SAN FRANCISCO: Following the success of San Francisco's International Series game in London, the National Football League (NFL) is partnering with Brand USA to put bums on seats in sports stadiums, but also on flights to America.

Brand USA is a public-private partnership responsible for promoting the United States as a premier travel destination.

Today they launched an international marketing partnership with the NFL to promote America, American sports and American live entertainment to inward travelers.

The NFL are Brand USA's first sports league partners in the "Brand USA live entertainment platform. The platform will provide an opportunity for the brand's destination partners to promote their live entertainment offerings and increase their international visitor numbers.

"We are delighted to be working with Brand USA and assist in their mission to encourage people from around the globe to come explore this country and experience all of the great aspects that the United States has to offer," said NFL International Commercial Director, Marc Reeves.

The new partnership will also provide foreign travel organizations with extra resources and knowledge for their customers based on USA sports and entertainment offerings.

MORE THAN JUST SPORT
Brand USA hope that the partnership will enable them to utilize iconic USA brands and world-class entertainment experiences like professional sports, concerts and theatrical productions.

"NFL is very much a part of American culture with an exciting game day experience that is unique to the United States," said Christopher Thompson, president and CEO for Brand USA.

"Brand USA wants to invite fans from abroad to experience the energy and excitement of an NFL game, starting from the pre-game tailgate to the final whistle, in any one of the leagues 32 host cities."

GLOBAL CAMPAIGN
As part of the new partnership, Brand USA recently launched campaigns in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany to reach international fans and inspire them to travel to the USA.

LONDON
These campaigns included the staging of International Series games in London. More than 700,000 fans attended the events around the two games played at Wembley Stadium, (Minnesota Vikings vs. Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 29, and Jacksonville Jaguars vs. San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, October 27).

Also, over 500,000 fans attended the Regent Street block party on September 28.

CANADA
Earlier this season Brand USA  hosted the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Canadian leg of the NFL Touchdown Tour. This gave Canadian NFL fans the opportunity to see one of the most coveted trophies in the world first hand. The tour took in major cities across Canada attracting thousands from all age groups.

Brand USA also invited various tour operators and travel providers from the Toronto area to attend the September 15 NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
NFL is the most-watched sport in the United States. More than 160 million tune in every year to watch the Super Bowl.

Since 2007, the NFL has been playing sold-out regular-season games in the UK and has a commitment to play at least one game per year in London through 2016.

SAN FRANCISCO: A report that looks at spending and service provisions by non-profit hospitals has been heavily criticized by the head of the California Hospital Association (CHA).

CHA president and CEO, C. Duane Dauner said that the report is a classic example of 'a solution in search of a problem'.



"Many of the recommendations noted in the report, published by the Greenlining Institute are already standard practice and included in existing law," Dauner said.

The report looks at community benefit programs. But according to the CHA, it's heavy on political rhetoric and light on substance.

NOT FOR PROFIT
The CEO also stated that the report relies on inaccuracies and faulty assumptions to criticize what he called a  a 'robust, effective and transparent program'. He complemented the partnership between not-for-profit hospitals and the communities they serve, including public and private stakeholders.

"Not-for-profit hospitals invest millions of dollars annually in funding a wide-range of community benefit programs aimed at under served communities, including mobile health vans, medical re-coupment beds for homeless patients and outpatient clinics in low-income neighborhoods," Dauner said.

"Hospitals work closely with local stakeholders to develop plans tailored to the local population. Priorities in San Diego are different than in Sacramento or San Francisco, and publicly-accessible, hospital community benefit plans illustrate this fact," he added.  

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
According to Dauner, California's hospitals are focused on successfully implementing the landmark, federal, Affordable Care Act (ACA) and expanding access to quality health care for millions of people in the future. He said that local community priorities will change as the ACA is implemented and hospitals' plans will be adjusted to meet these new challenges. 

The importance of locally-developed community benefit plans as part of ACA was also highlighted by Dauner who insisted that these tailored plans should not be replaced with a 'one-size-fits-all mandate from Sacramento'.

"That would undermine the ability of hospitals to meet their community's specific needs," he said.

REPORT SUGGESTIONS
In the report, scheduled for release tomorrow (Wednesday), Greenlining suggests that new legislation is needed in order to better align California law with the Affordable Care Act. It claims that the current reporting requirements do not foster transparency.

However, current state law requires that community needs assessments include a process for consulting with community groups and local government officials. The law requires not-for-profit hospitals to conduct this assessment every three years and submit a copy of the plan annually to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). 

The report also suggests that hospitals should be responsible for changing the conditions in which people 'live, work and play'. But SB 697 legislation passed in 1994, makes no such requirements.

THE CHA said that the law does not require not-for-profit hospitals to become social organizations, and are not paid to get involved in people's housing, work and recreational lives.

