Latest California Healthline Stories
A San Francisco judge last week sentenced two men to three years’ probation and mandatory mental health counseling for allegedly making harassing phone calls to San Francisco health officials and newspaper reporters in response to city-sponsored AIDS and syphilis campaigns, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Tax Increases Required To Cover Cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, Study Finds
Enacting a Medicare drug benefit similar to those approved by the House (HR 1) and the Senate (S 1) would result in “substantial long-term tax increases,” according to a study released last week by the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Times reports.
Sutter Health Expands e-ICU Program
Sutter Health is expanding a program to remotely monitor its intensive care unit patients from off-site locations to its Sutter Davis and Auburn Faith hospitals by this fall, with future plans to install the system in its Sutter Roseville facility, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Roseville Joint Union School District Trustees To Decide on Student Medical Privacy Policy
Roseville Joint Union School District trustees tonight will decide whether a state law requires the school to release seventh- through 12th-grade students for confidential medical appointments without parental consent, the Los Angeles Times reports.
GAO Investigates Decision by CMS Administrator To End Contract With University of Wisconsin Center
Investigators from the General Accounting Office have concluded that CMS Administrator Tom Scully “undermined the integrity” of the Medicare contract process when he banned the administration of a $1.6 million contract with the Center for Health Systems Research & Analysis at the University of Wisconsin after center director David Zimmerman questioned an agency nursing home survey, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
Health Net’s Second-Quarter Profit, Enrollment Increase
Officials for Woodland Hills-based Health Net, one of the state’s largest health insurers, yesterday reported that second-quarter profits increased 15% to $75 million, or 63 cents per share, from $65 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Department of Veterans Affairs Plans To Close Seven Hospitals, Open Two Others
Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs yesterday announced a proposal to close several hospitals, open others and refocus department health care services as part of a “major restructuring,” the AP/New York Times reports.
Senate Approves Bill To Preserve State SCHIP Funds
The Senate late Thursday night approved legislation (HR 2854) that would let states spend unused SCHIP money from previous fiscal years that they otherwise would have to return to the Treasury Department, CQ Today Midday Update reports.
Davis Signs $99.1 Billion Budget With 5% Reduction in Reimbursements for Medi-Cal Providers
As expected, Gov. Gray Davis (D) on Saturday signed a $99.1 billion state budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year that includes a 5% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursements for providers to help cover a $38 billion deficit, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Los Angeles Times Examines ‘Battle’ Between Nurse Unions
The Los Angeles Times on Sunday examined the how nurses in California “have become targets of aggressive campaigns by two unions that are competing for labor dominance in the state’s hospital sector.”