Latest California Healthline Stories
Money for Nothing, as Program Put Off
Here’s a riddle for you: When is $85 million not $85 million?
The answer lies in the budget’s passage at the end of last week, when the governor approved the long-sought $85 million for adult day health care — but didn’t approve the program that went with it.
Couple that news with Friday’s federal approval of a Sept. 1 end date for the state’s adult day health care program, and you have a grim outlook for ADHC advocates, who had hoped for a smooth transition to the Legislature-approved replacement for the ADHC program.
Opponents Square Off on Rate Regulation
In the shadow of the elephant that is budget passage, the Senate held a hearing yesterday on legislation that also holds a lot of political weight — health care rate regulation.
“Of all the bills this year, and we’ve been involved in a lot of them, this one is the most important to us,” Gary Passmore of the California Congress of Seniors said at the hearing. “This one really matters.”
AB 52 by Assembly member Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) would take a step beyond the health insurance rate review that the state currently conducts. It would allow the state’s Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care to alter or reject health insurers’ rate increases.
Trying to Quiet Rate Regulation Debate
The loud collision expected at today’s Senate hearing — between health insurers and those who want to regulate them — was expected to generate some serious verbal wreckage, and more than its share of media rubbernecking at the impact crater.
But committee chair Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) put the brakes on the rhetoric a bit, by making it a testimony-only hearing.
It’s an unusual move, hearing testimony one week and expecting to put the vote over to the next week. “It’s a little unusual to do that in advance,” Patrick Johnston of the California Association of Health Plans said. “Bills do get put over, of course, but doing it as a planned two-stage process is different.”
Decision Due on Fate of Adult Day Health Care
The state of California wants to eliminate its current adult day health care network by Sept. 1, and given the 60-day period required for implementation of that, federal approval for axing the program is expected to come this week — specifically, by midnight on Thursday.
For ADHC advocates, that gives new meaning to the phrase “drop-dead deadline.”
“If the governor’s budget assumptions are followed,” Lydia Missaelides of Adult Day Health Services said of the end-of-June deadline, “that’s the next big event.”
Is Assembly Bill for Physical Therapists, or Against Them?
Today’s the day, and you can almost hear the spaghetti-Western showdown music in the background.
Is AB 783 good, as its author Assembly member Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley) says? Is it bad, as members of the California Association of Physical Therapists (CAPT) attest? Only one thing is definite about this bill to define some parameters of the hiring of physical therapists in California — it has been ugly.
A vote on the bill is expected today in the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. Last week’s scheduled vote was withdrawn by Hayashi, as she planned to meet with the opposition to craft a compromise solution.
Surprisingly Contentious Passage of SB 36
A bill passed this week by the Assembly Committee on Health would help California counties tap federal money to recoup some of the costs associated with providing health care for low-income children.
SB 36 by Sen. Joseph Simitian (D-Santa Clara), already approved by the Senate, started the Assembly process in front of the health committee.
“This measure authorizes or allows,” Simitian said, carefully enunciating this part, “it does not require — does not require, only allows or authorizes — counties to receive additional funding when treating poor children.”
Health Committee Alters BPA Ban Bill
The bill seemed simple enough — trying to keep endocrine disruptors out of babies’ mouths. But arguments get complicated in Sacramento, and yesterday the Senate Committee on Health decided that only a lighter version of that argument made sense.
On a 5-3 vote, the committee approved AB 1319 by Betsy Butler (D-Marina del Rey), but only after the author agreed to amendments that significantly altered the bill.
It now moves to the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.
Senate Vote Could Be Swayed by AMA Stance
On Monday, the American Medical Association came out against use of bisphenol-A (BPA) in consumer products, citing the chemical’s effect as an endocrine disruptor. That specifically includes endorsement of a ban on use of BPA in baby bottles and baby “sippy” cups, and that ban is at issue in today’s Senate Committee on Health.
AB 1319 (Betsy Butler, D-Marina del Rey) would limit BPA use in baby bottles and cups, infant formula and baby food sold in California. It passed the Assembly at the end of May, and now is up for a vote in today’s Senate health committee hearing.
“The AMA has found that BPA is an endocrine disruptor and it would like to ban products that contain it,” Butler said. “It’s all about the science. There are many medical and health organizations promoting this idea [of banning BPA in baby products]. The opposition to BPA has grown stronger and stronger from the health community.”
Insurers, Physicians at Odds Over Paper Trail
For Juan Thomas of the California Medical Association, it’s a no-brainer.
“Right now, the way preauthorization forms are, there are so many types of preauthorization forms, with different ones from different health plans and health insurers. They all want different types of information,” Thomas said. “And if the physician doesn’t have the correct form for the correct insurer, they have to hunt it down. Physicians spend a lot of time on this issue, and that’s time away from patients.”
Senate member Ed Hernandez (D-Los Angeles) addressed the issue in SB 866, which successfully made its way through the Senate and is up for a vote before the Assembly Committee on Health today. It would require insurers to adopt a standard form, and it would give them a deadline of two business days to respond to medication authorization requests.
Grant Moved Up To Get IT Dollars
Kim Belshé’s committee-of-one turned out to be extremely efficient.
It is a daunting task, applying for a federal establishment grant for the California Health Benefit Exchange — it lays out the direction and scope of the entire exchange, so the board’s plan was to complete it in September. That was complicated slightly by the fact that Belshé was the only board member on the committee supervising the grant application.
It became clear, however, that some of the work needed to get started — particularly the health information technology work — which means it needs federal cash sooner rather than later. So the exchange board announced at last week’s meeting that it is applying for the grant now, with final approval of that grant being sought at next month’s board meeting.