In Brief: DHCS Discloses Medi-Cal Mailing Error; OSHPD Expands Hospital Financial Data
DHCS Discloses Medi-Cal Mailing Mixup
The California Department of Health Care Services disclosed that it mistakenly mailed more than 2,600 Medi-Cal benefits identification cards to the wrong recipients.
The cards were intended for children enrolled in the Healthy Families program who transitioned to Medi-Cal on Jan. 1. The cards included their birth dates and client index numbers.
DHCS officials attributed the mistaken mailings to a computing error. “There is a low likelihood that this incident could result in identity theft or fraud,” the agency said in a statement.
The disclosure on Dec. 22 came just a couple of weeks after DHCS admitted it had posted the Social Security numbers of almost 14,000 In-Home Supportive Service enrollees on its website.
“The protection of private information is a top priority for DHCS,” said agency director Toby Douglas. “We take any breach of personal health information very seriously, and we sincerely regret that this information was released. We have increased our efforts to ensure that all information is appropriately protected.”
OSHPD Expands Hospital FInancial Data Analysis
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has posted on its website a package of charts that focuses on finance issues such as payments from private insurers, relative profit margins and trends in labor costs.
Although the data, which is submitted by hospitals to OSHPD and then audited for accuracy, has been available from the agency in Excel spreadsheet form for several years, the agency had not performed much close analysis of the figures or what they mean for the state's nearly 400 hospitals as a whole.
The data analysis is available between the reporting years 2006 and 2010.
“Evaluating the financial picture of California's hospitals is especially important as California works to implement the Affordable Care Act,” OSHPD Director Robert P. David said in a statement. “The demand for services is expected to increase steadily after 2014.”
Poll Shows Strong Support For Physician-Assisted Suicide
A majority of Americans support physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, according to a new poll by Truven Health Analytics and National Public Radio.
According to the nationwide poll, 55% of respondents supported physician-assisted suicide, the same number as a year ago. Among those who did not support physician-assisted suicide, 23% said a doctor should furnish the means for a terminally ill patient to end their life if they or their family request it.
Twenty-nine percent supported physician-assisted suicide if the patient is suffering from a severe pain or a disability but is not terminal.
“As medical science advances, it is becoming more capable of maintaining a life, even perhaps beyond the wishes of the patient
nd their family,” said Raymond Fabius, M.D., chief medical officer at Truven Health Analytics, formerly the health division of Thomson Reuters. “While this subject is difficult to discuss, it will be increasingly relevant as time passes.”
