Unfortunately, stigma around mental health in this country
continues to grow. And due to many misconceptions, those affected
by mental health can be ostracized and go without treatment. The
truth is that mental health can affect anyone, so we all should
know about it! Help dispel the myths; learn the facts about
mental health.
How do you fix health inequity in the United States? The
education and health-care communities as well as policymakers
must consider what are known as the social determinants of health
as an integral part of solving this dilemma.
This week — May 6-12 — marks National Nurses Week,
a time to honor, celebrate, and
elevate nurses. Throughout the week, hospitals
across the state will be honoring and thanking the
nurses who help us provide care to Californians who
need it.
Olena Svetlov thinks it’s her duty to make sure California has a
healthy population. As a nurse, it’s her job. But outside of
work, she finds ways to go above and beyond. She speaks at health
fairs run by Cedars-Sinai to help recent immigrants access care.
She speaks abroad to spread her knowledge to communities that
need it.
When Cristina Hernandez notices her father is withdrawn or hasn’t
come out of his room for the day, she uses her cell phone to turn
on Glenn Miller or blast salsa music. Almost every time, she’ll
see the 91-year-old start tapping a finger on the table or hear
his walker tip tap on the floor in his room before he emerges
into the kitchen.
The American Hospital Association, a not-for-profit association
of health care provider organizations and individuals, along with
UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy
organization, formed an alliance to improve the health of
communities across the nation and increase diversity in
healthcare governance to shape the future of care.
A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration policy that
reduces payments to hospitals under a drug discount program,
ruling Thursday that the government overstepped its authority in
an attempt to address the high cost of prescription medications.
As a struggling high school student, Marco Angulo, MD, never
anticipated that he would one day become a primary care doctor
committed to making a difference in his community. But not only
has Angulo become an influential figure with his patients, he is
now encouraging a growing number of minority students in
community colleges and local universities in Orange County to
follow his path into careers in medicine. That’s very good news
for primary care in California.
Because of this year’s sharp increase in measles cases — which
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has blamed a
deliberate misinformation campaign by anti-vaccine activists for
— many Americans are wondering whether they need to be
vaccinated.
America’s 340B hospitals are pleased with the District Court’s
decision and urge HHS to follow the judge’s directive to
promptly resolve the harm caused by its unlawful cuts to Medicare
reimbursement for certain 340B hospitals.
More U.S. women are dying from pregnancy-related causes, and more
than half of those deaths are preventable, government health
officials said in a report Tuesday.
The U.S. Surgeon General’s office estimates that more than
20 million people have a substance use disorder. Meanwhile, the
nation’s drug overdose crisis shows no sign of slowing.
Hospitals and health systems across the country are redesigning
care delivery to improve quality and outcomes, enhance patient
experience, and reduce costs with the ultimate goal of better
population health. Testing and implementing new care delivery
models that focus on prevention and better coordination across
the continuum ensures patient-centered care.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. It is widespread in
many parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Measles begins with a fever that lasts for a couple of days,
followed by a cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and a
rash. The rash typically appears first on the face, along the
hairline, and behind the ears and then affects the rest of the
body. Infected people are usually contagious from about 4 days
before their rash starts to 4 days afterwards.
For several months last spring and summer, my teen daughter,
Caroline, experienced near-daily bouts of depression and
debilitating panic attacks. During those episodes, she became
extremely agitated, sobbing uncontrollably and aggressively
rebuffing my attempts to comfort or reason with her.
Most of the measles cases during the recent historic outbreak
have occurred in children, but adults in high risk environments –
like UCLA or California State University, Los Angeles, where
people were exposed to the virus – may need to get another dose
of the vaccine, according to the the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Kindred Healthcare, LLC (“Kindred”) today announced that it has
acquired Promise Hospital of East Los Angeles from Promise
Healthcare Group, LLC. On February 21, 2019, Kindred was selected
as the winning bidder for the hospital, which has been renamed
Kindred Hospital Paramount.
When it comes to nursing, Jan Fadden seems to have done it
all. With 36 years of experience, she has worked as a floor
nurse in local hospitals like the old St. Francis Medical Center
and as a parish nurse around the Santa Barbara community. She’s
cared for patients through home health and even traveled the
world as a nurse, including to Cambodia and India in the 1990s.
Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente is launching Thrive
Local, a social health network meant to connect healthcare and
social services providers.
On average, more than 100,000 men, women and children in the U.S.
are awaiting organ transplants to save their lives. Thousands
more are in need of tissue and cornea transplants to restore
their mobility and sight.
Three-quarters of the public — including a majority of
Republicans — want the federal government to protect patients
from being stuck with surprise medical invoices after they are
unwittingly treated by doctors or medical facilities that are out
of their insurance network, a poll released Wednesday found.
In a perfect world, a psychiatric crisis unit opening Tuesday at
Ventura County Medical Center would grow from a starting capacity
of four patients to 12.
In 10 years, more than half of middle-income Americans age 75 or
older will not be able to afford to pay for yearly assisted
living rent or medical expenses, according to a study published
Wednesday in Health Affairs.
In his State of the State address, Governor Gavin Newsom
committed to taking on a host of critical issues this year, none
bigger than expanding access to health care—one of the most
ambitious elements of his January budget proposal (and, not
coincidentally, one of the greatest sources of anxiety for
millions of Californians).
A federal judge prelimarily approved a lawsuit settlement earlier
this month that will require the state to better provide in-home
health care to California children and young adults with complex
medical needs. More than 4,000 families are affected by the
settlement.
Worried about the recent measles outbreak here in Southern
California? So are health officials. Hoping to stop the spread of
the disease, L.A. County’s 14 public health clinics will offer
free vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people
Health care issues are most important to likely Democratic
primary voters, according to a new poll. Twenty-five percent of
the voters surveyed in the Morning Consult poll say health care
issues are most important, closely followed by 22 percent
who chose economic issues.
Medicare officials on Tuesday proposed increasing reimbursements
for a groundbreaking but costly cancer therapy used for patients
whose blood cancers don’t respond to other treatments.
Alvogen, Inc, has issued a voluntary nationwide recall because of
faulty product labeling on some of the transdermal patches from
the Fentanyl Transdermal System, the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has announced.
Public health officials on Monday declared a measles outbreak in
Los Angeles County after confirming at least five cases among
residents, as well as the first cases of transmission of the
illness within the county this year.
America’s hospitals and health systems are always looking for new
ways to support patients and their families. One successful
strategy involves improving care delivery – making it more
convenient, responsive and cost-effective – while continuing to
deliver the highest quality and safety.
The California Nurses Association has reached a tentative
agreement with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, according to a
statement from the association on Friday.
The federal government on Tuesday charged a major drug
distributor — for the first time — for its role in perpetuating
the country’s deadly opioid epidemic.
Federal health officials on Monday unveiled a new primary care
experiment that seeks to pay doctors for providing stepped-up
services that keep patients healthy and out of the hospital, an
effort they say will transform basic medical services for tens of
millions of American patients.
Three months ago, this flu season was shaping up to be short and
mild in the U.S. But a surprising second viral wave has made it
the longest in 10 years.
Over the last few decades, there has been a significant growth in
the measurement and reporting of health care quality outcomes. As
health care evolves, it is important to continue to monitor and
report on the quality of care delivered to patients in California
and across the US. This is part of a series of measures CHCF is
publishing on the quality of care in our state. Topics range from
maternal to end-of-life care, and include measures on behavioral
health, chronic conditions, and patient safety.
Orange County residents Eduardo and Maria Contreras have worked
hard to make ends meet. For a long time, they juggled rent, car
payments, and the cost of raising two teenage sons — including
college for the older one — while making about $50,000 a year. In
2019, thanks to Eduardo’s new job as a cook, they expect to make
more than $80,000. But even with higher income, Eduardo told the
Uncovered California news collaborative, “It feels like I’m
caught in a vicious cycle.”
National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day shines a national
spotlight on the importance of caring for every child’s mental
health and reinforces that positive mental health is essential to
a child’s healthy development.
Over the last few decades, there has been a significant growth in
the measurement and reporting of health care quality outcomes. As
health care evolves, it is important to continue to monitor and
report on the quality of care delivered to patients in California
and across the US. This is part of a series of measures CHCF is
publishing on the quality of care in our state. Topics range from
maternal to end-of-life care, and include measures on behavioral
health, chronic conditions, and patient safety.
