Latest California Healthline Stories
Covered California Officially Launches SHOP Exchange Website
California’s state health insurance exchange has launched a new website that allows small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to sign up for health coverage. Exchange officials seek to cover 40,000 workers through 7,000 small businesses in 2014. Sacramento Business Journal et al.
Mixed Reaction on Fixed HealthCare.gov From Navigators, Brokers
One day after the Obama administration said it met its self-imposed Nov. 30 deadline to improve the HealthCare.gov website, insurance brokers and navigators helping U.S. residents sign up for coverage through the site report mixed reviews. Meanwhile, traffic to the website reportedly reached about 375,000 visitors yesterday morning, which slowed overall access and forced federal officials to deploy a new queue system. AP/Miami Herald et al.
UC-Riverside Offers Full-Ride Scholarships To Curb Doctor Shortage
UC-Riverside Medical School is offering five full-ride scholarships to students who agree to practice primary care in the surrounding area for five years after graduation. The move is an attempt to curb California’s growing shortage of primary care physicians, which could worsen as the Affordable Care Act offers coverage to more residents. CBS News.
L.A. County’s Mortality Rate Fell by 19% From 2001 to 2010
Between 2001 and 2010, the mortality rate in Los Angeles County dropped by 19%, according to a report from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. During the same time period, the county met or surpassed national goals for many causes of death, including heart disease, which fell by 37% in the county, and stroke, which fell by 35% in the county. Los Angeles Times‘ “L.A. Now.”
UCLA Wireless Health Institute, Isowalk Partner To Develop Smart Cane Technology
UCLA Wireless Health Institute has partnered with startup company Isowalk to develop smart cane technology that could be used to predict falls or help injured athletes recover faster. The cane, expected to be released in the third quarter of 2014, will include accelerometers and gyroscopes, which will allow the device to collect gait data and send such information to an application or cloud-based software for analysis. MobiHealthNews.
Calif.-Based 23andMe Halts Marketing of DNA Testing Kit Following Warning Letter From FDA
On Monday, genetic testing company 23andMe said that it is halting all advertisements on television, radio and the Internet for its personalized DNA test kits. The kits analyze consumers’ saliva samples for genetic information about ancestry and risk for various diseases. Earlier this month, FDA sent a letter to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, saying that 23andMe was advertising the kits “without marketing clearance or approval in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.” Wall Street Journal.
EHR Data Help Researchers Find Links Between Genetics and Diseases, New Study Finds
Researchers have found new links between genetics and various diseases by mining electronic health record data, according to a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. For the study, researchers grouped about 15,000 billing codes contained in around 13,000 EHRs into 1,600 disease categories and then looked for links to diseases in EHRs that contained DNA data. Joshua Denny — a biomedical informatics researcher at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a co-author of the study — said the new method could help link seemingly unrelated symptoms and guide prescription drug research. New York Times et al.
Bipartisan Plan Would Revamp Medicare Doctor Payments
A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers has reached an agreement on a proposal that would revamp how Medicare reimburses physicians for certain services. The proposal — which was developed by Sens. Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch and Reps. Dave Camp and Sander Levin — would reduce Medicare payments for physician services that have been overvalued. The savings — an estimated $3 billion annually — would be redistributed to undervalued physician services. Washington Post.
Obama Signs Compounding Pharmacy Oversight Bill
On Wednesday, President Obama signed legislation that will give the federal government more oversight of compounding pharmacies. The new law will create a separate category for large compounding pharmacies that will subject them to FDA regulations similar to those for traditional drugmakers, such as alerting FDA when there is a problem with their products and allowing FDA officials to conduct on-site inspections. AP/Miami Herald.
Online SHOP Exchange Delayed Until November 2014
Last week, the Obama administration announced that it would delay the launch of the Small Business Health Options Program website by one year in order to focus on site repairs and technical issues. The reaction from small business advocates has been mixed, with some remaining optimistic about the coverage SHOP will offer and others calling the delay a “disappointment.” Washington Post‘s “On Small Business” et al.