Latest California Healthline Stories
Two Harvard Doctors Release Second Volume of Book on Racial Disparities in U.S. Health Care System
Two Harvard doctors have released the second volume of a book that says African Americans have historically and “systematically suffered from inferior medical care,” the Boston Globe reports.
San Diego Science Center Offers Interactive Anti-Smoking Exhibit
The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park has begun a three-part anti-smoking campaign targeting teens and young adults, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Simple intervention, such as follow-up telephone calls from nurses, can reduce hospital readmission rates for heart failure patients and “significantly” reduce their medical costs, according to a new study conducted by San Diego-based Sharp Healthcare, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
A scheduled 17% reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates for nursing homes could have a “significant” impact on the quality of care at those facilities, according to a new study released yesterday by the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.
Four Sonoma County Community Health Clinics to Receive Federal Money for Treating the Uninsured
Four Sonoma County community health clinics will receive between $600,000 and $900,000 annually in federal grants for treating uninsured patients, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
FDA Links Dietary Supplement Kava to ‘Potential Risk’ of Severe Liver Damage
The FDA warned yesterday that kava, a dietary supplement used to treat sleeplessness, stress, anxiety and menopausal symptoms, has a “potential risk” of causing severe liver damage, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the departing director of the CDC, said yesterday in a press conference that while the agency “must be vigilant on bioterrorism, it must not falter in its broader public health mission,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Kaiser Permanente Taps Pillsbury Executive as New CFO
Kaiser Permanente has named Robert Briggs as its new chief financial officer and senior vice president, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Illinois Lawmaker Questions State Medicaid Program to Educate Parents of Premature Infants Online
A “key” Illinois lawmaker called yesterday for state hearings on and the suspension of a new Medicaid program “under which a Massachusetts company is paid to monitor sick children and educate their parents via the Internet even though three-quarters of the families don’t own a computer,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
President Bush Announces Nominees for NIH Director, Surgeon General, Associated Press Reports
President Bush is expected today to nominate Arizona trauma surgeon Dr. Richard Carmona to be the next surgeon general and Dr. Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, to head the NIH, the AP/Washington Post reports.