Latest California Healthline Stories
State’s Public Health System Unprepared for Bioterrorist Attack, Health Experts Say
California’s public health system, which would be the state’s “first defense” against a bioterrorist attack, is underfunded and understaffed, according to a panel of lawmakers and health experts who met yesterday to discuss the state’s bioterrorism preparedness, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
U.S. Hospitals on Mexican Border Struggle to Provide Care for Undocumented Immigrants
American hospitals along the Mexico-United States border are being forced to absorb millions of dollars in costs for treating undocumented immigrants who become ill or injure themselves attempting to cross the border, the Washington Times reports.
Sutter Health and Blue Cross of California announced last week that they have reached an agreement to extend their contract through December 2003, a “marked contrast” from negotiations in 2000, the Sacramento Bee reports.
White House Commission Recommends Expanded Federal Coverage for Alternative Therapies
The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine has recommended that the Bush administration consider expanding federal funding of alternative therapies and creating a national office to study such treatments, the AP/South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
Text-Only Billboards Aim to Prevent HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles’ High-Risk Minority Groups
Los Angeles County officials plan to launch a $1 million HIV prevention campaign for at-risk minorities that will consist of text-only bilingual billboards promoting “loving responsibly,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Riverside Hospital Loses Insurance Contracts After Being Dropped from Medicare and Medi-Cal
Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside lost most of its contracts with health insurers after it was dropped from Medicare and Medi-Cal earlier this month, and it may not be able to restore those agreements for up to six months even though government funding has been conditionally returned, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
PacifiCare Names Frey New President and CEO of Company’s California Health Plan
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. last Friday announced that it has named company official James Frey as president and CEO of PacifiCare of California, effective immediately.
Many Physicians Refuse to Take New Medicare Patients, Cite 5.4% Reduction in Reimbursement Rates
“For the first time,” significant numbers of doctors are refusing to take new Medicare patients because of a recently enacted 5.4% cut in reimbursement rates to physicians who participate in the program, the New York Times reported in a front-page story Sunday.
Federal Court Rejects Appeal by Managed Care Companies to Move Physician Lawsuit to Arbitration
A federal court in Atlanta last Thursday rejected an appeal by a group of managed care companies to have a proposed class-action lawsuit filed against them on behalf 600,000 doctors decided by arbitration rather than in court, the New York Times reports.
California Has Room To Improve on Women’s Access to Care, Office of Women’s Health Chief Says
California is “on par” with the rest of the nation in terms of women’s access to health care, but the state “still has a long way to go” to eliminate barriers to care, Elizabeth Saviano, chief of the state Office of Women’s Health, told participants Saturday at the ninth annual UCSF Women’s Health Conference 2020.