Archived California Healthcare News

Minnesota\'s hospitals contributed $3.9 billion in community benefits to the state\'s 5.4 million residents in 2011, according to data provided by the Minnesota Hospital Association. A large bulk of that figure consisted of uncompensated care and shortfalls from government payers, which totaled $2.2 billion. The payment shortfalls totaled $1.7 billion and were connected primarily to the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

It\'s been decades since the advertising industry recognized the need to woo Hispanic consumers. Big companies saw the market potential and sank millions of dollars into ads. The most basic dos and don\'ts of marketing to Latinos in the U.S. have been understood for years. So when officials with Covered California, the state\'s health insurance exchange, started thinking about how to persuade the state\'s Latino population to enroll in health plans, they should have had a blueprint of what to do. Instead, they made a series of mistakes. As a result, just 7% of people who enrolled in Covered California health plans through the end of January speak Spanish as their first language -- substantially less than the nearly 30% of Spanish speakers in the state.

Eric Topol, M.D., a cardiologist at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, knows when his patients’ hearts are racing or their blood pressure is on the rise, even if they’re sitting at home. With high-risk patients hooked up to “personal data trackers” — a portable electrocardiogram built into a smartphone case, for instance — he and his researchers can track the ups and downs of patients’ conditions as they go about their lives. “It’s the real deal of what’s going on in their world from a medical standpoint,” said Topol, whose work is part of a clinical trial. “The integration of that with the classical medical record is vital.”

Free food and music are notorious for attracting young people; at least that’s the hope of Missouri insurance enrollment counselors. Before the March 31 deadline under the Affordable Care Act, groups are beefing up their campaigns to bring last-minute customers to the federal health insurance marketplace—especially young people.

The University of California at San Francisco appears not only to have been well-positioned financially last year, but for the future as well. UCSF\'s four professional schools ranked first among the public beneficiaries of funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2013, and second overall in funding. It received $501.6 million in grants and another $15.5 million in contracts.

A California health care workers’ union is collecting signatures to get two measures onto the ballot that it says would lower healthcare costs. United Health Care Workers West, or SEIU-UHW, wants to cap what hospitals can charge to 25% above the actual cost of services. SEIU-UHW says on average, hospitals charge 320% above the cost of care.

There\'s a new drug regimen being touted as a potential cure for a dangerous liver virus that causes hepatitis C. But it costs $84,000 -- or $1,000 a pill. And that price tag is prompting outrage from some consumers and a scramble by insurers to figure out which patients should get the drug —and who pays for it. Called Sovaldi, the drug is made by California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. and is the latest in handful of new treatments for hepatitis C, a chronic infection that afflicts at least 3 million Americans and is a leading cause of liver failure. It was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in December.

A Chicago-area chiropractor and physician are facing federal healthcare fraud charges after being accused of bilking four large insurance companies out of millions of dollars. The physician, Eguert Nagaj, M.D., and the chiropractor, Igor Sher, operated three separate medical and chiropractic practices in the town of Buffalo Grove. They were among six people involved in the alleged scheme named in indictments that were unsealed in federal court earlier this week. Both are facing 16 counts of mail fraud, with an additional obstruction of justice charge against Sher.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) has embarked on an ambitious public-private program to house thousands of homeless in an effort to cut healthcare costs. The county\'s Board of Supervisors has earmarked $14 million over the next four years to finance the program, which is known as the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool. An additional $4 million is being provided by a two-year grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.