Latest California Healthline Stories
Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care
The United States has no coherent system of long-term care, leading many to struggle to stay independent or rely on a patchwork of solutions.
Will Your Smartphone Be the Next Doctor’s Office?
Entrepreneurs see smartphones as an opportunity to meet patients where they are. But many app-based diagnostic tools still need clinical validation to get buy-in from health care providers.
¿Será tu celular tu próximo consultorio médico?
La yema del dedo presionada contra la lente de la cámara de un celular puede medir la frecuencia cardíaca. El micrófono, colocado junto a la cama, puede detectar apnea del sueño. Incluso el altavoz está siendo modificado para monitorear la respiración usando tecnología de sondas.
Medicare Advantage Plans Send Pals to Seniors’ Homes for Companionship — And Profits
Many Medicare Advantage plans send caregivers to the homes of seniors periodically to help with housework and provide companionship. But the workers may also prod seniors into activities that boost the plans’ Medicare ratings and federal reimbursements.
Pandemic-Fueled Shortages of Home Health Workers Strand Patients Without Necessary Care
Home health and hospice agencies are experiencing extreme worker shortages, which means they can’t provide services to all the patients seeking care.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Politics of Vaccine Mandates
Like almost everything else associated with the covid-19 pandemic, partisans are taking sides over whether vaccines should be mandated. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are still struggling to find compromise in their effort to expand health insurance and other social programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews best-selling author Beth Macy about her book “Dopesick,” and the new Hulu miniseries based on it.
California Vaccine Mandate Extends to Aides for People With Disabilities
Even though they perform the same intimate tasks as nursing home and hospital workers, in-home health aides initially were left out of California’s vaccine mandate. They must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30.
Readers and Tweeters Ponder Vaccines and Points of Fairness
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Senate Democrats’ Plan Boosts Spending on Medicare, ACA Subsidies, Long-Term Care
The plan from high-wire negotiations would affect five key areas of health, but there will be further tense negotiations among Democratic lawmakers about specifics of the $3.5 trillion in funding. And all Senate Democrats will need to be behind the plan, because Republicans oppose it.
Unvaccinated, Homebound and Now Hospitalized With Covid in New York City
Across the country, doctors report that those hospitalized with covid now are largely unvaccinated. New York City lags the rest of the nation in vaccinating people 65 and older, and its efforts to reach the homebound and disabled have been late in coming and disorganized.