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Stanislaus County's poor facing health cuts
The Modesto Bee - 03-19-2008 - The MIA program provides medical care for about 6,100 men and women who are not eligible for Medi-Cal, Medicare or other public programs. It's not obligated to offer mental health services, but as is true in the private sector, the county's primary care doctors receive numerous requests to see patients with serious mental disorders.
Lassen County ambulance service losing because Medi-Cal doesn't pay its fair share
Lassen County News - 03-18-2008 - MediCal pays less then 20 percent of actual costs. It pays about $199 per ambulance transport, according to Staffan’s financial report. Each transport costs SEMSA $805, the highest ambulance service rates in the state.
Failed Blue Cross pact still hurts
Fresno Bee - 03-19-2008 - Seven months after Children's Hospital Central California canceled its contract with Blue Cross of California, poor children in the central San Joaquin Valley are still suffering the effects, doctors and health advocates say.
CVS to pay $37 million to settle Medicaid suit
Chicago Sun-Times - 03-19-2008 - CVS Caremark Corp., one of the nation's largest pharmacy chains, has agreed to pay nearly $37 million to the federal government, 23 states and the District of Columbia to settle claims that it fraudulently billed Medicaid for a more expensive form of a drug used to treat ulcers and heartburn.
Healthcare advocates to get some help from California
Los Angeles Times - 03-19-2008 - The California Department of Managed Health Care is set to announce a $500,000 grant to the Health Consumer Alliance, a statewide partnership of patient assistance programs operated by neighborhood legal services groups. The Alliance helps low-income people obtain essential medical care and avoid getting swamped with unpaid claims.
For top medical students, appearance matters
New York Times - 03-19-2008 - As thousands of medical students await word on residency programs, two specialties that are among the most competitive include dermatology and plastic surgery. The trend is part of a migration of a top tier of American medical students from branches of healthcare that manage major diseases toward specialties that improve the life of patients--and the lives of physicians, with better pay, more autonomy and more-controllable hours.
Grant to help expand rural telemedicine
(AP) - 03-19-2008 - A $15.5 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission to the Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research at the University of New Mexico will be used to design, build, operate and evaluate a broadband network largely serving rural areas that typically lack such technology. The grid of telehealth networks will support rural systems and connections to more than 500 sites, primarily in New Mexico and Arizona. Several Indian Health Service sites in Colorado, California, Nevada, Texas and Utah will also be served by the network.
Social policy on the menu
Los Angeles Times - 03-17-2008 - Diners in this food-obsessed city are used to exotic offerings such as chili squid salad, risotto Milanese with oxtail ragu and marinated noisettes of venison. But this winter a controversial new item has been showing up in the fine print of menus at some of the hottest restaurants: a surcharge to help pay for worker health insurance.
Medicare, Medicaid Managed Care
Gets Scrutiny for Fraud
Wall Street Journal - 03-19-2008 - As the government increases the private sector's role in delivering Medicare and Medicaid services, new kinds of fraud are cropping up that are harder to spot, more complicated to prosecute and potentially more harmful to patients. Now, regulators are belatedly ramping up scrutiny of the managed-care industry, which has grown to cover more than 37 million state and federal beneficiaries.
Hospitals Reuse
Medical Devices
To Lower Costs
Wall Street Journal - 03-19-2008 - In a bid to save costs and stem a rising tide of medical waste, hospitals are recycling a growing number of medical devices labeled as single-use, from scissors and scrubs to the sharp blades surgeons use to saw through bones.
