Coordination of Care the Key to New Alzheimer’s Approach
Family caregivers take care of 80% of the Alzheimer’s patients in California — and the state needs to support them if it wants to save money and at the same time handle the burgeoning, aging population here.
That’s the take-home message from a new report out today, according to Debra Cherry, executive vice president of the California Southland chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“The primary message of this plan is that you need to invest in what supports the family, and in that way you save the state money,” Cherry said, adding that cash is saved by keeping Alzheimer’s patients out of nursing homes, emergency rooms and hospital beds. “Family caregivers and community-based care, that’s the key.”
Path Set for Dealing with Alzheimer’s in California
An official 10-year state plan is slated to be released today that could change the way California handles coordination of care for people with Alzheimer’s.
We’ll have details in Capitol Desk at 10 a.m. today when state Senator Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) is scheduled to release the document.
“This is the first state plan for Alzheimer’s since the 1980s,” according to Debra Cherry, executive vice president of the California Southland chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Emergency Departments on Life Support
The backlash has begun. This week, the Assembly and Senate will debate the final package of budget reductions — and some of those cuts have produced howls of protest, both outside the Capitol building and inside its hallways.
Among the $6 billion in health-related cuts is the elimination of the Maddy Fund, a $55 million attempt to reimburse emergency departments for indigent care.
The funding only came into existence in January, and now it’s gone again. Emergency departments around the state may be in danger of disappearing, too, according to Peter Sokolove, president-elect of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Half a Budget Is Better Than None
When it became clear in January that California’s adult day health care program was slated for budget elimination, people at the California Association of Adult Day Services got busy, cut to the bone, then came up with $28 million in cuts from their $160 million program.
Given the steep cuts the program had already made in previous years, they felt that was as low as they could possibly go.
Well, now they’re going to need to go lower.
New Health Cuts Plus Old Cuts Equals a Budget
The joint conference committee decided to eliminate adult day health care services in California — and then voted to reinstate about half of the program.
The Adult Day Health Care program was clearly something legislators want to retain, in part because it actually might save the state money by keeping seniors out of nursing homes. Drastic cuts, though, might have created legal problems by running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The solution? The conference committee proposed elimination of the $165 million ADHC budget, and then reinstated about half of it for a revised program.
Fearer Brings Wealth of Experience to Exchange Board
Late yesterday, Assembly Speaker John Perez named his choice to sit on the board of the state Health Benefits Exchange. Paul Fearer will become the fourth exchange board member, bringing that agency one step closer to beginning work.
Fearer is the former chair of PacAdvantage, a statewide health-insurance buying pool. That consortium ran for 14 years, and shut down in 2006. Fearer, currently chair of the Pacific Business Group on Health, is human resources director for Union Bank.
All of that health benefit experience dovetails well with the other high-powered members of the exchange board — former secretary of state Health and Human Services Kim Belshe, current HHS Secretary Diana Dooley and former Schwarzenegger chief of staff Susan Kennedy.
California at Edge of Telehealth Revolution?
The Center for Connected Health Policy’s working group for the Telehealth Model Statute was charged with developing a plan for helping to take telehealth out of the realm of futuristic dreaming and into the present. A report released this week lays the groundwork for how the new technology can become ubiquitous in California.
The first steps are to remove state restrictions on using telehealth in medical practices and to incorporate telehealth concepts in the laws and policies of health care reform, according to Sandra Shewry, president and CEO of the Center for Connected Health Policy.
“We wanted to think through, what are the big ideas that would create the ideal policy environment for telehealth,” Shewry said. “And that’s what’s in this report.”
Will Assembly Bill Help or Hurt Physical Therapists?
Paul Gaspar is pretty upset.
A physical therapist in the San Diego area and a board member of the California Physical Therapists Association, Gaspar said a bill recently introduced in the Assembly threatens the livelihood of many physical therapists in California.
He said it would promote over-utilization of physical therapy, increase costs and lower quality of care.
States Hurting, But Outlook Still Bright
Economist James Glassman knew it sounded funny. While he was speaking at the annual Health Care Forecast Conference at UC Irvine last week, the California Legislature was in the process of cutting another $12 billion out of its budget — half of that from health-related programs.
But the current bad news in health care and gloomy economic prognostications will not continue, he said.
“In my mind,” Glassman said, “you have to balance what you’re hearing with what’s happening in the market. If it really was so dire, for instance, the bond market would be a disaster.”
Two Health IT Groups Join Forces
It seems like a natural fit. Cal eConnect was formed to promote and coordinate electronic health record use in California, and the California E-Prescribing Consortium (CaleRx) is trying to get providers to electronically connect with pharmacists.
Those two processes are inextricably linked, keeping EHRs and prescribing electronically. It’s all in the name of reshaping the health care delivery system, and providing better care at a lower cost.
Yesterday was the first time the two groups officially established an ongoing collaboration, in a joint workgroup meeting. How exactly that collaboration will develop is still being discussed, but everyone seemed to agree on one thing: It’s a good idea to join forces.