Latest California Healthline Stories
City of Angels and Kindred Receive JCAHO Warnings for Alleged Lapses in Laboratories
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations on Wednesday warned City of Angels Medical Center and Kindred Hospital that they could lose their accreditation because laboratories at both facilities failed to meet standards during inspections in late 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Bureau Recommends 10% Reduction to Workers’ Compensation Insurance Premium Rates
Workers’ compensation insurance premiums should be reduced by about 10% beginning July 1, according to a recommendation by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Many U.S. Residents Would Accept Health Plans With More Restrictions To Reduce Costs, Survey Finds
About 59% of U.S. residents with employer-sponsored health care coverage in 2003 said they would accept a more limited choice of hospitals and physicians in return for lower out-of-pocket costs, up from 55% in 2001, according to a study to be released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change, the AP/Boston Globe reports.
Two executives from Partners HealthCare System, Massachusetts’ “largest and most influential hospital and physician network,” on Thursday “issued a public appeal” for higher taxes and laws that would require all employers to provide health insurance to workers, the Boston Globe reports.
Alameda County Medical Center Remains Eligible for Federal Funding
Alameda County Medical Center will remain eligible for federal funding, hospitals officials confirmed Tuesday after receiving a letter from CMS dated March 17, the Oakland Tribune reports. The announcement comes after “more than a year of surprise inspections,” with ACMC passing a Feb. 15 inspection by CMS and the Department of Health Services, according to the Tribune.
U.S. Women Might Overuse Treatments for Symptoms Attributed to Menopause, NIH Panel Says
U.S. women might be overusing treatments for symptoms attributed to menopause, including hormone therapies that pose risks of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer, an NIH consensus panel said on Wednesday, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Office of Administrative Law Will Not Rule on Proposed Emergency Medi-Cal Regulations
The Office of Administrative Law on Wednesday said that it did not have the legal authority that would prevent the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) from implementing rules to allow the state to begin collecting a larger portion of the assets left by elderly Medi-Cal beneficiaries after they die, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Judge Orders Former Kaiser Permanente Employee To Stop Posting Patient Data Online
Superior Court Judge James Richman on Wednesday ordered a former employee of Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente to stop posting links to private patient information on her blog, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Department of Justice Calls for Court-Appointed Monitors for Tobacco Companies
Attorneys for the Department of Justice said in court documents filed on Monday that they will propose court-appointed monitors to “oversee the tobacco industry” in the event that DOJ wins a civil racketeering lawsuit against several large U.S. tobacco companies, the Reuters/Los Angeles Times reports.
Medicare Trustees Estimate Hospital Trust Fund To Become Insolvent by 2020
Medicare’s financial outlook has “improved slightly,” and its hospital trust fund will be insolvent by 2020, one year later than previously projected, according to the Medicare trustees’ annual report for 2005, USA Today reports.