Latest California Healthline Stories
Institute of Medicine Committee Makes Recommendations To Address Issue of Childhood Obesity
The federal government should set nutritional standards for all food and beverages served on school grounds and encourage physical education and other programs to allow children to exercise at least 30 minutes per day, according to a report released Thursday by the Institute of Medicine, Reuters reports.
Editorials, Opinion Piece Consider Ballot Measure To Fund Emergency Care
Two recent editorials and one opinion piece address Proposition 67, an initiative scheduled to appear on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that would impose a surcharge on telephone bills to fund emergency care.
Some Republican legislators might postpone until after the November elections “politically thorny votes” on “delicate” issues, such as legalizing the importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from abroad and a $30.3 billion allotment in the federal budget to finance veterans’ health care in 2005, the AP/Boston Globe reports.
USA Today Examines Salaries of Not-for-Profit Hospital Executives
USA Today on Thursday examined executive salary levels and “perks” at not-for-profit hospitals, which “have become fodder for industry critics.”
In response to an inquiry by the office of Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to give prosecutors records from two closed meetings on the proposed closure of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center’s trauma unit, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Senators Make Recommendations at Department of Corrections Hearing
California should follow federal prison system regulations that have effectively lowered per-inmate spending in other states — despite rising medical costs — to help reduce the estimated $1 billion the state spends on prison health care, senators said Wednesday at an investigational hearing, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Advocates for minority groups are criticizing some California HMOs for declining to submit information about services provided to non-English speaking patients to the Office of the Patient Advocate for the agency’s annual report card on HMO quality of care, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Merck Announces Plans To Withdraw Arthritis Medication Vioxx From Market Over Safety Concerns
Merck officials Thursday announced that they are pulling arthritis medication Vioxx from the market because new data from a clinical trial shows an increased risk of heart attack and stroke among patients taking the drug, the AP/New York Times reports.
A group of social conservatives on Friday criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) for signing two bills that would allow pharmacies to sell sterile syringes without a prescription and extend health insurance coverage to registered, same-sex domestic partners, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Mercy Healthcare Sacramento Leads Sacramento Not-for-Profit Hospitals in Bill Collection Court Cases
Mercy Healthcare Sacramento, a unit of Catholic Healthcare West that owns four not-for-profit facilities in Sacramento County, is the “most aggressive local hospital chain when it comes to collecting unpaid bills from the poor and uninsured,” according to a two-month Sacramento Bee investigation.