Miami doctors, Walgreens join race for ACOs

With Walgreens joining insurers and hospitals in a race to reshape healthcare delivery in the country, a group of 75 doctors has become the first federally approved accountable care organization in Miami-Dade, Medicare officials announced Thursday.

South Florida ACO and the drugstore chain were on a list of 106 groups receiving approval to offer integrated care that is intended to improve quality and lower healthcare costs, with the providers sharing in any savings.

The concept, part of the Affordable Care Act, has sparked a race among major healthcare providers throughout the country. Many hospitals are hiring doctors and other groups are organizing networks that are expected to create a major shift in the nation’s healthcare system.

Many healthcare experts believe growing numbers of doctors will soon work for large entities. Jorge Acevedo-Crespo, a Miami pulmonologist, said he brought together the South Florida ACO to avoid that trend.

“I think it’s best for doctors to control healthcare — not hospitals, not insurance companies,” Acevedo-Crespo said Thursday.

One reason commonly given by Medicare for setting up ACOs is that many patients discharged from hospitals are quickly readmitted because they do not take required medications or have follow-up visits with their doctors.

Walgreens, the national drugstore chain, believes it can help fix those kinds of problems, starting with the three ACOs it has set up, including one in the Tampa area.

Jeffrey Kang, the physician who is running the Walgreens ACO effort, said one example of how coordinated care can work is a Walgreens pilot program in which pharmacists checked to see that patients were taking the proper meds after being released from hospitals. That program reduced readmissions by 40 percent, Kang said.

“Walgreens is a very natural partner” for physicians, Kang said. In Tampa, it is working with Diagnostic Clinics, which employs doctors. Many of the chain’s stores already contain Take Care clinics, which employ nurse practitioners to treat minor ailments.

“Walgreens provides 365-day-a-year, convenient, accessible, face-to-face health offering for the public,” Kang said. “We’re now the largest provider of vaccinations in the country. And we’re second in hypertension and diabetes screening.”

Walgreens is heavily promoting its virtues as it enters a competition that is growing increasingly intense. Fifteen other Florida entities were granted ACOs Thursday — most of them in the Tampa-Orlando-Jacksonville area.

Florida Blue has already set up informal ACOs, with Holy Cross doctors in Fort Lauderdale and with Baptist Health South Florida and a group of oncologists in Miami-Dade. But the state’s largest health insurer has not yet sought official federal approval, which carries with it a complex series of requirements.

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Dems at odds over future Florida Democratic Party chair

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has the ear and the loyalty of President Barack Obama, and loads of influence among Democrats in Washington and across the country. Democratic activists in her home state of Florida, however, are poised to deliver an embarrassing snub to Wasserman Schultz later this month with the heated race to lead the state Democratic Party.

The congresswoman from Weston recruited longtime friend Allison Tant of Tallahassee to run for chair of the state party, and in recent weeks has aggressively lobbied elected officials and party activists to get behind her anointed choice.

But it looks increasingly likely that those activists may ignore the entreaties by Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Bill Nelson and instead elect Tampa activist Alan Clendenin to succeed outgoing party chairman Rod Smith.

"They’re in absolute denial that they’ve lost," Hillsborough Democratic Chairman Chris Mitchell said of Tant and her supporters. "Now they’re scrambling, and Debbie’s trying to save face. ... She wants to have complete control of the (state party) and what they do, and Allison Tant gives her complete control. Debbie knows she can’t control Alan and she can control Allison."

Democratic state committee members from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Monday night held a non-binding vote on the race for party chairman and unanimously backed Clendenin over Tant. The way the party weighs votes in such party elections, the votes from those three Democratic strongholds could all but ensure Clendenin is the next state party chairman.

Clendenin, 53, said Wasserman Schultz urged him to drop out of the race to pave the way for Tant, but he refused.

His endorsements include U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and former gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink — both fellow Hillsborough county residents — and the state party’s black and Hispanic caucuses.