New Medicare reimbursement rules provide some relief to
safety-net hospitals, shifting the burden of financial penalties
toward hospitals serving wealthier patient populations, according
to a new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in
St. Louis.
Influenza activity continues to decrease but remains elevated in
the United States. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses predominated
from October to mid-February, and influenza A(H3N2) viruses have
been more commonly identified since late February. Small numbers
of influenza B viruses have also been reported.
The number of measles cases in the U.S. so far in 2019 is now
more than 460, compared to 374 cases confirmed in all of 2018,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Parenting is an amazing, but often challenging, journey. With
every milestone, you face new questions. How can you keep your
child safe? How can you help them grow? The right choices aren’t
always clear.
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is California’s first surgeon general.
She was appointed to the newly minted position by Gov. Gavin
Newsom last month to address health equity across the state.
This season’s number of 555 confirmed measles cases has far
surpassed last season’s 372 and is approaching the 667 cases seen
in 2014 — the highest numbers since the disease was effectively
eliminated in the United States in 2000.
The California Birth Equity Collaborative is a quality
improvement initiative of the California Maternal Quality Care
Collaborative (CMQCC) designed to improve birth care,
experiences, and outcomes for, by, and with Black mothers and
birthing people in California. It is funded by the California
Health Care Foundation.
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday announced changes to
the prescribing information included in outpatient opioid pain
medication labels to provide expanded guidance to health care
professionals on how to safely decrease or discontinue these
medications in patients who are physically dependent on them. The
agency said it has received reports of serious harm in patients
who are physically dependent on opioid pain medicines suddenly
having these medicines discontinued or the dose rapidly
decreased, a safety concern it continues to track.
A growing number of psychiatry residents at UCLA are training to
help thousands of people in Los Angeles who are homeless and
suffer from mental illness.
Medications for autoimmune disease, cancer and hepatitis are some
of the biggest drivers of high pharmaceutical costs in the U.S.
They’re called specialty drugs, and there’s some debate around
the best way to get them to patients.
In the midst of tremendous change happening in health care, “we
have the opportunity – perhaps the opportunity of a lifetime – to
shape the future of our field, to create a healthier tomorrow so
that our families, friends and neighbors receive the best care,”
AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack said today kicking of the AHA
Annual Meeting Federal Forum plenary.
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are
testing a surprisingly simple strategy against the dangerous,
antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each
year: washing patients with a special soap.
Addressing the adverse physical and mental repercussions of
childhood trauma has been the highlight of Dr. Nadine Burke
Harris’s career as a pediatrician. And it’s an issue that will
take center stage during her tenure as California’s first-ever
surgeon general.
The federal judge who has been overseeing litigation about
resources and services for Orange County’s homeless population
commended Costa Mesa leaders Friday for taking the “courageous
step” of opening a new local shelter.
Increasing American Hospital Association Members’ Utilization of
Community Health Workers on Clinical Care Teams. Community health
workers (CHW) are community members who work in the community
setting and serve as connectors between health care providers and
consumers to promote health among groups that have traditionally
been underserved.
At two public charter schools in the Sonoma wine country town of
Sebastopol, more than half the kindergartners received medical
exemptions from state-required vaccines last school year. The
cities of Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Nevada City, Arcata and Sausalito
all had schools in which more than 30% of the kindergartners had
been granted such medical exemptions.
From January 1 to March 29, 2019, 16 measles cases have been
reported in California. Two outbreaks of measles have occurred,
both of which have been linked to international travel followed
by transmission in California. This alert is intended to increase
awareness of measles among healthcare providers and to summarize
clinical guidance.
National and state hospitals groups warn that invalidating the
Affordable Care Act would have ‘disastrous’ consequences for tens
of millions of Americans and the nation’s healthcare
infrastructure.
Community health workers (CHW) are community members who work in
the community setting and serve as connectors between health care
providers and consumers to promote health among groups that have
traditionally been underserved.
Nine years after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable
Care Act (ACA) into law, the share of Americans who are uninsured
remains at a historic low. In California, the uninsured rate
remains stable at 8.5% — nearly 50% lower than it was in 2013,
before the ACA was implemented. And yet, millions of Californians
remain uninsured (PDF), with undocumented adults making up the
largest portion of them.
