Health Care Headlines

With his signature on a novel Medicaid-for-all-type bill, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval could rewrite the way many of his constituents get healthcare, and establish a model that other states might eventually follow in the absence of congressional action to fix or replace Obamacare.

In 2007, after a number of dangerous medicines were pulled off the market, Congress ordered the Food and Drug Administration to set up an early warning system to detect other harmful drugs before more people died.

Didn’t we solve this problem?  Not quite. What’s more, Mylan is back in the news. On Wednesday, regulators said the company had most likely overcharged Medicaid by $1.27 billion for EpiPens. The same day, a group of pension funds announced that they hoped to unseat much of Mylan’s board for “new lows in corporate stewardship,” including paying the chairman $97 million in 2016, more than the salaries of the chief executives at Disney, General Electric and Walmart combined.

Less and less of the research presented at a prominent cancer conference is supported by the National Institutes of Health, a development that some of the country’s top scientists see as a worrisome trend.

Oxygen-rich blood generally flows from the heart to the brain, but a new technology aimed at preventing strokes temporarily reverses that path.

Amid growing uncertainty over federal health care funding, Covered California is calling on health insurers to prepare for the worst.

The state Senate passed a bill Thursday that would create a single-payer health care system in California. The bill, SB 562, now moves to the Assembly.

The health overhaul bill passed by the House earlier this month accomplishes one major feat: It is even less popular than the not-very-popular Affordable Care Act it would largely replace, a new poll finds.

An overwhelming number of cancer deaths are caused when the tumor cells spread the disease throughout the body. In a new study, researchers identified a specific process that causes the cell-spreading behavior, known as metastasis, to occur. They also found that two existing drugs utilized together may help disrupt the process.

The frightening spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs threatens to return medicine to the pre-antibiotic era, with the return of deadly infectious diseases long thought vanquished.

Congress and many state legislatures are considering expanding access to telemedicine. To inform this debate, we analyzed Medicare fee-for-service claims for the period 2004–14 to understand trends in and recent use of telemedicine for mental health care, also known as telemental health.

Sometime in the next few weeks, four Democratic lawyers and four Republican ones will file into the ornate Lyndon Baines Johnson Room just steps from the Senate chamber at the Capitol to consider a bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.

It was a hectic week for people who follow news about health politics. Kaiser Health News’ veteran reporters Mary Agnes Carey and Julie Rovner sat down to discuss some of the major developments.

A man sobbed in a New York emergency room. His elderly wife, who suffered from advanced dementia, had just had a breathing tube stuck down her throat. He knew she never would have wanted that. Now he had to decide whether to reverse the life-sustaining treatment that medics had begun.

Fourteen million more people would be uninsured under the House Obamacare repeal plan in 2018 than under current law, the CBO said Wednesday in its updated report on the GOP health law.

Attacks on healthcare facilities, health workers, and ambulances have continued “with alarming frequency,” through 2016 and into 2017, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

For as long as people who lived in the neighborhood could remember, the bottom floor of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s headquarters was surrounded by a chain-link fence, closed off from their view.

Pressure within Congress to expand Medicare coverage of telehealth and remote monitoring services is approaching critical mass. Multiple bills have recently been introduced with bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, and a new bipartisan Congressional Telehealth Caucus has been formed in the House.

President Trump plans to unveil on Tuesday a $4.1 trillion budget for 2018 that would cut deeply into programs for the poor, from health care and food stamps to student loans and disability payments, laying out an austere vision for reordering the nation’s priorities.

The attorneys general for 15 states and the District of Columbia today filed a motion to intervene in the House Republicans’ lawsuit challenging federal cost-sharing reduction payments under the Affordable Care Act, which reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income individuals purchasing coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplaces. “

Self-employed Californians are most likely to be impacted if Obamacare is repealed, according to an analysis released Thursday by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.

It’s common knowledge in medicine: Doctors routinely order tests on hospital patients that are unnecessary and wasteful. Sutter Health, a giant hospital chain in Northern California, thought it had found a simple solution.

Because artificial intelligence (AI) has become so buzzy, and applied so indiscriminately–AI for pot, AI for beer brewing, AI for horse care, AI for sex ed (all examples courtesy of CB Insights)–it’s easy to dismiss as just another passing trend, like slap bracelets, Fitbits or a dignified presidency.

