Medi-Cal had a big decade.
The number of Californians enrolled in the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents swelled by 5.5 million from 2010 to 2019. It now covers 1 in 3 Californians and 40% of children.
The program’s annual budget — a combination of state and federal money — tops $100 billion, more than the entire state budget of Florida.
Operations of 366-bed St. Vincent Medical Center near downtown Los Angeles are winding down and the facility will close entirely in the coming days.
Its current owner, Verity Health, asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ernest Robles for approval to close the facility. Robles granted the approval on Jan. 9.
Long Beach-based Molina Healthcare, which has expanded dramatically since the Affordable Care dramatically expanded Medicaid coverage and the purchase of health insurance coverage by individuals on state exchanges, may hit a rough patch with the release of its first quarter 2020 earnings.
Aetna - PPO: Fair
Aetna Health of California, Inc. - HMO: Good
Anthem Blue Cross - HMO: Good
Anthem Blue Cross - PPO: Good
Blue Shield of California - HMO: Good
Blue Shield of California/Blue Shield Life - PPO: Good
CIGNA - HMO: Good
CIGNA - PPO: Good
Health Net Life Insurance Company - PPO: Good
Health Net of California, Inc. - HMO: Good
Kaiser Permanente - Northern California - HMO: Excellent
Kaiser Permanente - Southern California - HMO: Excellent
County | 2005-2007* | 2015-2017*
Fresno | 6.5 | 9.3
Sacramento | 7.8 | 8.8
Contra Costa | 5.3 | 8.5
San Diego | 5.0 | 8.0
Riverside | 5.3 | 7.7
Alameda | 5.2 | 7.1
Orange | 5.4 | 6.5
San Bernardino | 4.8 | 6.1
Santa Clara | 4.9 | 6.0
Los Angeles | 3.4 | 5.7
*Rate per 100,000
Millions of California toddlers who should have been tested for lead exposure have not received state and federally mandated blood tests, in part because the health hazard – a particular threat to poor children – has not been prioritized by state public health agencies, a state audit reported Tuesday.
With its deluxe suites, A-list patients and world-class art collection that includes works by Picasso and Chagall, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s nickname is “hospital to the stars.” But starting this year, it is making a change for its poorest patients.
Garden Grove-based Brand New Day Health Plan, which operated for decades as Universal Care, has been purchased by Minneapolis-based Bright Health. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Brand New Day had about 41,000 enrollees in five Southern California counties as of late last year, according to data from the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC).
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente has teamed with the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West to create a new non-profit firm to address the ongoing healthcare workforce shortage in California and elsewhere in the United States.
The company, known as Futuro Health, was funded with $130 million from both organizations.
SB 277 (passed in 2016) barred parents from citing their personal beliefs as a reason for not vaccinating their children and made California the third state in the nation to allow children to skip their shots only if they had a medical reason to do so.
A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that under SB 277, 1.87% of children would remain unvaccinated in 2027 because they are exempt from the law. Without the law, the percentage of kids exempt from vaccination requirements would have been 2.36%.
After years of state sanctions and fines, Kaiser Permanente claims it has gone a long way toward improving its mental health care. The national managed care giant — California’s largest insurer with 9 million members — touts more than 1,200 therapist hires since 2016, improved patient access to appointments and an expanded training program for mental health professionals.
Samantha Powell, 29, says she wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the mental health services she received after her last child was born.
“I had postpartum depression with my other two children, so I knew what was happening to me. I knew it wasn’t going to be fun,” she said. “But this time, I felt suicidal. Luckily, I was able to get help before it was too late.”
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined 13 health plans a combined $1.905 million in connection with a fraud investigation that led to the closure of a Monterey Park medical practice management and claims processing firm two years ago.
Uninsured among women (15-44): U.S. 11.7%; California 8.8%
Inadequate prenatal care: U.S. 15.0%; California 9.5%
Poverty among women (15-44): U.S. 15.7%; California 16.0%
Source: 2019 March of Dimes Report Card
When Mary Prehoden gets dressed for work every morning, her eyes lock on the bite-shaped scar on her chest.
It’s a harsh reminder of one of the worst days of her life. Prehoden, a nurse supervisor at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, was brutally attacked last year by a schizophrenic patient who was off his medication. He lunged at her, threw her to the ground, repeatedly punched and kicked her, and bit her so hard that his teeth broke the skin and left her bleeding.
The incident lasted about 90 seconds, but the damage lingers.
Kenda Williams, 51, went to West Coast Dental in Torrance to treat the shooting pain in her molar. She spent the day in a drug-induced haze.
Williams later found out she had signed up for two credit cards that day to cover her dentist’s $9,055 bill. Unemployed and on Medi-Cal, the Los Angeles resident had no idea why her bill was so high, or why she had been approved for so much credit.
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente has named Gregory A. Adams the organization’s permanent chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors, almost exactly a month after the unexpected death of his predecessor, Bernard J. Tyson. Adams has been serving as interim CEO since Tyson died.
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined a Sacramento-based dental plan $75,000 for outsourcing coverage decisions to a company in India, in violation of state law.
