CMA Press Clips
Daily reports on health care policy and medicine from newspapers and magazines throughout California and around the nation.

Medical team on mission nearby
The Press Enterprise – 7/22/10 – James Bidstrup, or "Big Stuff," as he's known on the street, is hurting. "I sleep outside, and something crawled in," he says, pointing to his right ear. Bidstrup is sharing his health woes with Dr. Mark Ashley and his street medicine team. The Riverside hideaways, nooks and crannies where the 48-year-old Bidstrup burrows don't seem quite as mean and unforgiving when these folks show up to minister to the ailing homeless.

Quest for new L.A. County health chief is slow going
Los Angeles Times – 7/22/10 – It has seemed mission impossible: hiring someone to run Los Angeles County's mammoth, troubled health department.

Sacramento County mental health cuts blocked by federal judge
Sacramento Bee - 7/22/10 - A federal judge Wednesday blocked Sacramento County from cutting mental health services as a way to balance the budget, ruling the proposed changes violate the federal law that protects disabled Americans.

County mental health treatment centers to stay open while court reviews new wellness-center plan
Sacramento Business Journal - 7/21/10 - A federal judge has ordered Sacrament County to halt its new plan for outpatient mental health services for thousands of patients until the court determines the change will allow patients to continue to receive the care they need.

New rules make it easier for public to appeal denials of health insurance claims
Washington Post - 7/22/10 - Patients will find it easier to appeal the denials of health insurance claims under rules being issued Thursday by the Obama administration, which is trying to boost political support for the new health-care law by highlighting advantages for consumers.

School nurses fewer in Sacramento County
Sacramento Bee - 7/22/10 - School nurses, once a comforting sight at every public school, are dwindling in number.

New guidelines aim to encourage vaginal births after C-sections
USA Today – 7/22/10 – The country's main professional group of obstetricians published "less restrictive" guidelines Wednesday that could lead to more vaginal births after C-sections, or VBACs.

Consumer group: Insurers kept surplus while hiking premiums
USA Today – 7/22/10 – Non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans stockpiled billions of dollars during the past decade, yet continued to hit consumers with double-digit premium increases, Consumers Union found in an analysis of 10 of the plans' finances.

Proposed deficit remedy: the healthcare 'public option'
Los Angeles Times – 7/22/10 – As both political parties worry about the growing federal deficit, an unlikely proposal is returning from last year's divisive healthcare debate: the "public option."