Latest News On Chronic Disease Care

Latest California Healthline Stories

Personal Stories Highlight Oral Chemotherapy Bill

New legislation proposed by Assembly member Henry Perea (D-Fresno) would require health plans to provide chemotherapy in pill form, in some cases.

“This bill will provide greater access for oral chemotherapy treatment,” Perea said on the Assembly floor late last week. “This is the right thing to do, to allow people access to lifesaving drugs.”

Perea introduced the measure with his personal account of caring for his mother, who he said was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer just over a year ago. During the long, eight-hour chemo infusion in the hospital, he learned quite a lot about cancer and chemo from patients and professionals.

Clashing Views of Transition for Seniors, Disabled

Either the state’s transition to managed care is going great, or it’s a confusing mess.

That would depend on who’s talking. At a joint oversight hearing last week, convened by the Senate and the Assembly committees on health, government officials outlined a generally positive picture for the effort to move Medi-Cal seniors and people with disabilities (SPDs) from Medi-Cal fee-for-service to managed care.

“The transition of seniors and people with disabilities into managed care is part of the triple mandate from [the federal] HHS,” according to Jane Ogle, deputy director at the Department of Health Care Services. “Better health, better quality and more cost-effective care.”

Chronic Care Becoming a Chronic Problem

To lower costs and increase quality of care, policymakers in California need to address how to better treat the chronically ill — those patients at the center of health care spending in the state.

That was the conclusion of a health care panel discussion last week in the Capitol Building in Sacramento, put on by the Center for Health Improvement as part of the California Health Policy Forum.

“This is a huge worldwide epidemic,” according to panelist Sophia Chang. “About two in five Californians have at least one chronic condition — and half of these people have two or more of these conditions.”

Smokers, Politicians Struggle With Tobacco Habit

Smoking among adults is dropping in California, according to a recent report. Another kind of tobacco habit — money spent to influence California politicians and policy — could be on the rise in coming months in response to a statewide ballot initiative to increase the tobacco tax.

Time is Now To Reverse Hepatitis Trend, Experts Say

For years, advocates have been fighting hepatitis in relative quiet — but that may be changing, according to Rachel McLean.

“Last week the federal [Department of] Health and Human Services released its hepatitis action plan,” McLean said. “For HHS to say we’re going to do something, well, that’s a big deal.”

McLean is the hepatitis prevention coordinator for the state Department of Public Health, and she was part of a panel discussion yesterday in Sacramento. The event was part of the California Health Policy Forum, put on by the Center for Health Improvement and funded in part by the California HealthCare Foundation. CHCF is the publisher of California Healthline.

Riverside Hopes New Policies Will Help Curb Sprawl, Obesity

Riverside County’s Public Health and Planning departments have joined forces to develop a large-scale approach that will guide future community development. The new policies set the stage for communities that will be walkable and bikeable with convenient access to nutritious food.