The federal government’s first survey of the nation’s insured rate since the health care law’s new marketplaces began found a decrease in the number of adults without coverage, particularly among young adults.
The National Health Interview Survey of people during the first three months of this year found that the number of adults under 65 without health insurance dropped to 18.4% from 20.4% in 2013.
Archived California Healthcare News
Kaiser Acquiesces on $4 Million Fine
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Sep 10, 2014
After months of wrangling with one of the state\'s health plan regulators, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan has thrown in the towel, agreeing to pay a large fine for limiting access to mental health services and improve its existing service.
Kaiser will pay a $4 million penalty levied by the Department of Managed Health Care last year, although the Oakland-based insurer and healthcare provider said in a statement that the fine “was unwarranted and excessive, and (the DMHC) ignored the very compliance standards that they had expressly approved.â€
Startup Buys Citizens Choice Health
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Sep 10, 2014
A well-funded Orange County startup has acquired a Medicare Advantage health plan to gain a toehold into the Southern California market.
Irvine-based Alignment Healthcare purchased Cerritos-based Citizens Choice Health Plan for an undisclosed sum. Citizens Choice, which also goes by the name Honored Citizens Choice, had about 13,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and was headquartered in Cerritos.
In Brief: Employer Premiums Rise Modestly; Support For Props. 45, 46 Waning
Free
Sep 10, 2014
Employer Health Premiums Rise Modestly This Year
Premiums for family health plans whose cost is paid for by employer increased a modest 3 percent in 2014 compared to last year, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health, Research and Educational Trust.
Scripps Launches Monitoring Pilot
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Sep 9, 2014
San Diego-based hospital operator Scripps Health has launched a brief pilot project that will allow for remote monitoring of some of its most fragile patients through the smartphones and other devices carried by its medical staff.
AirStrip, a Texas-based mobile healthcare firm, has agreed to provide its miniaturized monitoring devices to place on Scripps heart surgery, intensive care, trauma and other critically ill patients.
DMHC Fines Dental Plan $25,000
Free
Sep 9, 2014
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined United Dental Care of California $25,000 for failing to pay provider claims in a timely manner and with the appropriate interest, as well as underinsuring its corporate staff.
Osteopathy Gaining More Traction With Patients
Free
Sep 8, 2014
Recent reforms in American healthcare weren’t designed with osteopathic medicine in mind. It only seems that way.
The emphasis on “patient-centered careâ€â€”the idea that physicians should follow the wishes and preferences of patients, and treat patients holistically, rather than just treating their symptoms—have been the hallmarks of osteopathic medicine since its founding in the 19th century by a frontier doctor.
Are New Eye Treatments Too Costly?
Free
Sep 8, 2014
Spritzing perfume is how Judy Johnson realized her eyesight had gone bad.
At one point, diabetes had worsened her vision so much that the 69-year-old Lansing resident had to squirt out a puff of her favorite scent just to find the opening in the mister.
CDPH Says Underage Tobacco Sales Up
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Sep 3, 2014
A new report by the California Department of Public Health indicates that sales of tobacco to minors – which has generally been trending steadily downward over the past two decades – spiked upward sharply this year.
In addition to the uptick in sales to buyers under the age of 18, there was also a significant drop in signage in stores that sell tobacco warning sales were prohbited to minors.
A Preventative Care Delivery Twist
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Sep 3, 2014
A new study by UCLA researchers has concluded that the best way to provide preventative care to underserved populations may be to deliver it within their communities as opposed to waiting for them to show up and ask for it.
An examination of 20 such preventative care outreach programs by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has concluded that they all provide far higher success rates in getting underserved and minority communities screened for conditions such as breast and colorectal cancers. Four of the programs are based in California, including three in San Francisco.
In Brief: Most Anti-Prop. 45 Money Coming From Insurers; U.S. Attorney Files Suit Against Two Watsonville Nursing Homes
Free
Sep 3, 2014
Most Anti-Prop. 45 Money Coming From Insurers
Virtually all of the money that has been raised to fight Proposition 45 – the ballot initiative that would allow state regulators to have a say in healthcare insurance premium increases – is coming from insurers themselves.
DMHC Fines Safeguard Health $100,000
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Sep 2, 2014
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined Safeguard Health Plans $100,000 for engaging in what it determined was an “unfair†pattern of claims handling and payments.
Prime Files RICO Suit Against Union
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Aug 27, 2014
Prime Healthcare Services rarely hesitates to use bareknuckle tactics as part of its business operations. A lawsuit it has just filed against California\'s biggest healthcare labor union could be said to be \"Exhibit A\" of such conduct.
The Ontario-based Prime has sued the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers, claiming the union had violated provisions of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal statute typically used to prosecute organized crime figures.
Exchange Paying For Gender Changes
Free
Aug 27, 2014
Devin Payne had gone years without health insurance – having little need and not much money to pay for it.
Then Payne, who had a wife and four children, realized she could no longer live as a man.
In Brief: Sharp Pulls Out of Pioneer ACO; Covered California To Add Dental Benefits
Free
Aug 27, 2014
Sharp Pulls Out Of Pioneer ACO
San Diego-based Sharp Healthcare has withdrawn from its Pioneer ACO due to its inability to make the finances work.
In Some Specialties, In-Office Surgeries Blur
Free
Aug 25, 2014
ne of the hopes embedded in the Affordable Care Act was to expand the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in addressing the nation’s shortage of primary care providers. But a new study questions whether that’s actually happening in doctors’ offices.
Of the more than 4 million procedures office-based nurse practitioners and physician assistants independently billed more than 5,000 times in a year to Medicare – a list including radiological exams, setting casts and injecting anesthetic agents – more than half were for dermatological surgeries.
How ACA Is Being Used In Mid-Term Elections
Free
Aug 25, 2014
Beverly Hires, a former nurse running for Congress in South Florida in one of the nation’s rare competitive House races, ticks off her problems with the federal healthcare law: higher premiums, cancelled policies and employers cutting full-time jobs.
“The Affordable Care Act is not making insurance more affordable,†she said in an interview, citing many of the same criticisms as her five GOP opponents in the Aug. 26 primary, who are vying for the chance to oust first-term Democrat Rep. Patrick Murphy.
Antipsychotic Drugs Overused In Midwest Nursing Homes
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Aug 25, 2014
Experts say powerful antipsychotic drugs — sometimes given in combination — are used too much and often inappropriately as “chemical restraints†or sedatives to control the behavior of Kansas nursing home residents suffering from Alzheimer’s or other dementias, and that efforts to curb the practice so far are showing weak results compared with other states.
“Kansas is pretty far outside the norm, clearly, of what is happening in the rest of the nation,†said Mitzi McFatrich, executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, a Lawrence-based group that champions improved conditions in nursing homes.
Auditor Rips DHCS On Drug Medi-Cal
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Aug 20, 2014
California\'s auditor has issued a blistering report on the Department of Health Care Services\' management of the network of substance abuse programs that provide care for Medi-Cal enrollees, suggesting those providers may have defrauded the state of as much as $93.7 million.
According to the report, the state auditor identified as many as 2.6 million separate outpatient services “that are potentially indicative of fraudulent activity.†DHCS operates the program in conjunction with the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP).
