California Healthcare News

Class Action Filed Against Anthem On PPO Terminations

Nov 2, 2025

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Anthem Blue Cross of California by the Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog over keeping its individual PPO plans in force in 2017.

CDPH Has Not Issued Hospital Safety Penalties In Nearly A Year

Nov 2, 2025

The California Department of Public Health has not issued an administrative penalty or fine to a hospital for endangering the lives of patients since January 2016, records show.

Anthem Says ACOs Saved $70.4 Million Over Year

Medical Groups Brought In Many Care Innovations

Nov 2, 2025

Anthem Blue Cross of California has announced that its consortium of accountable care organizations saved more than $70 million over a variety of 12-month periods that ended in September of last year.

Blue Shield Has To Refund Nearly $25 Million

Represents Excess Premiums Collected From Small Employers

Nov 2, 2025 By By Pauline Bartolone

About 240,000 Californians with job-based health coverage may have been surprised by a recent letter from Blue Shield of California saying the company owes them money, not the other way around.

Community Health Centers Treating Millions More Patients

But Their Structure May be Discouraging Some From Insurance

Nov 2, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

Community health centers, often beloved institutions in low-income neighborhoods, have thrown a bit of a wrench into the Affordable Care Act's efforts in increasing the ranks of the insured.

Hospital Settles Patient Dumping Lawsuit

Oct 27, 2025

A Los Angeles-area hospital has agreed to settle a patient dumping lawsuit brought by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer for $450,000.

Dignity, Catholic Health Initiatives Exploring Merger

Oct 27, 2025

Dignity Health is exploring a potential merger with Catholic Health Initiatives, the San Francisco-based hospital chain has disclosed this week.

DMHC Intervenes In Rehab Treatment Referral Scheme

Agency Orders Convicted Drug Dealer to Stop Soliciting Insurance

Oct 27, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

The Department of Managed Health Care has taken the unusual step of ordering an Orange County man to stop soliciting health insurance due to his lack of license and alleged engagement in deceptive business practices that led to Blue Shield of California paying out more than $1.2 million for substance abuse treatment claims.

California Loses Ground On STIs, Tobacco

CDPH Says Disease Rates and Sales to Minors Up

Oct 27, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

After years of making progress regarding sexually transmitted infections and tobacco consumption, state data suggests that Californians are now losing ground.

State OPA Releases Health Plan Report Cards

Cost of Care Data is Now Disclosed

Oct 27, 2025 By By Ana B. Ibarra

California’s Office of the Patient Advocate has released its annual report cards on health plans and medical groups.

Hospitals Say They're Getting Slammed By Drug Price Increases

Oct 21, 2025

A new report from the American Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals has concluded that hospitals in California and elsewhere are getting hit hard from dramatic price increases imposed on pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.

Covered California CEO Urges Consumers To Shop Around

Oct 21, 2025

Concerned about looming premium increases for 2017, Covered California Chief Executive Peter V. Lee has asked the 1.3 million participants in the state's insurance exchange to shop around for their coverage.

UC Hospitals To Participate In Precision Medicine Initiative

Along With Cedars-Sinai, They Receive Initial $1.3M in Funding

Oct 21, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

Four medical centers affiliated with the University of California healthcare system and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are among the first providers in the nation named as part of a federal precision medicine initiative.

Blue Shield Benefits From ACA Risk-Adjustment

Insurers Paid it $317M During First Two Years of Exchange

Oct 21, 2025 By By Chad Terhune

Some health insurers say they’re paying too much to rival Blue Cross Blue Shield plans under a key pillar of the federal health law designed to compensate insurers that take on sicker and more expensive patients.

Theranos Shutting Down Labs

Oct 13, 2025

Theranos, the embattled Palo Alto-based healthcare startup, has announced it is shutting down its three laboratories, including its flagship facility in Newark.

USC/Keck Awarded $6 Million Environmental Grant

Oct 13, 2025

The Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California has received a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to examine environmental factors related to asthma and obesity.

DMHC Fines L.A. Care $20,000

Cited For Missing Deadlines in Enrollee Grievances

Oct 13, 2025

L.A. Care Health Plan has been hit with two fines from the Department of Managed Health Care late last month totaling $20,000.

Consumers Dealing with Covered California Sticker Shock

Many Face Double-Digit Premium Increases and May Switch Plans

Oct 13, 2025 By By Emily Bazar

Covered California’s big 2017 rate hikes are starting to hit home for consumers.
The state health insurance exchange began mailing notices to its 1.3 million customers on Wednesday, alerting them that they can determine exactly how much the premiums for their current plans will rise in 2017, and begin shopping around for cheaper options.

