The Week Ahead
The California Health Care Workforce Policy Commission will meet to review aspects of the Song-Brown program, which aims to increase the number of family practitioners, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners and registered nurses.
The California Health Care Workforce Policy Commission will meet to hear proposals for Family Practice Residency Program funding requests. The meeting continues Wednesday.
The Department of Managed Health Care will hold a public hearing on several rules involving hospital billing practices after Gov. Schwarzenegger in July signed an executive order to stop emergency department doctors from billing patients for costs not covered by their managed care insurance plans, a practice known as "balance billing."
Schwarzenegger's order requires DMHC to "take all steps necessary to protect Californians from balance billing," including:
- Writing regulations to ban the practice;
- Establishing independent panels of medical and insurance experts to settle billing disputes; and
- Working with medical, hospital and insurance groups to suggest a range of rates for services to prevent future disputes.