Latest California Healthline Stories
October Start for New Adult Day Program Could Be Halted
Disability Rights California on Saturday filed a motion in U.S. District Court to stop the Department of Health Care Services’ implementation of portions of the Community Based Adult Services program, saying the department violated terms of a previous settlement agreement.
The motion noted that a federal court twice prohibited cutbacks to Adult Day Health Care benefits because “the loss or interruption of necessary ADHC services would irreparably harm ADHC recipients and place them at serious risk of institutionalization.”
That led to a December lawsuit settlement agreement that established the CBAS program to replace ADHC services.
Mental Health, Substance Abuse Treatment Changing
New guidelines in the Affordable Care Act and new responsibilities for county governments mean significant changes ahead for mental health care and substance abuse treatment in California.
Uninsured Number Dips — But Why?
Census results released Wednesday show a drop in the number of people without health insurance nationally, from 16.3% of Americans in 2010 down to 15.7% in 2011, about 1.4 million fewer uninsured across the country.
Given the weak economy, that was a welcome development to Kiwon Yoo, policy director of the Insure the Uninsured Project, based in Santa Monica.
“The biggest reason for that is the dependent coverage that kicked in,” Yoo said. “The numbers declined by about 2.2% in that age group, and that’s 3 million people nationally. That’s a big chunk of it.”
Legislative Help for Long-Term Care?
The SCAN Foundation today released results of a survey on long-term care readiness in California. It wasn’t pretty:
• Roughly half of the poll respondents said they will need long-term care for a close family member within the next five years.
• About half of the poll respondents said they cannot afford even one month of nursing home care.
• Almost two-thirds of the registered voters in the poll said they’re worried about being able to afford long-term care.
• A whopping 88% of those polled said legislators should make affordable long-term care a high or moderate priority.
UC-San Diego Program Focuses on Designing Medical Devices
A new master’s degree program at UC-San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering is designed to help working engineers meet the evolving demands of one of San Diego’s fastest-growing industries — medical device design and manufacturing.
Promise, Peril of Duals Program
Advocates see potential for improvement but also are concerned about consumer protections in the transition of roughly 1.1 million Californians into Medi-Cal managed care. The state is launching a managed care pilot project for beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program.
“This is really a critical moment in time for dual-eligibles and represents an amazing time to improve care for duals,” said Kevin Prindiville, deputy director of the National Senior Citizens Law Center office in Oakland. “But it’s also a time to be very careful and cautious about how we proceed to move forward.”
Prindiville, one of several speakers at an informational forum last month, said California is still negotiating with CMS officials, so some of the details of the plan are still uncertain.
California Cities Gear Up To Vote on Ballot Initiatives To Tax Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
El Monte Planning Commissioner Art Barrios, Chuck Finnie of the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero and Richmond City Council member Jeff Ritterman spoke with California Healthline about local ballot measures that tax sugar-sweetened beverages.
The Calif. Pilot That Could Prove ACOs Work
After several years of anticipation, early-stage accountable care organizations are beginning to report initial results. Leaders of a Sacramento-based pilot say they have demonstrated clear savings — and the model is replicable.
Oversight Commission: ‘Descriptions Incomplete’
A state oversight commission found little to no substance in reports of programmatic misconduct in its initial report released yesterday on concerns raised over compliance with Mental Health Services Act program in California.
“Basically, in the programs that were mentioned, the descriptions of those programs were incomplete,” said Jennifer Whitney, chief of communications for the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. “And that painted a very different picture of the programs.”
Several recent news reports questioned 13 different programmatic elements that supposedly used MHSA funds for such things as yoga classes and a sweat lodge.
Tuberculosis Added to Screening List
Legislators have worked on a number of bills this session related to immunizations. On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed one of them into law.
SB 659 by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) requires tuberculosis screening to be included on the state’s immunization registry. That will help health officials coordinate TB immunization efforts, Negrete McLeod said, because parents now won’t need to prove immunization with their yellow-card record.
“By allowing these results to be included in the state registry,” she said, “parents will have an easier time demonstrating compliance with the requirements of local school districts.”