DMHC Consolidates Plan Data into 'Dashboard'

Consumers, Researchers Can Recall 15 Years of Data in Minutes

Oct 13, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

The Department of Managed Health Care has launched a new consumer-oriented “dashboard” that aggregates much of the data the agency compiles on health plans into a single access point.

UCSF Contributes Nearly $9 Billion To Bay Area Economy

Oct 6, 2025

UC San Francisco, which is focused primarily on healthcare education, provides $8.9 billion a year to the Bay Area economy and provides about 20,000 jobs.

UCLA Grants $140K For Preventative Care In Underserved Part Of L.A.

Oct 6, 2025

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has granted $140,000 to eight community organizations in South Los Angeles to boost the use of preventative healthcare services among African-Americans and Latinos over the age of 50.

CDPH Grants Nearly $2 Million To Address Native American Mental Health

Oct 6, 2025

The California Department of Public Health said it would grant nearly $2 million to help address mental health disparities among Native Americans.

Covered California Fixes Computer Glitch

Pregnant Women Were Being Automatically Enrolled in Medi-Cal

Oct 6, 2025 By By Emily Bazar

The Covered California health insurance exchange has fixed its computer system to prevent pregnant women in a certain income range from being transferred into Medi-Cal without their knowledge or consent.

Stark Differences In Clinton, Trump Health Proposals

Coverage For up to 34.5 Million Americans at Stake

Oct 6, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

Whether or not Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is elected President next month could have an enormous impact on the U.S. healthcare system and how many Americans are insured in the coming years, according to a prominent health policy expert in California.

CDPH Rejects Receivership For Humboldt County SNFs

Sep 29, 2025

The California Department of Public Health rejected on Wednesday a request from the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman to take three skilled nursing facilities in Humboldt County into receivership.

Brown Signs Opioid Bill Into Law

Sep 29, 2025

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law that would require physicians to undertake closer scrutiny of their patients' prescription history when they consider prescribing opioid painkillers.

Dave Jones Floats Public Option For California

But Insurance Commissioner Provides Few Specifics

Sep 29, 2025 By By Chad Terhune

With major insurers retreating from the federal health law’s marketplaces, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said he supports a public option at the state level that could bolster competition and potentially serve as a test for the controversial idea nationwide.

DMHC Levies Six-Figure Fines Against Kaiser, Anthem

Penalties Are For Second-Opinion Denials And Claims Payment Issues

Sep 29, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) has levied six-figure fines against Kaiser Permanente and Anthem Blue Cross for failing to respond to a seriously ill child's request for a medical second opinion and lapses in addressing payment delays to providers.

DMHC Fines L.A. Care $18,000

Sep 22, 2025

The California Department of Managed Health Care has fined L.A. Care Health Plan $18,000 for delays for providing an enrollee with a primary care physician closer to their home.

Zuckerberg Pledges $600 Million To Create Bay Area Biohub

Sep 22, 2025

UC San Francisco, Stanford University and UC Berkeley said they would collaborate in a new biomedical research center funded with $600 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, M.D.

State Agency Takes Unprecedented Action Against SNFs

Department of Aging Wants Three Rural Facilities Brought Into Receivership

Sep 22, 2025 By Ron Shinkman

The California Department of Aging has taken the highly unusual step of asking the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to place three Humboldt County nursing homes into receivership to ensure they remain open.

DMHC Fines Dental Plan $40,000

Sep 15, 2025

The California Department of Managed Health Care has fined Sacramento-based Access Dental Plan $40,000 for missing a series of financial filings and notifications after its acquisition by Chicago-based First Commonwealth, Inc.

California's Uninsured Rate Plunges

Sep 15, 2025

Thanks to California's earnest embrace of the Affordable Care Act, the state's rate of uninsured dropped by half between 2013 and last year.

Nursing Board Tries To End Licensing Logjam

Delays Have Led to Some Forfeiting Jobs

Sep 15, 2025 By Eryn Brown

The newly appointed head of California’s nursing board says his ratcheted-up effort to clear a persistent licensing backlog has been successful.

Kaiser Says Coordinated Diabetes Care Can Also Reduce Depression

Mental Health Often an Issue in Managing Chronic Illness

Sep 15, 2025 By Ron Shinkman

Coordinating the care of diabetic patients with cardiovascular and mental health treatments has improved their overall outcomes as well as reduced incidents of depression, Kaiser Permanente has reported.

OSHPD Offers New Seismic Compliance Option

Could Prove Big Cost Cutter For Rural Hospitals

Sep 15, 2025 By Ron Shinkman

California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) has provided an opportunity for some of the state's older hospitals to find new ways to seek structural seismic compliance.

The agency has introduced a new category known as Structural Performance Category 4D, or SPC-4D. It joins five other categories of seismic compliance for buildings that provide acute care services.