"The bottom line is we’re all Democrats and like with all elections, we will unify when we’re done,’’ Clendenin, a retired air traffic controller who would be Florida’s first openly gay state party chairman, said when asked if he could work with the DNC chairwoman if he wins.

"I’ve been counting votes for a long time for a lot of years. The vote count we have is one that puts Allison in a very strong position," said Wasserman Schultz. "The vote is on Jan. 26 and that’s the one that matters."

Tant, a top Obama fundraiser and former lobbyist who had been little known outside of Tallahassee, noted that the Monday night South Florida vote was non-binding and that she is rapidly gaining support as she meets more and more people across the state.

"It’s very close and it will be a robust primary," said Tant, 51, who on Wednesday announced endorsements from most Democrats in the Florida congressional delegation (U.S. Reps. Frederica Wilson and Joe Garcia of Miami-Dade; Alcee Hastings of Broward; Lois Frankel, Ted Deutch and Patrick Murphy of Palm Beach; Alan Grayson of Orange County; and Corrine Brown of Duval County) as well as seven local party officials.

Clendenin’s supporters tout his vision for shaking up the party and mobilizing and organizing the grassroots, while Tant’s supporters often stress her strong fundraising skills.

"It makes sense that the people who are ultimately elected by party activists are strongly supporting Allison Tant because we know what it takes to win election," Wasserman Schultz said. "Without having someone at the helm who can raise the resources, we are not going to be competitive in 2014

Wasserman Schultz’s close involvement in the race has led to speculation she wants a strong ally leading the state party should she run for governor or U.S. Senate, but the DNC leader dismissed that talk.

"This is nothing more than I am leader of the party nationally and I care about my state, and I really care about making sure that we can defeat Rick Scott," she said.

Clendenin said the choice boils down to whether Democrats want a leader to tweak the party (Tant) or make significant changes (Clendenin). Tant, he said, could be "part of an incredible team to change the trajectory of the state of Florida. I want to work with Allison to be part of a team. I believe Allison would be willing to do that, but Debbie is unwilling to give her the latitude to do that."

Florida Democrats have not had as competitive and heated an election for state party chairman in at least two decades. On blogs and through emails, advocates for both candidates have attacked the rival candidate.

Tant critics have cast her as a puppet of party elites and a status quo candidate. They have pointed to a handful of donations she has made to Republican legislative candidates (Tant said they mainly went to candidates who would advocate for disabled children and that she gave to far more Democrats), and that her husband, former Democratic attorney general candidate Barry Richard, represented the Bush-Cheney campaign in the 2000 recount.

Clendenin critics say he is out of his league when it comes to the most critical element of a party’s success — raising money. Tant raised at least $340,000 for Obama in the last election from Leon County alone.

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‘Smart’ potty or dumb idea? Wacky gadgets at CES

LAS VEGAS (AP) — From the iPotty for toddlers to the 1,600-pound mechanical spider and the host of glitch-ridden “smart” TVs, the International CES show is a forum for gadget makers to take big — and bizarre — chances.

Many of the prototypes introduced at the annual gadget show over the years have failed in the marketplace. But the innovators who shop their wares here are fearless when it comes to pitching new gizmos, many of which are designed to solve problems you didn’t know you had.

A search for this year’s strangest (and perhaps least useful) electronic devices yielded an extra-loud pair of headphones from a metal band, an eye-sensing TV that didn’t work as intended and more. Take a look:

—MOTORHEADPHONES

Bass-heavy headphones that borrow the names of hip-hop luminaries like Dr. Dre have become extremely popular. Rock fans have been left out of the party — until now. British metal band Motorhead, famous for playing gut-punchingly loud, is endorsing a line of headphones that “go to eleven” and are hitting U.S. stores now.

Says lead singer and bassist Lemmy Kilmister, explaining his creative input: “I just said make them louder than everybody else’s. So that’s the only criteria, and that it should reflect every part of the sound, not just the bass.”

