Latest California Healthline Stories
Integrated Healthcare Association Pays Out $65 Million in Bonuses
California medical groups participating in the Integrated Healthcare Association’s pay-for-performance program collected $10 million more in bonuses in 2007 than they did in 2006. On average, the payments totaled about 2% of reimbursements. San Francisco Business Times.
Santa Clara Opposes FDA’s Ban on Gay Blood Donors
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to oppose FDA’s lifetime ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men and to encourage federal lobbyists to work to overturn the ban. San Jose Mercury News.
Governor’s Health Care Cuts To Leave More Uninsured
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently touted the benefits of universal health care, but now “he’s about to add another 122,000 to the 6.8 million uninsured Californians” with his cuts to Medi-Cal, according to an editorial. San Jose Mercury News.
Google To Launch Online Health Record Service
Today, Google is expected to announce a new service, called Google Health, that will let consumers store their health information online and share it electronically with their physicians. Microsoft and AOL co-founder Steve Case’s Revolution Health offers similar online personal health record services. Wall Street Journal.
Bill Seeks To Boost Safety of Elective Cosmetic Surgery
Assembly member Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) has introduced legislation (AB 2968) that would require patients to receive medical clearance from a licensed physician prior to undergoing elective cosmetic surgery. The bill, called the Donda West Law, is in response to the death of hip-hop artist Kanye West’s mother after undergoing cosmetic surgery. Riverside Press-Enterprise.
California Lawmakers Push Incremental Health Care Reform
After a Senate committee rejected Gov. Schwarzenegger’s large-scale health care reform plan, state lawmakers are offering bills that would change the way distinct aspects of the health care system operate. It is unclear whether the governor will support the measures, but some say the bills could form the basis for the next attempt at health care reform. San Jose Mercury News.
Blue Shield of California Foundation Announces $13.1 Million in Grants
The majority of the grants will go toward health insurance premiums for children in Healthy Kids programs throughout California and the expansion of a program intended to reduce hospital-acquired infections. That program will expand to at least 100 hospitals. San Francisco Business Times.
Rules on Time Limits for California HMOs To Provide Care Rejected
The regulations are needed to enact a 2002 law that gives state regulators more oversight over HMO quality-of-care issues. The rejected rules differed from earlier drafts by letting HMOs define the time limits for health care for themselves. Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal.
Health Insurers’ Trade Group Working on Plan for Policy Cancellations
Health insurers’ cancellations of individual policies have drawn heavy scrutiny from regulators in California and other states recently, prompting American’s Health Insurance Plans to begin work on plans for an independent review process in such cases. Wall Street Journal.
Recent Blue Cross Letters Show Need for Health Reform
Letters that Blue Cross of California sent to doctors asking them to identify pre-existing conditions that patients might have omitted on insurance applications highlight the need for the kind of health care reform proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, according to an editorial. Blue Cross has stopped sending the letters. Fresno Bee.