After they amputated the second toe on John Trumbla’s right foot
last summer, doctors sent him to a nursing home because he still
needed medical care — but not necessarily a hospital bed.
After damage to 11 hospitals during the 1994 Northridge quake,
California legislators passed SB 1953, which required hospital
buildings to meet new safety standards. According to the
current deadlines, by 2020 hospitals must minimize the risk of
collapse and by 2030 they should be able to maintain operations
after a big earthquake.
The 1994 Northridge earthquake led to legislation in California —
Senate Bill (SB) 1953 — which requires upgrades to hospital
buildings to enhance resilience to seismic events.
There are now 16 confirmed cases of measles in California, from
Los Angeles county to Tehama county, according to the latest
count by the California Department of Public Health.
Hospitals are turning to telemedicine to fill physician gaps in
nightshifts, relieve surges, and keep money from flowing out of
intensive care units when a lack of subspecialists could mean the
transfer of a patient to another hospital.
Homeless patients made about 100,000 visits to California
hospitals in 2017, marking a 28% rise from two years earlier,
according to the most recent state discharge data.
We know that primary care is essential for good health, but
access to primary care in California varies greatly, with large
swaths of the state competing for attention from increasingly
fewer doctors. The primary care shortage is complex, rooted in
decisions that future doctors make long before they attend
medical school, the cost of their education, where they choose to
live, and the financial lure of specialty practice.
California hospitals would need to make substantial investments -
between $34 billion and $143 billion statewide – to meet 2030
state seismic safety standards, according to a new RAND
Corporation report.
Measles cases in the U.S. this year are “certainly going to
surpass those in 2018,” mainly due to the lack of vaccination in
certain groups, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tells Axios.
Like millions of Americans in this final week of open enrollment
for the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, Diane McCabe is
shopping for health insurance.
Families struggling with a mental health crisis will soon find
more available access to emergency mental health services in
Orange County. The Orange County Board of Supervisors has
approved a plan that will double the number of crisis
stabilization units in Orange County.
Universal health care gets all the attention, but here’s an
increasingly urgent challenge for California’s leaders to
address: the state’s looming doctor drought.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call in his State of the State speech to
restrain health care costs in California is rooted in some eye
popping numbers. The cost of healthcare for a family of
four reached $28,000 in 2018. If nothing is done, it will soon be
$30,000 and more. This is clearly unsustainable.
An executive order pulled close to 6,000 unvaccinated children
out of schools. Nearly 17,000 doses of the measles-mumps-rubella
(M.M.R.) vaccine were given in 26 weeks. There was a public
health campaign in which community officials, doctors and rabbis
testified to the importance of immunizations.
Deaths from a synthetic opioid called fentanyl have been on the
rise nationally, and last week’s findings from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention show this could be the third
wave of the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Society has a right and at times an obligation to require
children to be vaccinated. Vaccines are one of the most effective
medical and public health interventions.
At least 314 cases of measles have been reported in the United
States since January 1, according to national numbers shared
Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gloria Brown didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Her husband, Arthur
Brown, 79, has Alzheimer’s disease and had spent most of the
night pacing their bedroom, opening and closing drawers, and
putting on and taking off his jacket.
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center officials are proposing to expand
mental health and medical services at its Sylmar campus as part
of a plan to better address the needs of patients who now
frequent and fill up the hospital’s emergency room, but may need
other kinds of care.
In a study of Blue Cross and Blue Shield enrollees reported
last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, initial opioid
prescriptions declined 54 percent between July 2012 and December
2017, while the number of providers who initiated opioid therapy
in any patient who had not used opioids declined by 29 percent.
One recent workday, I called my primary care physician’s office
and immediately was transferred to voicemail. Usually, I’m
perhaps the “fifth caller in queue,” or on a lucky day, the
second caller. That day — probably because it was a Monday in
winter and people were kicking off their week by calling the
doctor — the perky robot voice told me that I was the 14th
caller. I hung up, determined to call again later.
Recognizing the connection between people’s health and
well-being and where they live — including their
housing, neighborhood and environment — California’s
hospitals have developed innovative community-based programs that
promote access to healthy foods for healthy eating patterns;
transportation access and mobility; injury prevention and
safety; and parks, playgrounds and walkability.
