Latest California Healthline Stories
Tenet Healthcare Agrees To Pay $85M in Overtime Case
Dallas-based hospital chain Tenet Healthcare will pay $85 million to resolve allegations that it denied compensation to nurses and other employees who work 12-hour shifts at its California hospitals. As many as 23,000 current and former employees throughout California could be eligible for settlement payments. Orange County Register.
CVS Caremark To Close Some Retail Clinics for the Season
CVS Caremark plans to close 16% of its retail health clinics, or 89 clinics, based on a “seasonal schedule.” The affected clinics will reopen in the fall to provide flu shots and other services. Critics of the move say it will limit uninsured residents’ access to care. Chicago Tribune.
San Diego County Hospitals Hurt by Economic Recession
Hospitals in San Diego County are feeling the effects of the economic recession, and some say it only will get worse. An increasing number of patients are not paying their hospital bills, while others are putting off elective procedures. Meanwhile, some hospitals are delaying construction projects and consolidating administrative jobs to save money. San Diego Union-Tribune.
House Committee Chairs Aim To Vote on Health Reform by August
Reps. Henry Waxman, George Miller and Charles Rangel informed President Obama that they would team up in hopes of bringing legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system to a vote in the House before the August recess. The three lead committees that will play important roles in the legislation. AP/Kansas City Star, CQ Today.
California Senator Calls for Tobacco Tax Hike To Shore Up State Budget
Sen. Alex Padilla has put forward a proposal to increase California’s tobacco tax by $1.50 per pack of cigarettes to raise about $1.4 billion annually. Eighty-five percent of funds would go to the state general fund, and anti-smoking efforts and lung cancer research would share the rest. San Jose Mercury News.
Study: Minorities Receive More Costly End-of-Life Care
End-of-life care costs for blacks and Hispanics are much higher than for whites, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study did not identify why minorities receive more costly end-of-life care. AP/San Jose Mercury News.
Wal-Mart To Join E-Health Record Market This Spring
This spring, Wal-Mart plans to market through its Sam’s Club division an electronic health record systems to small physician offices. Wal-Mart says its EHR system will be more accessible and affordable than those from rival health IT vendors. About 200,000 of Sam’s Club’s 47 million members are health care providers. New York Times.
SEIU Members’ Health Care Costs Will Remain the Same
Under the tentative contract agreement the Schwarzenegger administration reached last month with the Service Employees International Union, members’ contributions to their health care coverage will remain the same, according to a report. Meanwhile, in the private sector, many employees have seen significant increases in their health care costs. AP/BusinessWeek.
Omnibus Spending Bill Clears Senate; Obama’s Signature Expected
The spending bill would fund operations for most federal agencies through September 2009. It includes big funding increases for FDA, NIH and some other agencies. President Obama likely will sign the bill today. Washington Post et al.
LAO Estimates That California Won’t Hit Stimulus Threshold
A report by California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst projects that the state will receive about $2 billion less in federal funding for budget relief than is needed to avoid deeper cuts to Medi-Cal and other programs and steeper tax hikes. Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor also urged the Legislature to expedite changes to Medi-Cal eligibility to receive stimulus funds. Sacramento Bee et al.