Latest California Healthline Stories
Washington Post Examines FDA Actions on Drug Regulation in Recent Years
FDA in the past four years has taken a “noticeably less-aggressive approach toward policing drugs that cause harmful side effects,” leading some observers to “complain that the agency is focusing more on bolstering the pharmaceutical industry than protecting public health,” the Washington Post reports.
Garamendi Recommends 2.2% Rate Cut in Workers’ Compensation Insurance Premiums
Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (D) on Wednesday recommended that workers’ compensation insurance carriers reduce their premium rates by an average of 2.2% for policies issued or renewed beginning in January, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
U.S. Residents Believe Quality of Health Care Worsening, Survey Shows
Four in 10 U.S. residents believe that the quality of health care in the United States has worsened in the past five years, despite widespread efforts by the health care industry to reduce medical errors following a 1999 Institute of Medicine report that attributed between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually to preventable mistakes made in U.S. hospitals, according to a report released Thursday by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, the Scripps Howard/Detroit News reports.
University of California President Robert Dynes on Wednesday announced the appointment of administrators from the five UC medical schools to the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee, which will oversee the Institute for Regenerative Medicine created by Proposition 71, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Judges Question Past-Profit Payment Under RICO Law in Tobacco Case
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday “raised significant doubts” over whether the federal government can continue to seek $280 billion in past profits from tobacco companies as part of its racketeering lawsuit, the Washington Post reports.
Blue Cross of California Launches New Plan For Young People
Blue Cross of California on Wednesday introduced a health insurance plan targeted at people ages 19 to 29, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Sutter Roseville Provides Grants, Instructors to Nurse Training Programs
Sutter Roseville Medical Center on Tuesday announced a $750,000 donation to Sierra College to expand an online associate nursing degree program to include 20 more students annually for two years starting in 2006 — “the latest gift to the state’s schools from private hospitals desperate to fix a severe nursing shortage,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
FDA Issues ‘Black Box’ Warning for Injectable Contraceptive
FDA on Wednesday said it will add a “black box” warning — the strongest warning a drug can carry — to the labeling of Pfizer’s Depo-Provera because of evidence that extended use of the injectable contraceptive can cause “significant” bone density loss, the AP/Yahoo! News reports.
Hospitals Must Improve Efforts To Limit Medical Errors, Columnist Writes
U.S. hospitals have achieved a greater level of success in their efforts to prevent patients from receiving the wrong operation or medication, but they could do more to improve communication with patients about the risk of procedures, ensure adequate nursing care and prevent complications, columnist Laura Landro writes in the Wall Street Journal.
Review of Trauma Center at King/Drew Medical Center Identifies Deficiencies in Care
Patients receive “poor to marginal” care at the Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center trauma unit, according to a one-page executive summary by two trauma experts who analyzed the hospital, the Los Angeles Times reports.