Latest California Healthline Stories
Safeway Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Related to Tobacco Sales to Minors
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) on Thursday announced that Safeway will take measures to prevent the sale of tobacco products to minors and pay $245,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the state and the city of Los Angeles, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Acting FDA Commissioner Offers To Meet With Sen. Chuck Grassley on Intimidation Allegations
Acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford on Friday offered to meet with Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has been FDA’s “most vocal congressional critic” since an agency “whistleblower” testified that senior agency officials had attempted to intimidate him after he expressed early concerns about Merck’s withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, the Washington Post reports.
Pasadena Clinic Offering Care to Healthy Families, Health Net Medi-Cal Managed Care Beneficiaries
The Pasadena Public Health Department has partnered with Health Net of California and the Associated Hispanic Physicians IPA to expand access to care for beneficiaries of Healthy Families and Health Net’s Medi-Cal managed care plan, the Pasadena Star-News reports.
Funding for Health Information Technology Removed From Appropriations Bill
The New York Times on Friday examined the removal from the 2005 omnibus appropriations bill of a “seemingly modest” $50 million request for funding for health care information technology, which some say “raises questions about the [Bush] administration’s commitment” to modernizing the health system.
Hospitals Lock Out Employees Who Participated in Strike
As expected, managers of nine Northern California Sutter Health hospitals on Thursday told union employees who participated in a one-day strike Wednesday that they would not be allowed to return to work until Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Division of Workers’ Compensation To Investigate Claims Filed by Judges
The Division of Workers’ Compensation on Wednesday announced that it would launch an investigation of the Workers’ Compensation Ethics Advisory Committee, which reviews complaints against judges, and increase efforts to ensure workers’ compensation cases filed by judges are not heard by their colleagues, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Judge Denies Restraining Order To Delay Closure of King/Drew Medical Center Trauma Center
A federal judge on Thursday for the second time denied a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Los Angeles County from closing Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center’s trauma center, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Some Say Medicare and Medicaid Cuts Likely To Help Reduce Federal Spending
The Wall Street Journal on Friday examined how Medicare and Medicaid, which together account for nearly one-quarter of federal spending, could be a “juicy targe[t]” for some lawmakers attempting to reduce federal spending, but some have questioned whether cuts could be large enough “to shrink the deficit substantially.”
States Allocate Inadequate Funds for Tobacco Cessation Programs, Report Says
Only three states — Delaware, Maine and Mississippi — have allocated and spent funds for anti-smoking programs at the minimum levels recommended by CDC, and states have allocated only a combined $538 million for such programs in fiscal year 2005, about one-third of the $1.6 billion recommended by the agency, according to a report released on Thursday by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and American Lung Association, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
Voters Defeat Berkeley Ballot Measure Including Provisions for Medical Use of Marijuana
Measure R, a measure on the Nov. 2 Berkeley ballot that included provisions addressing usage of marijuana for medical purposes, was defeated “by the slimmest of margins,” reflecting a “slow creep of support” from absentee and provisional ballots, according to final results released Tuesday by the Registrar of Voters, the Contra Costa Times reports.