Latest California Healthline Stories
Senate Hearing Tackles Flu Vaccination Rate
It’s important to the general public that health care workers receive influenza inoculations, according to Senate member Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who was recently before the Senate Committee on Health to introduce SB 1318, which she hopes will increase the vaccination rate among health care professionals.
The bill would protect “our most vulnerable patients — infants, seniors and those who are immune-compromised,” Wolk said. “It would ensure that health care workers receive the influenza vaccination, or wear a mask during influenza season. It’s a choice: Get vaccinated, or wear the mask. We want to decrease the deaths from influenza, and increase the safety at hospitals.”
The California Nurses’ Association and the Service Employees International Union are against the policy, in part because they see it as singling out people who opt out of getting the vaccine, by making them wear a mask in patient care areas.
Pre-Existing Condition Reform Passes Committee
The Senate Committee on Health yesterday passed SB 961 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), which would change the individual health insurance market in California, in part by halting insurer denials based on pre-existing conditions. It is similar to a bill — AB 1461 by Bill Monning (D-Carmel) — approved by the Assembly health committee one day earlier.
Both measures are designed to conform to the federal Affordable Care Act, Hernandez said, in advance of many other states.
“While some of you may not support the Affordable Care Act, it is currently the law of the land,” Hernandez said yesterday in introducing the measure. “And California continues to serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”
Federal Health IT Activity Continues in First Quarter of 2012
Federal health IT efforts continued in the first quarter of 2012, with the release of proposed rules for Stage 2 of the meaningful use incentive program and the appointment of Todd Park as the country’s new chief technology officer.
Immunization Procedure Passes Committee
Richard Pan is a pediatrician as well as an Assembly member, so the bills he authors on children’s health care carry a little more weight with his fellow legislators.
But Pan (D-Sacramento) had his hands full yesterday in the Assembly Committee on Health, as he introduced AB 2109, a bill that would require licensed providers to educate parents about the risks of skipping immunizations — for their children as well as others in the community. The bill would require providers to sign an exemption form specifying that parents had been educated about the risks but still chose against vaccinations.
“We want to make sure parents or guardians have an opportunity to talk to a licensed health care professional,” Pan said. “And the reason for that is, that decision doesn’t just impact that child. It impacts the larger community.”
A Second Opinion on Medicare ‘Double Counting’
Myth or fact: There’s no such thing as an honest Medicare budget. Why the latest blow-up over health care accounting is symptomatic of a larger problem.
State Wins Case to Cut Adult Day Provider Rates
After four similar cases went against the state in the past few months, the Department of Health Care Services won in court late Friday, when a federal judge refused to issue a preliminary injunction against Medi-Cal cutbacks.
The lawsuit, brought by the Adult Day Health Care Association, challenged the department’s plan to cut Medi-Cal provider rates by 10%. Judges in four other cases issued preliminary injunctions halting those cuts, including suits brought by the California Medical Association and the California Hospital Association.
The difference in this case, according to DHCS spokesman Norman Williams, lies in a previous settlement of another case over the state’s adult day health services. That settlement prompted the creation of a replacement program, Community-Based Adult Services, and included an agreement that covered the lower rates.
Bill Would Expand Clinics’ Hiring Options for Mental Health Care Providers
Palm Springs has a problem that is shared in rural communities across California, according to J.M. Evosevich, a marriage and family therapist from Palm Springs who is a past president of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Evosevich said at a recent Assembly hearing that clinics throughout rural California have a problem: They can’t find enough social workers to take care of people’s mental health needs.
“There’s a waiting list for people that need mental health care, and they can’t provide it because they don’t have the [mental health] providers,” Evosevich said. “We are uniquely qualified to deal with marriage and family therapies. And those services are lacking in our area.”
AB 1785 by Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) aims to change. The bill came before the Assembly Committee on Health last week.
Funding Ending for Model Oral Health Plan for L.A. Kids
Funding expires this summer for a low-income children’s dental program in Los Angeles that has become a model for preventive oral health care. The program takes aim at the most common chronic pediatric disease — tooth decay — that affects overall health.
Health Committee Approves Additions to Medical Review Plan
The independent medical review process in California needs an update according to Senate member Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) who introduced SB 1410 at Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Health hearing.
“This bill deals with the Independent Medical Review program as an important safeguard for consumers of health care in California,” Hernandez said. “Collectively these changes will improve the effectiveness and transparency of the IMR program.”
Hernandez said the bill adds three improvements to the current IMR process in the state.
‘It Can Be Costly to Treat CCS Kids’
Assembly member Cathleen Galgiani (D-Tracy) is well aware of the budget crisis in California. But she’s also aware of another crisis in children’s hospitals, she said.
“It can be costly to treat CCS (California Children’s Services) kids,” Galgiani said. “The Department was considering reimbursing hospitals at their negotiated California Medical Assistance Commission or otherwise known as CMAC rate. This bill would clarify [that] reimbursement.”
The CMAC rate is a hospital rate of reimbursement negotiated by the California Medical Assistance Commission. The state Department of Health Care Services would like to switch to that rate. Galgiani’s AB 1728 instead would maintain the current reimbursement rate, which is a hospital’s interim rate. The CMAC rate would go into effect unless this bill is passed.