Latest California Healthline Stories
San Bernardino, Riverside Hospitals Showed High Mortality Rates in Past Studies
Some hospital officials from San Bernardino and Riverside counties “expressed bafflement and surprise” that a national study recently ranked area hospitals’ compliance with heart attack and pneumonia treatment guidelines among the lowest in the nation, but several state studies suggest that hospitals “had been on notice for years” about above-average mortality rates from the conditions, the Los Angeles Times reports.
FDA Expected To Announce Review of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements
FDA as early as Tuesday plans to announce a review of direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Campaigns for Prescription Drug Measures on Special Election Ballot Expected To Be Most Costly
The “costliest fight” prior to the Nov. 8 special election likely will involve Propositions 78 and 79, two measures that are intended to help reduce prescription drug costs, the Los Angeles Times reports.
AP/Contra Costa Times Examines Schwarzenegger Plan To Move Some Medi-Cal Beneficiaries to HMOs
The AP/Contra Costa Times on Monday examined a provision in an agreement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the federal government that calls for moving more than 500,000 aged, blind and disabled Medi-Cal beneficiaries into managed care plans, “a move the state Legislature rejected once before.”
Senate Sends to President $1.5B Bill for VA Health Programs
The Senate on Friday voted 99-1 to approve the fiscal year 2006 Interior-Environment appropriations bill (HR 2361), which includes $1.5 billion in supplemental funds for Department of Veterans Affairs health care programs, the Washington Post reports.
Legislation Would Ban Use of Restraints on Female Prisoners While in Labor
A bill (AB 478) by Assembly member Sally Lieber (D-San Jose) would ban the use of handcuffs and shackles on female prisoners while in labor, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
McClellan Announces Goals, Pilot Programs for Medicare and Medicaid
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, speaking Thursday at an event at the National Press Club to mark the 40th anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare, “struck a bipartisan theme, … criticizing the programs in their current state as bloated with inefficiency” and setting “loftier” goals for them, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Lawsuit Challenges Proposed Issuance of Bonds To Temporarily Fund CIRM
A lawsuit was filed last month in Sacramento Superior Court raising questions about the validity of Treasurer Phil Angelides’ (D) plan to temporarily fund the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine with bond anticipation notes until legal challenges to the stem cell institute’s funding are resolved, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Educational Efforts on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit From Insurers, Pharmacies Questioned
Health insurers and pharmacies that have launched “educational campaigns” to instruct Medicare beneficiaries about the new prescription drug benefit are coming under fire from some critics who say the efforts violate Medicare marketing rules prohibiting promotion of specific drug plans before October, the Chicago Tribune reports.
PhRMA Releases Statistics on California Participation in Prescription Drug Discount Programs
About 50,000 California residents have received discounts on prescription drugs through an industry-sponsored Web site since an advertising campaign began in March, according to statistics released last week by the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, the Sacramento Bee reports.