Latest California Healthline Stories
Riverside County Agency Approves Land Purchase for New Clinic, Housing Development
The Riverside County Housing Authority last week approved the purchase for $1 million of about five acres of land near the Desert AIDS Project offices in Palm Springs as the site of a new medical clinic and housing for HIV-positive people, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
As expected, Los Angeles County officials on Thursday recommended eliminating some services at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, changes that could “effectively turn King/Drew into a small community hospital,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
CMS Delays Launch of Optional Program for Medicare Payment of Part B Drugs
CMS is delaying until July 2006 the start of an optional program that will revise payments for Medicare Part B drugs administered in doctors’ offices, CMS Administrator Mark McClellan announced Thursday, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Wall Street Journal Examines Pharmaceutical Contract Provisions
The Wall Street Journal on Friday examined how pharmaceutical companies’ contracts with insurers and medical organizations to sell their drugs sometimes restrict “unflattering statements about the costs and risks of drugs when they communicate with health practitioners.”
Judge Combines Legal Challenges to Stem Cell Institute
Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 71 will be consolidated into a single case to be heard in Alameda County Superior Court, Judge Bonnie Sabraw decided on Thursday, the Contra Costa Times reports.
California Healthline Rounds Up Recent Hospital News
Nurses at Scripps Encinitas vote to retain CNA representation, Tri-City Medical Center approves spending to partner in outpatient facility
NIH Scientists’ Outside Work Not Scrutinized, HHS OIG Says
In 81% of recent arrangements reviewed by the HHS Office of Inspector General, ethics officials at NIH approved senior scientists’ requests to engage in outside work for drug companies and other external organizations without gathering adequate documentation to help determine whether the arrangements posed conflicts of interest, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Seniors Group Sues Tobacco Companies To Recover $60B in Medicare Costs
The United Seniors Association has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston against several of the nation’s largest tobacco companies, seeking to recover billions of dollars spent by Medicare to treat smoking-related diseases, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Kaiser Permanente Earnings Up for First Half of 2005, Decline for Q2
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday announced that profit for the first half of the current fiscal year increased to $915 million, up $76 million from $839 million in 2004, although the firm’s operating margin decreased, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
New York Times Examines Social Consequences of Aging Immigrant Population
The New York Times on Thursday examined concern among analysts and policymakers in the U.S. and Mexico about “[w]hat will happen when the 10 million Mexicans living in the United States become too old to work.”