California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones reiterated his desire to regulate health insurance premiums in the Golden State, citing a new Commonwealth Fund study that showed carriers offering individual coverage boosting their profits despite new rules on medical loss ratios.
Archived California Healthcare News
Tri-City To Begin Remote Monitoring
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Dec 5, 2012
Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside will begin remotely monitoring discharged patients in early 2013 in order to prevent their readmission.
DMHC Opens Consumer Portal
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Dec 5, 2012
The California Department of Managed Health Care has launched an online portal to allow consumers to file grievances regarding health plans and affiliated providers in a more convenient and timely manner.
AIDS Group Sues L.A. County DPH
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Dec 5, 2012
An outspoken non-profit that is one of the leading providers of services to AIDS patients in Los Angeles County has sued the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and two members of the County Board of Supervisors, claiming it is being retaliated against for its activism.
Many States Still Hedging On ACA
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Dec 3, 2012
States have less than two weeks to notify the Department of Health and Human Services about their plans for state health exchanges. And most Midwestern states have decided to forego plans for their own exchanges in favor of defaulting to a federal plan.
Radiologists Suffering Identity Crisis
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Dec 3, 2012
For years, the mystery novelist Carl Hiaasen has slyly joked in his popular whodunits that radiologists were not actually doctors.
It remains to be seen whether Hiaasen\'s tongue-in-cheek claim has had any purchase with his readers, but a recent survey concludes the author and the American public in general tend to be on the same page regarding the medical specialty.
Lawsuit Claims Charity Care Abuses
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Dec 3, 2012
Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago is being sued by two patients who claim the facility failed to provide them appropriate charity care.
In Brief: Kansas Data Linked To CDC; Minnesota Sued Over Abortion Funding
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Dec 3, 2012
Kansas Health Information Neworking Now Sharing Data With CDC
The Kansas Health Information Network has begun sharing its hospital data with an entity that coordinates it with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Brief: MemorialCare To Start Up Health Plan; California Slashes Antibiotic Use
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Nov 28, 2012
MemorialCare To Start Up Health Plan
Long Beach-based hospital operator MemorialCare Health System has submitted an application to the California Department of Managed Health Care to operate a new health plan for Medi-Cal managed care and for children with chronic health conditions.
Individual Policy Premiums Mostly Flat
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Nov 28, 2012
A new survey by Mountain View-based eHealth concludes there has been a significant moderation in price trends for individual healthcare coverage.
ACA May Help On Mental Health
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Nov 28, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of Californians currently falling through the cracks in terms of receiving mental health services are expected to benefit greatly from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Leapfrog Doles Out Safety Grades
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Nov 28, 2012
The latest hospital safety survey by the Leapfrog Group suggests California\'s facilities are sort of like Lake Wobegon\'s children – not all of them are above average, but a large number of them certainly are.
However, the survey\'s controversy does not lie among the nearly 40% of hospitals that received “A†grades from the quality measurement organization, or the nearly 70% that scored a grade of “B†or better.
A New Era For Coordinated Care
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Nov 26, 2012
With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now reducing payments to hospitals with high readmission rates, providers are scrambling to find ways to reduce their numbers. One potential panacea is care coordination.
This kind of comprehensive, in-depth care is being piloted around the country and the cut to the pocket book has placed hospitals at the helm of the change.
University of Iowa Disputes Audit; MetroHealth Names New CEO; Wayne State Medical School Receives Grant
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Nov 26, 2012
University of Iowa Hospitals Disputes Much of Medicare Audit
The University of Iowa Hospitals will refund $271,000 in overpayments it received from the Medicare program, but will dispute another $550,000 the federal government claims it owes.
Price For Minnesota Exchange Leaps
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Nov 26, 2012
Minnesota\'s state health insurance exchange will cost $54 million in 2015 to operate, according to Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration.
Chicago Expands Medicaid Program
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Nov 26, 2012
Cook County in Illinois has gotten an early start on the Affordable Care Act, beginning last week enrollment of about 115,000 residents into a local Medicaid program.
Medical Homes
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Nov 24, 2012
Medical Homes have been increasingly embraced by stakeholders as a key component of 21st century healthcare delivery. The ongoing challenge is to demonstrate the quality and value derived from the care delivered by patient-centered medical homes.
During the week of November 5th, Medical Home News, MCOL and Payers & Providers jointly sponsored an online survey to ask industry stakeholders their perspectives on patient-centered medical homes.
In Brief: Cedars-Sinai Receives $20 Million Gift; ACA Trends More Favorably
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Nov 14, 2012
Cedars-Sinai Receives $20 Million Gift
The founder of a leading Southern California financial management firm and his wife have made a $20 million grant to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to facilitate the merging of biomedical research and clinical care.
Kaiser’s Earnings Come On Strong
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Nov 14, 2012
Kaiser Permanente reported strong earnings for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, bounding back into profitability.
Health Net Enters ACO-Like Deal
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Nov 14, 2012
Health Net, Hill Physicians Group and two major hospital operators in the Bay Area have entered into an ACO-style arrangement to provide care for nearly 6,500 University of California employees and retirees in San Francisco.
The goal of the arrangement, which was announced earlier this week and will be implemented beginning in January, is to prevent any increases in the cost of care for the 6,100 UC employees and 380 non-Medicare retirees during 2013, officials said.
