Latest California Healthline Stories
Counties Face New, Expanded Health Care Challenges
California counties’ role in delivering health care using a patchwork of federal and state programs and funding is about to become more complex, if not more difficult, because of health care reform and budget constraints. We asked stakeholders and experts how policymakers could best navigate new waters.
Clearing a Path Through the Smog
The thumbnail summary of California’s air quality is abysmal. Los Angeles and Bakersfield have the worst air quality in the nation, according to the annual State of the Air report by the American Lung Association. On the county grading scale, 37 of California’s 58 counties get an F in air quality.
“California is unique,” Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Association of California said, in explaining why air pollution is so bad in this state.
“Our large population, combined with our sunny days,” help foul the air, she said. “Plus you see a lot of diesel emissions at our ports, and a lot of diesel because of our agriculture. There are geographic elements, where the San Joaquin Valley is like a big bowl that holds the smog. And of course, there has been a large increase in vehicle miles traveled. People do love their cars in California.”
John Goldstein of Imprint Capital Discusses How Foundations Can Invest in Their Mission
John Goldstein, co-founder and managing director of Imprint Capital, spoke with California Healthline about how health foundations and other philanthropic institutions can leverage innovative investment strategies to advance their mission.
Series of Proposals for Community Health Improvement
When it comes to improving the health of a large pool of Californians, small steps can yield big cumulative results. That’s the idea behind a series of proposed laws that are coming before committees in the next two weeks — and part of an overarching plan to get health considerations included in land-use and other policies on the Capitol’s daily agenda, according to Ellen Wu of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.
“The state can pass laws and [convene] task forces,” she said, “that can change all of our policies so that they incorporate health.” For instance, she said, when you’re planning some kind of development, make sure multi-lane roads don’t run alongside schools or hospitals.
A few of the bills on tap:
New Senior Home Worker Law: Protection or Intrusion?
A vast workforce in California has gone unregulated and unmonitored — and that could be a danger to the seniors they are supposed to help.
That’s the gist of a new law passed this week by the Senate Committee on Health. SB 411 by Curren Price (D-Inglewood), the Home Care Service Act of 2011, would require background checks and elementary care instruction for all workers who help out in seniors’ homes.
“Without background checks or training, anyone can be a home health worker,” Price said. “And that could leave some seniors vulnerable to fraud and abuse.”
Cash, Credits, Peer Support Incentives To Alter Bad Health Habits
Paying workers to take care of themselves could seem like an odd notion, but California businesses are funding wellness incentive programs to encourage employees to live healthier lives and in turn miss less work, be more productive and cut medical costs.
Gay and Lesbian Health Bills in Committee
Recent research by UCLA and UCSF highlighted an area of study that has not received much attention — the health risks and challenges of the general lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Now the state Legislature is considering two bills that try to address those needs.
AB 673 by John Pérez (D-Los Angeles) would require the state’s Office of Multicultural Health to include LGBT patients in their duties. And SB 747 by Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) would require medical providers to take a 2- to 5-hour course on gender issues.
Southern California Hospitals Taking Action To Combat Spread of Drug-Resistant ‘Superbug’
Julia Hallisy of the Empowered Patient Coalition, Jim Lott of the Hospital Association of Southern California and Greg Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center spoke with California Healthline about efforts to address carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Tobacco Cessation Also Could Ease Smokers’ Diabetes
California is looking into a federal grant worth about $2 million a year that would establish an incentive wellness program that could help Californians give up tobacco — which potentially could have a strong effect on the health of smokers with diabetes, according to Neal Kohatsu, medical director of California’s Department of Health Care Services.
“Incentives are a great tool,” Kohatsu said at yesterday’s briefing in Sacramento on wellness incentives, an event co-sponsored by the two legislative health committees and The California Endowment. “Incentives are part of a larger picture of patient engagement,” Kohatsu said, “which we’re very interested in becoming more involved in.”
The grant money can fund projects that use incentives to alleviate chronic “lifestyle” medical challenges such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. California has until May 1 to put a proposal together, and Kohatsu said the agency would like to focus on smoking cessation.
Overlooked but Not Forgotten: Three Lesser-Known Reforms
The first anniversary of the federal health care law is drawing attention to its major changes. Here are three under-the-radar reforms that also will shape health care practice.