Federal Investigation Into Spine Surgeries Uses Mob Laws to Target Health Care Fraud
By Fred Schulte
Investigators allege a Texas company that arranges spine surgery and other medical care for people injured in car crashes accepted bribes in violation of 1960s-era racketeering law.
Daily Edition for Monday, February 7, 2022
Monday’s California health news roundup covers “decision fatigue,” KP, covid deaths, testing, variants, vaccines, schools, flu and more.
How the Tiny-Home Movement Is Providing More Than Just a Roof to Homeless People
By Giles Bruce
Cities and nonprofits across the country are building communities of tiny homes to safely house people amid covid and cold winters. Proponents say tiny homes give people dignity and privacy, but some advocates for homeless people say they don’t go far enough.
Bounties and Bonuses Leave Small Hospitals Behind in Staffing Wars
By Bram Sable-Smith
A hospital in Wisconsin sued to keep seven employees from taking jobs with a competitor. A health system in South Dakota is offering nurses $40,000 signing bonuses. Facilities with fewer resources are finding it difficult or impossible to compete for health care workers.
Ready for Another Pandemic Malady? It’s Called ‘Decision Fatigue’
By Jenny Gold
Pandemic living has come with a barrage of daily choices that have many of us complaining of a sort of brain freeze. That exhaustion is real, and it’s got a name: “decision fatigue.”
¿Listo para otra enfermedad pandémica? Se llama “fatiga por tomar decisiones”
By Jenny Gold
Antes, ir a un restaurant o visitar a los abuelos era una decisión simple pero ahora puede significar la vida o la muerte. Un experto explica esta afección pandémica.
Daily Edition for Friday, February 4, 2022
LA County Outlines Requirements For Dropping Mask Rules: Los Angeles County officials said Thursday that face coverings no longer will be required in certain outdoor settings once covid hospitalizations drop, and indoor mask rules could be loosened after further gains. The county would enter this “post-surge” phase when coronavirus-positive hospitalizations drop below 2,500 for seven straight days, about 26% below the current figure. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and City News Service.
State Inks Sweetheart Deal With Kaiser Permanente, Jeopardizing Medicaid Reforms
By Bernard J. Wolfson and Angela Hart and Samantha Young
The backroom deal with politically connected Kaiser Permanente, which infuriated other Medi-Cal health plans, allows the health care giant to continue selecting the enrollees it wants.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Paging the HHS Secretary
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is drawing criticism for his hands-off handling of the covid crisis even though the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and FDA report to him. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor looks to enforce mental health “parity laws” that have failed to achieve their goals. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Noam N. Levey, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a large emergency room bill for a small amount of medical care.
Daily Edition for Thursday, February 3, 2022
Thursday’s California health news roundup covers covid deaths, vaccines and boosters, cancer, dyslexia, disabilities, Medicare and more.
