Latest California Healthline Stories
Hospitals Aim To Standardize Treatment To Boost Quality
A growing number of hospitals nationwide are adopting standardized methods of treatment as part of broad efforts to improve the quality of care and decrease costs. Their efforts are spurred in part by the availability of more comprehensive data that can identify differences in the types and quality of care between health care providers. For example, the Premier healthcare alliance operates a database of clinical and financial information from more than 2,500 member hospitals and health care facilities. The Bon Secours and Banner Health systems have used such information to implement initiatives that generate savings and eliminate unnecessary care. USA Today.
Local Republicans Show Support for Reform’s Medi-Cal Expansion
Although many Republicans oppose the health reform law, some California GOP members are working to implement the law’s Medi-Cal expansion. For example, GOP supervisors in Kern County have accepted federal funds to expand coverage. Kaiser Health News/NPR.
Health Industry Preparing for More Cost-Cutting Discussions
Health care groups are preparing for further discussion on cuts to the health care sector after the 2012 elections. Observers say they are particularly concerned that potential efforts to cut spending will shift greater costs to individuals, health insurers and health care providers. Some proposals have involved broad changes to how Medicare and Medicaid reimburse health care providers or to improving the coordination of care for dual eligibles. Kaiser Health News/Washington Post.
HHS Unveils Online Tool To Aid Small Businesses in Finding Health Plans
Last week, HHS launched a new Web-based tool that aims to help small-business owners compare the costs and benefits of locally available health plans. The tool provides information from more than 530 insurers about more than 2,700 health plans. Modern Healthcare, CQ HealthBeat.
FDA Withdraws Approval of Avastin for Breast Cancer
On Friday, FDA announced that is revoking the accelerated approval of Genentech’s Avastin for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. In a 69-page decision, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said clinical trials showed that the drug was ineffective in extending patients’ lives and exposed patients to several harmful side effects. Avastin will remain on the market for the treatment of certain types of colon, lung and kidney cancer, so physicians could prescribe it off-label for breast cancer. However, some insurers might stop covering the medication, which costs about $88,000 annually. Federal officials said Medicare will continue to cover use of the drug to treat breast cancer but plans to “monitor the issue and evaluate coverage options.” New York Times, Washington Post.
Healthy S.F. Sees Success, but Funding Remains a Challenge
Since it was implemented four years ago, Healthy San Francisco has provided health care services to more than 100,000 city residents and helped to improve care coordination and prevention. However, financing the city’s universal health care plan remains a challenge. Although the San Francisco Department of Public Health has limited its own spending on the program to under $100 million annually, businesses, patients, the federal government and health care providers have picked up an additional $78 million in costs. San Francisco Public Press.
Survey: Businesses Working To Address Health Care Costs
About 9% of businesses with 500 or more employees said they are “likely” or “very likely” to drop health benefits for their employees in 2014, after state-based insurance exchanges under the federal health reform law become operational, according to a Mercer survey of 2,844 employers. The survey also found that many employers are concerned about escalating health costs for their workers and are developing strategies to lower costs, such as offering a high-deductible plan with a health savings account. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New York Times‘ “Prescriptions.”
Report Examines Employer Insurance, Health Exchanges
In its weekend edition of “The California Report Magazine,” KQED’s “The California Report” examined challenges that small businesses face to offer health insurance benefits. The report also featured a segment on state-based health insurance exchanges that are being implemented under the federal health reform law. KQED’s “The California Report.”
State Compensation Insurance Fund Will Disburse $50M in Credits
The State Compensation Insurance Fund will distribute $50 million in policyholder discounts next year. It also said that it will provide as much as $50 million for state workers who voluntarily take severance packages by the end of the year. Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Business Journal.
CDC: Birth Rates Still Falling, Particularly Among Teens
According to a report released on Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics at CDC, the U.S. birth rate declined for the third consecutive year in 2010 and was marked by an especially steep decrease among teenagers. The largest decline was among teens ages 15 to 19, whose birth rate reached the lowest level since the government began tracking the data 70 years ago. The report also found that the preterm birth rate declined to about 12% in 2010 — a 6% decline from 2006 — which experts attribute in part to efforts by medical groups to discourage medically unnecessary labor inductions before 39 weeks of gestation. AP/Contra Costa Times et al.