MEETING
The CHA met with representatives of the Greenlining Institute in August and directed their representatives to the OSHPD website to note publicly available information.  Additionally, CHA  offered to work with Greenlining on its upcoming presentation, but received no response.

              
NOT FOR PROFIT EXAMPLES
Sacramento:  Dignity Health, Kaiser-Permanente, and Sutter Health jointly fund community benefit programs like Sacramento Covered, which helps low-income families obtain health insurance, and WellSpace Health, which operates a shelter for those who are temporarily homeless.
"Most communities, like Sacramento County in this region, lack a real blanket of care for low-income people," said Dr. Jonathan Porteus, CEO of WellSpace Health.

"Community benefit is the thing that's helped us, more than anything, build that blanket of care.

San Fernando Valley: Providence Health & Services – Southern California funds a mobile screening clinic that travels throughout the region's neighborhoods five days a week, supporting low-income and disadvantaged residents. The program is coordinated with area churches to help reach at-risk populations.

Dr. Glenn Lopez, director of the mobile clinic program said: "Everybody benefits, primarily the patients, because they don't have to wait until their conditions are out of control".

SAN FRANCISCO: The city of San Francisco is home to 20 Billionaires according to the findings of a new study out today. 

The report, the first-ever global study of this ultra high net worth (UHNW) shows that the United States is home to a total of 515 billionaires nationally, with a combined net worth of more than $2 trillion



Although most of the ultra-wealthy prefer to base themselves on the East Coast and especially New York, other cities, including San Francisco are proving a popular destination. 

SUPER RICH HOTSPOTS 
The Wealth X and UBS Billionaire Census highlights super-rich hotspots across the country.
Ninety-six billionaires have a primary business address in New York. 

• Los Angeles has 22 billionaires.
  
• Chicago has 21 billionaires.  
  
• San Francisco has 20 billionaires.
  
•  Houston has 14 billionaires.
  

USA 
According to the figures, the United States accounts for 34 percent of the combined net worth of the world's billionaires. The average net worth of an American billionaire is US$4 billion, of which 25 percent are liquid assets.

In terms of wealth source, the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013 reveals that 68 percent of America's billionaires made their fortunes, 22 percent inherited their wealth, while ten percent inherited and grew their wealth.

AVERAGE AGE / GENDER / EDUCATION
The average age of an American billionaire is 67 years old, which is above the global average of 62. Eighty-eight percent of the country's billionaires are male. 

Eighty percent of America's billionaire population have at least a college degree, with Harvard, Stanford and University of Pennsylvania being the most popular higher education institutions.

Wealth-X President David Friedman commented: "It's not surprising that – since the United States leads in terms of the number of billionaires – New York, the global financial capital, is the top place where billionaires congregate." 

To download the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013, visit the report's microsite at www.billionairecensus.com

SAN FRANCISCO: Healthcare fraud, payment -systems and costs will be on the menu at a discussion in San Francisco today.

California Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom will meet with  Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Former Governor of Wisconsin Tommy G. Thompson and other industry leaders at 2:30pm at the city's Omni Hotel.






It's understood that the meeting will explore ways that the private and public sectors can work together to  to combat healthcare fraud and create better, more transparent payment system to reduce healthcare costs. 

HealthcarePays (HCP) will moderate the meeting as it prepares to implement its industry-owned healthcare payment network.

Transparency & Fraud
According to the Governor, current healthcare fraud is estimated to be between $70 and $234 billion a year nationally. This figure he says is 'unacceptable and creating a negative impact on the operational budgets of every state in the country'.  

He said that California alone spends an estimated $6 billion a year, and he hoped that the meeting would help to work out some comprehensive solutions amongst the private and public sectors to address rising healthcare costs.  

"One fundamental way is to streamline the payment authorization process, as has been so successful in financial services.  Collaborative payment processing can systematically identify fraud in healthcare in a way never done before," the Governor said. 

"If we can find and eradicate these hidden costs we can divert those savings where the resources are needed most – caring for our citizens," he added.

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services and Former Governor of Wisconsin Tommy G. Thompson agreed, stating that waste and fraud is one of the biggest year-on-year financial burdens facing healthcare today. 

Obamacare
"The recent events around healthcare.gov and the rollout of Obamacare are troublesome.  Every bit as troubling, but below the recent headlines, is the ever-increasing burden of fraud and waste on healthcare," Thompson said. 

Mr Thompson said that it was time for us to focus on the high price we were paying as a nation for healthcare administration. And that we should look at payment practices that have left the door open to waste and fraud. 

"By tackling these issues, providing cost transparency, and collaborating on healthcare payment authorizations, we can protect the value of everyone's premium dollars and ensure every penny possible is spent on quality care."

