Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicare Made $20 Billion in Questionable, Erroneous Payments in Fiscal Year 2004, Report Finds
Private companies that process health care claims from Medicare beneficiaries made almost $20 billion in erroneous or questionable payments in fiscal year 2004, according to a CMS report, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado said he will rule that the State Compensation Insurance Fund must comply with the same financial standards as other insurers, according to Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (D), the Sacramento Bee reports.
Tenet Healthcare Officials Expect Larger Loss for Fourth Quarter
Officials for California-based Tenet Healthcare on Monday said that fourth-quarter charges could exceed $1 billion and that the company would report a larger loss for the fourth quarter than it reported for the third quarter, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Department of Health Services has not complied with a state law passed in 2002 requiring officials to create a database to track radioactive waste, leaving California “vulnerable to acts of radioactive terror,” according to some critics, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Opinion Pieces, Editorial React To Delayed Implementation of Nurse Staffing Ratios
An editorial and two opinion pieces recently looked at the debate over the decision last month by the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to delay the implementation of new nurse staffing ratios.
New York Times Examines Legal Fight Over ‘.md’ Internet Domain Rights
The New York Times on Monday examined how the “.md” suffix following a Web site address has become a “long-sought domain” by some in the medical industry and has been “at the center of numerous legal battles and overlapping claims of exclusive rights.”
Effect of WellPoint-Anthem Merger on Consumers Examined
The Los Angeles Times on Monday examined the effect that the recent merger between California-based WellPoint Health Networks and Indiana-based Anthem could have on consumers.
Genetic Test Predicts Recurrence of Breast Cancer, Effectiveness of Chemotherapy
A new genetic test can help predict the recurrence risk for breast cancer patients and can aid doctors in determining whether chemotherapy would be useful or could be safely avoided, according to studies presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the New York Times reports.
Tenet Healthcare To Complete Move of Headquarters From Santa Barbara by Jan. 3
Tenet Healthcare will complete the move of its headquarters from Santa Barbara to Dallas on Jan. 3, company officials announced Friday, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports.
Governor’s Plan for Medi-Cal Reform Seeks To Balance Growth, Cost Concerns
The Sacramento Bee on Sunday examined efforts to reform Medi-Cal’s “tangled bureaucracy and complex rules [that] often work against the people [they are] designed to serve.”