USC Says Stem Cells Restored Limb Movement To Paraplegic

Sep 9, 2025

USC Keck Medical Center has claimed to restore partial limb control to a 21-year-old man who was paralyzed below the neck in a traffic accident earlier this year.

CDPH Fines L.A. Nursing Home

Sep 9, 2025

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has fined Country Villa Los Feliz Nursing Home in Los Angeles $75,000 in connection with the 2014 death of a resident who had fallen.

Huge Amount Of Surgical Medical Supplies Wasted

UCSF Study Says it is Nearly $1,000 a Procedure

Sep 9, 2025 By Ana A. Ibara

It’s long been a problem for the nation’s hospitals: A staggering number of medical supplies — from surgical gloves to sponges to medications — go unused and are discarded after surgeries.

Vast Majority Of State's Healthcare Is Publicly Funded

UCLA Study Suggests Single Payer May Be Logical End

Sep 9, 2025 By Ron Shinkman

Despite an ongoing debate about using government funds to finance healthcare delivery, a large majority of California's system is already publicly financed, suggesting a move toward a single-payer system would be a logical – rather than radical – step.

Berkeley Soda Tax Cuts Consumption

Aug 25, 2025

The Recently enacted soda tax in the city of Berkeley appears to be working.

Blue Shield Creates ACO for Inland Empire

Aug 25, 2025

San Francisco-based Blue Shield of California has entered into an accountable care organization (ACO) arrangement with providers in the Inland Empire.

Kaiser Says Norcal Heart Attack Rates Have Dropped Dramatically

Aug 25, 2025

Heart attack rates among Kaiser Permanente's Northern California enrollees dropped 23% between 2008 and 2014 and 40% since 2000.

Latinos Age More Slowly Than Other Californians

Issue Could Shape Future Healthcare Policies

Aug 25, 2025

UCLA researchers have concluded California's largest minority group ages more slowly than other ethnicities, a finding that may shape healthcare policy and delivery in the coming decades

Bill To End Surprise Medical Bills Has Traction

Patient Advocates Believe Passage Likely

Aug 25, 2025 By By Ana B. Ibarra

Earlier this year, Laurie Kirkland of Laguna Beach was taken by surprise when she received medical bills for her husband’s spinal surgeries. Their Blue Shield insurance deductible had been met, and the surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was in-network.

ACA Continues To Thin Ranks Of Uninsured In California

But Affordability is a Nagging Issue

Aug 25, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

The Affordable Care Act has continued to thin the ranks of the uninsured in California, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Anthem Blue Cross Offers Virtual Physician Consults In Spanish

Aug 18, 2025

Anthem Blue Cross of California has introduced a virtual physician service for its large pool of Spanish-speaking enrollees.

Treatment Centers Sue Health Net For Alleged Nonpayment Of Claims

Aug 18, 2025

Six alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers in California have filed suit against Health Net, claiming the Woodland Hills-based insurer stopped paying claims to treat its insured patients earlier this year.

Covered California Permitting Different Policies Among Families

Enrollment Process Will be Automated

Aug 18, 2025 By By Emily Bazar

All five members of the Wadstein family have Covered California’s most comprehensive — and expensive — level of health insurance, even though the two youngest children are the only ones who need that kind of plan.

CDPH Cites 10 Hospitals For Patient Privacy Breaches

Many of The Incidents Date Back to 2010

Aug 18, 2025

The California Department of Public Health has recently disclosed 12 citations against 10 hospitals for breaches of confidential patient information. They are the first such disclosures of 2016.

Kaiser Reports Stronger Revenue, Smaller Net Income Numbers

Aug 11, 2025

Kaiser Permanente reported strong revenue growth for the second quarter ending June 30, but net income was flat for the Oakland-based insurer and healthcare system operator.

UCSF Receives $85 Million Grant for Precision Medicine

Aug 11, 2025

UC San Francisco's Clinical and Translational Science Institute is the recipient of an $85 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health to launch new initiatives related to precision medicine.

Kaiser Finds Strong Autism Link Among Siblings

If One Child Has Disorder, Risk is Much Higher For The Next Born

Aug 11, 2025 By By Payers & Providers Staff

Kaiser Permanente has released a new study showing that incidences of autism are much higher in newborns who have siblings with the disorder.

California's Teen Birth Rate Drops To New Low

Declines Have Been Dramatic Since 2007

Aug 11, 2025 By By Ron Shinkman

The statewide rate of adolescent births has dropped to its lowest level every recorded, according to new data from the California Department of Public Health.

State May Demand More Drug Transparency

Wants Spending, R&D; Data From Insurers, Pharma

Aug 11, 2025 By By Pauline Bartolone

Will forcing drugmakers to disclose big price hikes and new high-cost treatments help keep medications affordable for consumers?