SAN FRANCISCO:  A Non-profit  medical organization is changing tact to focus on doctors rather than patient driven crowd funding to overcome US privacy laws. 

SAN FRANCISCO: Early exposure to basic math skills in an interactive environment pupil confidence with the subject, according to new study.

The study was conducted by the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), and Menlo Park based SRI, and incorporated a 10-week PBS KIDS transmedia math supplement initiative, saw an earlier acquisition of skills and confidence by those who participated.




The Transmedia study was based on a total sample of 92 classrooms, with 46 in San Francisco Bay Area and 46 in New York, from preschool agencies and centers serving three- to five-year-old children primarily from low-income households. 

A total of 166 teachers (84 in New York and 82 in the San Francisco Bay Area) participated in the study. It found that early acquisition of skills, such as counting, recognizing numerals, recognizing shapes, and patterning, increased significantly among four- and five-year-old children from economically disadvantaged communities who participated in the 10-week initiative. 


Transmedia
Transmedia includes the use of familiar characters, settings, and stories across different media formats. The materials used included videos and interactive content from several PBS KIDS programs, such as Sid the Science Kid, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Curious George, and Dinosaur Train.  

It also used non-digital activities including books and foam shapes, designed to support the growth of math understanding.


Centre for Children and Technology
Shelley Pasnik, vice president and director of the Center for Children and Technology said that the study gave a better understanding of the contribution that transmedia resources can make to early larning. 

"Children living in traditionally under-resourced communities were able to build foundational math skills when given necessary support, in this case engaging digital content, opportunities to practice both on and away from screens, and knowledgeable adults—leaving them better prepared for kindergarten," Pasnik said.

SRI
Carlin Llorente of the SRI noted that although early achievement in math has was recognized as a strong predictor of later school achievement,  preschool teachers had received limited resources and training to enable them to support the subject.  

"The study's positive findings are the direct result of giving teachers resources that support the vital role they play in orchestrating children's learning experiences with media," Llorente said.

Funding
The 2013 study was funded by the U.S. Department of Education through a Ready To Learn grant to CPB and PBS. The initiative was developed to enhance the reach of, and access to, innovative early math experiences for U.S. children, especially those from low-income families, who often fall behind in mathematics skills at an early age and have difficulty catching up.

Main findings

• Children who used the PBS KIDS math supplement, which incorporated videos, digital games, interactive whiteboards, laptop computers, teacher support, and hands-on math materials, improved significantly in their understanding of the targeted early mathematics skills compared to the control group.  
• Children who used the same technology without the integrated math materials did not experience the same learning gains compared to the control. 
• Teachers who used the math supplement reported significant changes in their confidence and comfort with early mathematics concepts and teaching with technology.

SAN FRANCISCO: An advocacy group against the promotion of 'alco-pops' has called for a ban on the marketing of such products to American youth. 

Bruce Lee Livingston, CEO of Alcohol Justice,  made the comments following revelation from Diageo that their Jamaican based subsidiary, Red Stripe, was deliberately marketing and testing a youth-orientated alco-pop on the 18-24 year old female market. 

Although Diageo state that the new raspberry flavored malt beverage (Fruit Burst), is currently only available in Jamaica, spokesperson for the company, Erin Mitchell addmitted that the same product was being considered for the American market. 

An article printed by a Jamaican media organization included a statement by Ms. Mitchell in which she said she hoped the new beverage would have "crossover appeal". She suggested the pink and red labels and raspberry beer flavor has already been tested to appeal to young women in particular. 

According to the article, the decision to distribute the product line in the U.S., Canada and the UK will be made by "Red Stripe teams" in those countries.

Livingston, of the San Rafael based advocacy group said alcopops were designed as "cocktails on training wheels" and were deliberately made to be attractive to lure underage youth into unhealthy drinking behaviors. He called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to look into the matter.

Public Affairs Director at Alcohol Justice, Michael Scippa added: "Now that we have in a producer's own words, that they are targeting people under the age of 21 with alcopops, we are renewing our call for change to reduce the threat to youth." 

Livingston said his organization is asking Diageo to promise not to market any Red Stripe alcopop products in the United States. 

 "Furthermore, we ask them to start limiting their production and distribution of Smirnoff Ice products which come in many sweet and fruity youth-oriented flavors,"Livingston said.

"It may be time for the FTC and the FDA to look at marketing and product development of Diageo brands. The fruit and fruit flavoring additives to alcopops could arguably be viewed as food additives to an alcohol product," he added. 

Livingston also noted that as the primary regulators of alcoholic beverages, they have full legal authority to ban dangerous alcoholic products to help mitigate the devastating public health threat they present to underage drinkers. 

"It's time for all of them to take action," he stated.