Latest California Healthline Stories
Federal AIDS Programs Rife With ‘Waste,’ Group Says
Federally funded HIV/AIDS programs represent an “epidemic of waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement,” according to a report released yesterday by Citizens Against Government Waste, the Washington Times reports.
Bill to Eliminate Labor and Delivery Copay Introduced in Legislature
A bill (SB 1411) that would ban additional copayments for labor and delivery services — charges paid in addition to the regular fee for a childbirth-related hospital stay — was introduced in the Legislature yesterday, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
Increased Medicare Spending Does Not Equal Quality Care, Study Finds
Greater Medicare spending in certain regions of the country has not led to improved health outcomes, and the federal government could save billions of dollars by reducing regional disparities in spending and encouraging providers to improve Medicare beneficiaries’ quality of care, according to a new study appearing online in Health Affairs.
Scully, Thompson Testify in Congress on Medicare Provider Payments
CMS Administrator Thomas Scully yesterday told members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that the Bush administration will help Congress to revise the formula used to set reimbursement rates for physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries — which resulted in a 5.4% reduction Jan. 1 — but warned that lawmakers will have to balance any reimbursement increases with decreased payments to other providers, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Coalition Lobbies for Medicare Prescription Drug Program that Uses Private-Sector Techniques
Several employer and health industry organizations announced yesterday that they have formed a coalition to lobby for a Medicare prescription drug program that uses techniques similar to those employed in the private sector to manage drug usage, Medill News Service/South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
PacifiCare Posts $26.4M Loss in Fourth Quarter After Restructuring
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. announced yesterday that it lost $26.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2001, its first quarterly loss in five years, the Orange County Register reports.
Out-of-Pocket Costs for Medicare+Choice Beneficiaries Increased Nearly 50% in Last Three Years
Out-of-pocket costs for Medicare+Choice beneficiaries increased almost 50% from 1999 to 2001, while average monthly premiums rose and prescription drug coverage declined during the same period, according to two reports released today by The Commonwealth Fund, the Las Vegas Sun reports.
Republican Lawmakers Criticize Bush’s Medicare Provider Reimbursement Budget Proposal
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) have sent an “unusual, sharply worded” letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and White House Office of Management and Budget director Mitchell Daniels criticizing a provision in the Bush administration’s fiscal year 2003 budget proposal that suggests that any reimbursement increases to some Medicare providers must be balanced with decreases to others, CongressDaily/AM reports.
Number of New California AIDS Cases Drops to 15-Year Low in 2001
The number of new AIDS cases reported in California last year dropped to a 15-year low, a decrease largely attributed to the availability of AIDS drugs, according to health officials, the Los Angeles Times reports.
American Legacy Foundation Files Suit Against Lorillard to Preserve ‘Truth’ Anti-Smoking Ads
The American Legacy Foundation filed a lawsuit yesterday in an attempt to head off possible legal action by Lorillard Tobacco Co. challenging the foundation’s provocative anti-smoking campaign, the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports.