Latest California Healthline Stories
Fewer Beneficiaries To Be Dropped From Medicare+Choice Plans in 2004
The rate of health plans leaving Medicare+Choice “will slow to a trickle” next year, with about 39,000 beneficiaries expected to lose M+C coverage in 2004, according to an American Association of Health Plans survey, the New York Times reports.
Medicaid Reform Efforts Not Likely To Pass This Year
With the chances of Congress approving a Medicaid reform bill this year “dim,” governors and federal legislators “anticipate returning to Medicaid reform efforts next year,” CongressDaily/AM reports.
FDA Approves New Oral Contraceptive Seasonale
The FDA on Friday approved Barr Laboratories’ Seasonale, the first oral contraceptive created to reduce the number of menstrual cycles a woman has each year, the Washington Post reports.
FDA Should Require Comparative Testing of Prescription Drugs, Editorials Say
Two recent editorials address whether the FDA should require comparative tests of similar drugs to determine safety and effectiveness.
Worker’s Compensation Panel Continues Negotiations on Reform Measure
A special six-member Assembly-Senate conference committee tasked with fixing the “raging workers’ compensation crisis” is negotiating two “major bills” that are expected to be introduced today, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Hospital Seismic Retrofitting Projects Statewide Stalled by Staffing Shortages
A staffing shortage at the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has delayed the construction, rebuilding and seismic retrofitting of hospitals statewide by up to one year and is costing hospitals millions of dollars in extra construction costs and lost wages, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Bustamante Diverts $3.8 Million in Campaign Contributions to Effort To Defeat Proposition 54
Gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D) announced yesterday at a campaign rally in Fresno that he will divert $3.8 million in campaign contributions to an effort to defeat Proposition 54, the Washington Post reports.
Senate Finance Committee Requests Documents From Tenet Healthcare
Officials at Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare, the nation’s second-largest for-profit hospital chain, announced Friday that the company has received a letter from Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) requesting documents related to the company’s corporate governance practices, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Oroville Hospital Lays Off 20 to 30 Workers
Oroville Hospital last week fired between 20 and 30 employees as part of an effort to improve hospital efficiency, the Chico Enterprise Record reports.
Technology Key to Physician Performance Measurement, Study Finds
Better technology for data collection and quality reporting could improve the process of physician clinical performance measurement, according to a study in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, the Boston Herald reports.