The Motorheadphone line consists of three over-the-ear headphones and six in-ear models. The initiative came from a Swedish music-industry veteran, and distribution and marketing is handled by a Swedish company, Krusell International AB.

WHO IT’S FOR: People who don’t care about their hearing. According to Kilmister, the headphones are ideal for Motorhead fans. “Their hearing is already damaged, they better buy these.”

PRICE: Prices range from $ 50 to $ 130.

—EYE-SENSING TV

A prototype of an eye-sensing TV from Haier didn’t quite meet viewers eye-to-eye. An on-screen cursor is supposed to appear where the viewer looks to help, say, select a show to watch. Blinking while controlling the cursor is supposed to result in a click. In our brief time with the TV, we observed may quirks and comic difficulties.

For one, the company’s demonstrator Hongzhao Guo said the system doesn’t work that well when viewers wear eyeglasses. (That kind of defeats the purpose of TV, no?) But it turns out, one bespectacled reporter was able to make it work. But the cursor appeared a couple inches below where the viewer was looking. This resulted in Guo snapping his fingers to attract the reporter’s eye to certain spots. The reporter dutifully looked, but the cursor was always a bit low. Looking down to see the cursor only resulted in it moving further down the TV screen.

WHO IT’S FOR: People too lazy to move their arms.

“It’s easy to do,” Guo said, taking the reporter’s place at the demonstration. He later said the device needs to be recalibrated for each person. It worked fine for him, but the TV is definitely not ready for prime-time.

—PARROT FLOWER POWER

A company named after a bird wants to make life easier for your plants. A plant sensor called Flower Power from Paris-based Parrot is designed to update your mobile device with a wealth of information about the health of your plant and the environment it lives in. Just stick the y-shaped sensor in your plant’s soil, download the accompanying app and — hopefully — watch your plant thrive.

“It basically is a Bluetooth smart low-energy sensor. It senses light, sunlight, temperature, moisture and soil as well as fertilizer in the soil. You can use it either indoors or outdoors,” said Peter George, vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas at Parrot. The device will be available sometime this year, the company said.

WHOT IT’S FOR: ‘Brown-thumbed’ folk and plants with a will to live.

PRICE: Unknown.

—HAPIFORK

If you don’t watch what you put in your mouth, this fork will — or at least try to. Called HAPIfork, it’s a fork with a fat handle containing electronics and a battery. A motion sensor knows when you are lifting the fork to your mouth. If you’re eating too fast, the fork will vibrate as a warning. The company behind it, HapiLabs, believes that using the fork 60 to 75 times during meals that last 20 to 30 minutes is ideal.

But the fork won’t know how healthy or how big each bite you take will be, so shoveling a plate of arugula will likely be judged as less healthy than slowly putting away a pile of bacon. No word on spoons, yet, or chopsticks.

WHO IT’S FOR? People who eat too fast. Those who want company for their “smart” refrigerator and other kitchen gadgets.

PRICE: HapiLabs is launching a fundraising campaign for the fork in March on the group-fundraising site Kickstarter.com. Participants need to pay $ 99 to get a fork, which is expected to ship around April or May.

— IPOTTY

Toilet training a toddler is no picnic, but iPotty from CTA Digital seeks to make it a little easier by letting parents attach an iPad to it. This way, junior can gape and paw at the iPad while taking care of business in the old-fashioned part of the plastic potty. IPotty will go on sale in March, first on Amazon.com.

There are potty training apps out there that’ll reward toddlers for accomplishing the deed. The company is also examining whether the potty’s attachment can be adapted for other types of tablets, beyond the iPad.

“It’s novel to a lot of people but we’ve gotten great feedback from parents who think it’d be great for training,” said CTA product specialist Camilo Gallardo.

WHO IT’S FOR: Parents at their wit’s end.

