Latest California Healthline Stories
The Decision Turf Between Care Providers and Patients
There has been a shift in medicine toward involving patients more in decisions about their own health. In an article in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association, a California physician explains how that outwardly time-consuming process could not only make patients happier with their care, but might actually save time for care providers.
Time is short for physicians, especially these days. And that’s one of the reasons the patient-doctor dynamic shifted from one extreme to another, according to Alexander Kon, who has been a pediatric intensive care physician at UC Davis (though he is soon taking his talents to San Diego, to the Naval Medical Center there).
About two decades ago, Kon said, many physicians embraced a new model of care, where the doctor provides information and leaves the final decision about treatment options up to the patient. Which is both good and bad, he said.
Politics of Economy May Affect Health Care Policy
Financial concerns from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., are overshadowing the health reform overhaul and could shape implementation efforts moving forward.
The long fight that is national health care reform has had one large skirmish that netted about $3 billion in reimbursement money for California.
That’s the word from the California Hospital Association (CHA), and it is the driving reason behind giving its annual Health Care Hero award to a Congressman from California, Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced).
“It’s an award to individuals who have done a particularly heroic job in health care,” Jan Emerson of the CHA said. “He played a key role in ensuring that $3 billion that was slated to go to other hospitals in other states, instead stayed in California.”
Exchange ‘Could Look Like a Large Business’
The two bills that would establish the statewide Health Insurance Benefits Exchange have not been without controversy.
In an Assembly floor vote Friday, several Republican members rose in opposition to the bill — which, in these last hurried days of bill-passing before the Aug. 31 recess, is an extremely rare event.
“I don’t believe we need the state government running a benefits exchange,” Jim Silva (R-Huntington Beach) said. “Besides, this is something we don’t need to take action on till 2014 … and I think there are much better ways than a new exchange.”
Primary Docs Centerpiece of Reform, but Where Are They?
Health care reform may help alleviate shortage of primary care physicians, but it will take major shifts in medical training and procedures, experts say.
Normally Aloof, Formal Senate Plays Prank on Itself
There are a handful of legislators who push health care bills in the Assembly. Bill Emmerson (R-Bermuda Dunes), who sat on the Assembly Committee on Health, has been one of them.
But he was presenting a very different kind of bill Wednesday, a vehicle registration amnesty bill. It was one of those kind and gentle bills, with no opposition and no controversy.
So it was a bit of a shock to hear one state senate member after another stand up and vote decisively “No” on it. In a day where many bills passed without one dissent, this one failed, 2-22. It took a moment to see that many senate members were chuckling away about it.
Medi-Cal Crunch Looms for Community Clinics
The budget is about seven weeks late now. Without a budget, the state can’t keep writing Medi-Cal checks to health care providers. And that budget crunch begins today, when the last Medi-Cal checks go out to community clinics throughout California.
Without that $43 million every two weeks, those clinics will be in big trouble, according to Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president and CEO of the California Primary Care Association (CPCA).
“That means clinics are not going to receive 50% to 80% of their revenue, so they’ll be in a challenging financial situation,” Castellano-Garcia said. “This budget stalemate is going to have significant impact on them.”
Debate Continues Over Laura’s Law, Mental Health Care
San Francisco continues to grapple with a controversial resolution affecting treatment for severely mentally ill patients. It renews the debate over what to do about a small group of people who find themselves in and out of jails, hospitals and homelessness.
Let the Tele-Doctoring Continue, Expand
From a health policy point of view, the star power was out in force at yesterday’s official inauguration of the California Telehealth Network.
Aneesh Chopra, national chief technology officer, was chatting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The head of health sciences and services for the UC system, Jack Stobo, was nodding at something said by Sharon Gillette, bureau chief for the FCC.
They were all out to announce the success and expansion of a telemedicine pilot project that has been running since 2007. With the help of $22 million from the FCC’s broadband initiative — one of the largest grants awarded by the agency — and another $3.6 million of corporate money pitched in by the California Emerging Technology Fund, the state officially launched its CTN agency yesterday.
Some Fear IPAB Will Be Error of Commission
Proponents of the Independent Payment Advisory Board — which is slated to launch in 2014 — hail IPAB as a transformative effort to ensure needed cost controls, but critics warn that the board will weaken Medicare and harm patient care. Both sides note that IPAB may undergo a makeover before its ultimate debut.