Latest California Healthline Stories
Why We Can’t Get National Malpractice Reform
National medical malpractice reform has been stalled for years, and a newly released White House memo helps underscore why federal efforts have been a non-starter.
Ateev Mehrotra of RAND Corporation Talks About the Growth Potential of Retail Clinics
Ateev Mehrotra, a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, spoke with California Healthline about how the demand for retail clinics might increase in response to a growing shortage of primary care providers and a nationwide push to lower health care costs.
Medicare Physicians Nervously Await Yearly ‘Doc Fix’
In the wake of the congressional debt panel’s failure to come up with long-range budget solutions, California physicians are nervously awaiting the annual holiday tradition of a temporary “doc fix” to adjust the equation that determines how much they’ll get paid for treating Medicare beneficiaries.
How Can California Make Most of Volatile Marketplace?
We asked experts and policymakers how the state can best take advantage of competition and consolidation in the health care industry to ensure that the entire system — and ultimately California consumers — benefit.
More Employers Turn to Wellness Incentive Programs To Trim Rising Health Care Costs
Tom Hubbard of the New England Healthcare Institute, Steven Noeldner of Mercer Health & Benefits and Joe Woods of HumanaVitality spoke with California Healthline about the growing popularity of employee wellness incentive programs.
Austerity Won’t Help Physician Shortage, Experts Predict
Cutbacks in Medicare and Medicaid could make it more difficult to deal with a physician shortage in California that threatens to become more severe as millions of newly insured people join the reformed health care system. California groups are lobbying to streamline and subsidize the training of new primary care doctors.
Getting Business Involved in Health Discussion
Big decisions are being made in health care, many of them affecting California businesses, but the business community won’t have much say in those decisions if leaders don’t step up and participate in defining the future of the health care landscape.
That’s one of the points in a report due out today from the Bay Area Council. The report, “Road Map to a High Value Health System,” analyzes the sources of rising health care costs in California and outlines choices to lower those costs.
“The broader business community and organizations representing the business community have run the gamut from hostile to disengaged,” according to report author Micah Weinberg. “Our message is, if we don’t participate in this process, we’re going to get something we don’t like. So we wanted to make sure businesses get involved.”
Health Care Reform for Small Businesses
The number one key to success for small businesses in the state’s Health Benefit Exchange is choice, according to several presenters at a panel discussion last week in Sacramento.
“You have to have choice, that’s the big thing,” Bill Wehrle of Kaiser Permanente said. “If you don’t have choice, people won’t sign up.”
Wehrle was part of a forum addressing the needs of small businesses in California, and what the state’s exchange needs to do to woo both small-business owners and their employees.
UC-Riverside, UC-Merced Turn to New Models for Med Schools
In response to state budget cuts and emerging trends in medical education, UC-Riverside and UC-Merced are seeking new ways to fund their medical school programs and train students. Both universities are developing new partnerships and new teaching models to circumvent the daunting economic climate.
UC-Davis Wins Emergency Services Lawsuit
The courts have sided with UC-Davis Medical Center, ruling this week that Sacramento County must pay for emergency services for indigent patients.
Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly said the county has a responsibility to pay for indigent care, whether the county contracts with a specific provider of those emergency services or not.
“The judge rejected every defense the county had to not pay us,” UC-Davis attorney David Levine said. “He conclusively confirmed that they owe us money, and they have to pay us.”