Media Log is a HASC digital publication that provides a roundup of the latest hospital and health care highlights from regional and national media. News articles are grouped according to HASC’s 2020 Strategic Priorities.

Government Regulations

Coronavirus: CDC issues new rules on who can be tested after Bay Area patient found infected

San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 27

“Going forward, individuals do not necessarily need to have a travel history or known contact to be tested — it is enough to have a fever and severe respiratory illness like pneumonia requiring hospitalization, without an alternative diagnosis. The criteria was also broadened to include health care workers who have treated individuals with coronavirus. The newly expanded criteria was communicated to public health labs Thursday afternoon, according to the Association of Public Health Labs, which represents state and local public health labs and works with the CDC on infectious disease outbreaks.”

Access to Care

Newsom: California has ‘inadequate’ number of kits, makes testing top priority

Politico, Feb. 27

“Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that California is working with federal officials to expand the state’s ability to evaluate people for the coronavirus, one day after it was revealed the first patient likely to have contracted it within a U.S. community was initially denied a test. The governor said federal officials earlier Thursday assured that ‘testing protocols will be advanced with urgency.’ The state’s 200 testing kits were a ’simply inadequate’ number, Newsom said, and he called it a top priority to conduct ‘point of contact’ testing where patients are staying.”

Behavioral Health

Newsom signals he could seek initiative to change Mental Health Services Act

Politico, Feb. 20

“Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to reshape the state’s Mental Health Services Act so dramatically that he could need a new ballot initiative — and possibly ask voters for more money, he said. Newsom signaled he wants to fundamentally redesign Proposition 63 beyond what he described in his State of the State address last week, saying he’ll need voter approval to ‘radically’ change it.”

Government Regulations

Speech: Remarks by CMS Administrator Seema Verma at the 2020 CMS Quality Conference

CMS.gov, Feb. 25

“CMS also has three main objectives, which are: Improve the quality and affordability of healthcare for all Americans; drive American healthcare towards payment for value, not volume; and lower the rate of growth in America’s healthcare spending.”

Contact:
Margaret O’Donnell
(213) 538-0721
modonnell@hasc.org