Latest California Healthline Stories
Bush Administration To Announce New Policy on Excessive Medicare Payments
The Bush administration is expected to issue a final rule soon on a proposal designed to prevent health care providers from submitting Medicare and Medicaid claims that are “substantially in excess” of what they typically charge private payers for items or services, the New York Times reports.
Federal Appeals Court Panel Upholds State Rules on Physician Advertisements
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld state rules that limit the content that physicians can include in their advertisements, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.
FDA Official Cites Problems With Prescription Drug Reimportation Programs
FDA Pharmacy Affairs Directory Tom McGinnis on Dec. 24 said that a safe, legal program to reimport lower-cost, U.S.-manufactured prescription drugs from Canada would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
1st District Court of Appeal Accepts Health Insurance Law Referendum Case
The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco on Dec. 23 agreed to accept a case that involves the placement of a proposed referendum to repeal an employer-sponsored health insurance law (SB 2) on the March statewide ballot, the Los Angeles Times reports.
California Healthcare Association Files Suit Against State Over New Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Rules
The California Healthcare Association on Dec. 30 filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court against the Department of Health Services over concerns that California hospitals cannot meet the requirements of new state nurse-to-patient ratio rules that took effect on Thursday, the Oakland Tribune reports.
Schwarzenegger To Unveil Fiscal Year 2004-2005 Budget Proposal Friday
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Friday plans to unveil his fiscal year 2004-2005 budget proposal, which is expected to include funding cuts to health and social service programs to help close a projected $14 billion state budget deficit, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
A member of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board on Monday rejected a petition for refugee status from California medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby, who said that he would face “political persecution and would die in jail if he were returned” to the United States, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Memo Criticizes Quality of Care at King/Drew Medical Center
Nurses at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center “shirk basic patient care,” physicians “allow known problems to fester” and county officials offer “poor oversight,” according to a memo sent Monday by Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Director Thomas Garthwaite to the county Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Bush Signs Medicare Legislation; Criticism Continues
In an “elaborate” ceremony in front of “thousands of cheering supporters” at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., President Bush on Monday signed the Medicare legislation (HR 1) passed by Congress last month, the New York Times reports.
Tenet Healthcare Agrees Not To Close Fitness Center at Inglewood Hospital
Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare officials on Friday agreed to keep open a fitness center used by patients at the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood but said that they would close the hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation service and enroll a dozen patients who currently use the service at a similar center at Tenet’s nearby Centinela Hospital, the Los Angeles Times reports.