Latest California Healthline Stories
Health advocates, lawmakers and labor unions are discussing ways to use to their advantage the momentum of a “narrow” repeal of a law (SB 2) that would have required some employers to provide health coverage, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Voters in Tuesday’s election “showed their willingness to approve ballot measures that call for higher taxes to fund more government spending,” including several health-related initiatives in California, the Washington Post reports.
Measure to Fund Hospitals in North San Diego County District Approved
Seventy percent of inland North San Diego County voters approved Proposition BB, a measure on Tuesday’s ballot to provide funding to hospitals, by “much more than the two-thirds majority it needed to pass,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Sutter Health To Spend Additional $154 Million on Electronic Health Records
The board of not-for-profit hospital chain Sutter Health in September approved plans to spend $154 million to implement electronic health records in 27 Northern California hospitals by 2006, a move that could make it the “national leader in the race to digitize records,” the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Christian Science Monitor Examines Causes of Childhood Obesity in United States
The Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday examined factors in family, school and suburban life beyond the “obvious culprits” of junk food and television that are “conspiring against physical activity and contributing” to obesity among U.S. children.
Approval of Measure To Fund Stem Cell Research Examined
The approval on Tuesday of Proposition 71, a bond initiative on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that will fund stem cell research, shows California residents’ “deeply rooted optimism about science,” and the outcome takes on “added significance with the re-election of President Bush and the gains made by Republicans in both houses of Congress,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Injections of Smaller Amounts of Flu Vaccine Through the Skin Effective for Some, Study Finds
Injecting a smaller amount of flu vaccine than a standard dose into a person’s skin produces “comparable immune system responses” in people ages 18 to 40 as in those who receive a standard dose of vaccine injected into the muscle, but the technique is not as effective in people older than 60 years old, according to two separate studies published online Wednesday and scheduled to appear Nov. 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.
CMS To Increase Medicare Reimbursements to Physicians by 4% in 2005
CMS announced on Wednesday that physicians’ Medicare payments will increase by an average of 4% next year, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports.
FDA Officials Delayed, Discounted Study on Safety Risks of Vioxx, Agency Researcher Says
Dr. David Graham, associate director for science in the Office of Drug Safety at FDA, alleged in a “series of testy e-mail exchanges” that agency officials “delayed and demeaned” the results of a study he conducted that found Vioxx — a COX-2 inhibitor that Merck withdrew from the market in September over safety concerns — can increase patient risk for cardiovascular problems, the New York Times reports.
Community Memorial, Ojai Valley Hospitals Agree To Merger
The boards of Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura County and Ojai Valley Community Hospital in September agreed to merge the two facilities in order to “protect the financial stability of the small Ojai hospital,” according to hospital officials, the Ventura County Star reports.