Latest California Healthline Stories
Watts Health Foundation Plans to Spin Off Non-Managed Care Operations
After posting $9 million in losses last year, Watts Health Foundation has reached a deal with the Department of Managed Health Care to “spin-off its non-managed care operations,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
States Continue to Work for Prescription Drug Discounts
Although President Bush has introduced a plan to provide Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug discount cards, several states are still moving forward with discount prescription programs of their own, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Consortium to Fight Smoking Among Lower-Wage Workers
Labor unions and anti-smoking groups plan to join forces to establish a Consortium on Organized Labor and Tobacco Control in order to combat smoking among “blue-collar” workers, the AP/Billings Gazette reports.
Community Hospital of Long Beach Gets State Medicare Clearance
The new Community Hospital of Long Beach received certification last Monday from the Department of Health Services to receive Medicare reimbursements, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.
Court Upholds Forcibly Medicating Accused Capitol Shooter
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals last Friday ruled that Russell Weston, the man accused of fatally shooting two U.S. Capitol Police officers in 1998, can be forced to take antipsychotic medication in order to make him “competent” to stand trial, the Washington Post reports.
Enforcement authority over the tobacco industry would shift from the state Department of Health Services to the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission under a proposal “brewing” in the state Legislature, the Los Angeles Times reports.
House Votes to Reinstate Clinton-Issued Arsenic Standard
The House voted 218-189 on Friday to approve an appropriations bill amendment that would reinstate a Clinton-issued rule that sets “tougher” standards for arsenic in drinking water, the Washington Post reports.
Medscape Physician Consortium to Create Quality and Outcomes Database
Medscape and a coalition of clinicians who use the company’s electronic medical records program will pool clinical data to create a database of health care quality and outcomes information, the company announced last week.
Davis Signs $103B Budget After Making $554M in Cuts
Twenty-six days after the state’s constitutional deadline, Gov. Gray Davis (D) yesterday signed a $103.3 billion budget that includes more money for some health initiatives and cuts in other services, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Times Profiles Patients’ Rights Bill Sponsor Norwood
The Los Angeles Times today profiles Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.), a former dentist who has made patients’ rights his “signature issue” in Congress, and who will likely have a “pivotal” role in “intense negotiations” with the White House on the issue “in the coming days — if not weeks.”