Concierge Medicine Growing in L.A., Orange Counties
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
Proponents of concierge medicine compare it to buying a first-class seat instead of economy on airplanes. Critics say new, direct models of payment growing in popularity in Southern California widen the gap between the haves and have-nots.
L.A.-Area Pharmacists Hope To Write Reform Prescription
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
Los Angeles-area pharmacists and pharmacy schools struggle with the disparate pressures of a contracting, recession-hampered industry that also faces significant growth as a result of health care reform.
Palliative Care for Kids Takes Root in L.A., Orange County
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
A Medi-Cal waiver is helping to alter the cure-versus-care landscape for California’s youngest patients with chronic conditions. At-home palliative care programs for such children are taking root in Los Angeles and Orange County.
L.A., Orange County Weigh Resources To Fight Obesity
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
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.
UC-Irvine Center Shines Spotlight on Elder Abuse
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
The pioneering Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse and Neglect at UC-Irvine is helping to propel a once-invisible population into view, an effort aided by the inclusion of the Elder Justice Act in the federal health care reform law.
Moving Homeless Patient Discharge From the Streets
by Stephanie Stephens, California Healthline Regional Correspondent
Los Angeles’ law prohibiting hospitals from discharging homeless patients back to the street was a catalyst for creating recuperative and transitional care programs that help the city and county deal with the nation’s largest homeless population.
Judge Allows Some Patient Claims in Managed Care Lawsuits to Proceed
A federal court judge in Miami yesterday “refused to dismiss” several key claims in lawsuits filed in 1999 on behalf of health plan members against six managed care companies for allegedly “employing hidden financial incentives for physicians to deny treatment and cut costs,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
