Latest California Healthline Stories
How Stem Cell Research Might Trim California’s Health Costs
California has become an international leader in stem cell research. When medical breakthroughs occur in the field in the next few years — as many experts predict they will — it could produce lower health costs, better care and more clinical clout for California.
What Can Brown Do for Senior Health Issues?
Just because the California political landscape is in transition and its budget in disarray, that doesn’t mean the state still doesn’t have pressing needs and opportunities for its seniors, according to Gretchen Alkema of the SCAN Foundation, a not-for-profit that looks at long-term care issues.
“Time is of the essence,” Alkema said. “The reality is, individuals with long-term needs, that doesn’t change with the budget situation.”
So even though Jerry Brown and newly elected legislators won’t take the oath of office till January, the SCAN Foundation released a policy brief yesterday on the long-term care challenges and possible solutions for seniors in California.
Golden State Looks On as Others Threaten To Cut Medicaid
Can states pull out of the Medicaid program — and will they? The questions have taken on sudden importance, as some state officials suggest that health reform’s costs are too high and the federal program too restrictive.
DMHC Not Listening to Complaints?
What if you gave a legislative oversight hearing, and the object of that hearing didn’t show up?
That was the case last week, when the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services conducted an oversight hearing to deal with complaints about the Department of Managed Health Care. Emergency department officials, who feel they’ve been grossly and routinely underpaid by some insurance organizations, say the DMHC is supposed to adjudicate those conflicts, but has instead been ignoring them.
“This is extraordinarily disrespectful. I’m extraordinarily displeased they decided not to participate,” Assembly member Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) said.
Developmentally Disabled Centers Get a Hearing
A state audit raised some concerns about some of the financial steps taken by some of the state’s California Regional Centers. The centers are designed to help patients with developmental disabilities.
“Many changes have occurred recently, including losing about $500 million in funding,” oversight chair and Senate member Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge) said. “Such changes make it imperative to look at how to provide these necessary services in a cost-effective way.”
“Over $4 billion goes through these centers,” Assembly member Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) said. “So if something isn’t as efficient as it can be, we need to fix it. Our goal is to watch that money, because that’s a hell of a lot of money.”
Cal eConnect, Beacon Communities Set IT Pace in California
Part Two of a two-part issue brief on federal stimulus funding for health information technology in California focuses on health information exchange, the Beacon Community Program, broadband, telehealth and investments in federally qualified health centers.
Mapping Out Future for Rural Health Care
The problems faced by rural health providers go far beyond whether or not patients have insurance coverage, according to Danny Fernandez, legislative advocate for the National Rural Health Association, who spoke at the 10th annual conference of the California State Rural Health Association this week in Sacramento .
“At some point, ‘national health reform’ morphed into ‘national health insurance reform,’ ” Fernandez said. But it’s not just about making sure everyone’s insured, he said. “Our overall message to Capitol Hill was, if you don’t have access to a provider, then it doesn’t matter if you do or don’t have insurance coverage.”
That is probably the number one problem in rural areas throughout the state and nation, he said, along with a general lack of funding for rural health care. National health care reform, Fernandez said, might be able to address both concerns — by increasing funds through better insurance, and by offering incentives and programs to get medical providers into rural areas.
HITECH’s Health IT Investments in California
Part One of this two-part issue brief looks at how federal stimulus funding has been allocated in California for several health IT initiatives, including Medicare and Medi-Cal “meaningful use” incentive programs, regional extension centers and health IT work force training.
Rural Health Clinics Getting Short-Changed?
There was an interesting moment at this week’s annual conference of the California State Rural Health Association. During one of the presentations, a sit-down with two state Assembly members — V. Manuel Perez (D-Coachella) and recently elected Linda Halderman (R-Fresno) — the conversation seemed to veer away from rural health issues.
After hearing about high unemployment, the icy regulatory climate, too much government and arsenic contamination of water supplies, host Steve Barrow gently redirected the conversation.
“You know, rural [medicine] gets lost a lot in the Capitol,” he said. “We care about clean water, and cultural issues, and economic issues — but if we’re talking about economics in rural California, 11 percent of the rural economy is health care. Health care is a big part of economics in rural areas.”
If E-Prescribing’s So Great, Why Is It So Difficult?
Some people might think that since California has such a big head start on the rest of the nation in some arenas of health care reform, that it would also be taking a lead role in launching a program for e-prescribing — the electronic communication of prescriptions between physicians and pharmacists.
But those people would be wrong.
“California is 45th in the nation,” Ned Hanson, director of formulary management at Health Net Pharmaceutical Services, said. “We’ve been looking at anywhere from 8 to 10 percent adoption.”