with the darkest cancellation marks. Finish by adding one special Christmas stamp in the center of the ornament that has the lightest cancellation mark."

To read her entire article, click here.

Israel's Heavy Armoured Personell Carriers As Tough as Tanks

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One the first things that a military geek will tell somebody that calls an M113 a "tank" is that's an armoured personall carrier, it's doesn't have a big gun and isn't as heavily armoured as a tank. Except if it's one of these Israeli jobs which have to deal with palestinean nationalists and occasionally neighboring Arab states .

found this http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/israels-heavy-armored-personnel-carriers/

and pulled out these bits. Visit link for the whole thing. Seems they converted every tank they had except the Sherman and M-60

Israel’s Heavy Armored Personnel Carriers

Heavy metal

• Written by: Mike Markowitz on August 1, 2012
• Categories: Land Forces, Programs & Tech
• Tags: Armored Fighting Vehicles, Foreign Military, Military News
• Comments: No Comments

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More »A column of IDF AFVs. The nearest vehicles are Puma combat engineering vehicles, the distant ones are Achzarit heavy APCs. Photo by merdiThe IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps training aboard M113 “Zeldas.” The shortcomings of the M113 were one spur to the development of heavy armored personnel carriers. Israel Defense Forces photo



HALFTRACKS: The first APCs were “half-tracks,” basically trucks with rear axles replaced by caterpillar tracks. Their thin armor and lack of overhead protection led American GIs to call them “Purple Heart boxes.”Israel acquired 3,500 surplus half-tracks, using them in the 1956 and 1967 wars after most armies had upgraded to fully-enclosed boxes such as 
M113 GAVIN TRACKED BOX: the M113. Made of welded aluminum, the M113 could “swim” in water, propelled by its tracks. Aluminum armor kept out bullets and shell fragments, but was easily penetrated by rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM). The U.S. sent Israel over 6,000 M113s. They were nicknamed “Zelda,” Hebrew slang for an American Jewish girl. In the 1973 war, they suffered painful losses. REBUILT T-55 AchzaritThe first of the IDF’s heavy armored personnel carriers, Achzarits were built from the captured hulls of Soviet-made T-54/55 tanks. Photo by gkirokI...Beginning in 1987, some 276 T-55s were rebuilt by removing the turret and constructing a compartment for 10 troops. The bulky Russian diesel engine was replaced by a compact power pack, leaving space for a passageway to a rear exit door. The exterior was covered with reactive armor that defeats RPGs and early ATGMs. Named Achzarit (“Cruel One”) the 48.5 ton vehicle carries four roof-mounted 7.62 mm machine guns.
REBUILT CENTURION: 

Nagmash’ot, Nagmachon, Nakpadon and Puma

Nagmachon heavy APC at the LIC 2004 exhibition. Derived from the British Centurion tank, this example has the distinctive “doghouse” replacing the turret. Photo by Fresh Military & Security Forum, Israel via MathKnightSimilar rebuilds gave new life to hundreds of obsolete IDF Centurion tanks. ...By the 1980s, as Centurions were replaced by new Israeli-designed Merkava tanks, they were rebuilt as infantry carriers. ... Some Nagmachons are fitted with a distinctive non-rotating “doghouse” studded with vision blocks for a forward observer.

Namer (Merkava)

Soldiers from A Company, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, maneuver around an Israeli Namer during the Maneuver Battle Lab’s Ground Combat Vehicle assessment at Fort Bliss, Texas. The Namer was originally rebuilt from early Merkava tank chassis, but today they are being constructed by General Dynamics Land Systems in the United States. DoD photo by 1st Lt. Tyler N. GinterNamer means “tiger” or “leopard” in Hebrew.  Weighing 66 tons, this big cat is the most heavily armored APC ever built. About 130 are currently in service.  Early versions were converted surplus Merkava Mk. I tanks, but new production vehicles are assembled by General Dynamics in Lima, Ohio, and then shipped to Israel for installation of weapons and the secret composite and reactive armor.Namer carries a crew of 11: commander, driver, gunner and eight troops. The gunner’s remote-controlled weapon station can be fitted with a 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun, or 40 mm grenade launcher.  Four external video cameras provide 360-degree vision.Future versions will carry a 30 mm automatic cannon and the Rafael Trophy active protection system.  Namer is under evaluation for the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicleprogram.

