Latest California Healthline Stories
Primary Docs Centerpiece of Reform, but Where Are They?
Health care reform may help alleviate shortage of primary care physicians, but it will take major shifts in medical training and procedures, experts say.
Some Fear IPAB Will Be Error of Commission
Proponents of the Independent Payment Advisory Board — which is slated to launch in 2014 — hail IPAB as a transformative effort to ensure needed cost controls, but critics warn that the board will weaken Medicare and harm patient care. Both sides note that IPAB may undergo a makeover before its ultimate debut.
How To Make Evidence-Based Medicine Work
No one seems to understand just what evidence-based medicine is, and right now that is its biggest problem.
That was the consensus at Thursday’s conference in the Capitol Building — “Right Care, Right Time, Right Place” — put on by the New America Foundation and sponsored by the Assembly and Senate health committees.
“Clearly, over time, physicians need to learn to embrace evidence-based medicine. But more importantly, consumers need to embrace it, and understand it.” That’s according to Richard Baker, chair of the Council of Scientific Affairs for the California Medical Association and dean of the College of Medicine for Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles.
California Clinics Launch Educational Campaign
California clinics and community health centers this week launched a statewide educational campaign to increase understanding and support for national health care reform.
New Rules Requiring Health Insurers To Offer Preventive Services May Help Remove Barriers
Ned Calonge of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Tom Hubbard of the New England Healthcare Institute and Jerry Kominski of UCLA’s School of Public Health discussed the new rules with California Healthline.
Will ACOs Be A-OK? Model Stirs Hopes, Questions
Accountable care organizations, or ACOs, are the most-discussed acronym-cum-health care payment model since HMOs. As providers across the nation rush to adopt the concept, is California poised to be a leader?
Temporary High-Risk Pool Welcome, Needed
The federally funded high-risk health insurance pool, one of the first major pieces of national health care reform to come into existence, is apparently more welcome — and needed — in California than it is in other parts of the country.
When the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board — the state agency in charge of California’s pool — announced premium rates and the companies that would be handling the program last week, state officials said they already have received 4,000 requests for applications.
In the 21 states where the federal government is handling the high risk pool, the combined total of applicants so far is 2,400.
Health Reform Law Could Protect Health Care Programs
Although they’re keeping a close eye on budget battles in Sacramento, the level of concern among California health care advocates is tempered this year by the arrival of a large, powerful ally — the Affordable Care Act.
“For the most part, national health care reform has helped out greatly in that it has protected the state’s health programs,” said Kristen Golden Testa — health director for The Children’s Partnership, a national advocacy group based in California.
The Affordable Care Act includes “maintenance of effort” provisions that require states to retain services offered before the reform law was passed to be eligible for increased federal funding under the new law.
Déjà vu Again for Single Payer Bill
Single payer system advocates are nothing if not persistent.
Twice before, in the past two legislative sessions, the state Legislature passed a law to establish a single payer system in California.
And twice before, the governor vetoed it.
State of Contention as Officials Wrestle Over Reform Law
The health reform law has presented a significant challenge for many of the nation’s governors, who are struggling with scarce funding, election-year politics and new federal policies. In some states, officials are moving forward to comply with certain portions of the law as they also fight the overhaul in court.