Latest California Healthline Stories
Ukiah Valley Medical Center To Expand
Ukiah Valley Medical Center, the only hospital that serves the southern half of Mendocino County, plans to build a $3.4 million, 16,000-square-foot outpatient center, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
The cost of workers’ compensation payments for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department has nearly doubled over the past five years, in part because of increasing medical costs, expanded benefit requirements and fraud, according to a report released Friday by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Disability Insurer Uses Federal Loophole To Deny Claims, Lawyers Say
California insurance lawyers allege that Chattanooga, Tenn.-based disability insurer UnumProvident routinely uses a federal law to cut off benefits to policyholders with heart disease, Meniere’s disease, Crohn’s disease, AIDS and other disabilities, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Boston Globe yesterday examined the “widespread crackdown” by federal investigators on drug company marketing practices at teaching hospitals.
The Assembly on Thursday voted 45-24 to approve a bill (SB 932) that would prohibit churches or other not-for-profit groups that sell or lease hospitals from preventing the lessees from providing certain services, including abortion and distribution of contraceptives, the AP/Modesto Bee reports.
Two Alameda County Health Clinics Close Amid Budget Woes
Alameda County Medical Center’s Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro and Central Health Center in Oakland closed on Friday after Alameda County Judge Steven Brick on Thursday denied a “last-ditch attempt” by Disability Rights Advocates and Bay Area Legal Aid to block the closures, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
President Bush Urges House, Senate Lawmakers To Reconcile Medicare Reform Bills
President Bush on Saturday asked House and Senate lawmakers to “quickly resolve their differences” over Medicare reform legislation and send him a bill, the AP/Washington Post reports.
House Veterans Affairs Committee Approves Bill To Establish Access Standards for Veteran Health Care
The House Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday passed by unanimous voice vote a bill (HR 2357) that would establish standards for veterans’ access to medical care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to CongressDaily Markup Reports.
Cancer Groups Launch Online Research Guide
The National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense’s Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and the British National Cancer Research Institute have developed an online database of current cancer research funded by the United States, the United Kingdom and private groups, Government Computer News reports.
‘First Responders’ Lack Adequate Funds, Equipment To Address Bioterrorist Attacks, Report Finds
Ambulance, fire, police and public health departments nationwide are “dramatically underfunded” and not adequately prepared to address a terrorist attack, according to a report released today by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan research group, the Washington Post reports.