Latest California Healthline Stories
Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ While You Were Celebrating …
In this episode of “What The Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times discuss this week’s news, including release of the administration’s new rules on association health plans, as well as some health-related court rulings and other events that happened around the holidays.
Drug Overdose Deaths Plateau In California, Soar Nationally
Fatalities are climbing in states that have been flooded by the deadly opioid fentanyl, but are remaining flat — or even falling — in many Western states, where it has not yet overwhelmed the drug supply.
State Gives Medi-Cal Enrollees Something To Smile About
More than 7 million California adults enrolled in Medi-Cal regained coverage for critical dental care, including crowns and partial dentures, this month.
High Praise: Pot Churches Proliferate As States Ease Access To Marijuana
Churches that offer marijuana as a sacrament are popping up across California and the U.S., vexing state and local officials who say they’re simply pot shops in disguise.
Terrifying Brush With Death Drives Doctor To Fight For Patients
Dr. Rana Awdish was completing a fellowship in critical care when she became critically ill herself. Now, she helps other doctors understand the patient’s perspective.
Trump Administration Relaxes Financial Penalties Against Nursing Homes
Medicare is discouraging regional offices from levying fines for “one-time mistakes” or from using daily fines that seek to put pressure on nursing homes to make changes.
Sickle Cell Patients, Families And Doctors Face A ‘Fight For Everything’
Premature death, a dearth of treatments, mistreatment in emergency rooms and a woeful lack of funding are just a few of the problems confronting people with sickle cell disease.
Children’s Insurance, Other Health Programs Funded — For Now — In Bill
In a short-term spending bill, Congress extends money to the Children’s Health Insurance Program through March.
Medicare Penalizes Group Of 751 Hospitals For Patient Injuries
In California, 88 hospitals were penalized, including Stanford Health Care’s hospitals in Stanford and Pleasanton, the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center. Each hospital will have its payments reduced by 1 percent for the year.
FDA Chief Says He’s Open To Rethinking Incentives On Orphan Drugs
The FDA’s Scott Gottlieb says the agency is focused on the big picture, and he wants to know why pharma churns out drugs for some rare diseases but not for others.