Minutes matter when someone’s bleeding to death, and Santa Clara County doctors are involved in a national push born from mass casualty events that aim to educate residents on how to best serve as an unexpected first responder.

By the time Warren J. Smith III met Kavita Bhavan, M.D., he had had dozens of surgeries stemming from a motorcycle accident that shattered his leg. Altogether, he had spent more than a year in hospital beds, and the serious infection in his leg was another disappointing setback.

Medicare, the nation’s federal health insurance program for 57 million people age 65 and over and younger people with disabilities, often plays a major role in federal health policy and budget discussions. This was the case in discussions leading up to enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which, in addition to expanding health insurance coverage, included changes to Medicare that reduced program spending.

Luz felt relieved and grateful when she learned that her 16-year-old son qualified for full coverage under Medi-Cal. Now, she worries that the information she provided to the government health program could put her family at risk of deportation.

The health-care world is gearing up for a lobbying offensive to persuade Republican U.S. senators to address their problems with an Obamacare replacement that was conceived in the House in a virtual vacuum.

Under consideration by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday: hiring a consultant who would craft a transition plan if Obamacare is scrapped.

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have confirmed one case of Ebola in what appears to be the first new outbreak of the deadly virus since the massive epidemic that hit West Africa in 2014-’15.

Kindergartner Cozette DesRoches gets ready for school every morning until her mother reminds her.  She can’t go because of four cases of chickenpox at 400-student Mariposa School of Global Education in Agoura Hills in an outbreak that has made headlines and spawned debate over vaccination compliance.

President Trump’s pick to run federal mental health services has called for a bold reordering of priorities — shifting money away from education and support services and toward a more aggressive treatment of patients with severe psychiatric disorders.

Narciso Lara, 36, was trying to support his family in Salinas as a forklift driver but didn’t see any opportunity for advancement. So last year, he enrolled in a community college program to become a radiologic technologist.

The vast majority (93%) of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States are satisfied with their career choice, although fatigue is a pervasive problem, according to a national survey of employed RNs working in hospitals.

Small community hospitals constitute a significant portion of the US healthcare system. In 2015, nearly three quarters of US hospitals had fewer than 200 beds. Every day, in rural and urban areas across the country, these facilities play a critical role in caring for millions of Americans. – See more at: http://www.medicalhealthnews.net/stewardship-at-small-hospitals-stretching-limited-resources#sthash.wB3QUZ8c.dpuf

The Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program is sponsored by Sutter Health and affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. Those residents also do “rotation” at Kaiser, which also provides faculty for the program.

After weeks of will-they-or-won’t-they tensions, the House managed to pass its GOP replacement for the Affordable Care Act on Thursday by a razor-thin margin. The vote was 217-213.

Republican senators plan to write a health-care bill that could be radically different from the one passed last week by the House, including keeping some of the benefits and safeguards currently enshrined within Obamacare.

As the US House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) on Thursday, speakers here at the Society of Hospital Medicine 2017 Annual Meeting were weighing in on what’s next.

As House Republicans on Thursday shoved their health care bill across the finish line, stuffing it with amendments and extra dollars to secure a hard-won majority, the lawmakers who will inherit the legislation delivered their own message from across the Capitol:  That’s cute.

The GOP’s American Health Care Act cleared a significant legislative hurdle Thursday when the House passed the bill.

Small-scale inpatient facilities, known in the industry as micro-hospitals, are popping up across the country to offer medical care in underserved communities and provide provide a local alternative to the potentially long waits for emergency care at major hospitals.

“The greed and recklessness of one company and its partners helped spark a public health crisis in the United States that will take generations to fully repair,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the organization. “Please learn from our experience and do not allow Mundipharma to carry on Purdue’s deadly legacy on a global stage.”

America’s hospital and health systems must be prepared to battle viruses every day – and that includes the malicious malware viruses attacking hospital computers, networks, and connected devices.

With a projected surplus of about $20 million to use at their discretion, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to look into how the network of trauma centers can benefit from the funds.

As the healthcare industry turns to video conferencing, patient-generated data and modern communication tools, medical visits of the future will look vastly different than the current approach to care.

As hospitals and health systems battle the growing threat of ransomware, CEOs are coming face-to-face with an increasingly tricky decision about whether to pay the ransom.

