Latest California Healthline Stories
Contra Costa County in 2004 paid more than $24.3 million in overtime, with most overtime shifts going to health, mental health, public safety and social service workers, the Contra Costa Times reports.
State Legislators Address Health Care Reform
The Los Angeles Times on Sunday examined the “unexpected” interest in expanding health coverage among both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers, at the same time that health care reform might “be dead in Washington.”
Senate Approves Legislation To Allow Medicare Coverage for Family Counseling
The Senate earlier this month passed legislation (S 784) that would allow Medicare to cover treatment by marriage and family therapists and licensed counselors, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
UC-Riverside Plans To Submit Proposal for Medical School
University of California-Riverside Chancellor France Cordova on Thursday announced that the university would seek approval to open a medical school, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Pharmaceutical Sales Affected by Public Image
“[I]mage problems” facing the pharmaceutical industry are beginning to affect sales, the New York Times reports.
President Bush Promotes Medicare Drug Benefit in Weekly Radio Address
President Bush on Saturday in his weekly radio address urged Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, calling it “the greatest advance” in health care for the elderly since Medicare’s creation in 1965, Reuters reports.
Legislation To Address Vaccines, Treatments for Pandemics and Bioterror Attacks Introduced
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) has introduced legislation that would establish the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, which would focus on research and development of drugs and vaccines to counter the effects of potential disease pandemics or bioterrorist attacks, the Washington Post reports.
Groups Consider Future Efforts on Prescription Drug Costs, Parental Notification
The defeat of Propositions 78 and 79 on Tuesday’s special election ballot “bought only a temporary reprieve in the drug cost debate, and maintaining the status quo will be a shaky prospect at best,” according to some political and health industry experts, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Ehnes Addresses State Regulation To Implement Interpreter Law in Letter to the Editor
A recent article in the Contra Costa Times “incorrectly reported that the Department of Managed Health Care is proposing a ban on children serving as translators in doctors’ offices and hospitals for mothers, fathers, grandparents or other family members,” DMHC Director Cindy Ehnes writes in a letter to the editor of the Times.
Schwarzenegger Administration Withdraws Appeal of Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Ruling
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) on Thursday filed a motion on behalf of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to withdraw an appeal of an earlier court decision mandating the implementation of nurse staffing rules, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.