Latest California Healthline Stories
Grants Aim To Improve Care for Hmong Residents
Organizations that received grants to promote improved health care for Southeast Asians living in the San Joaquin Valley will work to increase the number of Hmong interpreters and encourage Hmong people to enter the health care workforce. Fresno Bee.
Drug Benefit ‘Boosting’ Revenue for Pharmaceutical Companies
A majority of U.S. drug makers’ revenue reports exceeded Wall Street expectations in the second quarter, but some experts say such effects of the drug benefit will not persist. Philadelphia Inquirer.
Schwarzenegger Likely To Veto Single-Payer Bill
The Legislature passed a measure to create a state-run, single-payer health system, but the governor is expected to veto the measure, which he called a tax increase on state businesses. Sacramento Bee et al.
Record 46.6M U.S. Residents Lacked Coverage in 2005
The percentage of California residents without health insurance coverage is higher than the percentage of uninsured residents nationwide. Only three other states had a higher percentage of uninsured residents than California. San Francisco Chronicle et al.
State Seeks Comment on Proof-of-Citizenship Guidelines
Medi-Cal officials are seeking comment on proposed guidelines that list the types of acceptable proof-of-citizenship documents to comply with a federal law that requires such proof when applying for or renewing benefits. Sacramento Business Journal.
Nurses Form Disaster Response Network
The California Nurses Association is developing a national network to coordinate disaster response efforts with state and local officials and hospitals after nurses were frustrated by the lack of such a network in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Oakland Tribune.
Congress Unlikely To Consider ‘Major’ Proposals
Lawmakers likely will seek to pass a few smaller health care bills before the end of the 109th Congress but not any major legislation. The Hill et al.
Deficiencies Noted at Four Transplant Programs
Four organ transplant programs received letters from Medi-Cal officials saying that the programs could lose state funding unless problems, including low survival rates, are addressed. Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee.
Los Angeles County ED Could Close
Centinela Freeman HealthSystem might close the emergency department at its Memorial campus in Inglewood and replace it with two urgent care clinics. Los Angeles Times.
Higher Life Expectancy, Health Care Costs Correlate
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine attributes about 3.5 of the years of increased life expectancy since 1960 to improvements in health care. AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Scripps Howard/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.