Latest California Healthline Stories
Providers Brace for Medi-Cal Rate Cut, Hold Concerns About Access to Care
Dustin Corcoran of the California Medical Association, Jan Emerson Shea of the California Hospital Association, San Diego otolaryngologist Ted Mazer and Norman Williams of the California Department of Health Care Services spoke with California Healthline about the implications and implementation of the 10% Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rate cut.
Nurse Practitioner Bill Loses Supporter After ‘Drastic’ Last-Minute Amendments
A bill to allow nurse practitioners more independence is up for another vote this week before a California Assembly committee, but new amendments have prompted one supporter to oppose the measure.
Mid-Levels’ Bill Clears Assembly Floor Vote
A bill to allow mid-level practitioners to supervise medical assistants when physicians are not onsite cleared the Assembly floor last week.
More Doctors Are Quitting Medicare. Is Obamacare Really To Blame?
A recent Wall Street Journal cover story noted that the number of physicians opting out of Medicare has nearly tripled since 2009. Some critics of the Affordable Care Act are blaming their favorite scapegoat, but there’s more to the story.
Scope-of-Practice Bills Proceed, Pause
A scope-of-practice bill for pharmacists was approved by an Assembly committee yesterday. Another bill supporting expansion for nurse practitioners failed but may get another chance next week.
California Businesses Welcome ACA Delay
California’s business community welcomed a one-year delay for an Affordable Care Act provision requiring large employers to provide health insurance for workers.
The Employer Mandate Debate Doesn’t Matter. Here’s What Does.
Republicans’ latest gambit to fight Obamacare by attacking the employer mandate is getting national headlines. But the one-year delay for the mandate is one of the least-interesting things happening to employer-based health care.
Licensing Home Health Care Workers May Not Be as Simple as It First Appears
Ken Erman of RX Staffing and Home Care in Sacramento, Jennifer Gabales of the California Association for Health Services at Home, Pat McGinnis of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform and Gary Passmore of the California Congress of Seniors spoke with California Healthline about the legislative effort to regulate home health workers in California.
Sorting Out Dozens of Health Care Bills — Some Passed, Some Pending
Like detritus carried down a swollen river after a big rainstorm, hundreds of bills were floated in Sacramento during the last session — including many dozens of health care-related bills. Here are some of the bigger ones that made it to dry land and a number of others that sunk.
Retail Clinic Growth Sparks New Partnership in San Diego
As full implementation of the Affordable Care Act fast approaches and concerns over primary care shortages grow, a new partnership in San Diego illustrates California’s growing reliance on retail clinics to increase access to health care.