Latest California Healthline Stories
Sacramento Area Gets First Two MinuteClinic Locations
On Wednesday, Rhode Island-based MinuteClinic opened its first two walk-in medical clinics in the Sacramento area. The clinics, located inside CVS pharmacies, allow patients to see a licensed nurse practitioner for treatment of minor illnesses, receive a vaccination, get a blood pressure reading, check their cholesterol levels, get screened for diabetes and complete children’s physicals for schools, camps or sports. Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Business Journal.
Senate Committees Pass Bills To Strengthen Oversight of Assisted Living Facilities
On Thursday, two Senate committees advanced bills that would increase the maximum fine for health and safety violations at assisted living facilities and boost training requirements for workers at such facilities. The two bills were among 15 measures designed to bolster oversight of assisted living facilities. U-T San Diego.
California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of August 15, 2014
A group of stakeholders filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the potential closure or downsizing of Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo. The family of a San Francisco General Hospital patient who was found dead in one of the hospital’s stairwells has filed a legal claim against the facility.
Calif. Must Deliver on Promises of Care for New Medi-Cal Beneficiaries, Opinion Piece Argues
In a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, Anna Gorman, a senior correspondent at Kaiser Health News, argues that “California has already demonstrated to the rest of the country that it can dramatically cut its rate of uninsured, largely by increasing the size of Medi-Cal” and that the state now must “show that its public insurance program can actually deliver the care its new enrollees are counting on.” Gorman notes that 2.2 million residents enrolled in Medi-Cal since January, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 11 million. Los Angeles Times.
VA Referrals to Private Providers Up by 25%
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Wednesday said VA is drastically increasing the number of veterans it refers to private doctors, with hundreds of thousands of referrals already made in the past two months. At a national convention of American Veterans, McDonald discussed the wait time issue and noted that VA has made more than 838,000 referrals to private providers in the last two months — a 25% increase, or about 166,000 additional referrals, from the same period last year. AP/Politico.
Calif. Hospices Could Be Next in Health Care Consolidation Trend
Hospice organizations in California and other states are increasingly considering affiliations or mergers in an attempt to gain financial stability. The moves come after cuts in Medicare reimbursements, which many hospices rely on for a large portion of their revenue. MedCity News.
California Lawmakers Expected To Consider Three Health Care Bills
Today, the California Legislature is expected to review bills that would increase certain fines against assisted living facilities in the state, limit the amount of assets the state can recoup from deceased Medicaid beneficiaries’ estates and impose stricter rules over physicians’ prescribing of medical marijuana. U-T San Diego et al.
DMHC Increasingly Fining Health Plans for Untimely Payments
So far in 2014, the California Department of Managed Health Care has issued seven fines to health plans for not paying providers in a reasonable period of time for claims — more than twice the number of fines issued in 2013 and 2012. The fines levied so far this year total $172,500. Payers & Providers.
CMS Not Doing Enough To Prevent Duplicate Audits, GAO Says
A Government Accountability Office report says CMS is not doing enough to ensure Medicare provider payment audits are not duplicated between the four different groups that audit improper Medicare reimbursements. GAO recommends that CMS issue guidance on auditor data, contractor communications and duplicative reviews. The Hill, CQ HealthBeat.
Administrative Fix for Canceled Exchange Plans Could Raise Rates
States that have implemented the Obama administration’s administrative fix for plans that were set to be canceled under the Affordable Care Act could see double digit premium rate increases next year. California is one of several states that declined to adopt the fix. Politico, Washington Times.