Latest California Healthline Stories
California Making Progress in Digital Transition
California is making progress in its transition to electronic health records, state officials said Thursday in an update on the state’s eHealth Initiative.
“Electronic health records are really changing the quality of care individuals are receiving,” said Linette Scott, chief medical information officer for the Department of Health Care Services.
So far, California has allocated $775 million in federal funds to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers to support health information exchange technology, Scott said in a conference call. “It demonstrates a change in the way health care is delivered,” she said.
Obama, Romney Health Care Differences Detailed in Study
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would dismantle most of the federal Affordable Care Act and make sweeping changes to Medicare and Medicaid, according to a study released Wednesday by UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research.
The side-by-side analysis of health care proposals in the 2012 presidential contest found stark policy differences between the former Massachusetts governor and President Barack Obama, said Shana Alex Lavarreda, the report’s co-author and director of UCLA’s Health Insurance Studies Program.
“I think the choice is very clear,” she said. “It wasn’t hard to find major distinctions.”
How Should Exchange Handle Vision, Dental Coverage?
Federal guidelines provide some direction, but state insurance exchanges are largely on their own when deciding details of offering vision and dental coverage under the Affordable Care Act. We asked stakeholders and consumer advocates what California should do.
Study: Pediatric Vision, Dental ACA Coverage In Limbo
California has yet to resolve several key questions about how insurers will provide pediatric dental and vision benefits under the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a new study from the California Health Benefits Review Program.
Recent state legislation helps define essential health benefits for children’s dental and vision care, “but does not clarify which ages are ‘pediatric,’ and thus eligible to use these benefits,” according to the study from CHBRP, a University of California initiative that analyzes public health issues for the state Legislature.
It’s also unclear how benefits will be handled when families purchase separate health coverage and stand-alone dental coverage, the report concludes. “These questions will need to be addressed at some point in the future in order to assist both the regulators and the carriers providing for this EHB to comply with ACA requirements,” it said.
California Hospitals Expanding Their Palliative Care Offerings To Improve Care, Reduce Costs
Parag Bharadwaj of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Judy Citko of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, Suzi Johnson of Sharp HospiceCare and Steven Oppenheim of the Institute of Palliative Medicine spoke with California Healthline about the growth of palliative care services in California.
‘No Debate,’ Cleveland Clinic’s Great. But How To Replicate?
At last week’s debate, both President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney agreed on one point: The Cleveland Clinic is a model for U.S. health care. But the men had different visions for how to realize similar reforms.
Could Reform Initiative Affect Health Care?
Proposition 31 on California’s November ballot has some health advocates alarmed. They say it could hinder development of health programs, especially senior care options, and make existing programs more vulnerable to large cuts.
One of the big concerns about the measure, according to Steve Maviglio, a political consultant in Sacramento and former press secretary for Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, is that most people don’t know much about it.
“We haven’t heard a lot about Prop. 31,” Maviglio said. He said there is a lot of uncertainty about the measure, even among many who have studied it.
Study: Nurse Ratio Law Has Mixed Results on Quality of Care
California’s nurse staffing law has had mixed results on quality of care, according to a new study. The California Nurses Association, the driving force behind the 2004 law, said the study’s findings were not sufficient to support the authors’ conclusions.
Legislature Receives Final Plan for Duals Project
This was a big week for the state Department of Health Care Services, which on Monday submitted its final version of the strategic plan for the Coordinated Care Initiative — a project in which the state eventually plans to move on million seniors and disabled “dual eligible” Californians to Medi-Cal managed care plans.
Dual-eligibles are eligible for both the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs. By meshing the two funding sources and patient services, the state plans to improve the quality of care while also saving money.
Initially, the duals demonstration project will start with eight California counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties) and the approximately 700,000 dual-eligibles in those counties.
Ambitious Transition Plan for Healthy Families
State officials this week submitted a four-phase strategic plan to eventually move 875,000 children from the Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal managed care plans.
Health care advocates have expressed some reservations and concerns about the transition. State officials have said they’re confident they’re ready to meet the deadlines that have been set for it. The new plan hopes to simultaneously improve quality of care for children and save the state money.
It will happen quickly. On Jan. 1, the state plans to launch the first phase of the transition, shifting 415,00 of the Healthy Families kids to a managed care plan.