PRICE: $ 39.99

—MONDO SPIDER, TITANOBOA

A pair of giant hydraulic and lithium polymer battery controlled beasts from Canadian art organization eatART caught some eyes at the show. A rideable 8-legged creature, Mondo Spider weighs 1,600 pounds and can crawl forward at about 5 miles per hour on battery power for roughly an hour. The 1,200-pound Titanoboa slithers along the ground at an as yet unmeasured speed.

Computer maker Lenovo sponsored the group to show off the inventions at CES.

Hugh Patterson, an engineer who volunteers his time to making the gizmos, said they were made in part to learn more about energy use. One lesson from the snake is that “side winding,” in which the snake corkscrews its way along the ground, is one of the most efficient ways of moving along soft ground, like sand.

Titanoboa was made to match the size of a 50-foot long reptile whose fossilized remains were dated 50 million years ago, when the world was 5 to 6 degrees warmer. The creature was built “to provoke discussion about climate change,” Patterson said.

The original version of Mondo Spider, meanwhile, first appeared at the Burning Man arts gathering in Nevada in 2006.

WHO IT’S FOR: Your inner child, Burning Man participants, people with extra-large living rooms.

PRICE: The spider’s parts cost $ 26,000. The Titanoboa costs $ 70,000. Engineers provided their time for free and both took “thousands of hours” to build, Patterson said.

___

Ortutay contributed from New York. AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson and Luke Sheridan from AP Television contributed to this story from Las Vegas.

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Unidentified 9/11 remains will be safe: city

The remains of unidentified victims of 9/11 to be interred at the World Trade Center memorial site will be safe from flooding and other disasters, city attorneys argued today in state appellate court in Manhattan.

“There’s no evidence in the record that there is a problem with flooding,” argued Ellen Ravitch, of the city’s Law Department.

But a group of families disagree saying flooding during Hurricane Sandy proved the site isn’t safe from storms.

The group had sued the city under the Freedom of Information Law for the release of a master list of all registered family members so they can poll them about whether they’d like to see the unidentified remains buried in a capsule under the memorial, as is planned now, or in above-ground memorial.

The city, however, has refused citing privacy concerns, even though it did provide the list to the 9/11 Memorial, a privately-run non-profit.

The five-judge appellate panel said it would announce it’s decision at a later date.

Family members said if others knew where the remains will be located they would also object.

“This is going to flood again. There will be human remains floating all over Lower Manhattan. I was down there after Sept. 11 picking up body parts, and I’m afraid that’s going to happen again,” said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost his son, Jimmy, also a firefighter, on 9/11.

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Florida company provides electrical power for the world

More than 4,000 miles from its home base in Doral, Energy International is helping keep the lights on and the power grid humming in Gibraltar, the British territory on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.

Energy International, a global provider of power plants and energy solutions, sent a temporary plant that will provide power for at least the next two years while a more permanent fix is sought for the territory’s erratic and aging electrical system.

The Doral company was founded 14 years ago as MCA Power Systems and its initial goal was to pursue energy contracts in Latin America. It began in 2000 with a name change and in recent years its focus has become global.

“The world needs energy,’’ said Brett Hall, EI’s vice president of finance.

While the 2007-2008 recession curtailed the growth of worldwide energy demand, the U.S. Energy Information Agency has projected that global demand for electricity will increase by 2.3 percent annually from 2008 to 2035.

The potential is especially strong in developing nations. The International Energy Agency estimated that in 2009, 21 percent of the world’s population — 1.4 billion people — didn’t have access to electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of people without power rises to 69 percent.

Energy International has expanded sales from Latin America and the Caribbean to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, boosting revenue from $100 million annually in 2009 to more than $300 million today, Hall said. This year, EI is anticipating revenue of $350 million to $375 million.

In the next seven years the company, which is privately owned by American shareholders and affiliated with Gecolsa — the Caterpillar dealership in Colombia — hopes revenue will top $1 billion, he said.

