Latest California Healthline Stories
Sequestration Would Hurt Rural Health Providers, Study Shows
Rural health care providers, often working with thinner operating margins than their urban counterparts, may be hardest hit by a proposed Medicare reimbursement reduction under sequestration, according to a study released last week.
New Reform Analogy at National Policy Conference
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius compared health care reform to synchronized swimming this week, an analogy that grew legs of its own at the National Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
As Healthy Families Deficit Rises, Tax Pressure Rises With It
California has run out of money to reimburse health plans for Healthy Families care and services. Officials say plans eventually will be paid, but in the meantime the $100 million — and counting — deficit ramps up pressure to reinstitute some form of the expired tax on managed care organizations.
Half of California’s Kids May Get Medi-Cal Dental Care
As many as half the children in California — about five million — may be eligible for Medi-Cal dental coverage by this time next year, according to new estimates. Children’s advocates warn that the system may not be ready.
So Far, Healthy Families Transition Going Smoothly
So far, so good. Several weeks into the first phase of shifting 860,000 children from Healthy Families into Medi-Cal managed care plans, there have been relatively few complaints and few signs of problems.
Report Shows Central Valley Behind in ACA Preparation
A study examined in a public forum last week finds that health reform implementation in the Fresno region is hindered by poverty, physician shortages, lack of collaboration and bureaucratic barriers.
Online Game Asks Players To Design Hospital of the Future
A crowdsourcing game staged by the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto attracted more than 600 players from disparate parts of the world who compared and competed with ideas about what hospitals should look like in the future.
New Institute Hopes To Boost Primary Care Pay, Numbers in California
A new organization launching next week — the California Advanced Primary Care Institute — hopes to engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders to do what others have tried with little success: change the way primary care doctors are recruited, trained and paid in California.
California Health Care Workers Divided Over Flu Vaccine Requirements for Hospital Staff
Zenei Cortez of the California Nurses Association, Jan Emerson-Shea of the California Hospital Association, Shawn Evans of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and Linda Good of Scripps Health spoke with California Healthline about the challenges that California hospitals face in raising influenza vaccination rates among health care workers.
Dave Jones Reflects on 2nd Year, Stresses Need for Rate Regulation
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones reflected on his first two years on the job and stressed the importance of the state gaining authority to regulate health insurance premiums during a question-and-answer session with California Healthline.