Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Facilities Get Improvement Boost
The federal government yesterday issued $722 million in renovation and construction grants to community health centers, including $122 million in grants to California facilities.
Dean Germano, CEO of Shasta Community Health Center in Redding, said his center’s $5 million capital grant announced yesterday will pay for about half of a planned $10 million building addition.
“The plans are completed, and we were waiting on a decision from HHS to see if we could do this,” Germano said.
Subcommittee Approves Change for Sacramento County Dental Program
Recent controversy over dental services in Sacramento County came to a head at an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing yesterday. The root of the problem is the county’s children’s dental care program, organized as a managed care pilot project that has been plagued with access problems over its 18-year history.
In fiscal year 2010-11, about 31% of the children eligible for dental care in Sacramento County actually saw a dentist (compared to a statewide average of about 50%). It is the only county in the state with a mandatory managed care dental program, which pays a per-person, capitated rate, whether beneficiaries receive dental care or not.
State legislators are considering changing that system to allow a voluntary option for beneficiaries to switch to fee-for-service. State health care officials are asking to keep the current system, with some major reforms to boost those low utilization rates.
Mixed Reviews at Basic Health Program Briefing
The state Legislature is considering a bill to create a Basic Health Program in California. If adopted, SB 703 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) would create low-cost health care insurance for as many as one million low-income Californians.
One of the options offered states in the Affordable Care Act, the Basic Health Program shares some goals with the Health Benefit Exchange, though the cost of insurance is expected to be significantly lower under the BHP.
That prospect would seem to be a slam-dunk proposition for patient advocates, but it’s not as simple as that.
Expansion of Safety Net Sparks Debate
The 17 health care clinics run by the Molina Medical Group, which care for many low-income patients, should qualify as safety net providers in California, according to the group’s owners. AB 2002 by Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) would redefine the state’s process for establishing Medi-Cal safety net providers to allow centers like Molina’s to be included.
“This bill would create a fair definition of a safety net provider,” according to Gilbert Simon, a physician at Sacramento Family Medical Center who testified at an Assembly Committee on Health hearing earlier this week. Sacramento Family Medical Center is a Molina Healthcare partner. Molina Healthcare is a for-profit company operating in 16 states and headquartered in Long Beach.
“Physician groups across the state are preparing and building sustainable networks to provide medical homes to patients [for the expansion of health care enrollment in 2014], and it is imperative that we acknowledge the true nature of the safety net,” Simon said, “and take steps to acknowledge its expanding role.”
Senate Committee Approves New Type of Nursing Home
A new idea elbowed its way into the familiar pile of health care legislation in the Senate Committee on Health yesterday. A nursing home model — the “Green House Project” — bucks the cold, institutional feel of many long-term care facilities.
“SB 1228 is a transformative bill that will eliminate red tape and save money. It is a revolutionary model of care,” Senate member Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) said, presenting her bill to the committee yesterday.
“It puts the ‘home’ back into nursing home,” Alquist said.
Health Debt Bill Passes Committee
Melanie Rowen, a woman with multiple sclerosis living in San Francisco, appeared before the Assembly Committee on Health yesterday to talk about money — or rather, lack of it.
When she first found out she had multiple sclerosis, Rowen had health care insurance but her medication was still expensive. “My insurance plan required me to pay 30% of it,” Rowen said. “I couldn’t afford it, but I put it on credit cards.” As she watched her disease progress, she saw her bank account drain away and her health care debt pile up.
Assembly member Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) hopes to prevent similar scenarios with AB 1800 which would establish a limit on annual out-of-pocket expenses for prescription medications for insured Californians.
Assembly Committee Approves Newborn Screening
There is a relatively easy answer to a serious disease that hits newborns in California, according to Assembly member Marty Block (D-San Diego).
“This bill is designed to ensure that newborns are screened for critical congenital heart disease,” Block said, presenting his bill, AB 1731, to the Assembly Committee on Health.
“It is known as CCHD, it causes severe and life-threatening illness, and affects secen to nine of every 1,000 live births in the U.S. This will bring California’s newborn screening program into alignment with the most up-to-date public health standards and practices,” Block said.
Three Bills Aim To Change Nursing Home Care
The Assembly Committee on Health last week approved two bills to alter nursing home care in California and it will hear a third one this week.
AB 1752 by Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), expected to be heard in tomorrow’s health committee hearing, is called the Nursing Facility Bed Hold Protection Act of 2012. It would require the Department of Health Care Services to penalize facilities for refusal to readmit a patient on appeal.
The Assembly health committee passed two other nursing home-related bills last week, also authored by Yamada.
Senate Hearing Tackles Flu Vaccination Rate
It’s important to the general public that health care workers receive influenza inoculations, according to Senate member Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who was recently before the Senate Committee on Health to introduce SB 1318, which she hopes will increase the vaccination rate among health care professionals.
The bill would protect “our most vulnerable patients — infants, seniors and those who are immune-compromised,” Wolk said. “It would ensure that health care workers receive the influenza vaccination, or wear a mask during influenza season. It’s a choice: Get vaccinated, or wear the mask. We want to decrease the deaths from influenza, and increase the safety at hospitals.”
The California Nurses’ Association and the Service Employees International Union are against the policy, in part because they see it as singling out people who opt out of getting the vaccine, by making them wear a mask in patient care areas.
Pre-Existing Condition Reform Passes Committee
The Senate Committee on Health yesterday passed SB 961 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), which would change the individual health insurance market in California, in part by halting insurer denials based on pre-existing conditions. It is similar to a bill — AB 1461 by Bill Monning (D-Carmel) — approved by the Assembly health committee one day earlier.
Both measures are designed to conform to the federal Affordable Care Act, Hernandez said, in advance of many other states.
“While some of you may not support the Affordable Care Act, it is currently the law of the land,” Hernandez said yesterday in introducing the measure. “And California continues to serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”