In Brief: California Gets Barely Passing Grade For Emergency Care; Payment Deadline Pushed Back Again
California Gets Barely Passing Grade For Emergency Care
The American College of Emergency Physicians gave California an overall grade of “C-” for the emergent care services it provides patients, ranking it 23rd in the nation. The state continued to receive a failing grade for access to emergency care, ranking it 42nd out of 50 states.
The ACEP cited the state's low ratio of emergency rooms and hospital beds to patients, and ongoing labor shortages of specialty physicians such as orthopedists and hand surgeons, as well as nurses.
“The lack of access to timely emergency care is troubling," said Thomas Sugarman, M.D., president of ACEP's California chapter. "Our huge and diverse state has complex problems that create barriers to medical care. Our state legislators need to make access to emergency care a top priority."
California did receive a far better grade for public health and injury prevention – a “B+” – one of the best in the nation. ACEP cited the state's relatively low smoking and obesity rates, as well as a fair number of trauma centers in urban areas. It also received a “C+” for its medical liability environment.
Nationwide, emergency services received an overall grade of “C-,” up from the “D+” given by ACEP for its last survey, which took place in 2009. The grade for access to emergency care remained unchanged at “D-.
Payment Deadline Pushed Back Again
Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente and Health Net have all delayed premium payment deadlines for coverage acquired via the Covered California health insurance exchange to be effective this month.
Anthem and Health Net have pushed back their payment deadlines to Jan. 31, while Kaiser has pushed it back to Jan. 22.
Covered California officials announced earlier this month that the first premium payment deadline had been pushed back from Jan. 6 to Jan. 15.
Although Covered California has been by far the most successful of the state exchanges in enrolling individuals into commercial plans, a variety of published reports suggest it has been pushed to the limit in terms of processing applications and moving them to insurers to collect payments. Wait times for the exchange's call centers also have been exceeding 90 minutes in recent days.
Blue Shield of California, another large insurer offering coverage via the exchange, has kept its Jan. 15 payment deadline in place.
Signature Drive Launched For Hospital CEO Pay Cap
The SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West has begun a drive to collect signatures to place a ballot proposition before voters that would cap the pay of chief executive officers of not-for-profit hospitals in California as well as what they can charge for care.
The propositions would limit CEO pay to $450,000 a year – about one-third below the current average among not-for-profit hospitals heads in California – as well as bar the facilities from charging more than 25% above the actual cost of care.
The union needs 505,000 valid signatures by mid-April to qualify the measures for the November ballot.
