Latest California Healthline Stories
Drug Firms Offer Government Antibiotics to Treat Anthrax
After meeting with HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson last Friday, many pharmaceutical industry executives agreed to provide free or discounted antibiotics to the U.S. government to treat anthrax victims, CongressDaily reports.
Red Cross President ‘Abruptly’ Resigns Amid Criticism
Dr. Bernadine Healy, the “fiery” president of the American Red Cross, “abruptly” resigned last Friday and said that policy disagreements with the group’s Board of Governors “forced” her to “step down,” the Washington Post reports.
Tufts Health Plan Releases Physician ‘Report Cards’ Online
Tufts Health Plan, Massachusetts’ second-largest health plan, last week followed the example of several California insurers and posted physician practice quality ratings to its Web site, the Boston Globe reports.
Mercury News Questions Whether Report on Mentally Ill Youth will Prompt Action
While a Little Hoover Commission report on mental health care for children in California, released this month, found that “even when there’s enough money,” the state “fails to reach” more than half of the children in need, a San Jose Mercury News editorial questions whether the current report “will … go the way of its predecessor,” a report released in November 2000 outlining the state’s “failure to provide adequate mental health services for adults.”
Kaiser Permanente to Spend $1B on 10-Year Plan for Growth in the Central Valley
Kaiser Permanente has unveiled a $1 billion, 10-year plan to meet the health care needs of a “stead[il]y” growing population in the Central Valley, the Stockton Record reports.
Bush Administration Kept Surgeon General ‘Out of the Loop’
“[L]ame-duck” Surgeon General David Satcher has been “kept out of the loop” during the escalating anthrax crisis, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, continuing the media’s examination of how the Bush administration has handled the incidents.
13 People Infected with Anthrax; More Contamination Found
The CDC yesterday confirmed that a female New Jersey postal employee has inhaled anthrax infection, bringing the number of confirmed anthrax infections to 13, the New York Times reports.
Stimulus Debate Centers on Health Insurance
As Republicans and Democrats debate economic stimulus proposals, the fight “hinges largely” on provisions to help unemployed workers purchase health insurance, the AP/Nando Times reports.
State Department Mail Employee Contracts Anthrax Disease
The “circle of anthrax exposure widened significantly” yesterday after health officials announced that a State Department mail employees contracted inhalation anthrax and that a second worker has “suspicious symptoms,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
CDC Recommends Antibiotic Combination for Anthrax Care
The CDC yesterday issued guidelines for treating patients diagnosed with anthrax infection, recommending use of an antibiotic combination when the bacteria has been inhaled, the New York Times reports.