Even though Energy International is based in the United States, it does little work domestically. Its sweet spot is emerging economies and projects that require an investment on its part of $100 million or less.

“Our focus is to do whatever makes the most economic sense for a particular market,’’ said Hall.

“We’re not going to be building a nuclear power plant,’’ he said. But EI will accommodate its solutions to local fuel supplies whether it’s biofuel, natural gas or heavy fuels that are more prevalent.

When it comes to the type of temporary power solution needed by Gibraltar, which had been plagued by a string of power outages at its archaic electrical facilities, EI can have a temporary plant up and running in 30 to 40 days, supplying the engineering, rental turbines and other equipment and doing the installation.

“We were able to support Gibraltar’s power needs on short notice,’’ said Andres Molano, EI’s vice president of sales. “Some of their equipment required major maintenance and they needed to stop their plants.’’

EI, one of the world’s largest suppliers of interim energy solutions, signed a $12 million contract with the government of Gibraltar in November and the plant was operational by Dec. 21. The agreement includes an option for a three-year extension.

The equipment now in use in Gibraltar is considered part of EI’s fleet and will move on to other energy emergencies when its service in the territory famed for the Rock of Gibraltar is complete.

But when it comes to its permanent power plants, EI will build a facility for a client looking to generate its own power or construct a plant, run it and sell power directly to the final user.

“We can do all the work ourselves. We have all the skills in house — finance, design, operations, maintenance, building and the equipment,’’ said Hall.

Energy International moved into the Middle East last year, completing projects in Oman and Yemen and establishing a subsidiary in Dubai to pursue business in Africa and the Middle East, said Molano.

“Africa is new to us, but we believe there are opportunities there,’’ he said.

The company also is looking for continued growth in Latin America, especially in Colombia, which is now attracting foreign investors who previously had been spooked by violence.

Remote areas of the Amazon where temporary power solutions are needed also represent opportunity for the company.

“EI is very fortunate to be in a position in which we have more excellent opportunities than capital.’’ said Hall, so this year it will be concentrating on raising equity to finance growth.

“One of our biggest challenges in 2013,’’ Hall said, “will be to find investors or joint venture partners to provide capital that will enable EI to perform these projects so our aggressive revenue growth targets can be achieved.’’

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Miami police to buyback guns — no questions asked

In efforts to reduce gun violence, Miami police will hold its first 2013 gun buyback operation of the year.

Beginning on Jan. 19, anyone can drop off any firearm at designated locations and receive a gift certificate with no questions asked.

“We are urging the public to join us in the efforts to reduce gun violence and make a difference,” the police department said in a news release.

The buybacks will be from 10 a .m. to 2 p.m. at the following locations:

• Jan. 19 - Model City NET, Jordan Grove Baptist Church, 5946 NW 12th Ave.

• Jan. 26 - Overtown NET, St. John Baptist Church, 1328 NW Third Ave.

• Feb. 2 - Little Havana NET, San Juan Bosco Catholic Church, 1301 W. Flagler St.

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U.S. Franciscan friars go digital, accept prayer requests via text

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The largest group of Franciscan friars in the United States is offering the faithful a new way to pray in the digital age by accepting prayer requests via text messages.

The Friars of Holy Name Province, who staff 40 parishes and have colleges, soup kitchens and food centers along the eastern seaboard, as well as groups in Peru and Tokyo, are among a few religious groups offering this type of digital service.

Its “Text a Prayer Intention to a Franciscan Friar” initiative, which is described as faith at your fingertips, is a novel way for Roman Catholics to connect.

“People are always saying to friars, ‘Can you say a prayer for me?’ Or ‘Can you remember my mother who has cancer?’” Father David Convertino, the New York-based executive director of development for the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, said in an interview.

“I was thinking that a lot of people text everything now, even more than email, so why not have people have the ability to ask us to pray for them … by texting.”

The faithful simply text the word ‘prayer’ to 306-44, free of charge. A welcome message from the friars comes up along with a box to type in the request. When the it is sent, the sender receives a reply.