A coalition of 133 health-related groups in California are
calling for $2 million from the governor and state legislature
for a statewide task force to stamp out a mounting public health
syndemic of HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted diseases.
House lawmakers who will write the next spending bill for federal
medical programs criticized the Trump administration’s bid to cut
the budgets of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Los Angeles County health officials are alerting travelers about
a possible measles exposure that happened at LAX late last month,
the latest alarming development for a disease once thought to be
eliminated in the U.S.
United Against the Flu is a collaborative effort by several
national health care organizations and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention to amplify the importance of getting
vaccinated, especially this flu season.
Areas in which healthcare usage is high typically have lower
prices, and according to an interactive report from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, the inverse is also true: Low usage is
linked to higher prices, based on a review of 1.8 billion
healthcare claims over a four-year period.
Patient advocates and a handful of lawmakers rallied on the steps
of the Capitol last week to push a universal health care agenda
they hope will bring the state closer to getting everyone
insured. Democratic Sen. Richard Pan says it all comes down
to cost.
A lot of time and effort is expended in creating a care plan for
life-limiting illnesses after those illnesses have taken hold.
But palliative care experts say that care coordination and
management could be better planned out through telemedicine.
The City of Long Beach has agreed to a deal for at least $90
million to reopen Community Hospital Long Beach after its former
operator pulled out because of the cost of pending seismic safety
repairs.
Providence St. Joseph Health and Cedars-Sinai have agreed to
create a joint venture to own and operate Providence Tarzana
Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai announced Tuesday.
Kaiser Permanente on Monday pledged $3 million to fight
homelessness in several Northern California communities,
expanding the healthcare giant’s efforts to eradicate the crisis
that has swept through its hometown of Oakland and beyond.
Jennifer Millar keeps trash bags and hand sanitizer near her
tent, and she regularly pours water mixed with hydrogen peroxide
on the sidewalk nearby. Keeping herself and the patch of concrete
she calls home clean is a top priority.
Elizabeth Brown’s bedroom holds a trove of evidence of her fight
to save herself. Preserved among the Twilight novels, the
posters of Korean pop singers and cameras she used for her
budding journalism career are clues to the Santa Rosa teenager’s
agonizing struggle with the mental illness that claimed her life
last year.
Although the number of hospitals using nurse practitioners (NPs)
and physician assistants (PAs) has increased over the last couple
of years, many hospitals continue to underuse them, according to
the most recent Society of Hospital Medicine State of Hospital
Medicine report.
The ability to provide rural residents with high-quality health
care is contingent upon an adequate supply of providers. However,
the shortage and maldistribution of physicians and other health
care providers persists in rural America, despite ongoing federal
and state efforts to increase the supply of providers practicing
in these communities. In order to meet the needs of rural
residents, hospitals and health systems must think innovatively
about delivery models, community partnerships, telehealth, care
teams and recruitment.
To most, Tracy is living the American dream — he has a cozy,
idyllic cottage to call home and a spunky miniature schnauzer
named Max to keep him company. But just three years ago, his life
was a very different story. Back then, Tracy was one of
over 57,000 veterans who experience homelessness every year in
the United States — roughly 25% of whom reside in California.
The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee today held a
hearing on strengthening the health care system and
discussed legislation to lower consumer costs and expand access.
City of Hope National Medical Center will plant a flag in Orange
County with a $14 million cancer clinic to open later this year
in Newport Beach. The Duarte-based hospital announced Feb.
4 it purchased a 12,500 square-foot medical office building to
treat a range of cancer patients.
A Senate panel warned lawmakers Tuesday about the dangers of
false information about vaccines and called for a national
campaign, similar to the one against smoking, to counter the
public health threat posed by anti-vaccine groups.
What’s new: At a time when groceries, taxis and other goods and
services are just a smartphone touch away from showing up at
consumers’ doorsteps, America’s on-demand economy is booming. And
health care services are a big part of that growth.
Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s
brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high
doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and
reduced life expectancy by 20 years. And then realizing
that tens of millions of American children had been exposed.
We can finally put a name to the thing striking fear within the
health care establishment: Haven. The secretive new
venture, created by corporate titans Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway
and JPMorgan Chase to transform health care for their employees,
has gone without an official name for more than a year.
