Latest California Healthline Stories
Bill Targeting Drug-Resistant Staph Infections Introduced in California Legislature
Sen. Elaine Alquist, who introduced the bill, highlighted the bill’s provisions for California Healthline, and Dr. Henry Chambers of San Francisco General Hospital and Debby Rogers of the California Hospital Association offered their insights.
Funding Crunch Could Stall Progress on Emergency Preparedness in California
Leigh Hall of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Mark Horton of the state Department of Public Health and Jeff Levi of the Trust for America’s Health spoke with California Healthline about funding for disaster preparedness.
Study: California To Face Critical Shortage of Allied Health Care Workers by 2020
Abdi Soltani of the Campaign for College Opportunity, Jose Millan of the community college system and Marilyn Chow of Kaiser Permanente spoke with California Healthline about the lack of allied health workers and what can be done about it.
New Laws Aim To Build State’s Cord Blood Supply Through Public Donations, Education
Assembly member Anthony Portantino, Burt Lubin of the National Advisory Council on Blood Stem Cell Transplantation and David Carmel of Stemcyte spoke with California Healthline about new state laws on umbilical cord blood collection.
California Researchers Say New VA Policy Hurts Cancer Studies
The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains that new restrictions on cancer data are intended to shore up patient privacy protections. Researchers argue that the rules will stymie data collection efforts in California, the source of about half of cases reported to a U.S. registry.
California Launches New Public Health Department
Supporters of the move to have a distinct state agency assume responsibility for public health operations hope that it will boost the state’s preparedness, but critics worry that it will lead to complacency about public health issues.
Pay for Performance a Factor in Medicare Reform
California HMOs have adopted pay-for-performance programs at a higher rate than the national average, and other states are encouraging CMS to adopt the programs, which some see as a way of addressing the sustainability of Medicare and Medicaid.
San Francisco Moves Forward With Health Access Plan
San Francisco leaders say the plan to provide health care access to all city residents will withstand any potential legal changes, and health care advocates see the plan as an important step in health care reform.
New Rules Might Limit Medi-Cal Benefits for Nursing Home Care
Under new federal rules, eligibility for nursing home benefits under Medi-Cal will be restricted to people whose home equity is $750,000 or less, a change that could have a big impact in states like California that have high real estate prices.
Kaiser Transplant Program Could Spur More Oversight
The collapse of an organ-transplant program last month at the largest and one of the most highly regarded HMOs in the country is sending ripples of worry through the health care community.