One Patient's Surprising Post-Op Pain: A $12,000 Bill

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Meet David Galbraith. David is a successful business owner and generally healthy individual who has required relatively minimal extended healthcare in the course of his adulthood. That’s why he found his recent experience with an outpatient surgery quite jarring—and not very patient friendly at all.

When David exhibited symptoms, he was referred to a respected physician who accommodated a prompt appointment and swiftly booked a procedure. David, familiar with the high deductible of his insurance coverage, was pleased to take care of his situation in short order without concern regarding cost. After all, he understood his coverage, as he’d chosen it himself, and he’d asked the right questions in that process. Other than being told when and where to report and how to physically prepare for his simple operation, he received no other counsel from the healthcare provider, particularly regarding costs and payments.

The procedure went extremely well. “The whole thing took no more than 45 minutes,” David reports. “I arrived at the hospital at 7 a.m. and was home by 10:15.”

Perhaps that’s why it was so shocking when he received a bill for over $12,000 three weeks later. Though the dollar figure was unexpectedly high, David was most concerned that he’d been given no warning beforehand and that the bill received was so poorly presented. The language was cryptic, and while the statement was very detailed (“$57 for a hospital gown?!”), the information was not presented logically.

“There were excessive details, yet none of it really made sense to me as a patient,” David explains. “It was difficult to understand...and left me asking why (individual line items) cost so much and what could I have done differently to keep costs down.”

Ultimately, David was forced to spend valuable time on the phone with his insurance company and the provider trying to make sense of the bill and reconcile it accordingly. All told, he’s spent far more time dealing with billing than he did receiving care.

“Now that more of us are on high deductible plans, there needs to be simplified bills for patients,” he summarizes. “When we get a bill we don’t understand, it is both time consuming and frustrating to straighten everything out.”

For David, the frustration isn’t so much about the costs of the care (“It’s okay to pay fair market value…”). He’s most distraught by how poorly the information was conveyed. From obvious lack of financial counsel prior to the procedure to the baffling bill that showed up in the mail three weeks later, he experienced gaping holes in the communications process. Those holes would likely have been filled with a simple pre-admission conversation about billing and a patient friendly statement with clear summarization and key information called out.

Certainly, the walk in David’s shoes is well worth the journey, as his experience is an all too familiar one. Though many of us in our industry are genuinely committed to the idea of patient friendly billing standards, they are not always put into practice. We remain tethered to outdated modes of billing while the trends have catapulted forward. Here are three “Do Now” steps we should all employ to avoid putting patients in adversarial roles come billing time.

- Pre-admission Counsel and Estimations: It’s extremely helpful to provide patients a road map so they understand the financial aspects of their care before it occurs. It should be standard policy that all patients be counseled regarding payment responsibility and cost estimates based on their health coverage prior to admission.

- Online Pre-registration: By pre-registering patients online, providers have the opportunity to vet coverage issues, make determinations about charity care cases and offer patients more detail regarding potential payment responsibilities. This approach requires system updates, but it is well worth the effort. If your organization is not presently set up for online pre-registration, take this as your cue to pursue this solution.

- Friendly Billing Statements and Options: Apply the HFMA standards for patient friendly billing to your statements immediately. Redesign the statements to be more patient-friendly, with key information highlighted and details appropriately summarized for more simple comprehension. Give patients more ways to pay by offering online account management.

At Emdeon, we understand that patients who are confused about their financial responsibilities are more likely to pick up the phone and call your billing department instead of picking up their pen to write a check for payment. That’s why developing a clear and concise, patient-friendly billing statement is important for your bottom line. Call 877.EMDEON.6 (877.363.3666) or visit us online to discover how Emdeon ExpressBill Services can help improve cash flow at your organization.







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