Latest California Healthline Stories
Maryland Launches Nursing Home Comparison Web Site
Maryland officials this week released a report card on the state’s 200 nursing homes that will allow consumers to compare homes in categories such as prevalence of bed sores and use of restraints, the Baltimore Sun reports.
House-Passed Patients’ Rights Bill Would ‘Weaken’ California Law, Bee Says
Legislation (HR 2563) passed by the House last week would “weaken” California’s patients’ right law, a Sacramento Bee editorial says.
$3B Record Punitive Damages in Tobacco Case Reduced to $100M
A California judge ruled yesterday that a $3 billion punitive damage award against Philip Morris was “excessive, but said he will order a retrial only” if the plaintiff does not accept a “record-breaking” $100 million award, the Los Angeles Times reports.
California Supreme Court Rules on ‘Right-to-Die’ Case
In a right-to-die case expected to have “national repercussions,” the California Supreme Court ruled 6-0 yesterday that family members cannot withdraw life-sustaining medical treatment from a conscious but severely brain-damaged loved one unless they provide “clear and convincing” evidence that they are acting on the patient’s wishes, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Schering-Plough’s Faulty Asthma Inhalers Caused Deaths, Group Says
Calling for a criminal investigation of Schering-Plough, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said yesterday that “at least 10 asthma patients” may have died after using inhalers made and later recalled by the company because they may not have contained the active ingredient, the New York Times reports.
Covering Kids Starts CHIP Enrollment Effort
Officials and partners of Covering Kids, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, yesterday launched the Back-to-School 2001 campaign, touted as the largest nationwide effort to enroll children in Medicaid or CHIP.
Watts Foundation HMO Seized by State Regulators Over Financial Concerns
State regulators yesterday “seized” control of Watts Health Foundation after concluding that its HMO, which covers 96,000 “mostly poor and elderly people” in the Los Angeles area, had “severe cash flow and liquidity problems,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Bush to Announce Stem Cell Decision Tonight
President Bush will announce tonight in a nationally televised address his decision on whether to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, the AP/Washington Post reports in a late-breaking story.
HHS OIG Report Critiques ‘Pay and Chase’ Medicaid System
The “pay and chase” system — under which Medicaid pays prescription drug bills for beneficiaries that private insurance companies are actually responsible for and then tries to collect the money from the insurers — “isn’t working,” a new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General says.
Judge Sets Date For Suit Against Bush Administration’s Prescription Discount Card Plan
In the lawsuit filed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association over President Bush’s proposal to offer seniors a prescription drug discount card, a federal judge has set a hearing for Sept. 6, CongressDaily reports.