Latest California Healthline Stories
Race, Gender, Age Lead to Disparities in Care
Health care providers from around the state gathered in Sacramento this week to examine disparities in medical care. They started by examining their own treatment of patients.
The annual conference of the California Association of Physician Groups took an unusual approach Wednesday to improving care, focusing on possible misconceptions or biased treatment by physicians of some patients.
The conference looked at possible disparities in treatment of Muslims or other culturally different patients, bias based on appearance and even bias toward patients who can’t be cured.
Standards Release a ‘Milestone’ for Exchange
Covered California, the state’s health benefit exchange, yesterday released its benefit standards outlining the basis for choosing qualified health plans that will participate in the exchange.
“This is another milestone for the exchange,” said Diana Dooley, secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency. “We have a lot of hurdles to get over, we still have a lot to do, but this is another successful milestone toward the health care reform effort.”
Covered California also submitted an intention to file emergency regulations with the Office of Administrative Law last week, outlining its pediatric dental benefit policy. The exchange is expected to file those regulations Friday, according to Brandon Ross, staff counsel for Covered California.
What Will Happen With Millions of ‘Residually Uninsured’ Californians?
Covered California, the state’s new health insurance marketplace, will add millions to the state’s insured population, while a Medi-Cal expansion will add millions more. But for all the newly insured, there still will be three to four million Californians — known as the “residually uninsured” — who remain without coverage.
New Health Care Bills Introduced
One source of funding for pediatric trauma care could get a boost from a new bill being introduced in the state Senate, according to the author of SB 191, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima).
“Pediatric trauma care is still not widely available in California,” Padilla said, referring to the 14 pediatric trauma care centers in the state. “SB 191 would provide essential funding for emergency care and pediatric trauma care throughout California.”
The pediatric trauma care bill makes permanent a temporary penalty imposed by counties on vehicle code violations, at a rate of $2 for every $10 in fines. That penalty is due to expire at the end of 2013. Padilla wants to eliminate a sunset date and make it permanent.
California Lagging in Percentage of Children Who Receive Regular Dental Screenings, Care
Jim Crall of UCLA School of Dentistry, Parvathi Pokala of Rady Children’s Hospital, dentist Paul Reggiardo of Huntington Beach and Lindsey Robinson of the California Dental Association spoke with California Healthline about efforts to increase the percentage of California children who receive regular dental care.
Path to Partnership: More States Opt for HHS’ Hybrid Exchanges
“Road to Reform” examines why HHS created the partnership insurance exchange model — and which states are eyeing the hybrid model ahead of this Friday’s deadline for participation.
Preventive Dentistry Plan Shows Results
The dental outreach plan for the 860,000 California children in the Healthy Families program has shown strong results, including across-the-board improvement in health plans’ prevention efforts, according to officials from the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which oversees the program.
“Every one of our health plans showed improvement in terms of prevention,” said Janette Casillas, MRMIB’s executive director. “That means improvement in the number of oral exams, and in prevention efforts such as using sealant.”
Among the report’s highlights:
Medicare Drug Savings in California Estimated at $454 Million Over Two Years
California seniors and the disabled saved about $454 million on prescription drug costs in the past two years, according to an annual report on Medicare released by CMS Thursday.
According to federal officials, almost 300,000 Californians qualified in 2012 for the Part D Medicare coverage gap known as the “donut hole.” Last year, those beneficiaries saved roughly $183 million, the report said.
Those 300,000 Californians last year could buy covered brand name drugs at half price, and received a 14% discount on generic drugs. Savings for both types of prescription drugs will increase over time, the report said, until the coverage gap is closed.
Sequestration Would Hurt Rural Health Providers, Study Shows
Rural health care providers, often working with thinner operating margins than their urban counterparts, may be hardest hit by a proposed Medicare reimbursement reduction under sequestration, according to a study released last week.
Health Reform Benchmarks Linked to FQHCs
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) already have shown some of the results pursued by the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released this week by the California Primary Care Association.
The CPCA commissioned researchers to compare high-cost factors, such as hospital stays and emergency department use, as well as total cost of care, between FQHCs and non-FQHCs in California.
Some of the findings from John Snow, Inc. Health Services Division, a public health research firm based in Boston, were released Monday and showed enviable differences in FQHC care: