- KFF Health News Original Stories 1
- Congress Revamps HIV Housing Program To Benefit Areas Where Virus Is Spreading
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Covered California Premiums For San Diego Just Under Statewide Average
- Hospital Roundup 1
- Scripps La Jolla Knocks UC San Diego Out Of Top Spot For Region In Hospital Rankings
Latest From California Healthline:
KFF Health News Original Stories
Congress Revamps HIV Housing Program To Benefit Areas Where Virus Is Spreading
The small federal program, whose funding was once based on an area’s cumulative number of cases, will now be more responsive to places where new outbreaks are occurring. Among major U.S. cities, Los Angeles will see the biggest increase in its share of the total spending. (Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, 8/8)
More News From Across The State
Covered California & The Health Law
Covered California Premiums For San Diego Just Under Statewide Average
Jan Spencely, executive director of the nonprofit San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage, said almost nine out of ten San Diegans enrolled in Covered California get financial assistance.
KPBS Public Media:
Cost Of Covered California In 2018 Will Depend On Insurance Plan
The price of a Covered California health plan in San Diego is going up an average of 11.5 percent next year. ...Nearly one in four San Diegans who have a Covered California plan has Kaiser Permanente. (Goldberg, 8/7)
In other news, one lawmaker gets an earful about his health care vote —
Los Angeles Times:
'May You Die In Pain': California GOP Congressman Gets An Earful At Town Hall
“May you die in pain.” That was the nastiest moment of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa's early morning town hall in the Northern California town of Chico on Monday. The wish was uttered by an older man who criticized LaMalfa for voting for the House GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. He was also holding a pink sign that read “Lackey for the Rich!" (Willon, 8/7)
Scripps La Jolla Knocks UC San Diego Out Of Top Spot For Region In Hospital Rankings
Neither made U.S. News & World Report's top 20 hospitals in the country, but the No. 1 regional spot still carries a lot of cache.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Scripps La Jolla Hospitals Nab Top Local Spot In Annual Hospital Rankings
A highly-watched national report ranks Scripps hospitals in La Jolla slightly ahead of UC San Diego facilities for the first time since 2011. In its annual “best hospitals” edition, U.S. News & World Report lists Scripps in the No. 1 spot for its San Diego County regional rankings, pushing UCSD’s hospitals in La Jolla and Hillcrest to No. 2. Though neither organization made the publication’s honor roll, reserved for the 20 hospitals judged the best in the nation, the top spot in town is still a very valuable honor capable of driving marketing campaigns in a region where a handful of big health systems compete for well-insured patients. (Sisson, 8/7)
For a full list of hospitals, see the U.S. News story: 2017-18 Best Hospitals Honor Roll and Overview (Comarow and Harder, 8/8)
Suicide Attempts, Hunger Strikes And Death Plague Immigration Facility
Among those held at the Adelanto Detention Facility are asylum seekers, people caught in immigration sweeps and those identified by authorities as potentially deportable after landing in jail. Some have lived in the U.S. for decades, others were sent to Adelanto soon after crossing the border.
Los Angeles Times:
Detainee Deaths, Suicide Attempts And Hunger Strikes Roil Adelanto Immigration Facility
Government officials say the Adelanto Detention Facility is subject to "rigorous operating requirements" and is tightly monitored to ensure those standards are met. ...But complaints about the facility have grown particularly loud this year following the suicide attempts and three deaths since March, with multiple hunger strikes by detainees. (Esquivel, 8/8)
In other public health news —
Capital Public Radio:
UC Davis Firearm Violence Research Center Director Garen Wintemute Explains Focus On New Research Into Prevention
UC Davis Professor Garen Wintemute has become a national figure for his scientific research focused on gun violence prevention. This July, UC Davis opened a new Firearm Violence Research Center under Wintemute’s supervision. (Remington, 8/7)
Doctor Who Made Medicine A Practice Rather Than A Business Retires
During his long career, Dr. Richard Mahrer, 92, garnered respect from patients and colleagues alike.
