Latest California Healthline Stories
Los Angeles County will spend about $47 million on reform efforts at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in fiscal year 2004-2005, a sum that is “far more than has been publicly discussed,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
IBM Launches Global Interoperable Test System for Electronic Health Records
IBM officials on Monday said that the company is developing a test system to help identify the best standards for sharing electronic medical information among health care providers, insurance companies and patients, the AP/Virginian-Pilot reports.
Governors Circulate Draft Statement on Possible Medicaid Reforms
Governors seeking to create a “united position” on Medicaid have been circulating a 12-page working draft statement of possible changes, including increasing deductibles and making asset transfers more difficult, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
State Does Not Inspect Required Number of Care Facilities
The state this fiscal year will not visit 20% of assisted-living facilities and child care centers scheduled for inspection and likely will not perform 15% of random spot checks of facilities as required by state law, despite relaxed inspection regulations, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Merck Officials Reportedly Ignored Conclusion About Death in Vioxx Trial
Merck officials in 2000 ignored the conclusion of a senior scientist that the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx — which the company withdrew from the market last September over safety concerns — had probably caused the death of a patient in a clinical trial, the New York Times reports.
Performance of Sonoma County Health Care Industry Improves, Report Says
The health care industry’s contribution to the Sonoma County economy is at a 20-year high, according to an annual report conducted for the county Economic Development Board, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
Permanente Medical Group Adopts New Conflict-of-Interest Policy
Permanente Medical Group over the past four months has “quietly” instituted new conflict-of-interest rules that “severely limit” ties between the medical group’s approximately 6,000 physicians and pharmaceutical companies, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Department of Justice Ends First Phase of Federal Racketeering Lawsuit Against Tobacco Companies
The Department of Justice on Thursday ended the first phase of a racketeering lawsuit against several large U.S. tobacco companies as “lawyers disputed whether the companies had misled the public about the health effects of smoking,” the New York Times reports.
Sen. Gordon Smith, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Near Agreement on Presidential Medicaid Commission
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) on Thursday after two meetings came “close to an agreement” on a proposal to establish a presidential commission to study Medicaid and “assume cuts” to the program as part of the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution, CQ Today reports.
Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan Calls for Reduction in Medicare, Social Security Benefits
Congress must limit benefits for Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries “sooner rather than later” to stem an “unsustainable path” of increasing deficits, interest rates and borrowing in the federal budget, Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan said Thursday in a Senate Budget Committee hearing, the New York Times reports.