When you go to the internet or phone book today, there are hundreds of physicians listed in most urban areas. In the next two decades, you can expect more difficulty finding a physician in your hometown — a major physician shortage is looming.

Opioid addiction medications will soon be more accessible in California, thanks to a $90 million federal grant.  One project the state is focusing on is helping more physicians prescribe a drug called buprenorphine.

CHA participated on a panel addressing the barriers that prevent access to care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries during yesterday’s Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health hearing. Other panelists included representatives from the California Medical Association, California Primary Care Association, California Dental Association and UC Health.

HHS Secretary Tom Price recently announced the first of two rounds of grant money — as authorized by the 21st Century Cures Act — for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and six territories, with the first totaling nearly $485 million. Funding was allocated by each state’s overdose death rate and “unmet need for opioid addiction treatment.”

An 11th-hour White House push to give President Trump a major legislative victory in his first 100 days in office broke down late Thursday as House Republican leaders failed to round up enough votes for their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The moribund Republican health care bill received a jolt of life Wednesday when the conservative House Freedom Caucus endorsed a revised version of the measure. But a leading GOP moderate criticized the reshaped legislation as a conservative exercise in “blame-shifting and face-saving” that wasn’t winning new support from party centrists, leaving its fate unclear.

In many ways, the health care industry has been a great friend to the U.S. economy. Its plentiful jobs helped lift the country out of the Great Recession and, partly due to the Affordable Care Act, it now employs 1 in 9 Americans — up from 1 in 12 in 2000.

Today, Congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced bipartisan legislation to help increase the number of doctors available to work in underserved and rural areas. The bill would extend and expand the Conrad 30 Waiver program which allows doctors here from abroad to remain in the U.S. upon completing their medical residency under the condition that they practice in underserved areas for at least three years.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the National Urban League (NUL) today announced an alliance to advance health equity and diversity in health care leadership in communities across the U.S.

The Illumination Foundation has opened a new 55-bed around-the-clock shelter where Orange County homeless patients with mental health or substance abuse struggles can recover after a hospitalization.

President Trump is determined to expand access to addiction treatment to help curb the opioid crisis, several of his top health advisers said on Wednesday.

Over 90% of individuals with HIV survive more than three years after diagnosis, due to improved screening and more effective antiretroviral therapy.

When a social welfare program previously vilified by Republicans nearly across the board gets approval from the state legislature in deep red Kansas, you know something is up.

Medicaid programs are at the center of the opioid epidemic. Nearly 12 percent of adults covered by Medicaid have a substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder. Available data suggest that Medicaid beneficiaries are prescribed painkillers at higher rates than non-Medicaid patients and have a higher risk of overdose, from both prescription opioids and illegal versions including heroin and fentanyl

Hospital closures have become an epidemic in rural communities across the country. More than 75 rural hospitals have closed since 2010 and the most recent projections from the National Rural Health Association indicate that 673 additional facilities are vulnerable to closure. But when one hospital closes its doors, the ripple effects are felt throughout the entire community.

It probably comes as no surprise that primary care physicians, who know their patients best, can accurately predict the likelihood those patients will end up in the hospital within the next year.

Repeal and replace is on-again, off-again, but that doesn’t mean the rules affecting your insurance will remain unchanged.

Human intelligence has long powered hospitals and health care. We rely on doctors, nurses, and a variety of other clinicians to solve problems and create new solutions. Advances in artificial intelligence are now making it possible to apply this form of computer-based “thinking” to health care.

L.A. County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger is recommending the Department of Mental Health to provide a legal analysis, interpretation and application of all existing state mental health laws.

Centinela Hospital Medical Center today further demonstrated its commitment to the community with the opening of its newly expanded Emergency Room, part of its $100 million capital expansion and renovation effort currently underway.

Until the myth of the fountain of youth proves true, regenerative medicine is the best hope we’ve got for fixing failed body parts and, as a result, living longer. Scientists won’t be able to bottle forever. They are, however, working on engineering human cells, tissues, and organs that can repair themselves.

Medicaid programs are at the center of the opioid epidemic. Nearly 12 percent of adults covered by Medicaid have a substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder.

Many fear the world is at risk of an infectious disease outbreak that could be more deadly than a nuclear attack, and the United States is unprepared for it.

