Latest California Healthline Stories
Incentive Plan Working for Public Hospitals
A big component of the federal Medicaid waiver California officials negotiated last year was the provision to set up an incentive program to redesign systems and improve quality in public hospitals.
It’s going well, apparently.
Melissa Stafford Jones of the California Association of Public Hospitals said all the state’s public hospitals “met their milestones.”
Medicaid Waiver Good News for L.A.’s Homeless
Strategies to provide health care to the homeless could shift as California prepares its Medicaid program and safety-net providers for reform-driven expansion in 2014. The state’s Bridge to Reform Medicaid waiver could help pave the way in Los Angeles County, which is “home” to almost one-third of the state’s homeless population.
Children’s Programs Slowly Moving Forward at MRMIB
Reports of the demise of the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board were a little premature. There it was, alive and well at its monthly meeting last week, discussing expansion of existing programs and establishment of new ones.
MRMIB runs four programs: Healthy Families, Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM), the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) and the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIP).
The agency was slated for elimination under the governor’s May budget revision. The current plan still is to phase out MRMIB’s activities by 2014, when much of its mission will be taken over by the new federal health care reform law. But when the Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced in May that he wanted to move 900,000 children from the Healthy Families program to a Medi-Cal managed care plan, Brown also proposed the quick elimination of MRMIB, since Healthy Families is such a large part of what MRMIB does.
The Afterlife of ‘Death Panels’ Still Haunts Health Reform
False accusations that the health reform law would spawn “death panels” continue to cause political problems. A renewed push to strike down the Independent Payment Advisory Board relies on similar claims of government rationing.
Adult Day Health Care Waits for the Governor
First of all, Assembly member Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) wants to make it clear there is reason to be hopeful.
“We have had multiple meetings with the governor’s office, making it clear what the legislative intent is,” Blumenfield said. “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Legislature passed Blumenfield’s bill, AB 96, which would set up the Keeping Adults Free from Institutions program, at about half the cost of the previous adult day health care program. If Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs it this week, $85 million would be spent trying to keep a good number of the 300 ADHC centers across the state open, and could keep thousands of seniors out of nursing homes.
Non-Contracted Services at Heart of Two Court Cases
A woman named Fucino, who is eligible for the County Medically Indigent Services Program (CMISP) and gets her care in Sacramento County, one day traveled to Monterey County to visit family. While in Monterey, she had a health issue that landed her in the emergency department in that county.
Does Sacramento County have to pay for that out-of-county ED visit? And more important, what does all of that have to do with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed against the county by UC-Davis?
The answer to the latter question is: non-contracted services. It’s the same principle at the core of both cases, where the court has to decide whether or not the county should pay for non-contracted services.
Stimulus Money Still Flowing to Health IT Projects
More than two years after enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government continues to implement provisions of the HITECH — Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health — Act. The second quarter of 2011 featured a change in leadership and progress toward meaningful use of EHRs.
Is the State Shifting its No-ADHC Stance?
The state has been fighting a long battle to eliminate the adult day health care program in California — including arguing the case to eliminate it this month in district court.
That’s why yesterday’s announcement from the Department of Health Care Services was such a surprise. The department said it would delay the planned Sept. 1 elimination date for ADHC.
“The director [of DHCS] has the authority to extend the ADHC deadline, and that’s what he’s doing,” Tony Cava of DHCS said.
ADHC Lawsuit Gets Federal Support
It’s a little like the Monty Python skit where the guy keeps hopping out of the wheelbarrow during the Black Plague, saying, “I’m not dead yet.”
Well, adult day health care isn’t quite dead yet in California.
The elimination date to end the program is Sept. 1, but a lawsuit to halt that elimination just got a big boost from the federal Department of Justice, which filed an amicus brief in support of the ADHC program.
Gay Latinos Fighting Bias, Stereotypes on Many Levels
Health risks for gay and transgender Latinos run high in part because of multiple social pressures and several different types of discrimination. A recent legislative hearing brought this often hidden community into the light, exploring what can be done to help them.