Daily Edition for Monday, July 24, 2023
Extreme heat, HSAs, meth use, hospital news, hospice safety, the next pandemic, AI, cancer, and more are in the news.
FDA Head Robert Califf Battles Misinformation — Sometimes With Fuzzy Facts
By Darius Tahir
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf has called misinformation one of the deadliest killers in the United States. As the FDA tries to fight that scourge, it sometimes stumbles.
Everything Old Is New Again? The Latest Round of Health Policy Proposals Reprises Existing Ideas
By Julie Appleby
House Republican legislation promises more health insurance options but fewer protections, even as the Biden administration seeks to rein in short-term plans, which were expanded in the Trump era.
Giant Health System Almost Saved a Madera Hospital. Now, It Wants to ‘Extract Every Dollar.’
By Bernard J. Wolfson and Melissa Montalvo, The Fresno Bee
A bankruptcy judge will soon decide whether a Central Valley hospital needs to liquidate to repay its creditors. Its largest creditor, St. Agnes Medical Center, is the very entity that backed out of purchasing the Madera Community Hospital last December.
Un sistema de salud gigante casi salvó a un hospital de Madera. Ahora quiere “sacarle cada dólar”
By Bernard J. Wolfson and Melissa Montalvo, The Fresno Bee
Problemas como el de Madera son comunes en otros hospitales pequeños con situaciones financieras precarias en California, y en todo el país.
Daily Edition for Friday, July 21, 2023
225,000 Medi-Cal Enrollees Lost Coverage In June: About 225,0000 Californians lost their free or low-cost health coverage as of July 1, in the first round a Medi-Cal renewal process that had been suspended since early in the covid pandemic. That’s approximately 21% of the over 1 million people who were due to reapply for coverage in June, according to preliminary numbers released by state health officials on Thursday. Read more from CalMatters, Los Angeles Times, and the Sacramento Bee.
Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.
By Noam N. Levey
Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.
Pain Clinic Chain to Pay $11.4M to Settle Medicare and Medi-Cal Fraud Claims
By Don Thompson
The owner of one of California’s largest chains of pain management clinics has agreed to pay California, Oregon, and the federal government to settle Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud allegations.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Let’s Talk About the Weather
2023 will likely be remembered as the summer Arizona sizzled, Vermont got swamped, and nearly the entire Eastern Seaboard, along with huge swaths of the Midwest, choked on wildfire smoke from Canada. Still, none of that has been enough to prompt policymakers in Washington to act on climate issues. Meanwhile, at a public court hearing, […]
Daily Edition for Thursday, July 20, 2023
One Year In, 988 Mental Health Crisis Line Proves It’s Worth: California made it easier to call for help a year ago when it launched a simplified mental health crisis hotline: Dial three digits — 988 — and you can get in touch with a counselor immediately. Since then, crisis centers have received more than 280,000 calls. That’s twice as many as any other state, signaling to mental health advocates that the service was badly needed. Read more from the CalMatters.
