Latest California Healthline Stories
San Francisco Leading the Way in Health Data Applications
The city of San Francisco is leading the way in using health data in innovative ways and it’s paying off in a big way, according to several city officials who spoke yesterday at the Healthy Communities Data Summit.
The summit was held in San Francisco and that meant a number of success stories were local, but the conference cast a wide net in its approach to innovation prompted by public release of health data.
“We have so many compelling examples of how free data can help health practices,” said summit panelist Cheryl Wold, owner of Wold and Associates, a community health consulting firm based in Pasadena. “More and more people are using that data to create health solutions.”
Game Changer: Obamacare’s New Coverage Rules And Costs
Q: I had colon cancer and have had trouble buying health insurance ever since. Under Obamacare, will insurance companies still be allowed to refuse me because of my medical history? A. Finally, an Obamacare question with a simple answer, and the answer is NO. Starting on January 1, health plans no longer can deny anyone […]
Administrative Change for High-Risk Subscribers
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), a federally-funded, state-run interim program, is moving from state to federal oversight for the rest of the year.
A high-risk pool for people unable to secure health care insurance under pre-Affordable Care Act rules, PCIP is temporary because the new federal reform law prohibits insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Now the “state-run” part of that program is also on its way out, as California will shift control and management of the program to federal officials, according to administrators at the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB), which currently runs PCIP in California.
Federal Ruling, State Law May Conflict
In 2011, the Legislature went along with the governor’s plan to cut Medi-Cal provider rates by 10%. Provider groups immediately went to the courts to stop it, saying that patient access to care would be threatened by such a severe reduction. Now the final decision rests with a federal judge. A ruling is expected soon.
If a federal judge signs off on the law, Medi-Cal providers in California will have rates cut by 10% and also will need to pay back two years’ worth of that 10% reduction. The effect would be a 15% rate cut for the next four years and a 10% cut thereafter.
The 10% cut represents about $600 million a year to the California budget.
Health Care Issues High on Latino Community Agenda
Health care was a focal point when leaders of Latino community organizations met in Sacramento last week to launch the “California Latino Agenda,” a statewide campaign to unite leadership, establish goals and lobby for policy positions.
Assembly Approves Race, Ethnicity in Quality Reporting
The Assembly yesterday passed a bill that requires state officials to include race and ethnicity when compiling health care quality data.
AB 411 by Assembly member Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) would not create any kind of difficulty for state officials, since that data already exists, according to Pan. The point is to make state officials use it, Pan said.
“It’s similar to the way MRMIB (Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board) used to analyze Healthy Families data,” Pan said. “This is a vital thing that we need to do.”
How Exchange Hopes To Reach Enrollees
Covered California exchange officials on Tuesday awarded $37 million in outreach grants to 48 community-based organizations. Those groups all have a wide reach, and represent a much bigger bloc of community organizations, according to Peter Lee, executive director of the California Health Benefit Exchange, now known as Covered California.
“We are talking about 250 organizations within these 48 groups,” Lee said. “We encourage them to work together so what you’re seeing here is partnership.”
Lee said applicants were encouraged to aim high, because the exchange wants to reach as many people as possible and so much of the target market — a multi-cultural, low-income and multilingual population — is difficult to reach.
Increasing Medical Residencies Could Help Inland Empire
A new bill that would increase the number of medical residencies in California could help alleviate a doctor shortage in the Inland Empire, the most underserved region in the state, according to health care experts. The region has about half the number of primary care physicians it needs, according to a California HealthCare Foundation report.
State Still Looks to Dun County Funds in Medi-Cal Expansion Proposal
The optional expansion of Medi-Cal will be administered using a state-based approach rather than the county-based plan being considered by California officials, the governor said yesterday when he proposed his May revise, the mid-year revision of the state budget.
That comes as welcome news to county health officials who have cautioned for months that a county-based system would be more confusing and costly than a state-based approach.
Gov. Jerry Brown listened, apparently.
“We want to do it generously, and boldly,” Brown said of the optional expansion. “There are some questions out there, so we want to do it prudently. It’s a matter of equity, and it’s something we’ll work out over the next few years.”
What the Oregon Study Says (or Doesn’t) About Medicaid
Health care observers have claimed the results of the Oregon Health Study for their own, shaping its findings to fit their arguments about Medicaid and its expansion under Obamacare. Are the results too heavily emphasized considering the study’s limitations?