Latest California Healthline Stories
USDA Awards $8.6M To Boost Rural Telehealth Projects
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development awarded 31 grants totaling $8.6 million to rural telemedicine efforts in several states. The grant recipients included Los Angeles-based Good Samaritan Hospital, which received a $417,000 grant to connect providers with patients and providers in six remote areas in Guam. Health Data Management.
Sacramento County Program Seeks To Provide Homeless With Access to Mental Health Counseling
On Monday, the Sacramento County Winter Sanctuary program is expanding its services to try to connect homeless men and women with mental health counseling and other services. The program aims to get homeless individuals off the streets at night when temperatures drop toward freezing. Sacramento Bee.
Impending Funding Cuts Could Jeopardize Safety-Net Hospitals’ Ability To Provide Adequate Care
Looming funding cuts could hinder safety-net hospitals’ abilities to provide care for underinsured and uninsured individuals, according to a study published this month in the journal Health Affairs. Among hospitals that qualify for Medicaid’s disproportionate share hospital payments program, 29% in states that have not expended their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act were financially weak, compared with 21% in states that expanded Medicaid. Modern Healthcare.
CalPERS Has Paid Board Members Nearly $3.4M Since ’99
Since 1999, CalPERS has paid nearly $3.4 million on salaries and benefits for its five board members, according to a Sacramento Bee review. Members’ pay ranges from nothing to more than $100,000 annually. One expert called the variations in pay “highly irregular” among public pension funds in the U.S. Sacramento Bee.
Calif., Other State Exchanges Prepare for Financial Independence
State-run health insurance exchanges are reporting varied levels of preparedness as they approach a 2015 deadline to be financially self-sustaining, as required by the Affordable Care Act. For example, California expects to have a $250 million reserve for 2015, while Rhode Island still lacks a plan for covering long-term operations costs. AP/U.S. News & World Report.
House GOP Sues Over Obama’s Use of Executive Action in ACA
House Republicans have filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit alleging that the Obama administration’s delay of the employer mandate falls outside the constitutional powers of the president and that the administration did not have the authority to use funding for a program that reimburses insurers for discounts that they must give low-income enrollees. Wall Street Journal et al.
Kaiser Disputes Mental Health Workers’ Claims of Inadequate Care
Mental health clinicians are calling on Kaiser Permanente to increase its staff to reduce alleged long wait times. However, Kaiser officials say the issues already have been addressed and the health system has hired hundreds of additional therapists at facilities across California. Daily Review/San Jose Mercury News.
Drugmakers Paid $14M to Doctors Treating California Foster Children
An investigation by the Los Angeles Daily News finds that physicians who treat children in California’s foster care system received more than $14 million from drugmakers between 2010 and 2013. The findings come after a separate investigation found that psychiatric drugs are being overprescribed to foster children in the state. Los Angeles Daily News.
Report: California’s Life Sciences Industry Grew by 4% in Four Years
A new report by the California Healthcare Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers finds that the state’s life sciences industry grew by 4% between 2009 and 2013. Meanwhile, $3.8 billion in venture capital is expected to be invested in the state’s life sciences companies in 2014. MedCity News, CHI/PwC report.
UC-Davis Receives $100M Grant To Bolster Research Into International Disease Response, Detection
On Friday, UC-Davis announced that it’s One Health Institute — a global consortium researching how viruses like Ebola spread in more than 20 countries — received a $100 million federal grant to bolster research into the detection and response of disease outbreaks. The money was awarded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Emerging Pandemic Threat Program. Sacramento Bee.