Latest California Healthline Stories
Tenet Hospital Chain’s First-Quarter Profits Jump 45%
Tenet HealthCare Corp., the nation’s second-largest hospital chain, announced yesterday that its operating profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year increased by 45%, which the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company attributed to higher admissions and reimbursement levels, Reuters/Los Angeles Times reports.
Los Angeles Times Looks at OxyContin in Rural Maine
The Los Angeles Times today reports on the OxyContin “epidemic” in Washington County, Maine, where prosecutions for crimes involving the drug have jumped “tenfold” since 1998.
San Francisco Chronicle Endorses Two Bills Offering ‘Modest Help’ for Mentally Ill
Two bills on Gov. Gray Davis’ (D) desk that offer “modest help” for the “plight of the mentally ill” could help “salvage” a year in which the energy crisis and the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have caused people with mental illness to “fal[l] off the political agenda,” a San Francisco Chronicle editorial says.
PacifiCare to Offer Plans with Higher Copayments for Stays in Out-of-Network Hospitals
With spending on hospital services responsible for much of last year’s 7.2% increase in health costs, many insurers, including Santa Ana, Calif.-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., are requiring patients to pay more for such care, Bloomberg News/Orange County Register reports.
GSK to Offer Rx Drug Discounts to Medicare Beneficiaries
Moving ahead of the federal government, GlaxoSmithKline today will announce the creation of a new discount program that will allow low-income Medicare beneficiaries who lack drug coverage to purchase most of the company’s medications at discounts upwards of 25%, the New York Times reports.
Davis Signs Several Health Bills Into Law, Vetoes One
Facing an Oct. 14 deadline to sign into law bills passed in the most recent legislative session, Gov. Gray Davis (D) has signed some health-related legislation.
Mental Health Proposal Blocked from Defense Bill
Senate Republicans on Monday “blocked” a bipartisan attempt to add a $175 million mental health package to the fiscal year 2002 defense authorization bill, CongressDaily reports.
Tauzin to Unveil Medicare Regulatory Reform Bill
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Billy Tauzin (R-La.) plans to unveil legislation today to provide “regulatory relief” to providers who have “complained about heavy-handed treatment” from Medicare, CongressDaily/AM reports.
Southern California Health System Unprepared for Bioterrorist Attack, Officials Say
Southern California health officials say that a lack of hospital beds and chronic underfunding have left the region’s health system inadequately prepared to respond to a bioterrorist attack or another mass-casualty disaster, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Can the Health Safety Net Withstand a Recession?
Many analysts are concerned that the nation’s health care safety net will be overwhelmed by “millions” of people who could lose their jobs or become uninsured if a recession hits — a greater possibility following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, National Journal reports.