Latest California Healthline Stories
Hospitals Need to Resolve Emergency Room ‘Crisis,’ Los Angeles Times Says
“Nothing brings home the disparity between the nation’s private economic boom and its public miserliness like the increase in hospital emergency rooms with more patients than staff or beds, emergency rooms forced to turn ambulances away,” according to a Los Angeles Times editorial.
Ventura County Supervisors to Weigh $750K Proposition 36 Plan
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors today will consider a plan to authorize $750,000 for providing drug treatment mandated by Proposition 36, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Poll Finds Support for Federal Funding of Stem Cell Research
The majority of Americans support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll.
Group Asks HHS to ‘Speed’ Medical Privacy Modifications
The Healthcare Leadership Council, a health industry group representing more than 80 organizations, sent a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson yesterday asking for “swift action to complete and publish modifications to new federal rules on medical privacy,” CongressDaily reports.
Women Still Underrepresented in Drug Trials, Report Says
Although the FDA has made efforts to increase the number of female participants in drug trials, women “continue to be underrepresented” and differences in how the sexes respond to new treatments continue to be “unexamined during drug development,” a new General Accounting Office report states.
Bush Medicaid Plan May Allow States to ‘Pocket’ Funds
President Bush announced a plan last weekend that would allow states to “trim” services and raise premiums for some Medicaid beneficiaries and use the savings to provide health coverage for the uninsured, but the AP/Nando Times reports that the proposal may have a “giant loophole.”
Federal Lawmakers Offer Three Telemedicine Bills Before August Recess
Before leaving for August recess, federal lawmakers introduced three separate telehealth bills, two of which aim at expanding health care access in rural areas, Technology Daily reports.
The Davis administration said yesterday that it opposes the current structure of an Assembly-passed bill that would allow physicians to collectively bargain with managed care organizations and instead favors a “voluntary process in which individual doctors and HMOs can submit contract disputes to an outside expert,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Pentagon ‘Struggles’ as TriCare Benefits Extended to Retirees Over 65
The Pentagon is “struggling” to implement changes to the military’s managed health care plan, TriCare, after Congress voted 10 months ago to “guarantee free medical coverage” to military retirees with 20 years of service and their spouses, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Zingale Says House Patients Rights’ Bill Could Weaken California Patient Protections
California Department of Managed Health Care Director Daniel Zingale said yesterday that patients’ rights legislation (HR 2563) approved by the U.S. House last week “would undermine” the state’s review procedures for HMO consumers that took effect in January, the Los Angeles Times reports.