Latest California Healthline Stories
Flu Vaccine Bill Approved by Senate
There’s more than one kind of resistance to the flu virus.
Senate member Lois Wolk (D-Davis) found that out, and Wednesday introduced to the Senate floor a substantially reworked version of her bill, SB 1318, which would require health care facilities to meet a 90% flu vaccine health-worker compliance rate by 2015.
The bill passed on a 23-9 vote. However, that vote came at a price.
Pre-Existing Condition Reform Passes
When state Sen. Ed Hernandez introduced his bill SB 961 to the Senate floor yesterday, the West Covina Democrat’s speech was laden with the historic nature of the legislation.
“As we all know, on March 23rd of 2010, the president of the United States of America signed into law the comprehensive health care reform bill known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Hernandez said.
“I feel tremendous responsibility to ensure that California continues to lead the nation in implementing federal reform,” he said, “and that we serve as a model for the rest of this country.”
ACA Grants Enable Inland Empire Clinics To Expand
The Affordable Care Act is funneling approximately $9 million into the Inland Empire to improve and expand community health centers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
CMS Weighs in on Enrollment Question
Federal health officials have informed the state that CMS would favor passive enrollment with an opt-out provision but it does not support lock-in enrollment for the dual-eligible demonstration project in California.
That’s according to Kevin Prindiville, deputy director of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Oakland, who spoke to CMS officials on Friday.
“CMS has told us that’s all they will allow,” Prindiville said. “It’s not a big surprise, but it’s very welcome. We think the passive enrollment system is problematic in some ways, but CMS has said all along they would allow passive enrollment, but there would have to be a way to opt out at any time.”
If ACA Stands, What California Stands To Gain (or Lose)
The Supreme Court’s ruling on ObamaCare is imminent, and most analysts have focused on what happens if the law gets struck down. Here’s a reminder of what comes next if the law is allowed to stand.
Community Dental Beneficiaries Go to Liberty
Community Dental Services health plan, plagued with financial troubles and quality-of-care problems, has shut down its managed care dental plan in Sacramento and Los Angeles counties.
On Friday, the state announced that all 16,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries at CDS, the bulk of them in Sacramento County, would switch to Liberty Dental Plan of California. Also making the change will be 4,000 non-Medi-Cal patients. State officials said beneficiaries’ providers would remain the same in almost every case.
The failure of CDS may be good news for the state and the beneficiaries in the plan, since that company had the lowest utilization rate among the five health plans providing dental coverage in Sacramento County. The state has been under fire recently because of low utilization rates in the pilot “geographic managed care” system. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, fewer than one-third of Sacramento County Medi-Cal children went to a dentist, compared with a utilization rate of nearly 50% for the rest of the state.
After 2 Years of Cal eConnect, What’s Next for HIE in California?
At Cal eConnect, one CEO left, another bailed on the job before he started, and now the board of directors dissolved its grant agreement with the state. If it goes right, the latter move may be the best thing that could happen to California’s primary health information exchange facilitator.
State Proposes Delaying Start Date For Budget Cuts
The state is planning to delay the starting date for budget cuts by switching implementation from the start of the year to calendar year, according to a Department of Health Care Services summary of possible changes to trailer bill language for the May budget revision.
That’s one of many revisions outlined in the summary. The DHCS changes reflect input and concerns from stakeholders.
Subcommittee Puts Co-Pay Idea on Hold
Co-pay is back. Last year, the Legislature passed and the governor signed a budget trailer bill that included Medi-Cal co-payments of $5 for some provider visits, up to $50 for emergency department visits and up to $100 for patients admitted to the hospital.
That move required a CMS waiver but in February, federal officials denied it. Now, with the May budget revision, a scaled-down version of co-payments is back on the table.
Yesterday, an Assembly budget subcommittee heard testimony on the subject and decided to hold co-pay approval for a later date.
Costs in New Adult Day Program Almost Same as Old One
The state’s rallying cry when it first wanted to eliminate adult day health care as a Medi-Cal benefit was that it would save money. Now, after more than a year of battles at the Capitol and in court, the budget for the new Community-Based Adult Services program looks pretty similar to the ADHC budget that it replaced.