Latest California Healthline Stories
Gray Davis Appoints Jett To Dept. of Alcohol and Drug Programs
Gov. Gray Davis (D) yesterday appointed Kathryn Jett director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
Daytime Health Care Industry On the Rise
Daytime health care for the elderly “is about to become big business,” and Sacramento County is currently drafting a plan to meet the imminent demand, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Sacramento HIV Shelter ‘First of Its Kind’
Using a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Sacramento, Calif.-based AIDS organization Breaking Barriers has announced plans to establish a temporary shelter for homeless people with HIV/AIDS that “could be the first of its kind,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
PacifiCare Announces Enrollment Freeze After Income Decline
After reporting “disappointing” third quarter earnings, PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. announced yesterday it would freeze enrollment in its Medicare HMO program in 24 California counties beginning next year, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds File Bond Appeals
Less than one day after Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert Kaye upheld a “record” $145 billion award for Florida smokers, Philip Morris Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. each posted a $100 million appeal bond necessary to contest the ruling, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports.
Doctors Protest Misconduct Charges Over Lyme Disease
A group of doctors who treat Lyme disease and about 400 patients with the disease rallied yesterday in New York City to protest charges brought against a Long Island physician for improperly treating his patients, the New York Times reports.
Does Proposition 36 Provide Sufficient Funds?
After California voters yesterday approved Proposition 36, which would allocate $120 million annually to treat nonviolent drug offenders instead of imprisoning them, many officials are saying that the “change would rattle the criminal justice system and strain already overburdened treatment programs,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
State to Investigate Financially Ailing Medical Group
State regulators have launched an investigation of the financially ailing medical group
KPC Medical Management, after KPC officials announced that the group faces a $20 million shortfall, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Orange County’s Auditor-Controller David Sundstrom is seeking a legal opinion on the constitutionality of Measure H, the voter-approved ballot initiative that would spend 80% of the county’s tobacco settlement funds on health care and antismoking programs, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Stop AIDS Project Starts Safe-Sex Outreach Online
The San Francisco-based Stop AIDS Project has received a $130,000 grant from the San Francisco Department of Public Health to expand its presence in Internet chat rooms, “increasingly popular places” for men to arrange “sexual encounters” with other men, New York Times report.