Latest California Healthline Stories
HCA Says HCFA Owes Back Payments for Unprocessed Claims
HCA-The Healthcare Co., the nation’s largest hospital chain, last week filed a counterclaim against HCFA, alleging that the federal agency has not processed the company’s Medicare cost reports since the second half of 1997 at the request of officials from the Department of Justice, the Nashville Tenneesean reports.
Los Angeles Times’ Willman Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drug Exposes
Los Angeles Times reporter David Willman yesterday was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his two-year examination of the FDA’s approval of seven prescription drugs reportedly linked to the deaths of 1,000 people.
HHS Reports ‘Record Number’ of Living Organ Donations
Bolstered by a “record number” of living organ donors, the number of overall organ donations rose 5.4% to 22,827 last year, up from 21,655 in 1999, according to new figures from HHS, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
Santa Clara County Children’s Universal Coverage Program Receives Technical Grant
The David and Lucille Packard Foundation has awarded a $650,000 grant to Santa Clara County’s Children’s Health Initiative the nation’s first universal health insurance plan for children, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
New Web Site Allows Medicare Beneficiaries to Find Rx Drug Prices Online
Gov. Gray Davis (D) yesterday announced that Medicare beneficiaries in California can receive information about the cost of the 50 most requested prescription drugs in the state online at http://www.dhs.ca.gov/mcs/mcpd/MBB/contracting/sb393/index.htm.
Wellpoint Seeks OTC Status for Allergy Drugs
WellPoint Health Networks, one of the “nation’s largest managed care plans,” is lobbying the FDA to switch the “top-selling” prescription antihistamines Allegra, Claritin and Zyrtec to over-the-counter status in order to shift costs to consumers, the Los Angeles Times/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Judge Rules PacifiCare Must Delay Transfer of Fresno County Employees to Community Medical Centers
PacifiCare Health Systems must allow Fresno County employees and retirees to continue receiving services at Saint Agnes Medical Center until May 3, a superior court judge ruled yesterday, the Fresno Bee reports.
Kaiser Permanente to Improve Access for the Disabled
In a move that could “dramatically change the way hospitals and clinics” treat people with disabilities, Kaiser Permanente yesterday announced plans to revamp its California facilities to make them more accessible, as part of an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of three patients who use wheelchairs, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Boxer to Propose Bill to Double Federal Funding for Drug Treatment
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) yesterday announced that she will propose a bill that would boost federal funding for drug treatment from $3 billion to $6 billion over five years, the
San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Should Patients Seek a Second Opinion for Pathology Results?
Labaratory tests indicating the presence of cancer are sometimes incorrect or contain errors, leading to the misdiagnosis of “several thousand patients” every year, the Wall Street Journal reports.