Chief executive officers of major healthcare organizations rarely take potentially charged political stances, but Kaiser Permanente Chief Executive Officer Bernard J. Tyson has called for more empathy regarding the experiences of African-American males and more dialogue and understanding between police and the communities they serve.
Tyson, who became CEO of the Oakland-based Kaiser last year and was also appointed chairman of the organization in January, noted in an opinion piece that despite his heading a company with annual revenue of $55 billion a year, he is still eyed as a suspected shoplifter in stores, has been lectured in restaurants regarding the staff’s desire he leave tips, and has had people lock their car doors and cross to the other side of the street when he is out exercising.
Archived California Healthcare News
DMHC Fines Blue Cross $50,000
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Dec 10, 2014
The California Department of Managed Health Care has fined Anthem Blue Cross of California $50,000 for what the agency concluded was a deliberate thwarting of the enrollee grievance process.
According to DMHC records, Anthem denied an enrollee\'s request in 2012 to undergo the duodenal switch form of bariatric surgery, and was contacted by the agency to conducted an independent medical review.
Blue Shield Will Buy Care1st Health
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Dec 10, 2014
San Francisco-based Blue Shield of California has broken into the Medi-Cal market with the purchase of Care1st Health Plan.
Care1st, is based in Monterey Park, just east of downtown Los Angeles, and was founded by a group of physicians and hospitals in 1994.
In Brief: Covered California Enrollment Robust; Child Vaccination Rate Increases
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Dec 10, 2014
Covered California Reports Robust Enrollment
Covered California and the state Department of Health Care Services have reported strong demand from consumers for both commercial and Medi-Cal enrollment, the health insurance exchange reported.
Can Computers Outwork Doctors?
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Dec 9, 2014
The notion that a computer can replace some of the functions of a human being has been explored in popular culture multiple times, but Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is now suggesting that an Internet-based questionnaire whose data is automatically aggregated is better at obtaining data from patients than actual doctors.
That\'s the conclusion of a new study conducted by the Los Angeles-based hospital, which noted that such questionnaires can do a better job of obtaining, aggregating and presenting information to gastroenterologists.
L.A. Care’s Cal Medi Connect Plan: Improving Care for California’s Most Vulnerable Patients
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Dec 9, 2014
With so many changes going on in healthcare these days, physicians and their eligible patients understandably have many questions about the various programs available to them thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Recently, Cal MediConnect has become a popular topic of discussion for doctors and individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal.
States Taking Steps Toward Cutting Medicaid Super-utilizers
Free
Dec 8, 2014
In health policy circles, they are called “super-utilizers,†but the name isn’t meant to connote any special powers. Just the opposite.
They are people whose complex medical problems make them disproportionately heavy users of expensive health care services, particularly emergency room treatment and in-patient hospitalizations. The cost of treating them is huge: Just 5% of Medicaid’s 68 million beneficiaries account for 60% of the overall spending on the program.
The ACA Is Creating A Federal Contracting Boom
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Dec 8, 2014
Two years ago General Dynamics, one of the biggest federal contractors, reported a quarterly loss of $2 billion. An “eye-watering†result, one analyst called it.
Diminishing wars and plunging defense spending had slashed the weapons maker’s revenue and left some subsidiaries worth far less than it had paid for them. But the company was already pushing in a new direction.
Plan To Improve Kansas City\'s Healthiness Approved
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Dec 8, 2014
A multimillion-dollar plan to transform Kansas City, Kan.\'s downtown into a national model is one step closer to reality.
The Unified Government Board of Commissioners last week unanimously approved a new master development plan designed to help improve the health of Kansas City and other Wyandotte County residents by providing a state-of-the-art community center, more green space in which to exercise and access to healthy foods at a 30,000- to 35,000-square-foot urban grocery store.
Hospital Mortality Rates Remain Stable
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Dec 3, 2014
The mortality rates in California\'s hospitals were fairly stable in 2012, with patients dying from specific medical conditions and surgeries at about the same rates as they had in the prior two years.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development released the data on 193 hospitals statewide earlier this week, and there were few variations reported, although some large hospitals did struggle in some categories.
Good Samaritan Will Link To Guam
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Dec 3, 2014
Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles has secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide telemedicine services to the nation\'s most remote territory.
The hospital received a $417,560 grant from the USDA that would allow members of its medical staff to provide care via teleconferencing at six public health sites on the island of Guam.
Few Elderly Californians Get Fall Advice
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Dec 3, 2014
More than one in eight seniors in California experience a fall every year, but a majority of those people do not seek medical attention after such occurrences.
Altogether, about 556,000 senior Californians fall every year, according to new data from the UCLA Center on Health Policy Research.
In Brief: Job Forecast Fairly Bullish On Growth; CMS Says Spending Increases Lowest Ever Recorded
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Dec 3, 2014
Job Forecast Fairly Bullish On Healthcare Growth
A new economic forecast for California by Chapman University concludes that the state’s healthcare sector job growth will increase at a 3.6% annual clip between now and 2020. That would mean an additional 498,000 healthcare jobs created in California between last year and the end of this decade.
Digoxin Linked To High Death Rates
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Dec 2, 2014
A new study by Kaiser Permanente researchers concludes that a common heart medicine could be deadly when prescribed to certain patients with atrial fibrillation.
Kansas Safety Net Organizations Seeking Federal Money To Open Clinics
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Dec 1, 2014
Even with the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans still lack health insurance. For them, safety net clinics are a lifeline. These clinics provide primary care for anyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Today there are federally funded clinics in 21 Kansas counties, but there soon could be more.
At least six organizations in Kansas are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for grants to open new clinics. GraceMed, in Wichita, is asking for $650,000 for a new clinic on the south side of the city. Chief Executive Officer David Sanford said that region of the state’s largest city is underserved.
Minnesota Using Health Disparities To Drive Other Policy Changes
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Dec 1, 2014
For years, proposals to raise the minimum wage in Minnesota bogged down over economic concerns: Would a raise impel businesses to leave the state? Would it decrease employment? Would it touch off inflation?
The supporters’ main argument, that raising the minimum wage would put more money into the pockets of low-wage workers and their families, fell short.
More Than 230,000 New Enrollees Reported
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Dec 1, 2014
Federal officials said today that during the first week of open enrollment for the health law’s online marketplaces, 462,125 people selected health plans, with just over half of those return customers.
DMHC Faults Blues On Their Networks
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Nov 19, 2014
A state regulator concluded that two of the state\'s largest health insurers misled consumers who purchased their plans through the Covered California health insurance exchange.
In a blunt assessment of Anthem Blue Cross of California and Blue Shield of California, the Department of Managed Health Care concluded that both plans did not provide accurate rosters of physicians and other providers to those state residents who purchased coverage during the exchange\'s open enrollment period between last fall and early 2014.
Prime, Union Trade Barbs Yet Again
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Nov 19, 2014
Prime Healthcare\'s often contentious relationship with California\'s labor unions flared anew this week, as the for-profit hospital system traded charges with the Service Employers International-United Healthcare Workers West.
The SEIU-UHW has alleged that Prime overbilled Medicare to the tune of $93 million by admitting patients to the hospital for short hospital stays rather than keeping them in observation and not officially admitting them as inpatients.
In Brief: Cal-OSHA/CDPH Issues Workplace Guidelines on Ebola; Kaiser, Target Team On Retail Clinica
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Nov 19, 2014
Cal-OSHA/CDPH Issues Workplace Guidelines On Ebola
Cal-OSHA and the state Department of Public Health have issued new workplace guidelines for hospitals that might wid up treating Ebola patients in the future.