The diplomats who met to form the United Nations in 1945 also discussed the need for a global health group; that led to the creation of the World Health Organization. Its constitution went into effect on April 7, 1948, and World Health Day is celebrated annually on April 7.

It’s well known that most California farmworkers are immigrants. But did you know that so are most dentists, medical scientists, butchers and nursing aides?

Last November, over 64 percent of Californians voted in favor of a $2 per pack tobacco tax hike in the form of Proposition 56, the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016.

As the nation’s Republican leaders huddle to reconsider their plans to “repeal and replace” the nation’s health law, advocates for universal health coverage press on in California, armed with renewed political will and a new set of proposals.

The AHA today urged Congress to provide law enforcement and other appropriate agencies with the resources to investigate cyber attacks and proactively prevent them.

California’s communities face a severe shortage of physicians, which is expected to get exponentially worse as the population continues to grow and our aging physician workforce moves toward retirement.

While the future of health care is still undetermined, one thing is certain: It’s important for consumers to take steps to educate themselves about their health and well-being and become active participants in their plan of care. However, it can feel overwhelming to a patient to make complicated decisions that can impact their health (and finances) in the short and long term.

“I’m extremely concerned about the potential impact of the 18 percent cut,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Rep. Nita Lowey, senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the proposed cuts could have “catastrophic results” for patients and researchers.

Maria Consuelo believes she’s alive today because of a groundbreaking program this left-leaning city created a decade ago – one that guarantees health coverage to every one of its 864,000 residents.

Chances are, you or someone you know has grappled with depression. The global rate of disorder, which the World Health Organization defines as a “persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that people normally enjoy, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities for two weeks or more,” has risen by more than 18% since 2005, according to the agency.

Sarah Murthi, MD, stood between an ultrasound monitor and a University of Maryland student supine on a medical bed at the Newseum here. Clad in a pink scrub, the University of Maryland School of Medicine trauma surgeon demonstrated a new way to view ultrasound images as a dozen or so onlookers stared and occasionally chuckled. One by one, audience members donned goggles to see images from inside the student for themselves.

The federal government should spearhead an aggressive effort to eliminate hepatitis B and C by 2030, argues a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

A little-known federal agency responsible for making health care safer and more efficient has survived 20 years in Washington with a target on its back, but its time may be running out.

Sen. Ricardo Lara on Thursday released some provisions of a proposed single-payer health care system that would drastically alter California’s insurance market, but details about how it would be financed are still pending.

California’s doctors and dentists have renewed their push for more money to treat Medicaid patients now that the state has been spared the drastic cuts proposed under the failed GOP health care bill.

President Trump says that Obamacare is going to explode.  But if that happens, it is likely because his administration supplies the spark that detonates the marketplaces.

Do you remember learning about photons in your science classes in high school? If so, the focus was likely on their association with small particles and physics, and you probably did not learn much about how they might relate to human disease.

Ohio University is using virtual reality as a training tool for surgical residents preparing for their first days of trauma care.  Through a new Immersive Media Initiative, a team of researchers at Ohio University filmed trauma scenarios using special cameras and microphones to capture a 360-degree experience, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Using a virtual reality headset, residents are thrust into a trauma bay to observe emergency physicians and nurses treating a car crash victim.

A Bay Area legislator is trying to level the playing field among hospital chains, particularly in Northern California, where he said studies show consolidations have led to some of the highest healthcare prices for consumers and employers in the state.

Telehealth takes a lot of forms these days. Virtual visits with a health care provider can take place by video, phone or text, or via the Web or a mobile app. The one commonality: You get to consult a doctor from your home, the office, Starbucks or anywhere with a wifi or mobile connection.

Maintaining a safe environment in a healthcare facility requires vigilance on multiple fronts, making it critical to seek out every new tool available. Increasingly, hospitals and other medical centers are turning to UV surface treatment devices to bolster the cleaning regimen.

Republicans may have failed to overthrow Obamacare this week, but there are plenty of ways they can chip away at it.

For the second day in a row, House Republican leaders today postponed a scheduled vote on their bill to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) because there weren’t enough aye’s to pass it.

An average family making more than $200,000 a year would gain $5,640 while a family making less than $10,000 a year would lose $1,420 if Congress passes the health care plan proposed by House Republicans, according to a new analysis.