Latest California Healthline Stories
Study Finds Flame-Retardant Chemical Risks for Children
Mexican American children in the Salinas Valley have seven times more flame-retardant chemicals in their bodies than foreign-born peers, according to a UC-Berkeley study. Researchers say absorption of household dust likely is the primary source of exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs. The chemicals have been used in California to comply with Technical Bulletin 117, a furniture flammability standard put in place in the 1970s. Environmental Health News/San Francisco Chronicle, California Watch.
GOP, Experts Call for Stricter Regulations on Prescription Pain Drugs
Some experts and GOP lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to develop more stringent painkiller rules to fight drug misuse. Some Republicans also say a plan to require doctors to obtain training on such drugs does not go far enough. The Hill‘s “Healthwatch” et al.
Obama Starts Tour To Pitch Deficit-Reduction Plan as Benefiting Care
President Obama has begun a three-day tour, which includes a stop in California, to explain how his proposal to cut the federal deficit would preserve Medicare and Medicaid. Obama said his plan includes provisions to control health care costs. Washington Post et al.
White House Lays Out Plans To Combat Rx Drug Misuse
On Tuesday, Obama administration officials unveiled a new initiative to reduce by 15% in the next five years deaths associated with the misuse of prescription medications. The effort calls for legislation that would require practitioners to receive training on the correct use of powerful painkillers to be able to prescribe controlled substances. The initiative also calls on drugmakers to provide educational materials for medical professionals on the use of opioids. New York Times et al.
Charles Drew Medical School Looks To Rebound Financially
After years of financial uncertainty, officials at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science say the university no longer is at risk of insolvency and is seeking full accreditation. The university has received monetary donations from the University of California and the California Endowment. The university also is set to name David Carlisle — director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development — as president. Los Angeles Times.
Report: In-Home Care Program Subject to Inefficiency, Fraud
A San Diego County grand jury report finds that In-Home Supportive Services is vulnerable to inefficiency and fraud partly because of insufficient oversight. The report offers several recommendations to improve the program. San Diego Union-Tribune et al.
Kaiser Pharmacists Call Off Plans To Hold Strike Over Benefit Changes
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente has announced that about 1,400 pharmacists in Southern California will not strike as planned on Thursday and Friday. The pharmacists had threatened to strike over proposed benefit changes. Torrance Daily Breeze, Whittier Daily News.
Opinion: Constrain Use of ‘Clinical Wizardry’ Care Tools
M. Gregg Bloche — a physician and a professor of law at Georgetown University — writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece that “the main driver behind rising [health care] costs is indiscriminate adoption of new technology,” adding, “We must make it much harder for high-cost clinical wizardry to become part of our expectations” in health care. “We can do this by demanding proof that pricey services add value before permitting health care providers to tap insurers for payment,” and “[w]e should also stop paying providers more for using technology than for listening and talking to their patients,” he adds. Bloche concludes that “clarity must replace the vague terms (like ‘medical necessity’) that insurers use to veil health care rationing. Clear limits, applicable to all, can help us come to terms with the need to say ‘no’ without shattering our trust in medicine.” Los Angeles Times.
State Provides $2.7M to 19 Nursing Education Programs
Last week, 19 registered nursing education programs throughout California received a total of $2.7 million through California’s Song-Brown program, which aims to address the state’s nursing shortage. The awards were funded by the California Health Data Planning Fund, which collects fees from health care facilities across the state. Stockton Record, Business Journal.
Democrats Eye 2012 Election in Blasting GOP Budget Plan
In an attempt to build support among U.S. seniors for the 2012 election, Democrats are criticizing a GOP fiscal year 2012 budget that seeks to overhaul Medicare. In a recent Internet and radio address, President Obama said that the GOP’s plan for reducing the deficit would dismantle Medicare “and make cuts to Medicaid that would leave millions of seniors, poor children and Americans with disabilities without the care they need.” The Hill‘s “Healthwatch.”