Archived California Healthcare News

The Ohio Congressional delegation has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to suspend a competitive bidding pilot program for durable medical equipment, claiming it is flawed. Fourteen U.S. Representatives from Ohio, both Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to the CMS last week. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, sent a separate letter.

AMA Grants Millions To Midwest Medical Schools

The American Medical Association has awarded a $1.1 million grant to the University of Michigan Medical School to help train physicians in new ways.

Just days after extracting a settlement from Anthem Blue Cross on the way it handled pharmacy orders for its patients with HIV, Consumer Watchdog has filed an almost identical lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and a California-based subsidiary. The suit, filed by the Santa Monica-based consumer advocacy group in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims the Minnesota-based UnitedHealth and its subsidiary, PacifiCare, is endangering its HIV-positive enrollees by compelling them to enroll in a mail-order program to receive their anti-retroviral medications that is used to keep the condition in check.

In matters of patient mortality, it\'s one health department\'s word against another\'s. That was the case when the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services this week questioned mortality data released earlier this week by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concluding its L.A. County-USC Medical Center had higher than average mortality rates in more categories of care than any other hospital in California.

Medicare billings is not the only focal point for committing healthcare financial waste and fraud, according to a new study by Truven Analytics. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Truven analyzed 11.6 million claims generated by 150 large employers over the course of a single calendar year. Altogether, Truven pinpointed $122.6 million in fraudulent claims.

Michigan Moves Closer To Compromise On Medicaid Expansion

Michigan lawmakers are moving closer to passing legislation that would expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

A decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold retroactive payment reductions to the Medi-Cal program has roused providers facing steep funding cuts. The reductions are retroactive to June 2011, and include an overall 10% reduction of payments to clinics, laboratories, pharmacists and optometrists. However, it also includes a 27% reduction in payments to skilled nursing facilities situated within hospitals.

CDPH Fines 10 Hospitals $625,000 For Care Mishaps

The California Department of Public Health announced on Thursday it had issued administrative penalties to 10 hospitals and fines totaling $625,000.

Iowa is moving significantly closer to expanding healthcare coverage for the poor as part of the Affordable Care Act, with its lawmakers passing compromise legislation late last month that would insure tens of thousands of low-income residents without enrolling them in Medicaid. The bill creates the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. Under its operation, those individuals and families with incomes of up to 100% of the federal poverty level would receive the same coverage as state employees. Those with incomes up to 138% of poverty would receive subsidies to buy coverage on Iowa\'s health insurance exchange. They would also be subjected to annual wellness measurements and may be charged small premiums if they don\'t comply.