Public Health

Latest California Healthline Stories

State-Led Effort Helps Improve Blood Pressure Control Among Low-Income Patients

Nine Medi-Cal health plans joined the state in a program that helped them stabilize blood pressure among their members — but most still fell short of a federal goal intended to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes.

Scope Maker Olympus Hit With $6.6 Million Verdict In Superbug Outbreak Case

In the first case of its kind in the U.S., the company was ordered to pay damages to the hospital where a patient died of an infection linked to a contaminated scope. But jurors also found the hospital negligent, and it was ordered to pay the patients’ family $1 million.

Over-The-Counter Devices Hold Their Own Against Costly Hearing Aids

In a head-to-head comparison, several of the cheaper devices performed nearly as well as the expensive hearing aids. The study lends credence to lawmakers’ efforts to get the FDA to set standards for the “personal sound amplification products.”

Latinos Left Out Of Clinical Trials … And Possible Cures

Fewer than 8 percent of enrollees in medical studies are Hispanic. Those who don’t participate have less access to cutting-edge treatments, and researchers have less data on how a drug works within the Hispanic population.