Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicare Beneficiaries Will Not Have Food Stamps Reduced Under New USDA Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture posted formally revised guidelines on its Web site this weekend to ensure that low-income Medicare beneficiaries do not have their food stamp benefits reduced if they sign up for the $600 subsidies provided this year and next through Medicare’s new prescription drug discount card program, CongressDaily reports.
Assembly Committee To Consider Bill To Allow Testing for Environmental Toxins in Humans
The Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday will consider a bill (SB 1168) that would make California the first state to conduct “widespread, ongoing monitoring” of residents for potentially dangerous chemicals in their bodies, the Ventura County Star reports.
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Awards, Prizes for NIH Scientists and Directors
Lawmakers on Tuesday are expected to release a list of 122 awards and prizes totaling $575,000 that universities and other NIH grant recipients have given to NIH scientists and administrators since 1999, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Supreme Court Decision Limits Lawsuits Against HMOs in State Courts
The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that patients cannot file suit against HMOs in state court when they experience injuries as a result of administrative decisions related to treatment, a decision that marks a “major victory” for health insurers and the Bush administration, the Houston Chronicle reports.
JCAHO Rules To Reduce Surgical Errors To Take Effect July 1
Rules issued by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations that aim to prevent surgeons from operating on the wrong body part or patient will take effect July 1, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Kerry Says He Would Boost Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) on Monday at a campaign appearance in Denver pledged his support for increased federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, saying that “contrary to the record of the last four years, Americans deserve a president who believes in science,” the Boston Globe reports.
Drug treatment programs in Ventura County administered under Proposition 36 have been inadequately managed and may have contributed to an increase in crime and “compromised public safety and health,” according to a 93-page report released Monday by the Ventura County Grand Jury, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Panel Investigating Alleged Medicare Vote Bribery Will Miss July 4 Deadline
A bipartisan four-member subcommittee investigating whether Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) was offered a bribe last November in exchange for a vote in favor of the Medicare legislation has informed the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that it will miss the original July 4 deadline to file a report on its probe, according to several sources close to the investigation, Roll Call reports.
Los Angeles County FY 2004-2005 Budget Increases Funding for County Health Department
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a budget for fiscal year 2004-2005 that “slightly boosts spending” for the county Department of Health Services and other agencies, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Three New Veterans Affairs Homes To Be Built in Southern California
Construction could begin within two years on a long-planned Veterans Affairs home in Saticoy and two other homes in Lancaster and Los Angeles, Tom Johnson, the state’s newly appointed secretary of veterans affairs, said Thursday, the Ventura County Star reports.