Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Reform Benchmarks Linked to FQHCs
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) already have shown some of the results pursued by the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released this week by the California Primary Care Association.
The CPCA commissioned researchers to compare high-cost factors, such as hospital stays and emergency department use, as well as total cost of care, between FQHCs and non-FQHCs in California.
Some of the findings from John Snow, Inc. Health Services Division, a public health research firm based in Boston, were released Monday and showed enviable differences in FQHC care:
Medical Marijuana Case in State Supreme Court
The California Supreme Court today in San Francisco will hear oral arguments over a legal conundrum involving medical marijuana. The city of Riverside wants to ban sale of medicinal marijuana, a decision that may violate state law ensuring legal access to it. At the same time it adheres to federal law banning marijuana’s sale and use.
To Riverside officials opposed to marijuana sales, the answer is pretty simple: “A medical marijuana dispensary constitutes ‘a Prohibited Use’ ” in Riverside’s zoning code, which makes it a public nuisance, the city’s attorneys wrote in a legal brief. “Any use which is prohibited by state and/or federal law is also strictly prohibited,” the attorneys said.
But marijuana advocates, in their own brief, said Riverside officials are prohibiting the distribution of medicine, and that’s against state law.
Health Care Stakeholders Await State of State, Special Session
The State of the State speech today by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) could kick off a flurry of health care activity in California.
The governor is expected to address the state’s decision to join the Medicaid expansion (Medi-Cal in California) in today’s speech. Two options proposed by Brown — county- and state-based plans — will be hashed out in the upcoming month or two, most likely during the Legislature’s special session on health care. State health officials have said the special session will be called by Brown by the end of January.
All of that has to be worked out relatively soon, according to Lucien Wulsin, executive director of the Insure the Uninsured Project.
The Premium Conundrum: Do Smokers Get a Fair Break Under Obamacare?
Would you quit smoking if you were charged $4,000 more per year for the habit? Some analysts say that a new measure under the Affordable Care Act is overly punitive for tobacco users, while others suggest it’s an overdue approach to take toward smokers.
California Health Care Workers Divided Over Flu Vaccine Requirements for Hospital Staff
Zenei Cortez of the California Nurses Association, Jan Emerson-Shea of the California Hospital Association, Shawn Evans of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and Linda Good of Scripps Health spoke with California Healthline about the challenges that California hospitals face in raising influenza vaccination rates among health care workers.
Sonoma Center Facing State Sanctions
The California Department of Public Health took a major step this week toward decertifying and revoking the license of the intermediate care facility at Sonoma Developmental Center.
The Sonoma facility, which serves 290 people with intellectual disabilities, is expected to appeal the state action.
The original survey in July by the Department of Public Health found 57 deficiencies, and four instances of immediate jeopardy to residents. The facility had two three-month periods to correct those problems. According to CDPH officials, time is up.
Rebecca Onie of Health Leads Discusses Efforts To Help Patients Access Community Resources
Rebecca Onie, co-founder and CEO of Health Leads, spoke with California Healthline about how her organization teams up with health care providers to help patients access healthy food, safe housing and other community resources.
Health Task Force Releases Draft Report
The first task has been checked off the list. Yesterday the Let’s Get Healthy California task force met to go over the release of its draft report, the culmination of six months’ work. The final report is slated for completion by Dec. 19.
“When you look at where we are today in California, there are so many challenges we’re facing [in health care],” said Pat Powers, director of the task force. “The population is aging, there are unprecedented levels of chronic disease across the state, and alarming high rates of obesity and diabetes. For the first time in a long time, the children born in this generation may not live as long as their parents.”
That creates a moral imperative to do something to meet all of those needs, Powers said. At the same time, the task force hopes to propose changes that not only improve care but save the state money, as well, she said.
Rural Health Care at a Crossroads
How to handle and benefit from changes affecting health care will be the central topic of conversation at the annual conference of the California State Rural Health Association, according to Steve Barrow, its executive director.
The rural health conference takes place today and tomorrow in Anaheim.
Rural communities, with higher percentages of Medi-Cal beneficiaries and seniors, feel the effects of change more than other parts of California — and those percentages are increasing, according to Barrow. Add in the difficulties of distance between patients and providers and the dearth of providers in the rural setting, and you have a population that likely will be affected more by the changes at the federal, state and local levels, Barrow said.
Diana Dooley on 2 Years of Budget Cuts, Controversy and Reform
Diana Dooley reflects on her first two years as California’s Health and Human Services secretary — a tumultuous period of deep budget cuts, county and state realignment, and the beginning of historic reforms.