Latest California Healthline Stories
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.
Missed Visits, Uncontrolled Pain And Fraud: Report Says Hospice Lacks Oversight
A new government watchdog report outlines vulnerabilities in Medicare’s $17 billion hospice program, pointing to inadequate services, inappropriate billing and outright fraud.
Mining A New Data Set To Pinpoint Critical Staffing Issues In Skilled Nursing Facilities
Low staffing is a root cause of many injuries in nursing homes. Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Jordan Rau explains how he connected the dots between manpower and risk at facilities nationwide, using a federa tool known as the Payroll-Based Journal.
1,400 Nursing Homes Get Lower Medicare Ratings Because Of Staffing Concerns
Medicare said those homes either lacked a registered nurse for “a high number of days” over three months, provided data the government couldn’t verify or didn’t supply their payroll data at all.
Medicare Reconsiders Paying For Seniors’ Spine Operations At Surgery Centers
After a USA Today Network-Kaiser Health News investigation, Medicare announced last week that it is re-evaluating whether these procedures “pose a significant safety risk” to patients.
Time For That Colonoscopy? Probe Your Doc First On How The Scopes Are Cleaned
Millions of Americans undergo procedures each year requiring medical scopes, but there’s growing concern about the risk of infection from dirty devices. Be prepared to ask questions — and bail if you’re not satisfied with the answers.
Look-Up: How Nursing Home Staffing Fluctuates In California
Use this tool to see staffing levels at skilled nursing homes in California.
That ‘Living Will’ You Signed? At The ER, It Could Be Open To Interpretation.
End-of-life documents express your preferences for care but may not be binding medical orders. Here’s how to better prepare for the unexpected — that your last wishes won’t be carried out.
Medicare Takes Aim At Boomerang Hospitalizations Of Nursing Home Patients
Nationally, one in five Medicare patients who leave the hospital for a nursing home end up back in the hospital. In California, one-fifth of the more than 1,200 nursing homes send at least 24 percent of their Medicare patients back to the hospital. To discourage this trend, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will soon give bonuses and penalties to facilities based on their rehospitalization rates.
Study: Nearly Three-Quarters Of Commonly Used Medical Scopes Tainted By Bacteria
The ‘scary’ findings show a discouraging lack of progress in cleaning the devices, despite more vigorous efforts in the wake of deadly superbug outbreaks, experts say.
