Latest California Healthline Stories
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.
Grant Moved Up To Get IT Dollars
Kim Belshé’s committee-of-one turned out to be extremely efficient.
It is a daunting task, applying for a federal establishment grant for the California Health Benefit Exchange — it lays out the direction and scope of the entire exchange, so the board’s plan was to complete it in September. That was complicated slightly by the fact that Belshé was the only board member on the committee supervising the grant application.
It became clear, however, that some of the work needed to get started — particularly the health information technology work — which means it needs federal cash sooner rather than later. So the exchange board announced at last week’s meeting that it is applying for the grant now, with final approval of that grant being sought at next month’s board meeting.
Should State Regulate Health Insurance Premiums?
What will it mean for Californians if the Legislature passes and the governor signs a bill giving state government the authority to reject health insurance premium increases it deems unjustified?
Single-Payer Hopefuls Press Their Cause
Only in San Francisco can a guy wearing a rainbow rasta wig be a voice of reason.
But there he was, among an estimated 400 boisterous protesters, trying to keep the sidewalk clear so pedestrians could pass through the colorful event. Event organizer Don Bechler also was busy keeping the gathering legal and peaceful.
“America deserves a health care system that’s not broken,” said Bechler, chair of California-based Single Payer Now. “We want to get rid of the insurance companies and their bureaucracy of denial. It’s crazy that doctors need to spend so much time dealing with insurance companies — that’s madness to deal with that kind of bureaucracy.”
New Breed of HMO Cuts Costs, Improves Quality in San Diego
A new kind of HMO with tiered provider networks and built-in incentives for members to see doctors who deliver high-quality care is helping San Diego school districts deal with rising health care costs in a weak economy.
Are Legal Challenges to Reform Actually Making it Stronger?
Opponents of health reform rushed to challenge the law in court — but the flurry of anti-overhaul cases may have helped the government build its own case to defend it. Lawyers explain the Obama administration’s rare approach to the unprecedented legal battle.
U.S. Facing Dramatic Decline in Number of Emergency Departments, According to Study
Renee Hsia of UC-San Francisco, Sandra Schneider of the American College of Emergency Physicians and Caroline Steinberg of the American Hospital Association spoke with California Healthline about a recent study on emergency department closures.
Insurers Flip the Script: Making Sense of Givebacks
Blue Shield of California pledged to cap its income. Aetna requested to cut its premiums in Connecticut. The moves aren’t unprecedented. But will they set a precedent?
Basic Care, Medical Home, Home Care Act All Clear First Hurdle
A number of health care-related bills just met the deadline for passage out of house of origin. In a way, it’s a litmus test for whether or not bills have the political capital to become law, and quite a few health proposals made the initial cut.
The bills recently passed by the Assembly now head to the state Senate, and vice versa. Beyond the high-profile AB 52 by Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) to regulate health insurance rate hikes, there were several health-related bills that moved on:
Assembly Sends Health Insurance Regulation Bill on to Senate
Assembly Republicans really didn’t want to hear about AB 52 yesterday.
First there was a motion to block the bill to regulate health insurance rate increases because bill language had been amended the day before. The Assembly voted to reject that objection by waiving the one-day waiting period.
Then Assembly member Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills) balked at hearing the bill a little earlier in the agenda. “I know we lost the motion to bring this up [in the first place],” he said, “but this is also out of order at this point.”