Latest California Healthline Stories
Empire HealthChoice ‘Spends Big’ on Web Claims-Management Technology
New York City-based Empire HealthChoice Inc. recently spent $60 million developing a Web site designed to reduce paperwork and provide doctors and patients with “real-time” determination of health claims, the Albany Times Union reports.
Coca-Cola to Market Healthier Drinks in Public Schools
The Coca-Cola Co. is expected today to announce plans to change the way it markets soft drinks in schools by installing “healthier drinks” in vending machines, putting “non-commercial signage” on machines and “advocating non-exclusive deals between bottlers and school districts.”
Sacramento Bee Urges State Action to Aid the ‘Uninsurable’
Noting that the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, California’s program for those considered “uninsurable” under traditional health plans, “has never been funded adequately,” the Sacramento Bee advocates a “universal system in which … everybody broadly and progressively share[s] the higher costs of covering the sick.”
Senate Rejects Two Medicare ‘Lockbox’ Amendments
The Senate yesterday rejected two separate measures — one proposed by Democrats and one by Republicans — to place the Medicare Hospitalization Insurance Trust Fund (Part A) in a lockbox,” leading Democrats to charge that Republicans are willing to “raid Medicare to pay for President Bush’s budget,” including his tax cut proposal, the New York Times reports.
Edwards Criticizes Breaux-Frist Draft of Patients’ Rights
Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) “lashed out” yesterday against a draft of patients’ rights legislation sponsored by Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and John Breaux (D-La.), saying the measure “appears to be an HMO bill of rights,” CongressDaily/A.M. reports.
Delta Dental to Provide Care for Santa Clara Kids Initiative
Delta Dental Plan of California and the Santa Clara Family Health Plan have agreed to a three-year contract to provide free dental coverage to 7,000 uninsured Santa Clara children within a year.
Secure Horizons Reaches Contract Agreement with Mercy Physicians Group
Following weeks of negotiations, Mercy Physicians Medical Group and Secure Horizons, PacifiCare’s Medicare+Choice plan, have signed a “memorandum of understanding” for a contract that will be active from April 1 to Dec. 31, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
N.C. Health Workers to Access Continuing Education Classes Online
A new partnership between the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers and HealthStream Inc. will allow physicians, nurses and other health care professionals across North Carolina to take continuing education courses online, the Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area reports.
CPMC Hopes to Move Acute Care to One Facility
In what could become a “politically explosive” issue, the California Pacific Medical Center wants to turn one of its two San Francisco campuses into a $400 million acute care hospital and “downgrade” the other to a skilled nursing facility, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Schering-Plough Faces Probe of Pricing Practices
Pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough Corp. admitted in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that state and federal investigators have begun probing the company’s drug marketing practices as part of a larger criminal inquiry into the industry, the Wall Street Journal reports.