Latest California Healthline Stories
The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday looked at potential measures that could appear on the ballot of a special statewide election, including initiatives — such as ones to reform abortion laws and repeal a measure to fund mental health services — that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) would “rather ignore.”
State Data Shows 36% of Hospitals Meet Nurse Staffing Requirements
About 36% of California hospitals are in compliance with state nurse-to-patient ratio rules, according to data from the Department of Health Services from the first 10 months of 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports.
NIH Rules on Consulting Activities Should Be Extended, Editorial States
Policy changes restricting NIH employees’ outside consulting activities that agency Director Elias Zerhouni announced last week “are a good start, but they should go further,” a Los Angeles Times editorial states.
CMS Restates Projected Medicaid Spending, 10-Year Estimate Lowered $73 Billion
CMS on Friday lowered Medicaid’s projected spending growth rate over the next 10 years and said that without any policy changes, federal spending in the program would be $73 billion lower than previously estimated, although administration officials “emphasized” that reforms to the program are still necessary to cut federal and state costs, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Editorial, Opinion Pieces Address California Rx Proposal
Two newspapers recently published an editorial, a letter to the editor and an opinion piece addressing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) proposed California Rx program to provide discounts on prescription drug to some state residents.
UCLA Healthcare To Eliminate 400 Staff Positions
UCLA Healthcare, the largest medical complex in the University of California system, soon will eliminate about 400 full-time jobs, university officials said, the Los Angeles Times reports.
President Bush’s Budget Plan To Cut CDC, HHS Funding; Increase for FDA, SCHIP
President Bush’s fiscal year 2006 budget proposal would eliminate or reduce funding for health care programs that target prevention, chronic diseases and obesity but increase spending for state SCHIP program enrollment efforts, community health care clinics in low-income counties and FDA, according to documents obtained by the New York Times.
Pfizer Analysis of Internal Studies Shows Celebrex Is Safe
Pfizer on Friday told FDA officials that an analysis of 41 clinical trials involving its COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex showed no increased risk of cardiovascular problems among participants, the New York Times reports.
PacifiCare Reports Increased Fourth-Quarter Profit
PacifiCare Health Systems on Thursday announced fourth-quarter profit of $72 million, or 76 cents per share, up from $31.5 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier, the Los Angeles Times reports.
KCET’s ‘Life & Times’ Profiles Intensive Nurse Training Program
KCET’s “Life & Times” on Tuesday profiled Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles, which offers an intensive, one-year nurse training program to address a training “bottleneck,” address California’s nursing shortage and produce new nurses to help hospitals comply with state nurse-to-patient staffing ratio rules that are scheduled to take effect in January 2008.