The Mercury News:
Beloved Doctor, 92, Closes Decades-Old Practice, Ends Era Of Old-Fashioned House Calls
This wasn’t the way 92-year-old Dr. Richard Mahrer or his beloved patients wanted to see his career end: forced out of the cozy, bric-a-brac-filled office he’d worked in since 1956, when San Jose was still a sleepy agricultural hub, and Mahrer charged patients $4 for an appointment. ...Yet, try as he might to remain upbeat, the day he dreaded had finally arrived: Mahrer was leaving 2206 Business Circle, Suite B, tucked between a Shoe Palace and an Ethiopian restaurant, inside the strip mall at Bascom Avenue and San Carlos Street, best known for the recently closed Time Deli and the recently opened Larry Flynt Hustler emporium. (Seipel, 8/5)
In other news from across the state —
San Francisco Chronicle:
SJ Police: Man Posed As Doctor, Sexually Assaulted Woman
A 47-year-old San Jose man who purported himself to be a doctor, but who lacked a license to practice medicine, was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman during an unlicensed examination, police said Monday. Ezequiel Aaron Dureo-Carvajal, the owner of a “holistic pharmacy” called Iridologia Farmacia, was arrested at the business on Friday, according to the San Jose Police Department. (Bodley, 8/7)
Capital Public Radio:
Calaveras Auditor Says Sheriff Misspent Cannabis Funds
After the Calaveras Board of Supervisors decided to regulate medical cannabis in 2016, they took in $3.7 million in fees from people who wanted to grow medical cannabis. Now, the County Auditor says the Sheriff's Department has misspent some of those funds. (Mitric, 8/7)
For Insurance Commissioners On Front Lines, Subsidies Aren't Just A Part Of A Political Game
In Washington, the subsidies for insurers have become a hot topic in the health care debates, but state insurance commissioners are more concerned about what they'll actually have to do if they're cut off. Without the federal subsidies, insurers would need to get the money — estimated at $7 billion to $10 billion next year — from another source.
The New York Times:
Facing Trump Subsidy Cuts, Health Insurance Officials Seek A Backup Plan
Congress is on vacation, but state insurance commissioners have no time off. They have spent the past three days debating what to do if President Trump stops subsidies paid to insurance companies on behalf of millions of low-income people. For administration officials and many in Congress, the subsidies are a political and legal issue in a fight over the future of the Affordable Care Act. But for state officials, gathered here at the summer meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the subsidies are a more immediate, practical concern. (Pear, 8/7)
The Associated Press:
Bipartisan Experts Urge Next Steps On Health Care Push
A group of conservative and liberal health policy experts is pressing the Trump administration and Congress to take steps to quickly shore up coverage under the Obama health care law, an idea that's been anathema to President Donald Trump and many congressional Republicans. The plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, includes continuing federal payments to insurers Trump has threatened to block. It says Trump and lawmakers should find a way for people to buy coverage in the handful of counties that may have no insurers next year in the federal and state insurance exchanges created by President Barack Obama's statute. (8/8)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
McConnell Sees 'No Path Forward' For Health Care Plan
As McConnell spoke inside Hilton Cincinnati Airport in Florence, more than a dozen protesters holding signs on a sidewalk outside on Turfway Road urged improving the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare rather than repealing it. [Duane] Froelicher, a Florence city councilman, pressed McConnell with a second question, asking if there are plans to reintroduce another health care bill. (Mayhew, 8/7)
Reuters:
Anthem To Pare Back Obamacare Offerings In Nevada And Georgia
U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc said on Monday it will no longer offer Obamacare plans in Nevada's state exchange and will stop offering the plans in nearly half of Georgia's counties next year.The moves come after Republican senators last month failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform law, creating uncertainty over how the program providing health benefits to 20 million Americans will be funded and managed in 2018. (Erman and Berkrot, 8/7)
Those who have studied health care’s specific vulnerabilities worry that hackers — working for enemy states or cybercrime groups — could train their digital sights directly on U.S. hospitals, health care networks and medical devices.
McClatchy:
Cyber 'D-Day' May Be Near For Vulnerable U.S. Health Care System
Cyberattacks are accelerating worldwide and the U.S. health care system is dangerously unprepared to defend itself, or its patients. In the past two months, thousands of computers of the nation’s No. 3 pharmaceutical company, Merck, seized up amid a global cyberattack, cutting into production of medicines. (Johnson, 8/7)
In other health technology news —
Modern Healthcare:
Internet-Based EHRs Gaining Some Customers But Still A Small Segment
More and more, hospitals such as [Brad] Huerta's are following in the footsteps of physician groups and looking to the metaphorical sky for their EHR needs. Though Epic Systems Corp. and Cerner Corp. still dominate the hospital market with solutions that are mostly client-server based, cloud-based EHR vendor Athenahealth more than doubled the number of hospitals it has contracts with last year, and 90% of provider organizations surveyed by KLAS Research are either currently hosting or considering hosting their data off-premises, according to preliminary research. (Arndt, 8/7)