People with behavioral health conditions — that is, mental
illness and/or substance use disorder — often experience poor
health overall. They are less likely to receive preventive care,
have higher rates of major chronic illnesses, and often
experience a lower quality of care for their physical health
needs. Those with a diagnosis of serious mental illness or
substance use disorder die on average over 20 years earlier than
those without such a diagnosis, often from preventable physical
illnesses.
With the opening of its new outpatient surgery center, Fountain
Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center has increased its
surgery capacity by more than 40%.
In addition to its work on depression, UCLA also was recognized
for other innovative applications of IT. It made adjustments to
its electronic health record to save two million each year in
denials, for instance, and improved appropriate red blood cell
utilization thanks to a collaborative project among its
hospitalists, nurses, transfusion staff and the IT department.
Read about these use cases here.
Eight in 10 U.S. adults say prescription drug costs are
“unreasonable,” and one in four say their prescription medicines
are difficult to afford, according to the latest Kaiser Family
Foundation Health Tracking Poll.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies today held a
hearing to review what programs and strategies are working
to address the opioid epidemic and where to focus future funding.
Witnesses reported how the federal funding has helped fight the
opioid epidemic.
Patients are increasingly making decisions about who delivers
their care and engaging in the delivery of that care digitally.
Hospitals and health systems that are working now to increase the
maturity of their telehealth capabilities will be well-positioned
to meet patient demands for digital tools that allow them to
conveniently engage in care.
It’s hard to imagine a healthy California without the proper
health care workforce in place. Unfortunately, California’s
health workforce is facing severe shortages.
The U.S. has counted more measles cases in the first two months
of this year than in all of 2017 — and part of the rising threat
is misinformation that makes some parents balk at a crucial
vaccine, federal health officials told Congress Wednesday.
More than 85,000 of California’s most vulnerable low-income
residents, including those who are homeless and have been
recently incarcerated, are now enrolled in a pilot project
designed to link health care to social services.
Trauma victims in rural areas are more at risk than those in
cities where medical help is closer at hand. An ambitious plan
from Dr. Dinesh Vyas with San Joaquin General Hospital aims to
change that by training tens of thousands of first responders in
California to save lives.
The plan to end HIV by 2030 in the United States by targeting the
hardest-hit regions with money and support, announced by
President Donald Trump during his State of the Union address, is
giving physicians new hope.
A pilot program in over 100 patient rooms at Los
Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai lets patients use an
Alexa-powered platform called Aiva to interact with nurses and
control their entertainment.
The Department of Veterans Affairs today proposed the criteria
for determining when covered veterans may elect to receive
necessary hospital, medical and extended care services from
non-VA entities or providers under the Veterans Community Care
Program. The AHA-supported MISSION Act of 2018 requires the
agency to consolidate its existing community care programs into
this new program by June.
Just a little over one year ago, HHS held the HHS Opioid
Code-a-Thon, a challenge competition to develop data-driven
solutions to address the opioid overdose epidemic. Today, born
from a winning solution at the Code-a-Thon, a new feature on
Google Maps will make it easier to find drug disposal sites for
unused prescription drugs.
Following a state law that went into effect last year,
significantly more low-income Californians are using free
transportation to get to medical appointments.
The price of prescription drugs has skyrocketed over the past
several years. These price increases are extremely troublesome
throughout the health care system.
The AHA today unveiled a set of principles to help inform the
ongoing federal policy debate regarding surprise billing.
“The last thing a patient should worry about in a health crisis
is an unanticipated medical bill,” said AHA President and CEO
Rick Pollack. “We must protect patients from surprise bills that
could unintentionally impact their out-of-pocket costs and
undermine the trust and confidence patients have in their
caregivers.”
Dr. Huong Le spends an average of 45 minutes with each of her
dental patients during their visits, so she gets to know them
well, especially the older ones who come in more than twice a
year.
As liberal politicians begin to flesh out the details of what
they each mean when they say they support “Medicare-for-All,”
healthcare industry lobbying groups are moving to oppose the idea
as overly disruptive and potentially harmful.
