Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Cards Provide Savings, Cause Some Confusion, Study Finds
Despite variations in savings offered through the Medicare prescription drug discount card program, the cards can “provide substantial savings over retail prices for medicines,” according to a report released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Los Angeles County Cites King/Drew Medical Center for Failure To Follow Surgical Safety Regulations
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Director Thomas Garthwaite on Wednesday cited Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center for “widespread failure” to comply with safety standards, including counting instruments after surgeries to avoid leaving them inside of patients, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Orange County Register Examines Possible Effects of Medi-Cal Overhaul
The Orange County Register on Thursday looked at proposed Medi-Cal reforms and “nervous” health care advocates who are worried that the $400 million in estimated annual savings “will come from knocking the vulnerable out of programs and shortchanging safety-net hospitals.”
California Delegation Inspects Canadian Internet Pharmacies
California officials who are visiting Canada this week to inspect Manitoba’s mail-order pharmacies are “poised to endorse” the Internet pharmacies as safe enough to provide drugs to California residents, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.
Several speakers on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention promoted the health care plan proposed by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).
Audit Finds 21% Annual Increase in State Prison Health Care Spending
Health care costs for the Department of Corrections have increased by an average of 21% annually in each of the last five years, partly because of rates that are inflated beyond those paid by Medicare and an increase in the number of hospital visits, according to an audit released Tuesday, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
Legislators Should Pass Clean Needle Sale Bill, Editorial States
The “staggering” human and economic cost of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C cases caused by needle sharing can be prevented “without increased crime or drug use” if state pharmacists are allowed to sell clean needles without prescriptions “as they do in 45 other states,” a San Francisco Chronicle editorial says.
Impact of Medicare Obesity Rules on California Health Care Examined
The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday looked at how changes to Medicare regulations regarding its coverage of obesity treatments will affect the California health care system.
CMS Proposes Reduced Medicare Reimbursements for Some Cancer, Respiratory Drugs
As expected, CMS Administrator Mark McClellan on Tuesday announced a proposal to reduce Medicare reimbursements to medical specialists for some oncology and respiratory drugs administered in doctors’ offices, saying that taxpayers have been paying up to twice the actual prices that doctors negotiate with drug manufacturers, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Medicare To Cover Initial Physical Exam for New Beneficiaries
Beginning Jan. 1, 2005, Medicare would pay for an initial comprehensive physical examination for new beneficiaries, one of a number of preventive services that will be covered under changes enacted in the new Medicare law, under plans announced Tuesday by federal officials, the New York Times reports.