Latest California Healthline Stories
Nursing Home Workers Push for Vote To Change Unions
One thousand care providers at 10 nursing homes operated by GranCare have petitioned the labor board for a vote that would let them decide whether to retain the Service Employees International Union as their representation or join the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.
Stimulus Funds Will Help S.F. Boost HIV Research Efforts
San Francisco has received a five-year, $9.5 million grant through the federal stimulus package that will be used to bolster HIV/AIDS research, city Department of Public Health Director Mitch Katz announced Tuesday. The city will use the grant to build new space and renovate existing space for HIV research and help facilitate greater collaboration between the city’s efforts and similar initiatives worldwide. San Francisco Business Times.
Kelso Seeks Bills To Curb Prison Health Spending, Allow for Medical Parole
Federal receiver J. Clark Kelso has asked California lawmakers to pass four bills that could reduce prison health care spending by about $350 million. The bills include proposals to restrict prescription drug use in prisons and grant medical parole to certain inmates. AP/Ventura County Star.
Questions Continue To Linger on Eligibility for New COBRA Subsidies
Recent extensions and eligibility changes to the federal COBRA subsidies originally included in the 2009 federal stimulus package are leaving employers and laid-off workers with questions about whether they will qualify for the program. Kaiser Health News/NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
San Bernardino County Effort Delivers Care to Uninsured
A San Bernardino County church has teamed up with the county First 5 program to provide immunizations and checkups to uninsured children out of its mobile medical clinic. The service also provides primary care to adults. San Bernardino County Sun.
Cuts to Medicaid Prompt Some Physicians To Opt Out
Physicians nationwide are declining to accept Medicaid beneficiaries as patients because reimbursement rates generally are significantly lower than average payments from private insurers. As a result, beneficiaries are having a harder time finding doctors in some areas. New York Times.
Calif. Hospitals Mixed on Fee Aimed at Bringing in More Medi-Cal Payments
Some California hospitals will have more to gain than others from a new fee designed to generate increased Medi-Cal reimbursements. State and federal officials currently are negotiating the details of the fee, which requires federal approval. Sacramento Business Journal.
Hospitals, California Agencies Step Up Error Prevention
The California Department of Public Health plans to use part of the money hospitals have paid as fines for preventable medical errors on research and prevention efforts for foreign objects left in patients during surgeries, a state official said. The state has been fining hospitals under a 2007 state law, but hospitals have challenged some citations, asserting that other factors were at play. Los Angeles Times.
UC-Davis Nursing School Covering Costs, Wins Grants
The Betty Irene Moore Nursing School at UC-Davis plans to use part of a $100 million donation from Gordon and Betty Moore to cover most tuition costs for students for its first decade. The school also has won research grants from NIH and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that together are worth almost $900,000. Sacramento Business Journal.
Jury Says Anthem Should Have Covered Transplant
On Monday, a Los Angeles jury concluded that Anthem Blue Cross of California should have covered a member’s liver transplant after he went to Indiana for the transplant to avoid California’s longer transplant wait times. An official for the insurer said Anthem has not decided if it would appeal the ruling. Los Angeles Times, KPCC.