Latest California Healthline Stories
Inspector Paints A Rosy Picture Of Migrant Detention Centers — In Contrast To Audits
A KHN review of dozens of inspection reports filed over the past year by the Nakamoto Group reveals disturbing patterns about the company’s audits, including a general willingness to accept accounts of the facilities that the company is paid to scrutinize, and to discount detainees’ complaints.
State Prisons Fail To Offer Cure To 144,000 Inmates With Deadly Hepatitis C
A survey of 49 states reveals that an estimated 144,000 inmates with hepatitis C, a curable but potentially fatal disease, can’t get the expensive drugs they need to cure it. California lawmakers allocated $106 million in the state’s new budget to treat more infected prisoners.
Listen: Psychotropic Drug Use Up Sharply As Jails House More People With Mental Illness
The use of psychiatric drugs among inmates in California’s county jails has soared 25 percent in five years. California Healthline reporter Anna Gorman discussed this phenomenon in a recent radio interview.
Use Of Psychiatric Drugs Soars In California Jails
A combination of factors has led to an “astronomical” increase in mentally ill inmates, followed by increased efforts to identify those who need prescriptions. Some say the meds are underprescribed; others, that they are given inappropriately, without the benefit of comprehensive treatment.
Health Care Revamp At The L.A. County Jails
The effort, overseen by the county’s health services department, aims to improve care for a population with high rates of chronic disease, mental illness and drug addiction.
More Prisoners Die Of Old Age Behind Bars
New data show 4,980 inmate deaths in 2014, the most since counting began in 2001.
‘A Huge Improvement’: Study Finds Inmates Benefit From Much Shorter TB Treatment
A three-month drug regimen to treat latent TB in a California jail system was just as effective as the standard nine-month approach — and the patients were far more likely to finish treatment.
Health Law Expanded Coverage For Ex-Inmates, But Gaps Remain
The health law’s Medicaid expansion and its requirement that employer medical plans cover dependents up to age 26 had a significant impact on coverage for this population. The portion of young adult ex-inmates without insurance fell from 40 percent to 32 percent.
A Look At Veep Pick Tim Kaine’s Record On Health Care
As a Democratic senator and governor, Tim Kaine has backed the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion and better access to mental health treatment for people in crisis.