Latest California Healthline Stories
State Takes Steps To Curb Overmedication of Foster Children — Is It Enough?
Former foster child Shanequa Arrington, state Sen. Jim Beall, public health nurse Susan Bullard, Bill Grimm and Anna Johnson of the National Center for Youth Law, Cathy Senderling-McDonald of the California Welfare Directors Association and Mike Wofford of the state Department of Health Care Services spoke with California Healthline about the possible over-prescribing of psychotropic and antipsychotic medication for foster children in California.
One Year After Benefit Began, Are Kids in Medi-Cal Getting Autism Treatment?
Sarah Brooks at the California Department of Health Care Services, Kelly Hardy of Children Now, Kristin Jacobson of Autism Deserves Equal Coverage and Sarah Trautman-Eslinger of STE Consultants spoke with California Healthline about the implementation of autism treatment under Medi-Cal, one year after it became a benefit.
California’s Precision Medicine Initiative Targets Hard-To-Diagnose Diseases
Gov. Brown, UC-San Francisco researcher Esteban Burchard, UCSF researcher Atul Butte, UCSF infectious disease specialist Charles Chiu and patient family member Julie Osborn of Wisconsin spoke with California Healthline about California’s initiative to boost precision medicine research to help prevent and treat the root cause of illnesses such as encephalitis and sepsis, which sometimes can be difficult to diagnose.
Can a Tech Startup Transform Health Care in One Rural County in California?
Esther Dyson of the Way to Wellville project, Marshall Kubota of Partnership HealthPlan of California, Chad Lindsay of Porterville, David Santos of St. Helena Hospital and Karen Tait from Lake County’s public health department spoke with California Healthline about the proposed Health Homes plan to improve quality and reduce costs of super-utilizers in the Medi-Cal program.
Program Targets Super-Users of Health Care To Lower Costs, Increase Quality
Elizabeth Davis of San Francisco General Hospital’s San Francisco Health Network Primary Care, Hannah Katch from the California Department of Health Care Services, Marty Lynch of LifeLong Medical Care in Berkeley and Bertha Swan, daughter of San Francisco General Hospital patient Aroytemise Swan, spoke with California Healthline about the proposed Health Homes plan to improve quality and reduce costs of super-utilizers in the Medi-Cal program.
Legislation To Regulate E-Cigarettes Is Facing Stiff Resistance in California
Stefan Didak of the Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, Tim Gibbs of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, UC-San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz, state Sen. Mark Leno and Zach Shpizner, a vape shop worker in San Mateo, spoke with California Healthline about proposed legislation to regulate electronic cigarettes as a tobacco product and ban vaping in public places.
Demand Up in Calif. for Dental Care Services, Yet Hurdles To Access Remain
More than 2,000 people sought dental care at a no-cost event in Sacramento recently — a sign of the increasing demand for dental care services. Some patients waited hours for care, including those who have had trouble making appointments through Denti-Cal, the state’s dental care program for low-income patients.
California Seeks Federal Waiver Fund To House Homeless Medi-Cal Patients
Meredith Berkson of the Ocean Park Community Center in Santa Monica, Hannah Katch of the California Department of Health Care Services and Sharon Rapport of the Corporation for Supportive Housing spoke with California Healthline about the housing component in the recently submitted $17 billion 1115 federal waiver request.
New Bill Plays Hardball With Soft Drinks
Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Cheryl Moder of the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative, Roger Salazar of CalBev and Laura Schmidt of UC-San Francisco spoke with California Healthline about the reintroduction of legislation to put a health-risk warning label on sodas, energy drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages in California.
Health Care for the Undocumented Complicated by Cost Questions
Elizabeth Landsberg of the Western Center on Law and Poverty, H.D. Palmer of the state Department of Finance, Nadereh Pourat of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and undocumented college student Darwin Velasquez spoke with California Healthline about the intentions and possible effects of a new bill introduced in the Senate to provide health care to the undocumented population in California.