Latest California Healthline Stories
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.
Will California Keep Adult Day Health?
Senior advocates are hoping a hearing at the end of last week was a turning point for the Adult Day Health Care program. It is slated to be eliminated as part of Governor Brown’s proposed budget — but since one committee recommended keeping it while another committee urged its elimination, the fate of the ADHC program has come down to the joint conference committee.
The committee is scheduled to meet every day this week to work out all budget discrepancies, including a decision on what to do with the ADHC program. But it was the meeting at the end of last week that gave a flare of hope to advocates.
“By the time I went home that day, I had the first sense of some hope,” Lydia Missaelides of the California Association for Adult Day Services said. “And that’s all I can ask for right now.”
Seniors Make Statewide Effort To Rescue Adult Day Services
It’s a big week for the Adult Day Health Care program. A budget subcommittee in the Senate recently recommended shutting it down, while an Assembly subcommittee suggested keeping an amended version of it.
The joint Budget Conference Committee discussing that discrepancy got a little more input than expected yesterday.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) made an appearance at the start of the hearing. His message was vigorous and straightforward:
$500 Million in Medicare Underpayments in California?
A California attorney has filed a class action lawsuit, saying that Medicare knowingly underpaid physicians in 10 counties in California, as well as dozens of counties in 32 other states. The suit alleges $500 million in underpayments in California, and a total of $3.2 billion throughout the nation.
“Medicare has acknowledged that certain counties are being underpaid, according to standards they set back in 1996,” according to attorney Dario de Ghetaldi, of the Corey, Luzaich, Pliska, de Ghetaldi & Nastari law firm. “It’s a problem they’ve created, and it’s a problem they’ve allowed to continue to exist.”
San Diego County physicians lead the nation in Medicare underpayment, Ghetaldi said.
More Seniors Means Greater Elder Abuse
Assembly member Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) cited an interesting statistic during a legislative session on elder abuse yesterday: “We have 10,000 people a day who are turning 65 in this country,” Yamada said.
California has a higher percentage of seniors than other states, she said. “So,” she added, “that means the silver tsunami is here.”
With the increasing numbers of seniors comes an equally increasing need to do something about elder abuse, Assembly member Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) said.