Latest California Healthline Stories
Wall Street Journal Examines Online Medical Search Services
The Wall Street Journal today examines medical search services established to provide information from the Internet and medical databases about standard and new treatments, alternative therapies, clinical trials and experts for patients with a number of medical conditions.
Bush Signs Homeland Security Legislation, Nominates Ridge To Head New Department
President Bush yesterday signed legislation creating a new Department of Homeland Security, a move that will reorganize the federal government’s anti-terrorism efforts, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Patient Volume Decrease Prompts Nursing Reductions at San Jose-Based Good Samaritan Hospital
A decrease in patient volume at San Jose-based Good Samaritan Hospital has prompted a reorganization plan that may result in the elimination of as many as 12 nursing positions and a higher nurse-to-patient ratio in some units, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports.
Almost Every State Facing ‘Fiscal Crisis,’ Could Impact Medicaid Programs, NGA Report Says
Almost every state in the nation is “in fiscal crisis,” a problem that could prompt many to reduce Medicaid spending, according to a National Governors Association report released yesterday, the New York Times reports.
Many Patients Wary of Participating in Medical Research, Study Finds
Almost 80% of African Americans and 52% of whites believe they could be used as “guinea pigs” for medical research without their consent, according to a study on patients’ trust of the medical establishment published in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine.
Coalition Asks Lockyer To Block Sale of Los Angeles Cancer Hospital to Tenet
The Coalition for Quality Health Care, a coalition of community health organizations, nurses and cancer survivors, on Monday asked Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) to block the sale of a small, not-for-profit Los Angeles cancer hospital to Tenet Healthcare, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson yesterday announced that the department has awarded a two-year, $5.9 million contract to the KEVRIC Company, based in Silver Spring, Md., to improve the department’s patient safety data collection and reporting system.
The number of San Diego County children and teenagers who said that they smoked or consumed alcohol decreased over the past two years, according to a report released yesterday by the county, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
CHIP Provides Template for Solution to Problem of the Uninsured, Op-Ed States
“[M]arket-driven developments” in the health care industry — such as rising health insurance premiums and shrinking availability of charity care for the uninsured — “threaten to give a new and terrifying meaning to being without health insurance,” Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.
States With High Cancer Rates Redirecting Tobacco Settlement Money, Study Finds
Many states with the highest lung cancer rates are using tobacco settlement funds intended for disease prevention on unrelated programs, according to a study released last week by the not-for-profit advocacy groups Cancer Care and The CHEST Foundation, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.