Latest California Healthline Stories
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 Last week’s scheduled vote was withdrawn by Hayashi, as she planned to meet with the opposition to craft a compromise solution.
California Running Out of Health Care Providers
Study after study on work force issues in California all come to the same conclusion: There are not enough doctors, nurses and allied health providers to meet projected need. On top of that, those providers are not distributed evenly across the state. But what can be done about it?
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.
New ACOs Emerging in Northern California
Two new accountable care organizations are taking shape in San Francisco. Exactly how ACOs work and where they fit in reform are still to be determined, but there is little doubt they will have significant influence on how health care is delivered and paid for.
Use of Urgent Care Growing in Southern California
Patients in Los Angeles and Orange counties avoid long waits for emergency department treatment or an appointment with their primary care physician when they opt for urgent care.
Health Care Providers Gearing Up To Roll Out Accountable Care Organizations in California
Don Crane of the California Association of Physician Groups, Kristen Miranda of Blue Shield of California and Leah Newkirk of the California Academy of Family Physicians spoke with California Healthline about efforts to create accountable care organizations in California.
More Money Could Go to Work Force Training, Report Says
The California Senate Office of Research released a report yesterday that looks at where federal funding for work force investment is going. And, apparently, it’s not to work force training.
“In California, most Local Workforce Investment Boards have reported investing little of their federal funds into work force training and instead have spent a substantial amount on other employment services,” the report stated.
There are hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to California each year under the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, according to the report. Most of that money is spent at the local level, in local investment boards.
Physicians Scarce for Latinos in California
There are two main hurdles to getting quality health care among the Latino population, according to David Hayes-Bautista, founding director of UCLA medical school’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture.
Access is the No. 1 issue and linguistic competency is No. 2, Hayes-Bautista said.
Hayes-Bautista was part of a forum convened last week in Sacramento by the Latino Community Development Foundation — a forum that included Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley and a number of state Senate and Assembly members.
Trying To Bridge Gap Between Direct Hiring, Access
It’s a bill that keeps coming up — by the same author three years in a row, and in three different forms in the previous legislative session. But this time around, Assembly member Sandré Swanson (D-Alameda) swears it will be different.
And for one day, at least, it was.
Swanson’s bill, AB 1360, on Monday passed out of the Assembly Committee on Business, Professions and Consumer Protection on a 5-3 vote. It now heads to the health committee. It’s a bill that attempts to address the shortage of physicians in underserved and rural areas by allowing some hospitals in those districts to hire them directly. The idea is medical facilities would be better able to attract physicians — particularly primary care doctors — if they were allowed to negotiate directly with them.
Cash, Credits, Peer Support Incentives To Alter Bad Health Habits
Paying workers to take care of themselves could seem like an odd notion, but California businesses are funding wellness incentive programs to encourage employees to live healthier lives and in turn miss less work, be more productive and cut medical costs.