The trend of consolidation between hospitals and physician
practices is proceeding apace. From July 2016 to January 2018,
hospitals acquired 8000 medical practices, and an additional
14,000 physicians left private practice to enter into employment
arrangements with hospitals, according to new data compiled by
Avalere Health and the Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI).
City of Hope National Medical Center was awarded a $12.5 million
federal research grant to develop innovative ways to prevent and
treat lymphoma, the hospital announced Feb. 21.
Hospital emergency departments (EDs) have a vital role in our
health care system. As the only guaranteed access point to
medical care for all Californians, they are often characterized
as the safety net of the safety net.
A veteran executive with Kaiser Permanente has been hired as
chief financial officer of the Ventura County Health Care Agency
after a national search, officials said Tuesday.
Spending on prescription drugs is expected to increase at an
accelerating rate over the next 10 years, according to government
estimates released Wednesday — ramping up to as much as 6.1
percent growth by 2020.
Commenting today on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’
proposed notice of benefit and payment parameters for 2020, the
AHA said it remains committed to ensuring that consumers have
access to comprehensive coverage through the health insurance
marketplaces.
The number of rural hospital closures has increased significantly
in recent years. This trend is expected to continue, raising
questions about the impact the closures will have on rural
communities’ access to health care services.
Identical bills have been introduced in the California Senate and
Assembly that would reinstate the individual mandate, requiring
all Californians to have health insurance starting in 2020 or pay
a tax penalty.
When Jamie Middleton gave birth to her son Julian 11 weeks early,
she felt helpless. “There’s not a lot you can do as a NICU
parent and a lot of times, you have limitations in how you can
comfort your baby,” she said.
Three years after California stopped allowing families to easily
opt out of childhood vaccines, the number of kids getting medical
waivers has tripled—the result, critics say, of some doctors
loosely issuing exemptions to help families get around the law.
The move to private Medicare Advantage takes hospitals further
away from fee-for-service medicine, putting pressure on these
providers to improve quality and health outcomes or risk being
excluded from insurer networks.
Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health system that is
preparing to open one of the few American medical schools not
connected to a university, was set to announce Tuesday that it
would waive tuition for every student in its first five
graduating classes.
Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is
classifying this flu season as low in severity, California
medical providers have reported more deaths related to influenza
during this flu season than they did for the comparable period a
year ago.
Melissa Papp-Green opens her iPhone to a text about a syphilis
test. The text offers Papp-Green, perched in a cubicle at
the Los Angeles County public health department, a window into a
doctor’s office miles away, where providers are confronting an
epidemic of congenital syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease
passed from mothers to newborns.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a “Master Plan on Aging”
during his State of the State Address this week, an announcement
that some advocates for seniors said was both encouraging and
long overdue.
Medicare wants to change how it pays for emergency ambulance
services to give seniors more options besides going to a hospital
emergency department, officials said Thursday.
Half of children with a mental health condition in the United
States go without treatment, according to a study published
Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
By many estimates, only 5 percent of U.S. patients are high-need,
high-cost, yet they account for about 50 percent of healthcare
spending. New research published in the New England Journal of
Medicine finds it’s necessary to understand the needs of this
patient cohort, identify drivers of their utilization, and
implement solutions to improve their clinical outcomes while
reducing their costs.
Earlier this week, Elaine Batchlor, MD, MPH — CEO of Martin
Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles and a member
of the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
Board of Trustees — was named as a recipient of the James Irvine
Foundation Leadership Award.
The AHA today expressed support for the Resident Physician
Shortage Reduction Act, legislation that would add 15,000
Medicare-funded residency positions over five years to alleviate
physician shortages that threaten patients’ access to care. The
number of Medicare-funded slots has been frozen at 1996 levels
since the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
In one of his first official actions, Gov. Gavin Newsom has
directed that state agencies, including the one that oversees
Medi-Cal, negotiate as a block to demand prescription drug makers
lower their prices.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State of the State address Tuesday
demonstrated his ongoing commitment to the physical and mental
well-being of Californians. This is a priority shared by
California’s more than 400 hospitals as they work to ensure all
Californians have access to the care they need and
deserve.
The national effort to curb the opioid crisis faces another big
potential obstacle — insurers who won’t pay for less-addictive
ways to control patients’ pain.
