Latest California Healthline Stories
Schools Eliminate Nurse Positions; Children With Chronic Diseases Seek Other Help
As schools in California have been cutting nurses from their staffs, an increasing percentage of schools are using untrained personnel or parents to administer care, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports.
CMS Approves Expanding Medicare Coverage for Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators
CMS Administrator Tom Scully on Friday announced that the agency will expand the number of Medicare patients who qualify to receive implantable cardiac defibrillators, limiting coverage to patients who appear the most likely to benefit from the device, the New York Times reports.
Editorial Supports Los Angeles County Decision To End Care for Indigent Residents of Other Counties
Stating that Los Angeles County’s former policy allowing indigent patients not living in the county to receive free, non-emergency care at county hospitals was a “moral choice” but an “unaffordable one,” a Los Angeles Times editorial voices support for the county Board of Supervisors’ vote last week to end the policy.
Senators Support, Criticize Senate Finance Committee’s Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Proposal
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Friday, the committee’s Medicare reform proposal encountered support and concern from lawmakers and CMS Administrator Tom Scully, the Washington Times reports.
USA Today Examines Lawsuits Filed To Block State Anti-Tobacco Advertisements
USA Today examines lawsuits filed in California in which tobacco companies allege that state-produced anti-tobacco advertisements are “nasty personal attacks that are unfairly tipping juries against them in smokers’ personal injury suits.”
Physicians Advised To Delay Use of Antibiotics for Earaches to Deter Resistance
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC have developed new guidelines that advise physicians to delay prescription of antibiotics for two to three days for many children with earaches to help reduce antibiotic resistance, the Cox/Contra Costa Times reports.
USA Today Examines ‘Miniboom’ for Health Care Technology Industry Related to HIPAA Expenditures
USA Today examines increased expenditures from hospitals, health insurers and physicians to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act medical privacy rule, a trend that has led to a “miniboom for a slice of the tech industry.”
Alvarado Hospital CEO Indicted for Alleged Illegal Payments to Physicians
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Barry Weinbaum, CEO of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, a San Diego hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare, on charges that he made illegal payments to encourage physicians to refer patients to the facility, the Wall Street Journal reports.
San Francisco Chronicle Examines Problems in State Workers’ Compensation System
The San Francisco Chronicle today published two articles that examine problems in the state workers’ compensation system.
NIH Received Few Royalties From Development of Taxol, GAO Report Finds
The NIH spent $484 million between 1977 and 2002 for research on the cancer medication Taxol but received only $35 million in royalties from Bristol-Myers Squibb, which contracted with the agency to manufacture and market the treatment, according to a General Accounting Office report released on Friday, Reuters/Washington Post reports.