Latest California Healthline Stories
Single Payer Goes Quietly Into That Last Night
All night long, Assembly watchers waited and wondered: When would the bill be presented to vote on establishing a single payer health system?
The answer was: Not this night. Not in this legislative session.
Political insiders sat around and wondered why Assembly speaker John Perez decided not to present a vote on SB 810 by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), which had been passed in the legislature twice before, and vetoed twice before by Governor Schwarzenegger.
Hospitals May Need To Monitor CT Scan Radiation
There is no written record in hospitals whenever radiation, particularly CT scan radiation, is given in higher-than-prescribed doses. And that’s what AB 1237 by Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) wants to change.
“We don’t know exactly what the risks are for accumulated radiation. But it could be pretty serious. This simply begins a data-keeping, a record at hospitals around the state,” Padilla said. “We want to make sure that whatever the dose it is, that’s what should be administered.”
The bill establishes procedures to track radiation dosage, by requiring that all CT scan dosages should be recorded electronically, and it orders an annual verification of equipment. Any incidents of over-radiation would be reported to the California Department of Public Health.
Medical Home Bill Passes Senate
In the last hours of a late-night vote, the Legislature passed a bill that establishes the Patient-Centered Medical Home Act of 2010. Passage of AB 1542 by Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) did not come easily. It failed a vote the day before, and only got the votes it needed at the end of the final day of the session.
(Update: New developments are covered in the Sept. 7 Capitol Desk.)
A relieved Dave Jones practically bounced out of Senate chambers when several Senate members changed their votes and the bill passed.
Rescission Bill Makes the Cut, Goes to Governor
Fiona Ma had the line of the day. The Speaker Pro Tem was leading the Assembly through its paces, through one bill after another, long into the day. In the late afternoon, she announced that she would lift the call vote on six items — usually a sign of wrapping up the day’s proceedings.
“Now don’t get excited,” Ma said, looking up from speaker’s desk. “We’re not going home yet.”
In fact, the Assembly and Senate worked all day, and then convened for rare night sessions yesterday. They passed a number of bills, including several health-related ones.
Fresno Clinic May Help Prevent Physician Burnout
The Tzu Chi clinic in Fresno, where the goal is to “treat the poor and teach the rich,” helps rejuvenate volunteer physicians, who say prolonged visits with patients remind them why they “got into medicine.”
Should Insurers Raise Rates Whenever They Want?
Health insurers typically raise rates when customers reach a higher age bracket. It’s pretty simple, according to John Lovell of the California Association of Health Underwriters.
“The way premiums are raised is age brackets of 5 or 10 years,” Lovell said. “I always talk to my clients in the year they’re going to get a rate increase. The amount it goes up is just a trend — I notify my clients so they’re not surprised. It cuts down on the rate shock.”
But California policymakers have a different kind of rate shock in mind. The shock of two rate hikes in a year.
Legislature Approves Health Care Bills
The days are dwindling down to a precious few. By next Tuesday, the state legislature must approve or reject all the bills on its docket.
That means it has three more days to vote.
Many bills have passed this week, but several high-profile bills are still hanging, and expected to be heard and voted on today.
University of Colorado-Denver’s Eric Coleman on the Need for Better Care Transitions
Eric Coleman, director of the Care Transitions Program at the University of Colorado-Denver, talked with California Healthline about a new program that aims to help patients transition from one care setting to another.
Health Plan Pooling Bill Moves to Governor’s Desk
This week’s approval by the state legislature of the creation of a statewide health benefit exchange would eventually result in competition between health plans in the exchange.
A bill passed yesterday is designed to help public health plans compete more robustly with the larger private health plans, by allowing public plans to pool risk and share networks for the joint offering of health plans.
The idea of SB 56, by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) is to ensure competition and make a broader array of affordable plans available, according to John Ramey, the executive director of Local Health Plans of California.
Doc Shortage Made Worse by Low Participation in Medi-Cal
California faces two related problems about to get worse: not enough family practice physicians and not enough physicians treating Medi-Cal patients. We asked stakeholders how California should deal with these two shortages.