Latest California Healthline Stories
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Fined $500,000 for Errors Leading to Patient Death
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $500,000 for failing to refer a patient with muscular dystrophy, who subsequnetly died, to a specialist, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital to Receive Up to $300M from Packard Foundation
The Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University today is expected to announce that it will receive as much as $300 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Study Finds Aspirin as Effective as Warfarin in Preventin Recurring Stroke
A study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine found that aspirin “works just as well” to prevent recurring strokes as warfarin, the generic version of the blood thinner drug Coumadin, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Senators Introduce $3.2B Bipartisan Bioterrorism Bill
As expected, Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) yesterday introduced a $3.2 billion bill to bolster the nation’s defenses against bioterrorism, the Washington Post reports.
AOL Rejects San Francisco Health Department Request to Post Syphilis Warnings in Online Chat Rooms
America Online has said that it will not post “any sort of warnings” or health advisories about the risk of syphilis among gay males in San Francisco in its chat rooms, the Wall Street Journal reports.
State Approves Plan Allowing San Francisco to Study Feasibility of Building an Air Ambulance Pad
With San Francisco as the only major U.S. city without a licensed and approved air ambulance landing pad, California has given permission to the city to study the feasibility of constructing a landing site, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Reversing Policy, U.S. Will Not Destroy Smallpox Stock
The United States will not destroy its remaining stocks of smallpox until researchers “develop at least two licensed antiviral drugs, a vaccine that can be taken by the entire population and other defensive measures,” officials in the Bush administration disclosed yesterday.
GAO Identifies Gaps in CDC’s Bioterrorism Response Plans
The CDC’s plan for responding to bioterrorist attacks contains several gaps, an investigator from the General Accounting Office told Congress yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
San Francisco AIDS Group Using CDC Prevention Funds for ‘Sexually Explicit’ Programs, Report Says
The San Francisco Stop AIDS Project, which received nearly $700,000 in federal funds last year, used some of that money to provide HIV prevention workshops that encouraged sexual activity — in violation of federal law — and met the “legal definition of obscene material,” according to a report by HHS Inspector General Janet Rehnquist, the Washington Times reports.
Sonoma County Health Officials Discuss Problems, Future of Managed Care at Conference
The managed care system in Sonoma County is facing a questionable future, according to health care officials meeting at an annual conference sponsored by the North Bay Business Journal, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports.