Latest California Healthline Stories
Medi-Cal Reimbursement Tops Policy List
The California Medical Association gathered in Sacramento last weekend, and the new CMA president came up with his own variation on the real estate agent motto:
It’s about funding, funding, funding.
“We would like to see physicians be able to maintain a viable practice, first and foremost,” new CMA president James Hinsdale said. “Physicians are being squeezed by Medicare, and squeezed by Medicaid [and by California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal].”
California Exchange Gets Lots of Attention at Conference
California’s new laws establishing a state health insurance exchange attracted plenty of attention last week at the National Academy for State Health Policy’s 23rd annual national conference in New Orleans.
At a recent panel discussion in Sacramento, the information came fast and furious — all of it on health information technology.
There was a lot to talk about. The state’s Regional Expansion Centers, the California Telehealth Network, Cal eConnect and the Beacon community in San Diego are all examples of major projects to bring electronic medical record systems to the computers of physicians across the state.
“The vast majority of the country does not have the management and financial infrastructure to implement electronic medical record systems,” David Lansky, the president and CEO of Pacific Business Group on Health, said. “And starting next year, the federal government is going to be spending substantial money to providers who can show they’re using electronic medical record technology.”
Since the start of the reform debate, questions have swirled about Medicaid’s role and sustainability. New reports raise further concerns about the program’s long-term prognosis.
Waiver, Medical Home Bills Linger on Agenda
The Legislature, expected to reconvene soon to pass the budget, will also deal with some legislative leftovers.
Two bills relating to the Medicaid waiver are expected to be approved in both houses.
The fate of a another bill dealing with medical homes is harder to predict.
Can Health Care Reform Rein in Costs?
One of the main goals of health care reform — lowering the cost of care — was a major focal point last week at a policy forum in San Francisco hosted by the New America Foundation.
“There are a huge set of provisions in [the national health reform law] that are already working to make coverage more affordable,” Herb Schultz, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said. “The truth is, it’s not a 2014 thing,” Schultz said. “There are a heck of a lot of things happening in 2010 and 2011.”
Schultz pointed to the recent enactment of provisions to extend dependent health care coverage to age 26, and the elimination of pre-existing conditions as a basis for denying coverage to children under 19. In the past, taxpayers generally paid for treating those uninsured people, he said, rather than insurers.
Insurers Called ‘Essential Partner’ in Reform
Jay Angoff, the federal government’s health care point man for consumers and insurers, told health insurers that they are “an essential partner” in reform. “You’ll have a profound influence on the direction our country takes,” Angoff said at a meeting of America’s Health Insurance Plans last week in Washington D.C.
Jon Kingsdale on Lessons from Massachusetts’ Experience With a Health Insurance Exchange
Jon Kingsdale, independent consultant and former executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, spoke with California Healthline about how California could learn from Massachusetts’ health benefit exchange.
“Everyone thinks that January 2014 is years away,” California HHS Director Kim Belshé said. “But 2014 is tomorrow.”
Belshé is referring to setting up the California Health Benefit Exchange, now that the governor signed two exchange bills into law yesterday.
The exchange has to be operational three years from its inception, on Jan. 1, 2014 — but that’s the blink of an eye for a project of this scope and importance, Belshé said.
California Assumes Lead Role in National Reform
No other state has embraced health care reform with the zeal of California. It has passed a number of first-in-the-nation laws — and it stands to reap the benefit of millions of federal dollars. Other states are watching carefully.