Latest California Healthline Stories
State Senate Lifts Requirement that Doctors Attend Executions
The state Senate yesterday unanimously passed a bill (SB 129) that would eliminate a requirement that wardens invite physicians to attend an execution, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Patient Data Network Helps Hospitals, Physicians and Insurers Reduce Administrative Expenses
The New England Healthcare EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Network, a “relatively simple computer interface” that allows health insurers, hospitals and physicians to share patient data, has saved its members $10 million in annual administrative expenses, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Community Health Foundation Could Lose Contract with Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote today to rescind $3.4 million in county contracts with Community Health Foundation of East Los Angeles, one of the largest private health groups treating the county’s uninsured, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Report Offers Recommendations for State to Address Projected ‘Surge in Seniors’
To help California handle an anticipated “surge of seniors,” the state should consider basing its elder-care programs on “need instead of age,” according to a report prepared by the University of California’s California Policy Research Center, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
Supreme Court Allows Federal Funding for Christian Science Care
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected a constitutional challenge to a law that allows Christian Science health facilities, which “use no drugs or conventional treatments,” to receive Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, the AP/Nando Times reports.
Xenical Ads Skirt FDA Regulations
Roche Group’s television advertising strategy for its weight-loss drug Xenical has “outwitted” the FDA’s “complicated advertising rules” by dividing information about the drug into two separate commercials, allowing the company to avoid mentioning any “unpleasant side effects” associated with the product.
Bay Area Hospital Strike Postponed
A three-day strike scheduled to begin today by more than 2,000 health care workers at nine Sutter Health-owned hospitals in the Bay area has been postponed because the Sutter management has agreed to resume negotiations on staffing levels, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Two-Way Cameras Let Physicians Consult on Rural Trauma Cases
A two-year, $600,000 pilot program is allowing medical specialists in Burlington, Vt., to consult on trauma cases with four small, rural hospitals in Vermont and northern New York using two-way video conferencing, the Washington Times reports.
The Uninsured Pay Higher Medical Fees than Insured
Because “health insurance companies insist on hefty discounts” for their patients, there can be “extreme price disparities” between what the uninsured pay for medical care and what people with insurance pay, the New York Times reports.
California’s Rural Hospitals Face Financial ‘Crisis’
Across California, an “overwhelming majority” of rural hospitals “are hemorrhaging dollars, merging with chains, declaring bankruptcy or closing outright,” with one in five closing or filing for bankruptcy since 1996.