Morning Breakouts

Latest California Healthline Stories

SONOMA COUNTY: Hillcrest To Join St. Joseph Health Foundation

Taking part in a “common trend among local doctors groups,” the 70-doctor Hillcrest Physicians Medical Group announced it will join the larger St. Joseph Health Foundation Dec. 1, the
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports. Petaluma-based Hillcrest, which currently serves about 16,000 patients, is the fifth doctors group in Sonoma County to fold this year.

RITALIN: Los Angeles Times Calls for More Research

Noting that a courtroom is “the wrong place” to resolve the “polarizing debate” over the increased use of the drug Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, a Los Angeles Times editorial argues that increased government research is needed to settle the dispute.

MAMMOGRAMS: Low Payments Put Squeeze on Availability

Due to insurers’ low reimbursement rates for mammograms and a declining number of radiologists entering the field, “American women’s ready access to breast cancer screening is being compromised,” the Wall Street Journal reports in a front page look at the current “screening crunch.”