Morning Breakouts

Latest California Healthline Stories

New Telemedicine Center Serves Indigent Children in L.A.

Last Friday, officials opened Los Angeles County’s first pediatric telemedicine center, a clinic that will care for low-income patients with the help of video cameras and computers, the Los Angeles Times reports.

San Francisco Clinic Charges Copays for Free Cancer Screenings

The Mission Neighborhood Health Center in San Francisco has been charging $20 for cancer screenings that are “supposed to be free under state law,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Latino Workers Want Low-Cost Insurance

To assess Latinos’ value of health insurance and their experiences with job-related health issues, a new Commonwealth Fund-sponsored study hosted focus groups composed of 81 low- and moderate-income Hispanic adults.

Children Must Be Screened for Lead Poisoning, Judge Rules

California’s Department of Health Services must issue regulations within the next 30 days that require care providers to determine if children are at risk for lead poisoning, according to a ruling handed down last week by Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay.

Los Angeles Times Profiles Seniors’ Canadian Drug Imports

“By bus, by car, by foot and by fax machine, seniors have set up an expanding underground pipeline to secure medication from Canada,” where prescription drugs are often significantly less expensive than in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reports in a front-page look at the trend.

Government Steps Up Enforcement of Nursing Home Rules

“[U]nder instructions from President Clinton to toughen enforcement,” the federal government has increased oversight of nursing homes nationwide, resulting in a fivefold increase in fines since 1996, the New York Times reports.

Health Care Measures in Congress Face Challenges

With members of Congress distracted by the fight for the presidency and looking ahead to the 107th Congress, legislation involving a patients’ bill of rights, Medicare “givebacks” and a Medicare prescription drug benefit are all “hanging like chad” and in danger of not being passed this year, CongressDaily/A.M. reports.

Uninformed Doctors Struggle With Ethics of Genetic Testing

With “hundreds” of genetics tests now available, the Washington Post reports that doctors are using them more frequently, but too often do not understand how to counsel patients and interpret results.

Antismoking Efforts Lead to Lung Cancer Drop

California’s lung cancer rates decreased more than five times faster than those in other regions of the country between 1988 and 1997, a success for the state’s aggressive antismoking efforts, a new CDC report has found.