Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicare+Choice Success Unlikely in Rural Areas
The lack of competition among providers and hospitals in rural areas has largely dissuaded Medicare+Choice managed care companies from entering those regions, a new report released yesterday by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission concludes.
State Has Shortage of Inpatient Beds for Psychiatric Patients, Study Finds
The number of psychiatric beds available for children and adults in California is “woeful[ly]” low, a preliminary report by the California Institute for Mental Health finds.
Pharmacy Must Provide Employees Contraceptive Coverage
In the first federal ruling of its kind, a judge ruled yesterday that Bartell Drug Co., a Seattle-based drugstore chain, must include contraceptives in its employee health plan, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
Assembly Bills Could Help Financially Ailing Trauma Centers, Los Angeles Times Says
California’s “ailing” trauma centers are “hemorrhaging money” and “need help before they reach the lights-out equivalent of the energy crisis,” a Los Angeles Times editorial states.
San Bernardino County ‘Abandons’ Proposal to Block Emergency Contraception Distribution in Clinics
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors yesterday decided to “quietly set aside” its proposal to cease distribution of emergency contraception in county health clinics, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Tenet Expects to Beat Q4 Estimates, Cites Admission Increase
Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. yesterday said it expects to beat analysts’ fourth-quarter estimates because of increased hospital admissions, Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times reports.
Davis Proposes Expansion of Online Enrollment Program for Healthy Families, Medi-Cal
At press conference in San Francisco yesterday, Gov. Gray Davis (D) announced that a new online enrollment program for Healthy Families and Medi-Cal will be implemented statewide in August if the state Legislature approves funding, the Contra Costa Times reports.
WSJ Looks at Mental Health in the Workplace
The Wall Street Journal today examines the issue of mental illness in the workplace, reporting that although most
employers are unaware of the true costs of mental illness, the “annual toll” of depression alone is “about $70 billion in medical expenditures, lost productivity and other costs.”
DOJ Asks Permission to Pursue Tobacco Lawsuit
The Justice Department yesterday asked U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler to reconsider an earlier decision that barred the government from seeking reimbursement from tobacco companies for smoking-related Medicare costs, the AP/Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports.
Administration ‘Deeply Divided’ Over Stem Cell Research, Thompson Says
Questions over federal funding of embryonic stem cell research have “deeply divided” the Bush administration, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson told a meeting of writers and editors from the Washington Post yesterday.