Latest California Healthline Stories
Angioplasty Provides No Benefit After 24 Hours
Physicians agree that angioplasties and subsequent implantation of stents into arteries can reduce damage to the heart muscle and prevent deaths when performed within 12 hours of heart attacks, but whether the procedure benefits patients after 12 hours remains inconclusive. Los Angeles Times et al.
Committee Recommends Medical School Approval, Hospital Funding
The full UC Board of Regents now will consider proposals to add a medical school at UC-Riverside and provide additional funding for two hospital construction projects at UCLA. Riverside Press-Enterprise, Los Angeles Times.
Pennsylvania Begins Publicly Reporting Hospital Infection Rates
The report grouped hospitals to account for differences in the severity and complexity of their cases and excluded certain patients with conditions that placed them at high risk for infection. State law requires hospitals to report four broad forms of infections. USA Today et al.
CalPERS Votes on Higher Long-Term Care Insurance Rates
If approved, the rate increase would help CalPERS establish a reserve and offset a projected $600 million deficit in its long-term care insurance fund over the next 50 to 60 years. Sacramento Bee.
Report: Higher Asthma Rates Attributed to Air Pollution
Air pollution related to the freight industry will cost California residents about $200 billion over the next 15 years. Oakland Tribune, New America Media.
Medical Tourism Industry Growing
U.S. residents’ frustration with U.S. health plans, rising health care costs and slow regulatory procedures are contributing to the trend. KPCC’s “Patt Morrison.” Audio.
Physicians Seek Action on Medicare Payment Rates
Physician groups plan to continue lobbying for a fee increase and have scheduled meetings with Republican staff this week, but they will have to take up the issue with Democratic legislators if legislation is not passed during the lame-duck session. The Hill.
Schwarzenegger Addresses Health Care Plans
The governor said that he plans to make health care his major focus for 2007 but did not provide details on what shape the effort would take or how it would be financed. A health care advocacy group estimates that it would cost about $6 billion to expand coverage to half of the state’s uninsured population. Sacramento Bee.
Private Medicaid HMOs Increasingly Popular
More than one in three Medicaid beneficiaries now receives care through a private insurer, although some doctors and patients say the insurers offer inadequate services. Wall Street Journal.
Economists Warn State’s Top Revenue Source Declining
The state has relied on Silicon Valley for about one-third of its revenue to fund programs, leading some economists to advise Gov. Schwarzenegger to be cautious in announcing new plans, including health care reform efforts, because of the variable nature of this type of revenue. Los Angeles Times.