Latest California Healthline Stories
Assembly Approves Race, Ethnicity in Quality Reporting
The Assembly yesterday passed a bill that requires state officials to include race and ethnicity when compiling health care quality data.
AB 411 by Assembly member Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) would not create any kind of difficulty for state officials, since that data already exists, according to Pan. The point is to make state officials use it, Pan said.
“It’s similar to the way MRMIB (Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board) used to analyze Healthy Families data,” Pan said. “This is a vital thing that we need to do.”
Increasing Medical Residencies Could Help Inland Empire
A new bill that would increase the number of medical residencies in California could help alleviate a doctor shortage in the Inland Empire, the most underserved region in the state, according to health care experts. The region has about half the number of primary care physicians it needs, according to a California HealthCare Foundation report.
State’s Proposed Scope-of-Practice Changes Designed To Expand Access to Abortions
Assembly member Toni Atkins, Camille Giglio of the California Right To Life Committee, Sierra Harris of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice and Tracy Weitz of UC-San Francisco spoke with California Healthline about a bill that would allow some non-physician health professionals to perform a specific type of first-trimester, non-surgical abortion.
Study: Insurers Are Palliative Care Innovators
Six major health insurers in California are expanding access to palliative care by providing more specialized case management and opening up the hospice benefit beyond its Medicare boundaries, according to a new study expected to be released today.
The study, “A Better Benefit: Health Plans Try New Approaches to End-of-Life Care,” is accompanied by a second paper in today’s scheduled release: “End-of-Life Care in California: You Don’t Always Get What You Want.” The two papers are funded and published by the California HealthCare Foundation, which publishes California Healthline.
The study of the six largest health plans was based on interviews with stakeholders and with health plan directors, as well as reviews of published studies and academic reports, to determine the extent of palliative care alternatives at those plans.
Competition Spurs Northern Expansion in San Diego
Health care providers are expanding their reach in San Diego’s wealthier northern communities as declining reimbursements and changes to the delivery system under the Affordable Care Act alter the economic environment for health care.
New Bill Proposes Insurer Fee to Expand Residencies
An Assembly committee yesterday approved a plan to provide a major boost to California’s physician-training residency programs by generating roughly $100 million a year with a $5-per-covered-life fee to be imposed on health care insurers.
The new bill is one of several legislative efforts to address a provider shortage in California that’s likely to intensify when the Affordable Care Act is implemented and Medi-Cal is expanded starting in 2014.
AB 1176, co-authored by Assembly member Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) and Assembly member Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), would expand the number of resident physicians in California by an estimated 1,000 with the expectation that new physicians would remain in California and practice in the underserved areas where they fulfilled their residency training.
Step Forward for Oral Chemotherapy Bill
The Assembly Committee on Health approved a bill Tuesday that would require health insurers to provide oral chemotherapy therapy to their members with a maximum out-of-pocket $100 co-pay per prescription. Another version of AB 219 by Assembly member Henry Perea (D-Fresno) passed the Legislature last year, but was vetoed by the governor.
“This bill would ensure cancer patients have affordable access to the most appropriate cancer treatment covered by insurers,” Perea said. “When the governor vetoed a similar bill last year, he encouraged me to work with his administration to design a policy that will work for California. AB 219 represents a new strategy to make oral chemotherapy affordable.”
According to Perea, even a fully insured patient can spend $5,000 a month on oral chemotherapy medication, while intravenous treatments are covered by a small co-pay, no matter what the drug costs. So he wants to spread the cost over the entire insured population.
Physician Assistant Bill Clears First Hurdle
The Senate Committee on Business and Professions approved SB 352 by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), a bill designed to allow physician assistants and other providers to oversee work by medical assistants.
“MA’s are only allowed to do basic medical tasks, but if a physician’s not there on-site, then the MA can only do clerical work,” Pavley said. “Under this bill, a nurse practitioner, midwife or physician assistant can supervise them, without a physician being on the premises.”
Pavley made it a point to say the bill doesn’t change what medical assistants are allowed to do, or even what physician assistants or nurse practitioners are allowed to do.
Five Bills Pass Health Committee
The state Senate Committee on Health yesterday approved two bills designed to help alleviate California’s shortage of physicians and nurses in underserved parts of the state.
The committee also approved three other bills.
The provider bills, SB 20 and SB 271 both authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), sailed through the health committee on 9-0 votes.
Spring Recess Gives Way to Spring Work
The California Legislature yesterday returned to work after a 10-day spring recess. A small mountain of bills is in front of lawmakers who have until May 31 to pass bills off the floor.
Health care legislation up for discussion includes: