Archived California Healthcare News

Medicare is fining a record number of hospitals – 2,610 – for having too many patients return within a month for additional treatments, federal records released Wednesday show. Even though the nation’s readmission rate is dropping, Medicare’s average fines will be higher, with 39 hospitals receiving the largest penalty allowed, including the nation’s oldest hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The federal government’s penalties, which begin their third year this month, are intended to jolt hospitals to pay attention to what happens to their patients after they leave. Around the country, many hospitals are replacing perfunctory discharge plans—such as giving patients paper instructions—with more active efforts, such as ensuring that outside doctors monitor their recoveries and giving supplies of medication to patients who may not be able to afford them. Others are still struggling to meet the new expectations. Before the program, some hospitals resisted such efforts because they weren’t paid for the services, and, in fact, benefited financially when a patient returned.

A new report from a public interest research firm concludes that despite large safety net insurance expansions in California as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the provider system remains too patchwork and chaotic to provide appropriate care for the state\'s poorest and neediest residents. The report, authored by San Francisco-based John Snow, Inc. and underwritten by the Blue Shield of California Foundation, suggests the state needs to focus on what it calls “whole-person care” - an integration of health and social services that would improve outcomes and cut costs for providing services.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has been awarded a $3 million federal grants to mitigate the effects of secondhand smoke on low-income Latino and African-American families who are living in Los Angeles. The grant will be used to implement a comprehensive action plan to reduce individual exposure to smoking in apartment buildings in L.A.

Catholic Bishops File Complaint Against California On Abortion Mandate

The California Catholic Conference has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights over a mandate that the state's insurers provide abortion coverage.

Hospitals are projected to save $5.7 billion this year as previously uninsured patients gain coverage through the 2010 healthcare law, the Department of Health and Human Services said last week. States that have expanded their Medicaid programs will see about 74% of those savings, an HHS report said. While 27 states and Washington, D.C. have expanded the federal-state insurance program for the poor to date, the survey was done when 25 states and D.C. had done so.

Here’s a health law pop quiz: Which two states have the least successful Obamacare health insurance exchanges? You may guess a state in the Deep South where political opposition to the law is fierce. Or maybe Missouri? It passed a state law saying consumer advisors funded by the Affordable Care Act aren’t allowed to advise consumers.

Several years ago, a California study showed that a half-dozen elective surgeries were being performed far more often in Humboldt County than they were in the rest of the state. The procedures included hip and knee replacements, hysterectomies and carotid endarterectomies, a surgery to remove plaque buildup in the carotid arteries. Geographical variation in the delivery of healthcare can harm patients and increase costs. That is especially true when it comes to surgery, which is usually more expensive and riskier than less invasive treatments. Medicaid makes up a huge portion of state budgets, so the issue of healthcare variation is a pressing one for states looking to hold down costs.

Patients looking for convenient medical appointments can now see UCLA Health System doctors using their cell phones, computers or tablets. It’s part of an ongoing effort at UCLA and elsewhere to extend alternatives to the in-person doctor visit to busy consumers outside rural areas.

Hunn Departs Providence Health

Michael Hunn, who served as the chief executive of Providence Health & Services’ California region, has resigned.