Latest California Healthline Stories
How Can Hospitals Thrive in Future?
The first step in dealing with complex financial and care issues faced by community hospitals is to get people engaged and talking about them, according to the organizers of tomorrow’s online “Future of the Hospital” game. People will compete to present the most cogent and worthwhile ideas for improving hospitals in California and the nation.
Starting tomorrow morning and running for 24 hours, the Institute for the Future is putting on an online forecasting competition to prompt possible solutions for community hospitals with a discussion involving as many people as possible. The event is co-sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation, which publishes California Healthline.
“As federal funding for hospitals nationwide dwindles, so does our ability to access basic care in hospitals,” said Jean Hagan, an executive producer for the Institute for the Future. “Our emergency medical system is over-burdened, underfunded and fragmented. The statistics are frightening.”
Dave Jones Reflects on 2nd Year, Stresses Need for Rate Regulation
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones reflected on his first two years on the job and stressed the importance of the state gaining authority to regulate health insurance premiums during a question-and-answer session with California Healthline.
State Delays Adult Day Center Not-for-Profit Requirement
The requirement that adult day health care centers become not-for-profit operations has been delayed at least a year, according to Department of Health Care Services officials.
A Dec. 31 letter to centers caring for the frail and elderly population in the Community Based Adult Services program said “DHCS has decided to postpone until further notice and no sooner than January 1, 2014, the implementation of the requirement restricting CBAS providers to Non-Profit legal status.”
About two thirds of California’s 250 adult day centers are for-profit entities, according to state officials. Putting as many as 186 centers through the complexity of a not-for-profit conversion was a little too much for the state and the centers, according to Jane Ogle, deputy director for DHCS.
CMS Meets Deadline for Approving Healthy Families Transition
Tight up against the end-of-year deadline, CMS officials on Dec. 31 granted approval of California’s plan to move 860,000 Healthy Families children into Medi-Cal managed care programs.
Federal officials asked for changes to the transition plan, including more frequent monitoring and evaluation of the transition to better ensure children are able to access primary care physicians under the new plan.
The first phase of the transition started Tuesday, Jan. 1.
San Diego Diabetes Program Working, Gaining Attention
Community-based diabetes treatment using low-cost, culturally focused interventions can lead to effective disease management, according to a series of studies of a long-running San Diego program. Project Dulce’s success and alignment with larger goals of the Affordable Care Act have attracted attention around the country.
Sonoma Center Facing State Sanctions
The California Department of Public Health took a major step this week toward decertifying and revoking the license of the intermediate care facility at Sonoma Developmental Center.
The Sonoma facility, which serves 290 people with intellectual disabilities, is expected to appeal the state action.
The original survey in July by the Department of Public Health found 57 deficiencies, and four instances of immediate jeopardy to residents. The facility had two three-month periods to correct those problems. According to CDPH officials, time is up.
State Plans Retroactive Payment Rate Hikes
The good news for primary care physicians is the federal program to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates starts Jan. 1.
The bad news is Medi-Cal providers in California may have to wait several months to retroactively receive the higher payment.
California health officials have to wait for federal approval of a state plan amendment, which will take time, said Norman Williams, deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Health Care Services.
Setting Priorities in Health Care Special Session and Beyond
We asked lawmakers and stakeholders to use post-election perspective to define priorities for both the state Legislature’s special session on health care next month and the legislative session that follows.
Healthy Families Set for January Transition
State health officials have made it clear that the first phase of the Healthy Families transition to Medi-Cal managed care will go on as scheduled, beginning Jan. 1. Children’s health advocates say they will do everything to support that effort while still keeping a careful eye on its progress.
The first phase of the transition will move about 415,000 children into Medi-Cal — almost half the 860,000 children enrolled in Healthy Families. The transition is dependent on federal approval by CMS within three weeks.
“We have said consistently that the state isn’t quite ready yet,” said Wendy Lazarus, the founder and co-president of The Children’s Partnership, a national not-for-profit children’s advocacy group based in Santa Monica. “So, yes, it would be good if CMS reached the same conclusion.”
California Hospitals Team Up on Disaster Plans, but Federal Budget Cuts Could Affect Efforts
Cheri Hummel of the California Hospital Association, Kurt Kainsinger of UCLA Healthcare System, Claudia Marroquin-Frometa of Centinela Hospital Medical Center and Lisa Schoenthal of the California Emergency Medical Services Authority spoke with California Healthline about how California hospitals are forming partnerships to strengthen their disaster preparedness plans.