Latest California Healthline Stories
Senators Outline Medicare Reform, Rx Plans
As Congress begins addressing Medicare reform and instituting a prescription drug benefit for seniors, fissures are beginning to emerge between the House, Senate and White House regarding the best way to accomplish these goals, CongressDaily/A.M. reports.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation Sends Funding Recommendations to Governor, Legislature
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation yesterday “urged” California Gov. Gray Davis (D) and the state Legislature to “enact a comprehensive set of policy recommendations aimed at heightening the state’s response to California’s growing AIDS epidemic.”
Revised DARE Program to Question ‘Social Norms’ About Illicit Drug Use
Acknowledging that the widely used DARE program –Drug Abuse Resistance Education — has not had a “sufficient impact” on discouraging students from using drugs, program officials are releasing a new curriculum today that will focus on high school rather than elementary school students and will question them on “their assumptions about drug use” rather than relying on lectures, the New York Times reports.
Blue Cross, CHW Settle Lawsuit Over Reimbursement Practices
Blue Cross of California announced yesterday that it has reached a settlement with Catholic Healthcare West in a lawsuit alleging that the insurer “routinely declined to pay for patient services as a way to boost profitability,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Lawmakers Establish Caucus to Address Autism Concerns
Hoping to foster a “better public understanding and tolerance of autism,” two lawmakers Tuesday established the Congressional Coalition for Autism Research and Education to boost autism research and promote education and discussion of the disease, Gannett News Service/Arizona Republic reports.
PlanetRx.com to Focus on ‘Specialty’ Drugs
PlanetRx.com will stop selling a “broad line” of health and beauty products, and instead focus on prescriptions for “expensive conditions,” the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.
California Should Try Involuntary Treatment for Seriously Mentally Ill, Report Recommends
California should consider a pilot compulsory outpatient treatment program for individuals with serious mental illnesses who refuse treatment, a new state-sponsored study by the Rand Corp. states.
Superior Court ‘Tentatively’ Upholds Measure H
Measure H, the voter-approved ballot initiative that requires Orange County to spend the majority of its tobacco settlement funds on health care, is constitutional, according to a preliminary ruling issued yesterday by Superior Court Commissioner Jane Myers, the Orange County Register reports.
Health Care Industry Should Not Try to Derail Medical Privacy Rules
In light of insurers’ and providers’ complaints that new medical privacy regulations are a “hardship,” a San Diego Union-Tribune editorial asks, “[W]hy is it that obtaining a patient signature poses such a burden on the health care industry?”
Harris Poll Finds Most Smokers Try, Fail to Break Habit
Most smokers understand the health risks associated with tobacco, and a large majority have tried to quit smoking and failed, suggesting that “the power of nicotine addiction is the main reason why smoking has not declined any faster,” according to the Harris Poll’s annual survey on health risks and behaviors.