Latest California Healthline Stories
Antiabortion Group to Drive Trucks Bearing Graphic Pictures on So. Cal. Freeways
The Los Angeles-based Center for Bio-Ethical Reform on Monday launched the “Reproductive Choice Campaign,” which will involve driving on Southern California freeways a number of “large, box-body trucks on whose sides will be displayed billboard-size, color photos depicting aborted human embryos and early fetuses.”
Senate Investigates Consultant Seminars
The Senate Finance Committee yesterday listened to investigators from the General Accounting Office as they related how some medical business consultants are instructing doctors on how to overcharge the federal government and private insurers for services, ABC News.com reports.
New Guide Ranks California’s Medicare+Choice Plans
There are “large discrepancies in value” among California Medicare+Choice plans, according to a new report conducted by Consumers Union and sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Bush Backs House GOP Patients’ Rights Legislation
With the Senate debating the patients’ rights bill sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.), President Bush, who has threatened to veto the legislation, yesterday endorsed a rival measure drafted by House Republican leaders, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Lockyer Gives Conditional Approval to St. Luke’s/Sutter Health Merger
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) yesterday approved the merger of St. Luke’s Hospital and Sutter Health and “imposed several conditions” designed to ensure that Sutter maintains the current levels of charity care at the San Francisco facility.
State Legislative Committee Votes to Temporarily Disband State Dental Board
The state Assembly Health Committee voted yesterday to “wipe out” the California Dental Board, which some state lawmakers charge is “uncooperative” and “poorly run,” temporarily shifting board duties to the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Los Angeles Times reports.
State Participation in Women’s Health Program ‘Up to the Governor,’ Chronicle Writes
Now that the Legislature has decided to keep $20 million in the state budget to fund the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program for uninsured women, “it’s up to [Gov. Gray Davis (D)]” to “hee[d] the priorities of the [Legislature’s] Democratic leadership and sig[n] this most important line item in the state budget,” the San Francisco Chronicle writes in an editorial
One-Third of State Nursing Homes Understaffed, Department of Health Services Report Finds
One-third of California’s nursing homes fail to meet the state’s minimum staffing requirements, according to a new report released yesterday by the state Department of Health Services, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Senate Defeats GOP Employer Amendment to Patients’ Rights Bill
Senate Democrats yesterday “easily fought off” a GOP-backed employer liability amendment to the patients’ rights bill sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.) and “neared compromise” on several “key sticking points,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
CDC Encourages Americans to Get Tested for HIV
To increase awareness and encourage Americans to be tested for the virus, the CDC has declared today National HIV Testing Day, and through a special Web site and series of events, the agency is encouraging people to get tested.