Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicare Pays Bonuses To 231 Hospitals With Lower Quality Because Of Cheaper Costs
New research highlights the paradox in the federal program to improve hospital quality.
Medicare Delays Plans For New Star Ratings On Hospitals After Congressional Pressure
The “overall hospital quality” rating is designed to help consumers who are sometimes confused by the variety of quality measures that the government already provides. But members of Congress had asked for the delay because of concerns that the methodology for the stars was not accurate.
Dueling Star Ratings May Confuse Some Home Health Patients
Medicare offers star ratings of agencies’ quality and of patients’ perceptions, but often they don’t match up.
Buying Supplemental Insurance Can Be Hard For Younger Medicare Beneficiaries
Congress left it to states to determine whether private Medigap plans are sold to the more than 9 million disabled people younger than 65 who qualify for Medicare. The result: rules vary across the country.
Surprise! Here’s Another Bill For That ‘Paramedic Response’
California cities increasingly are billing patients for paramedic services that they say were not covered by insurers. One 85-year-old woman took on city hall.
El sitio Infórmate ofrece recursos e información para ayudar a erradicar mitos culturales que hacen que los latinos no se conviertan en donantes vivos de riñón.
Telenovelas, Spanish Website Seek To Inform Hispanics About Kidney Donations
The website Infórmate offers resources and information to help dispel cultural myths that may keep Latinos from becoming live kidney donors.
Poll: Duals Satisfied With New Program
The Cal MediConnect demonstration program for dual eligibles in California got a boost from a poll that shows high levels of satisfaction with the program.
New Research Effort To Solve Opt-Out Problem in State’s Duals Demonstration
University of California researchers are trying to figure out where the dual-eligible demonstration project may be going wrong — and where it may be headed in the right direction.
Dual Opt-Out Numbers Are Slightly Better This Month
The percentage of dual eligibles who choose to opt out or unenroll from the Cal MediConnect program remain high, but the numbers eased a bit last month.