Latest California Healthline Stories
CMS to Issue Nursing Home Quality Guide for Six States
CMS next week plans to release a guide that rates nursing homes in six states — Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington — as part of a pilot program to allow patients to compare the quality of the facilities, the Washington Post reports.
Rising Enrollment in VA System Creates Strains
The veterans health care system is struggling to accomodate an increasing number of eligible seniors who are enrolling because of its low prescription drug copayments, the
New York Times reports.
The Contra Costa Children and Families Commission last week awarded $1.75 million in Proposition 10 funds to nine community groups that visit the homes of area families to provide information on health, nutrition and education to first-time and teen parents, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Ridge To Ask Hospitals to Develop Terrorism Response Plans
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge today is expected to urge members of the American Hospital Association to draft contingency plans for treating a “sudden influx” of patients due to terrorism or a natural disaster, the
Detroit Free Press reports.
Orange County Register Report Finds State Medical Board ‘Rarely’ Revokes Licenses of Negligent MDs
An investigation of more than 200 state physicians conducted by the Orange County Register found that a number of doctors who face lawsuits and “significant patient grievances” still practice medicine, the AP/Fresno Bee reports.
Panel of California Health Care Experts Discusses Future of Health Insurance
David Lawrence, outgoing CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals; James Robinson, a professor of health economics at the University of California-Berkeley; and Jay Gellert, president and CEO of Health Net Inc., addressed the future of health insurance during a panel discussion last Friday in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation and the Alliance for Health Reform.
Ventura County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston will recommend later this month that the county Board of Supervisors separate Ventura’s “troubled” Behavioral Health Department from the county Health Care Agency, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Chronicle Examines Rise in HIV Infection Rates Among Latino Men in California-Mexico Border Region
The San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday examined the increasing rate of HIV infection among young gay and bisexual Latino men who migrate between California and Mexico, a rise that health officials fear may represent an “AIDS explosion in the making.”
SEIU Begins to Recruit Ventura County Home Health Care Aides to Join Union, Hopes to Boost Wages
About 200 home health care aides in Ventura County have joined the Service Employees International Union as part of a nationwide campaign to unionize home health care aides, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Permanente Medical Group to Conduct Study on Web-Based Program for Heart Failure Patients
The Southern California Permanente Medical Group, a physician group that provides medical care and services to members of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Health Hero Network, a remote monitoring company based in Mountain View, announced plans Tuesday to study the performance of an online disease management program for patients with congestive heart failure.