Latest California Healthline Stories
St. John’s, Nurses Urged to Make Agreement
Commenting on the threatened walk-off by nurses at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, a Ventura County Star editorial calls on both sides to reach a negotiated settlement “to prove they want something better than a strike.”
Los Angeles Times Urges Physician Group Changes
In response to the demise of five “major” physicians groups in the past two months, a Los Angeles Times editorial urges Department of Managed Health Care Director Daniel Zingale to make “substantive changes” in the way physician groups are paid and organized.
Corrections Department, Analysts Differ on Proposition 36
California Department of Corrections Officials are “disputing” projections made by legislative analysts regarding Proposition 36’s effect on the number of prison beds needed and taxpayer savings, AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
Satcher Issues World AIDS Day Statement
U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, in a World AIDS Day statement, warned that while HIV/AIDS infections may have fallen, the disease remains a “severe and ongoing crisis” in America, especially for men in minority communities.
GAO Report Examines KPMG’s Conflict of Interest
The General Accounting Office released a report yesterday examining the “odd dual role” of the accounting firm KPMG, which was “publicly implicated” for Medicare fraud even while under “a federal contract to police” Medicare, the New York Times reports.
Lawmakers to Explore Medical Malpractice Insurance Requirement
Assemblymember Anthony Pescetti (R) intends to introduce legislation “early next year” requiring health practitioners to have malpractice insurance, the Sacramento Bee reports.
GAO Report Cites Flaws with Practitioner Database
The General Accounting Office released a report yesterday calling the controversial National Practitioner Data Bank (a database containing the medical histories of physicians nationwide) “inaccurate, incomplete or inappropriate,” USA Today reports.
FDA Requires Medicines to be Tested on Kids
An FDA regulation becomes effective tomorrow that requires pharmaceutical companies to study how new medicines affect children, the Chicago Tribune reports.
CDC Study Finds 18% of Public Stigmatizes HIV/AIDS
Nearly one in five Americans hold a “stigmatizing attitude” toward HIV-positive individuals and two in five believe that HIV transmission “could occur” through sharing a glass, coughing or sneezing, according to a new CDC report.
Palomar Pomerado Losses Mean Possible Hospital Layoffs
Losses in operating costs of $4.3 million between July 1 and Oct. 31 are causing concern to Palomar Pomerado Health System board members, who approved the district’s $246.1 million operating budget in June and are now being told personnel layoffs may be needed, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.