Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Services Department More Than Two Years Late in Development of Nursing Home Application Form
The Department of Health Services has failed to create a uniform admissions form for the state’s nursing homes, which was required under a bill signed by former Gov. Pete Wilson (R) in 1997, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Wall Street Journal Profiles Harvard Professor’s ‘Mission’ to Reform Health Care System
The Wall Street Journal today profiles Dr. Donald Berwick, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who is on a “mission” to “re-engineer a health care system he considers rife with errors, waste and delay.”
Republicans, Hospitals Reach Agreement on Medicare Reimbursement Increase
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) said yesterday that he has reached a deal with hospitals to increase Medicare reimbursements, removing one of the obstacles to the passage of the GOP’s Medicare reform package, CongressDaily reports.
Dingell Urges Congress to ‘Act Quickly’ to Create Medicare Rx Drug Benefit
Congress should “act immediately to create a Medicare prescription drug benefit that is built on the existing, successful model in Medicare,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) writes in a Detroit News opinion piece.
As expected, AARP, an advocacy group for Americans ages 50 and older, announced plans yesterday to join the Boston-based Prescription Access Litigation Project in three class-action lawsuits that charge pharmaceutical companies with “illegally blocking generic competitors,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The California HealthCare Foundation has released two new studies on “how and why health care technology succeeds or fails to be adopted” to help health care providers and executives make decisions on information and medical technology systems.
Health Care Workers at Watts Health Foundation Clinics Launch Three-Day Strike
About 200 health care workers at five Watts Health Foundation clinics began a three-day strike on Wednesday to protest a proposed contract that would reduce their benefits, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Zingale Responds to Wall Street Journal Article on Impasse in Federal Patients’ Rights Negotiations
A report that federal patients’ rights legislation “appears dead is tragic for patients but also for Washington’s opportunity to demonstrate that consumer advocacy and free-market protections are not mutually exclusive,” Daniel Zingale, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, writes in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor.
Specialized HMOs Pay Disproportionate Share of DMHC Budget, State Audit Finds
Specialized HMOs, such as vision or dental plans, account for about half of the Department of Managed Health Care’s budget even the though the agency devotes nearly 80% of its regulatory work to full-service health plans, according to a state audit released yesterday.
Researchers Boost Efforts to Recruit Children for Pediatric Drug Trials, Prompts Ethical Concerns
A shortage of children available for testing the safety and efficacy of pediatric drugs has led researchers and pediatricians to increase their recruitment efforts, the Wall Street Journal reports.