After nearly five weeks of inciting fever, aches and unwanted
pillow time, the flu continues to loiter in Ventura County,
according to doctors, public health officials and those in the
grips of misery.
California has never had a surgeon general, but that will change
today. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a San Francisco-based
pediatrician, has pioneered research into the effect that
childhood traumas have on health. As the state’s top doctor,
Burke Harris will act in an advisory capacity to Gov. Gavin
Newsom.
A Ventura psychiatric hospital closed by the Thomas Fire opened
28 more beds Monday afternoon in a move observers say will
address but not come close to ending a crisis-level need for
in-patient psych care in Ventura County.
Progress in both detection and management of breast cancer may
have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of women over the
past three decades, according to a new report.
In recent years, Airbnb, Uber and Netflix have changed the way we
vacation, hail a ride and watch movies. These innovative
companies are market disruptors – with business models grounded
in experimentation to offer consumers a better experience.
Today, February 11, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) proposed policy changes supporting its
MyHealthEData initiative to improve patient access and advance
electronic data exchange and care coordination throughout the
healthcare system.
California has never been shy about taking bold steps to tackle
the most pressing issues affecting our nearly 40 million
residents—from efforts protecting and expanding health care
coverage to paving the way for more affordable health
services.
Congress needs to do a better job of funding public health
priorities and improving the healthcare system, a group of six
physician organizations told members of Congress.
End-of-season influenza vaccine efficacy for the 2017-2018 flu
season was a mediocre 38% (95% CI 31%-43%), but flu shots were
still estimated to have prevented 7 million illnesses and 8,000
deaths, researchers found.
Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son
because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state’s worst
measles outbreak in more than two decades. Born eight weeks ago,
Leon is too young to get his first measles shot, putting him at
risk for the highly contagious respiratory virus, which can be
fatal in small children.
The Indio City Council on Wednesday could decide the fate of a
proposed 80-bed in-patient mental health facility that has
stirred fierce opposition from neighbors.
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office
of Rural Health Policy plans to award about 75 grants of up to $1
million each to expand opioid and other substance use disorder
services in high-risk rural communities.
The American Hospital Association on Monday released a
roadmap aimed at alleviating pressures on rural hospitals
and increasing access to affordable, high-quality care in the
communities they serve.
The California Future Health Workforce Commission — co-chaired by
University of California President Janet Napolitano and Dignity
Health CEO and President Lloyd Dean — announced a bold set of
recommendations today to eliminate the projected shortfall of
health providers the state is expected to face in the field of
primary care by 2030.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed bold steps to ensure more
Californians have health coverage, but a new report underscores
that his success may depend in part on large-scale investments to
expand the state’s health care workforce.
California’s public health officials are alerting doctors and
other medical providers to be on the lookout for measles after
first New York state and now nearby Washington state wrestle with
a wily virus that health experts say can cause deafness and
autism in its survivors.
A merger between San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Catholic
Health Initiatives, based in Englewood, Colorado, has been
approved, the merged company said Friday.
State lawmakers are expected to receive a first look Friday at
the costs tied to an ambitious plan to provide health insurance
for more California residents.
Silver Lake Medical Center was expected to be sold for $84
million on Feb. 1, a transaction that includes laying off some
800 employees who will likely be rehired immediately by its new
owner, according to court documents and interviews with
stakeholders.
Actors at Adventist Health Simi Valley
portrayed victims infected with a life-threatening
bacterial disease Thursday as part of an annual disaster drill
for Ventura County hospitals.
The California Legislature is poised to make health care a
priority this year, and Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proposed
expanding coverage to more residents.
Orange County approved funding Tuesday for a first-of-its-kind
mental health center and psychiatric emergency room, filling a
void that has left mentally-ill patients in the county with
inadequate treatment and burdened local hospitals.
Mental health is an important part of overall health and
well-being. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological,
and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It
also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and
make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage
of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Californians indicated In a survey released Thursday that they
want state leaders to put a priority on ensuring that people with
mental health conditions can get access to treatment, with 49
percent saying it’s extremely important and 39 percent saying
it’s very important.
Cottage Health, in partnership with PATH Santa Barbara, has
launched the Cottage Recuperative Care Program with the goal of
helping qualified homeless individuals recover from illness or
injury in a safe and supportive environment after they are
discharged from the hospital.
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