Latest California Healthline Stories
Los Angeles Court to Hear Opening Arguments in Smoking Case Today
Opening arguments are expected today in the case of Richard Boeken, a smoker since the 1950s who is suing Philip Morris for compensatory and punitive damages, alleging that the company “lied to smokers and the government about the hazards and addictive nature of smoking,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
FTC to Challenge Schering-Plough Drug Patent Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to file an administrative complaint today alleging that a patent settlement between Schering-Plough Corp. and two generic drug makers — the Lederle unit of American Home Products Corp. and Upsher-Smith Inc. — includes illegal “payments” that would delay a low-cost generic version of K-Dur, a “widely used” potassium chloride supplement, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Many Nursing Home Residents Dying from Malnutrition
In a special health feature, Los Angeles Times reports that “thousands” of seniors in the nation’s 17,000 nursing homes often “waste away from too little food or water.
Use Surplus for Universal Coverage
With the “huge budget surplus” a reality and the number of uninsured growing, now is the time for Congress and President Bush to “revive the idea of universal health care,” Robert Reich, former Labor secretary in the Clinton administration and current national editor of the American Prospect, writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.
Bush Budget Outlines Health Spending Increases
The $1.9 trillion spending plan that President Bush is set to unveil next week contains both spending increases in several areas of health care and a reduction in some health initiatives introduced during the Clinton administration, the Washington Post reports.
DMHC Will Require Financial Data from Physician Groups
To “prop up troubled physician groups,” the Department of Managed Health Care will soon require the state’s 400 physician groups to submit “detailed quarterly reports and audited annual statements,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
’60 Minutes’ Reports on Research Fraud
The need for human research subjects has become “so great” that some doctors are resorting to falsified samples and enrolling subjects who ordinarily would not qualify, CBS “60 Minutes” reports.
Health Care Sector Worried About Short Term HIPAA Costs
California public agencies, providers and insurers are concerned that the short term costs of meeting the standards of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will prove burdensome at a time when the state’s health care sector is already struggling financially, the Sacramento Bee reports.
In the March 23 story regarding Tri-City Medical Center, California Healthline incorrectly stated, “Tri-City Medical Center Faces Closure over Patient Care.” Instead, the title should have stated: “Tri-City Medical Center Could Lose Accreditation.”
Bush to Cut Pediatrician Training Program
President Bush will call for a 15% cut in a program that provides funding — $235 million this year — to about 60 independent children’s hospitals to train pediatricians and other doctors, the Cox News Service/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.