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Editorial: Insist on a real budget solution
Sacramento Bee - 09-09-2008 - California's 71-day budget impasse is starting to hit home in painful ways. Many hospitals and health clinics, as well as homes that care for the disabled and infirm, haven't received Medi-Cal payments for two months. Collectively, these health providers claim that the state owes them more than $4 billion. Larger institutions are able to bridge this gap and maintain services for patients, but others are in serious trouble. Some clinic owners have maxed out their credit cards and can't take on more debt.
Denham, Republicans seek emergency health funding while budget stalls
The Californian - 09-09-2008 - Senate and Assembly Republicans today joined service providers for developmentally disabled adults and children in calling upon Democrats and Gov. Schwarzenegger to immediately pass emergency funding legislation that will ensure state health care services relied upon by California’s most vulnerable population continues to be funded while budget negotiations continue.
Late Budget Causing Problems for Health Care Providers
KPBS - 09-09-2008 - One health care provider in danger of closing is accusing lawmakers of criminal negligence for not passing a spending plan. Charles Guenther is CEO of Eastern Plumas Health Care in northern California. He says the legislature's failure to act under the circumstances providers face is negligent. He and representatives of other hospitals and clinics rallied at the Capitol last week. They begged lawmakers to pass a budget -- now more than two months late. Without one, the state can't pay providers who treat patients on California's low-income health care program. Guenther says his company will begin closing facilities in two to three weeks... and that will be a blow to the region's economy.
Group seeks end to gridlock on health reform
Reuters - 09-09-2008 - A coalition of business and labor groups has joined with an advocacy group for the elderly to try to break the gridlock and achieve successful healthcare reform under the next president. The nearly 40 million-member senior citizens group AARP, the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and the Service Employees International Union have been dogging candidates on healthcare for more than a year. Their "Divided We Fail" campaign includes television advertisements and dozens of community forums to ensure healthcare takes center stage in this year's congressional and presidential elections.
Commentary: The pitfalls of linking doctors’ pay to performance
New York Times - 09-09-2008 - In this opinion piece for the New York Times, Sandeep Jauhar, MD, says that on the surface pay for performance seems like a good idea, but the initiative may be having untoward consequences. Under P4P, there is pressure to treat even when the diagnosis isn't firm, so, for example, more and more antibiotics are being used in emergency rooms despite all-too-evident dangers like antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-associated infections, Jauhar says.
Berg end-of-life information bill goes to governor
Lake County News - 09-09-2008 - Assembly member Patty Berg's end-of-life information bill is waiting – along with numerous other bills by the legislature – for the governor's signature, but a state senator is calling for the bill to be vetoed. On Aug. 28 the state Assembly approved AB 2747, the Terminal Patients End of Life Information Act,” which Berg's office reported is meant to give patients the right to receive a candid assessment of what to expect when they are dying of a terminal disease... The California Medical Association and many other health care organizations, as well as senior citizens’ groups, civil liberties advocates and others supported AB 2747.
More workers at Los Angeles hospital have criminal backgrounds
Los Angeles Times - 09-09-2008 - More than 10% of employees of the Los Angeles-based Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital had criminal histories, according to a long-awaited analysis that also found the King nurses provided inferior care. The hospital had about 1,600 employees when background checks were conducted a year ago, according to the report by the auditor-controller's department. Of those, 1,356 had their backgrounds examined, and 152 of those came back with criminal or arrest records. The number is far larger than the 17 employees with criminal histories that Los Angeles County has previously acknowledged.
Consumer Group Sues Miller Over New Drink
Wall Street Journal - 09-09-2008 - A consumer-advocacy group sued MillerCoors LLC in an effort to have the company's Sparks beverage removed from the Washington, D.C., market in the latest campaign against the caffeinated alcoholic beverage.
The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest sued the second-largest U.S. beer maker in District of Columbia Superior Court, contending that Sparks contains unapproved ingredients and poses health and safety risks for consumers.
SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co., declined to comment on the suit. But spokesman Julian Green said "it is important to note" that the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had approved all formulas and labels for Sparks, Sparks Light and other versions of the drink. "We have and we will continue to ensure that the labeling, marketing and product formulations of all our brands meet all applicable federal regulations and that our brands are marketed responsibly to legal drinking age adults," he said in a prepared statement.
Adult Diabetics Benefit
From Device, Study Says
Wall Street Journal - 09-09-2008 - Adults with Type 1 diabetes can gain better control over their disease by using a cellphone-size device that continually monitors blood-sugar levels, according to a new study.
Introduced by various manufacturers in recent years, "continuous glucose monitoring," or CGM, systems provide a steady stream of data that allows patients to adjust their insulin injections as needed. Attached to a small sensor inserted just beneath the skin, they also sound an alarm if blood sugar rises or falls to dangerous levels.
