Latest California Healthline Stories
The Stockton City Council on Tuesday voted 4-3 to implement a new monthly $1.50 fee for users of land-based and mobile telephones to fund the city’s 911 dispatch system, the Stockton Record reports.
Fifty Large Employers Form Pool To Negotiate Prescription Drug Prices
Fifty of the nation’s largest employers have formed a pool to bypass pharmacy benefit managers and directly negotiate with pharmaceutical companies in an effort to reduce drug prices for their five million active and retired employees and dependents, the New York Times reports.
Bush To Promote Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card Program in Missouri
President Bush will travel to Liberty, Mo., on Monday to promote the new Medicare prescription drug discount cards, which went into effect this month, USA Today reports.
San Luis Obispo County Mental Health Services’ estimated budget deficit is less than initially expected after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) revised budget proposal restored about $3 million to the county budget, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports.
Santa Clara County Outreach Program Expanding Health Coverage to Children, Analysis Finds
Santa Clara County’s Children’s Health Initiative, an outreach program designed to increase enrollment in Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and other public health insurance programs, has expanded coverage to more than 29,000 children in its first two years, according to an analysis of the program released Monday, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Potential Impact of Proposed Budget Cuts to San Francisco Health Services Examined
The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday looked at the potential effects of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s (D) proposed budget cuts for health services.
Proposal Before American Medical Association To Refuse Care to Lawyers Withdrawn
Physicians at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting on Sunday denounced a colleague’s proposal endorsing the refusal of non-emergency care to attorneys involved in medical malpractice lawsuits and to their families, the AP/New York Times reports.
Tenet Healthcare Reportedly in Discussions To Settle Federal Investigations for More Than $1 Billion
Officials for Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare are in preliminary talks to settle for a total of more than $1 billion most of the federal investigations into the company’s business practices and hundreds of claims filed by individuals over allegedly unnecessary heart surgeries, sources familiar with the negotiations said Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
HHS Approves Plan To Raise Income Eligibility Levels for Healthy Families, AIM
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Thursday approved California’s proposal to expand children’s access to health care through Healthy Families by increasing the income level for eligibility in four counties.
Newsom Withdraws Proposed Funding Cuts to Public Health Clinics
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday eliminated plans to reduce by 50% funding to satellite public health clinics in his fiscal year 2004-2005 budget proposal, Department of Public Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz said Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.