The intentions are received on a website and will be included collectively in the friars’ prayers twice a day and at Mass.

It is one of several ways the friars hope to reach a younger audience, increase the number of faithful and spread the faith. They have already renovated their website and the next step is moving into Facebook and tweeting.

“If the Pope can tweet, friars can text,” said Father David.

The friars also have a presence on LinkedIn and have been streaming some of their church services.

“We’re trying,” said Father David when asked if the friars are well into the digital age, adding that they were “rushing madly into the 19th century.”

Most of the 325 friars, whose average age is about 60, are comfortable with the technology.

“We have a friar who is 80 who was texting today,” said Father David.

The friars are following the example of 85-year-old Pope Benedict, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, whom the Vatican said had 2.1 million followers on Twitter just eight days after sending his first tweet.

The Pontiff tweets in several languages, including Arabic, and plans to add Latin and Chinese to them.

“We’re really excited about this working,” said Father David, about the new program. “I think we’ll be able to keep up (with all the intentions). That’s what we do, we pray for people.”

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy)

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Behind the Scenes of PSY's 2013 Super Bowl Commercial

ET has your exclusive sneak peek at PSY's next big project!

Video: Stars Party Gangnam Style Backstage at AMAs

The Korean superstar will launch an out-of-this-world Super Bowl commercial Sunday, January 3, and we have your first look behind the scenes of the top-secret shoot this Wednesday.

Also tomorrow, inside Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey's American Idol feud! Plus, the deleted scene deemed too sexy for Twilight.

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B'klyn man gets 15 years for attempt to join jihad terror group

A Brooklyn architect was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday after he tried to travel overseas and join a jihadist terror group in one of Pakistan's far-flung tribal regions.

Agron Hasbajrami, 28, an Albanian citizen legally residing in the US, was lured away from his New York City architecture career after becoming radicalized on Internet web sites preaching holy war.

Defense attorney Steve Zissou said that Hasbajrami represented yet another example of "passionate young men deluded by a false idol" - online web sites espousing "propaganda" and radical Islam. "He bought into for a while," Zissou told the judge.

Hasbajrami apologized for his actions and admitted that he was "ashamed" for his "bad judgment of emotions."

"I always condemned terrorism in my heart. Terrorism is the worst thing anyone can do," Hasbajrami said.

But Brooklyn federal Judge John Gleeson noted that Hasbajrami had not renounced his plan, and actually was arrested trying to put it into action.

Although he came to New York "to pursue the American dream," experiencing frustration over economic problems and ethnic "difficulties" eventually led to the "young aspiring architect" to become "a young aspiring jihadist martyr," the judge said.

"You came to Brooklyn and decided you wanted to kill Americans," Gleeson said, explaining that he would have sentenced Hasbajrami to more time behind bars but decided to not usurp a plea agreement with prosecutors putting a 15-year ceiling on the prison term for providing material support to terrorists.

Hasbajrami was arrested in Sept. 2011 at JFK airport as he tried to board a flight to Turkey while carrying with him a tent, boots and cold-weather gear. In his passport was an Iranian visa. The feds say that Hasbajrami was headed eventually to Pakistan's western frontier to seek training from terror groups operating along its border with Afghanistan.

"Hoping to die a martyr to the cause of violent jihad, he will spend 15 years of his remaining days in federal prison," said Loretta Lynch, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

mmaddux@nypost.com

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Magic Jack ends suit against Net Talk

A suit between Magic Jack and a Miami-based rival has ended.

Net Talk, with headquarters in suburban Miami-Dade, announced Tuesday that Magic Jack had dropped its patent-infringement suit against Net Talk over the company’s Internet phone service. Magic Jack is one of the best-known providers of VOIP (voice over Internet protocol), and sued Net Talk in April over the competitor’s product.

In December, both sides agreed to drop the legal action, and the federal case was dismissed.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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