Latest California Healthline Stories
FDA Announces Sweeping Plan To Review Safety Of Surgical Staplers
The FDA said it might reclassify the widely used devices featured in a recent Kaiser Health News investigation.
Lonely? Anxious? Depressed? Maybe Your Dentist Can Help
An Oakland dental clinic has started screening its patients for depression, and referring them to a mental health counselor down the hall for immediate care if necessary. The program at Asian Health Services could be replicated elsewhere, and make help for mental health problems more accessible to hard-to-reach populations.
Students With Addictions Immersed In The Sober Life At ‘Recovery’ High Schools
At one Seattle public school, students earn their diplomas while attending daily support groups and meeting with counselors to help them stay off drugs and alcohol. There are about 40 similar schools around the country, both public and private, and more are on the drawing board.
Call The Midwife! (If The Doctor Doesn’t Object)
Hospitals and medical practices are battling outdated stereotypes and sometimes their own doctors to hire certified nurse midwives. Research shows that women cared for by certified nurse midwives have fewer cesarean sections, which can produce significant cost savings for hospitals.
The Electronics Industry Sees Money In Your Health
Although many device makers at the annual Consumer Electronics Show targeted real health issues, some are looking to solve problems that people didn’t realize needed solving.
An Underused Strategy For Surge In STDs: Treat Patients’ Partners Without A Doctor Visit
For over a decade, federal health officials have recommended the practice, known as expedited partner therapy. It is allowed in most states, but many doctors don’t do it — either because of legal or ethical concerns, or because they are unaware of it.
Novel Measures Test Cities’ Power — And Will — To Tame Health Care Costs
Union-backed initiatives in Palo Alto and Livermore, Calif., aim to cap charges by hospitals and doctors, seeking to build on national furor over rising medical bills. The measures arise in health care markets that are among the most expensive in the nation.
Hospitals Battle For Control Over Fast-Growing Heart-Valve Procedure
Medicare limits payments for valve replacement via a catheter to hospitals with large numbers of heart procedures. But smaller facilities are crying foul.
New Southern California Medical School To Tackle Doctor Shortages
The Claremont Colleges plans to open a medical school in 2022, one of four to be announced or established in Southern California in recent years. It’s part of an effort to bring more physicians to underserved areas.
How Soon Is Soon Enough To Learn You Have Alzheimer’s?
Only about half of the people with Alzheimer’s symptoms get a diagnosis, partly out of fear of an incurable decline, doctors suspect. But Jose Belardo says facing the future allows him to plan for it.