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Latest California Healthline Stories

Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong

The U.S. government claimed that turning American medical charts into electronic records would make health care better, safer and cheaper. Ten years and $36 billion later, the system is an unholy mess. Inside a digital revolution that took a bad turn.

Drugmakers Funnel Millions To Lawmakers; A Few Dozen Get $100,000-Plus

Drugmakers’ contributions to lawmakers have peaked as surging drug prices emerge as a hot-button political issue. In the past decade, members of Congress have received nearly $79 million from 68 pharma PACs. And the giving crosses the aisle: In California, seven of the top 10 beneficiaries are Democrats — though Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House majority leader, tops other Golden State lawmakers in Congress by a wide margin.

Despite Red Flags At Surgery Centers, Overseers Award Gold Seals

A decade ago, California stopped licensing surgery centers and then gave approval power to private accreditors that are commonly paid by the same centers they inspect. That system of oversight has created a troubling legacy of laxity, a Kaiser Health News investigation finds.

Religious Conservatives’ Ties To Trump Officials Pay Off In AIDS Policies, Funding

Shepherd Smith, a strong supporter of abstinence-only sex education for AIDS, has been close to the new director of the CDC for decades. This connection is just one example of the “new in crowd” surrounding the Trump administration, where politics and religion mix.

Lax Oversight Leaves Surgery Center Regulators And Patients In The Dark

A Kaiser Health News and USA Today Network investigation finds that a hodgepodge of state rules governing outpatient centers allow some deaths and serious injuries to go unexamined. And no rule stops a doctor exiled by a hospital for misconduct from opening a surgery center down the street.