Tobacco Cessation Also Could Ease Smokers’ Diabetes
California is looking into a federal grant worth about $2 million a year that would establish an incentive wellness program that could help Californians give up tobacco — which potentially could have a strong effect on the health of smokers with diabetes, according to Neal Kohatsu, medical director of California’s Department of Health Care Services.
“Incentives are a great tool,” Kohatsu said at yesterday’s briefing in Sacramento on wellness incentives, an event co-sponsored by the two legislative health committees and The California Endowment. “Incentives are part of a larger picture of patient engagement,” Kohatsu said, “which we’re very interested in becoming more involved in.”
The grant money can fund projects that use incentives to alleviate chronic “lifestyle” medical challenges such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. California has until May 1 to put a proposal together, and Kohatsu said the agency would like to focus on smoking cessation.
‘It’ll Be Very Bad for Care of the Mentally Ill’
Governor Jerry Brown last week signed a major chunk of his $14 billion budget reduction package — a combination of cuts, loans and redirected funds. It included about $6 billion in health-related reductions.
The second half of Brown’s budget solution involves tax extensions that must be approved by voters and could generate as much as $12 billion for California. If that ballot measure fails, then Brown has said he will need to cut that amount — roughly doubling the current budget cuts.
The open question has been: What would be axed in that potential second round of budget cuts?
Longtime Battle Continues for Senior Care
Few details changed in Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, from the time it was proposed to when the Legislature passed it. So the salvaging of the state’s Adult Day Health Care program from the budget wreckage could be seen as a sign of the long-term care system’s tremendous popularity and support.
Now, the Senate Committee on Health has moved along a new bill seeking to improve long-term care in California.
“There are many people in long-term care facilities who often want to stay home, or return home quickly after surgery,” according to Senate member Carol Liu (D-Pasadena), who authored the bill. “We do have many services to help them still. But for the most part, the aged and disabled must navigate these services on their own.”
New Bill Would Take Over MRMIP Money
The legislative season has begun, with dozens of bills moving through committees this week.
The Senate Health Committee this week approved a measure designed to increase the number of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals in California — just when demand for those jobs may be at its highest point.
“SB 635 would direct money that is currently going to MRMIP (Major Risk Medical Insurance Program), which is being phased out by national health care reforms,” according to Senate member Ed Hernandez (D-Los Angeles), author of the bill and head of the Health Committee. “The money funding MRMIP can be spent now on the vital job of increasing the health care work force in California.”
Cal eConnect Set to Absorb CaleRx Consortium
The proposed marshalling of e-forces between Cal eConnect and the CaleRx Consortium has moved forward, and after yesterday’s meeting of Cal eConnect’s advisory group, it looks even more likely that some kind of merger will take place.
“E-prescribing is one of the high priorities for us,” Mark Elson of Cal eConnect said. “We’ve been in discussion with the California E-Prescribing Consortium about consolidating our activities in e-prescribing, and that discussion has been positive. We are now in a position to basically adopt the E-Prescribing Consortium into Cal eConnect.”
Elson said it will soon be presented to the eConnect board, though probably not in time for its next board meeting on Friday. CaleRx members meet on Tuesday.
Dozens of Bills Down, Dozens To Go
There will be cake.
That’s the celebratory reaction from health care advocates and many legislators in Sacramento — and literally, there will be a large table of cake at a community center in Sacramento today, where lawmakers and policy professionals will gather to toast what the national health care reform law has already brought to California, and what it’s about to bring.
“Our findings are that, in just one year, hundreds of thousands of Californians are directly getting benefits under the new law,” according to Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, which issued a report yesterday summarizing the impact of the federal Affordable Care Act on California.
Mental Health Comes Up $1.4 Billion Short
According to a study just released by National Alliance on Mental Illness, California spent $587 million fewer dollars on mental health services than it did two years ago.
Add in the $861 million in redirection of Prop. 63 funds in the proposed new budget, and you’re looking at a total loss of roughly $1.4 billion in mental health funding. But losses can be dealt with, as long as they’re not perpetual budget drains, according to Pat Ryan, executive director of the California Mental Health Directors Association.
“It’s very scary,” Ryan said. “We have pointed out, the amount of money they’re estimating to pay for services [in the new budget restructuring] is already starting out less than we know it costs to provide those services.”
It Pays To Adopt Electronic Health Records
Providers throughout California are about to get a significant amount of help in establishing their electronic health record systems, according to Raul Ramirez, chief of the state’s Office of Health IT.
“Our hope is to launch the incentive program on April 1,” he said. “We’ve been in contact with CMS (federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and we expect feedback any time now.”
If the launch goes as planned, providers could start seeing incentive payments starting in May, Ramirez said.
Exchange Board Could Be Filled Out Next Week
Paul Fearer, the newest board member of the Health Benefit Exchange, will bring a strong and knowledgeable voice to the exchange, according to John Grgurina.
And Grgurina should know. Grgurina was president of PacAdvantage when Fearer was chairman of the board.
“What Paul brings is a tremendous amount of experience,” said Grgurina, CEO of San Francisco Health Plan, a city-run insurer covering more than 50,000 low- and middle-income city residents.