Latest California Healthline Stories
San Diego Veterans Encouraged by New PTSD Rules
Under new Department of Veterans Affairs regulations, the evidence required to prove claims of post-traumatic stress disorder has been dramatically reduced. Officials expect this will streamline the claims process and make benefits available to a greater number of San Diego veterans.
Improving California’s Approach to Chronic Conditions
The arrival of national health reform offers opportunities to improve the way California’s health care system deals with chronic conditions. We asked stakeholders how policymakers, legislators, health care providers and insurers could best take advantage of these opportunities.
L.A., Orange County Weigh Resources To Fight Obesity
As Americans’ girths continue to widen, Los Angeles and Orange County are scaling up interventions to deal with the growing obesity problem that threatens not only the health of California, but its economy, too.
San Diego Embarks On 10-Year Trek Toward Better Health
With the support of a $16.1 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant, San Diego is reshaping public health and the design of its care delivery system to meet future health challenges and reduce the burden of chronic disease.
Customer Experience Ignored in Health Care?
Health professionals gathered in San Diego this week for the annual Health Unbound Conference to discuss the latest array of promising devices for making patients’ lives better — self-monitoring devices, home telehealth, social media and other e-health tools and advances.
But here’s the thing, said one speaker at the conference: There are so many useful devices and applications being developed to help patients achieve better health and longer lives, but getting those patients to use that technology can be a huge challenge.
“In general, health is a very intangible outcome,” Elizabeth Boehm of Forrester Research said, adding, “What does it mean to be slightly healthier? You’re talking about adding years to the end of my life, but the stuff that’s unhealthy has a shorter-term payoff. It usually tastes good, feels good, supplies immediate pleasure. It’s hard to get people to engage and use those long-term tools that make their health better.”
New Study Linking End-of-Life Directives With Hospitalization Has Implications for California
Kenneth Brummel-Smith of Florida State University College of Medicine, Judy Citko of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California and Jeffrey Yee of Woodland Healthcare spoke with California Healthline about the study.
The Slippery Territory of Autism
A treatment for autism called applied behavioral analysis is basically helping those with autism develop new behavior with a system of rewards and consequences.
It’s generally known as one of the most successful forms of therapy available for autistic children. So if it has some success, why isn’t it always covered by private insurance?
That was the central question at a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Autism and Related Disorders.
New Payment Method May Help Curb Costs, Improve Care
Payment bundling, an important part of national health care reform, is likely to be an integral part of California’s effort to revamp its health care system. The new tool has the potential to deliver lower costs, more efficient reimbursement and better patient outcomes.
Prevention, Wellness Provisions of Health Care Reform Law Could Have Big Long-Term Impact
John Seffrin of the American Cancer Society, Steve Wojcik of the National Business Group on Health and Daniel Zingale of the California Endowment spoke with California Healthline about a shift in emphasis in the health reform law.
Health Care Advocates Warn of ‘Dark Times’ for Latinos
Economic woes in California and across the nation make for a dim outlook for health care efforts for at least the next year, according to health care advocates in California. Recent research indicates that Latinos are at heightened risk of diabetes and face obstacles to care.