Latest California Healthline Stories
Tenet Healthcare Finalizes Sale of Four Orange County Hospitals
Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare on Tuesday finalized the sale of four Orange County hospitals to Costa Mesa-based Integrated Healthcare Holdings for $70 million, “capping five months of public debate and scrutiny from elected officials,” the Orange County Register reports.
The administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Wednesday said that it had produced several “mock news videos” to promote its policies, including videos addressing the state’s nurse-to-patient ratio rules and Schwarzenegger’s proposal to reduce prescription drugs costs, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Los Angeles AIDS Director Under State Investigation For Soliciting Campaign Contributions
The director of the Los Angeles County Office of AIDS Programs and Policy is under investigation by the county Department of Health Services to determine whether he misused county resources to aid a mayoral campaign, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Three Senior NIH Researchers To Leave Over Ethics Guidelines
Three senior researchers “at the center of a controversy” that has prompted NIH to implement new conflict-of-interest guidelines plan to leave the federal government, according to NIH officials, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The federal government’s misinterpretation of a Medicaid law is potentially harming children’s access to mental health services, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said on Tuesday in a letter to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan and HHS Acting Inspector General Dan Levinson, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
Schwarzenegger Meets With Leavitt, Bush
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday met with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt in Washington, D.C., “to discuss Medicaid funding issues,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
A change in rules affecting the handling of some visa applications could exacerbate the nursing shortage, particularly in California, according to hospital officials and immigration advocates, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Schwarzenegger Issues New Emergency Order To Delay Nurse Staffing Rule Change
California Nurses Association members on Tuesday said the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Thursday issued a new emergency order to delay the implementation of nurse staffing rules that is similar to one Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher declared illegal last week, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
Judge Dismisses Parts of Lawsuit on King/Drew Medical Center
A federal judge on Monday tentatively dismissed parts of a discrimination lawsuit filed by Friends of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, saying the group was not directly injured by the closure of the hospital’s trauma unit, the AP/Los Angeles Daily News reports.
Health Care Provider Report Cards Could Have Negative Effects on Quality of Care, Article Says
Health care “report cards” that evaluate the performance of U.S. physicians, hospitals and health insurers might have “unintended and negative consequences on health care,” according to an article published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CQ HealthBeat reports.