Latest California Healthline Stories
Bush Should ‘Spurn’ Industry’s FDA Commissioner Choices
The pharmaceutical industry, having contributed $4.4 million to President Bush’s campaign, is now pressing the Bush administration to select one of three “favored-son” industry insiders to head the FDA, but such a selection would be “unacceptable,” according to a Los Angeles Times editorial.
AHRQ Launches Online Tool to Help States Evaluate Children’s Health Programs
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality this week announced the launch of the Child Health Toolbox, an online resource designed to help state and local policymakers, program directors, consumer advocates and others measure the quality of children’s health programs such as Medicaid and CHIP.
BCBS Requests Delay on HIPAA ‘Administrative Simplification’ Provisions
The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association is lobbying the Bush administration and Congress for an additional two years to come into compliance with the “administrative simplification” requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, CongressDaily/A.M. reports.
Hospitals Ask Davis to Order Exemption from Power Blackouts
Following utility companies’ decision last week to include hospitals in statewide rolling blackouts, health care officials have been “scrambling” to exempt hospitals from future power outages, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Bush Signs Law Repealing Clinton Ergonomics Rules
President Bush yesterday signed legislation repealing ergonomic regulations promulgated by the Clinton administration, calling the rules “unduly burdensome and overly broad,” the Washington Post reports.
Congress Should End Drug Firm ‘Price Gouging’ on Vaccines
The government should take action to curtail vaccine manufacturers’ practice of “price gouging,” which has “forced” the nation’s public health officials to “significantly scale back” inoculation campaigns, a Los Angeles Times editorial states.
Davis Launches Antifraud Campaign Targeting Denti-Cal
Expanding the state’s fight against fraud in government-sponsored health programs, Gov. Gray Davis (D) on Monday launched a new antifraud campaign targeting Denti-Cal, the Medi-Cal dental program.
Senate Democrats Offer to Double Funding for Rx Drug Benefit
In the debate over a Medicare prescription drug benefit, Democrats “raised the stakes” yesterday, vowing to “seek more than twice as much” funding as President Bush has proposed — $153 billion over next 10 years, the New York Times reports.
Ventura County Commission Awards Prop. 10 Funds for Children’s Health Projects
The Children and Families First Commission of Ventura County, an agency established to distribute funds raised through the Proposition 10 tobacco tax, announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.3 million in grants for children’s health programs, the Ventura County Star reports.
O’Neill Says Medicare Part A Funds Could Pay Other Costs
Speaking before a joint hearing of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill yesterday did not “repeat promises” made last week by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson that the Bush administration would use the $526 billion Medicare Part A surplus “only on Medicare Part A,” CongressDaily reports.