Latest California Healthline Stories
First Exchange Board Meeting Within ‘Couple of Weeks’
Just because California doesn’t have a full board for the Health Benefits Exchange doesn’t mean it can’t get to work.
“As long as we have a quorum, we can meet,” exchange board member Kim Belshé said yesterday. “And we expect to meet in the next couple of weeks, whether we have that fifth person or not.”
Belshé, former secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, spoke at the State of Health Care Conference in Sacramento. She is one of four appointed members of the exchange board, along with current CHHS secretary Diana Dooley, Susan Kennedy and Paul Fearer. The Senate Rules Committee, headed by Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), will appoint the final board member, but that appointment is not yet on the committee’s weekly agenda.
Governor Addresses Medical Association
Governor Jerry Brown had a relatively genial chat with medical students and physicians yesterday at the California Medical Association’s annual Legislative Day.
“I don’t know why so many of you have come here today,” Brown said. “I hope you’re not supposed to be taking care of patients.”
During his short speech, he talked almost exclusively about the budget, and the need to find a solution that doesn’t cripple California.
National Partisan Debate Elbows in on California
A Field Poll on attitudes toward health care reform in California had some interesting results — including a much more positive feeling about reform among Californians than is found in national polls.
One of the main results this year and last, according to Field pollster Mark DiCamillo, is that opinions on health care are highly partisan.
“The data were very partisan last year, and the reality of the data is, we haven’t had that much of a change since then. The amount of knowledge people have about reform is not greater than last year, but there’s so much heat on this issue, so much of a partisan divide — it’s here, it has been here and I don’t expect it to go away anytime soon.”
State May Have Set ‘Dangerous Precedent’
The state took about $1 billion from First 5 California in its most recent round of budget bills.
And it may be aiming for more.
First 5 is a series of early childhood development programs for children ages five and younger. It’s funded by a tobacco tax approved as Proposition 10 by California voters back in 1998, and it brought in a little more than $500 million last year.
State Is ‘Ready, Willing and Able’
The U.S. Health and Human Services agency yesterday released federal rules on accountable care organizations (ACOs). It’s a big step nationally for health care reform — and may be a significant development for California, given the current structure of doctors’ offices, hospitals and long-term care facilities in the state.
“This is a promising new day for seniors in California,” according to Donald Crane, President and CEO of the California Association of Physician Groups. “Where accountable, coordinated care will be supplanting inefficient, costly fee-for-service.”
In health care policy circles, an ACO is often compared to a unicorn — everyone knows what it looks like, but no one has actually seen one.
Protesters Lobby for Developmentally Disabled
If the purpose of budget cuts is to limit spending, then California lawmakers may be making a big mistake. That was the central message yesterday at a sizable protest on the Capitol Building steps by people with developmental disabilities and the people who care for them.
“I do understand we have to meet our budget,” according to Nancy Dow Moody, CEO of Lifehouse, an organization supporting people with developmental disabilities. “But this doesn’t make any sense, because it doesn’t save any money. I just don’t think this [cutback] was well-researched. This just feels like it’s hurting people, and it’s not saving money.”
Most of the people in California’s Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) have severe disabilities, she said, and can only be moved to developmental centers, which are more expensive.
Tobacco Cessation Also Could Ease Smokers’ Diabetes
California is looking into a federal grant worth about $2 million a year that would establish an incentive wellness program that could help Californians give up tobacco — which potentially could have a strong effect on the health of smokers with diabetes, according to Neal Kohatsu, medical director of California’s Department of Health Care Services.
“Incentives are a great tool,” Kohatsu said at yesterday’s briefing in Sacramento on wellness incentives, an event co-sponsored by the two legislative health committees and The California Endowment. “Incentives are part of a larger picture of patient engagement,” Kohatsu said, “which we’re very interested in becoming more involved in.”
The grant money can fund projects that use incentives to alleviate chronic “lifestyle” medical challenges such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. California has until May 1 to put a proposal together, and Kohatsu said the agency would like to focus on smoking cessation.
‘It’ll Be Very Bad for Care of the Mentally Ill’
Governor Jerry Brown last week signed a major chunk of his $14 billion budget reduction package — a combination of cuts, loans and redirected funds. It included about $6 billion in health-related reductions.
The second half of Brown’s budget solution involves tax extensions that must be approved by voters and could generate as much as $12 billion for California. If that ballot measure fails, then Brown has said he will need to cut that amount — roughly doubling the current budget cuts.
The open question has been: What would be axed in that potential second round of budget cuts?
Longtime Battle Continues for Senior Care
Few details changed in Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, from the time it was proposed to when the Legislature passed it. So the salvaging of the state’s Adult Day Health Care program from the budget wreckage could be seen as a sign of the long-term care system’s tremendous popularity and support.
Now, the Senate Committee on Health has moved along a new bill seeking to improve long-term care in California.
“There are many people in long-term care facilities who often want to stay home, or return home quickly after surgery,” according to Senate member Carol Liu (D-Pasadena), who authored the bill. “We do have many services to help them still. But for the most part, the aged and disabled must navigate these services on their own.”
New Bill Would Take Over MRMIP Money
The legislative season has begun, with dozens of bills moving through committees this week.
The Senate Health Committee this week approved a measure designed to increase the number of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals in California — just when demand for those jobs may be at its highest point.
“SB 635 would direct money that is currently going to MRMIP (Major Risk Medical Insurance Program), which is being phased out by national health care reforms,” according to Senate member Ed Hernandez (D-Los Angeles), author of the bill and head of the Health Committee. “The money funding MRMIP can be spent now on the vital job of increasing the health care work force in California.”