Latest California Healthline Stories
New State Health Secretary: ‘I Do Believe I Can Make a Difference’
Diana Dooley, who grew up in a small town in the Central Valley, is about to become California’s central health policy official at a time when the state’s health care services will be changing dramatically.
State Braces for Shortage of Care Providers as Elderly Population Continues To Grow
Assembly member Mariko Yamada, René Seidel and Erin Westphal of the SCAN Foundation, Michelle Nevins of the Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center and Cheryl Phillips of On Lok Lifeways spoke with California Healthline about eldercare issues.
‘Baby Cams’ Link Parents, Newborns in Intensive Care
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital is one of the first in Northern California to use new technology to link parents with their newborns in the intensive care unit when they can’t be there to hold them in person.
California Up for Big Federal IT Grant for Exchange
The feds want to give a bushelful of health care grant dollars to California, and state officials definitely want to accept. The question is, can they meet the Dec. 23 application deadline?
Earl Ferguson of the Southern Sierra Telehealth Network on Using Technology To Improve Care
Earl Ferguson, director of the Southern Sierra Telehealth Network, spoke with California Healthline about how telemedicine tools can help people in rural areas obtain access to primary care providers and specialists.
Innovative Plan To Keep Yosemite Clinic Open
In January, the venerable clinic in Yosemite National Park will become the first medical facility in a national park to be operated by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Officials now are hammering out details of the transition.
Emergency Departments Chafe at Low Payments, Lack of Help
Emergency departments in California often struggle to get paid for treating patients with a certain type of health insurance. In those cases, reimbursement is routinely delayed or denied, physicians say. Doctors complain that state officials are refusing to address the problem.
How Stem Cell Research Might Trim California’s Health Costs
California has become an international leader in stem cell research. When medical breakthroughs occur in the field in the next few years — as many experts predict they will — it could produce lower health costs, better care and more clinical clout for California.
Cal eConnect, Beacon Communities Set IT Pace in California
Part Two of a two-part issue brief on federal stimulus funding for health information technology in California focuses on health information exchange, the Beacon Community Program, broadband, telehealth and investments in federally qualified health centers.
HITECH’s Health IT Investments in California
Part One of this two-part issue brief looks at how federal stimulus funding has been allocated in California for several health IT initiatives, including Medicare and Medi-Cal “meaningful use” incentive programs, regional extension centers and health IT work force training.