Latest California Healthline Stories
San Francisco Program Offers Incentives to Encourage Individuals to Undergo Tests for HIV, STDs
San Francisco has launched a program to help convince residents — particularly gay men — to undergo regular tests for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the Washington Post reports.
Several House Republicans Say That GOP Medicare Reform Package ‘Not Generous Enough’
Several House Republicans have come out against the party’s Medicare reform package, contesting that House GOP leaders’ plan to cut Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers and saying that the proposed Medicare drug benefit is not generous enough, the New York Times reports.
The Internet has had a “significant” impact on health care decisions for more than 15 million Americans in the past two years, according to a study released last week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
University of California Nurses Approve Strike If Agreement Not Reached ‘Soon’
University of California health system nurses voted “overwhelmingly” this week to authorize a strike if negotiations on a new contract “don’t produce a breakthrough soon,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
A group of House Democrats yesterday unveiled a measure that would require nursing homes to maintain the nurse-patient staffing ratios recommended in a recent report by HHS, CongressDaily reports.
Sacramento Bee Profiles Kaiser Permanente
The Sacramento Bee Monday profiled Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente, an HMO “committed to its decades-old system of providing coordinated care within its closed network of doctors and hospitals,” even as the managed care industry “appears in the midst of a midlife crisis.”
Bipartisan Group of Senators Propose Legislation that Would Provide Respite Care Grants
Several senators yesterday introduced legislation that would offer $727 million in grants over five years to organizations that initiate or expand respite care programs, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
‘Impasse’ Between Blue Cross, Tri-City Medical Center Could Affect Access to Care for 19,000 Members
Blue Cross of California members may not have access to nonemergency services at Tri-City Medical Center if the two sides do not reach a contract agreement by June 1, which could affect as many as 19,000 individuals, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The United States lacks “nationwide safeguards of workers’ genetic information,” and individuals “cannot be assured their genetic information will be kept confidential,” according to a new study commissioned by the California HealthCare Foundation.
Lawmakers Protest Davis’ Proposed Budget Reductions for Healthy Start Program
Some state lawmakers have expressed concern that Gov. Gray Davis’ (D) proposed fiscal year 2003 budget does not include new funding for the state’s Healthy Start program, the Sacramento Bee reports.