Latest California Healthline Stories
Some Medi-Cal beneficiaries are “getting caught in the middle” of a contract dispute over reimbursement rates between insurer Health Net Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp., the state’s largest hospital operator, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Los Angeles Times today examines California lawmakers’ proposal to use tobacco tax revenue, the state’s share of the national tobacco settlement and reductions in funds for the state’s tobacco control program to balance an estimated $24 billion budget deficit — plans that have received criticism from public health advocates.
Single-Serving Food Leads to Overeating, Wall Street Journal reports
The Wall Street Journal yesterday examined the “increasing popularity of individual-sized” foods, which are leading people to eat more.
Ventura County Officials Examine Impact of Estimated Budget Deficit on Health Services
Ventura County may have to reduce hours of operation and staffing levels at its 23 outpatient clinics to offset a $7.7 million deficit in the county Health Care Agency budget, the Ventura County Star reports.
AHRQ Misses ‘Simple’ Fixes To Prevent Medical Errors, Experts Write in JAMA
A government-commissioned report on reducing medical errors often misses “obvious” and “simple” practices to ensure patient safety, according to a critique by three safety experts appearing in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Talks Continue as Senate Kills Two Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Plans
As expected, the Senate yesterday rejected competing Democratic- and tripartisan-backed proposals to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, leading to “more doubt” that any such legislation will be enacted this session, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Washington Post Examines Clinics’ Struggle To Treat Non-English Speaking Patients
The Washington Post health section today examines the challenges faced by federally funded medical facilities in treating patients who do not speak English.
House Panel Addresses Bulk Rx Drug Purchasing Programs
States should “band together” and purchase prescription drugs in bulk to reduce the cost of treatments for Medicare beneficiaries, advocates testified yesterday at a field hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations in Boston, the AP/Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.
San Francisco supervisors yesterday voted to place a measure on the November ballot that could make San Francisco the first city in the nation to cultivate medical marijuana for distribution to residents with a recommendation from a physician, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Senators Begin Crafting ‘Hybrid’ Medicare Rx Drug Proposals
Anticipating that neither of the two competing Medicare drug benefit proposals that the Senate plans to consider today will win the 60 votes needed for passage, some senators are creating “hybrid versions” of the plans, the New York Times reports.