‘In The News’ Archives
Record On Wall Street Spurs Talk Of Retirement Planning
Wall Street's recent record-breaking performance has prompted financial planners to urge people saving for retirement to review their assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high, beating the record it set in October 2007, before the financial crisis. The Dow ended the day up 126 points 14,253.77, beating its previous [...]
Why Medical Bills are Killing Us
Why are we paying so much for healthcare? Why do we spend nearly 20% of our gross domestic product on health care, twice as much as most other developed countries, which get the same or better health outcomes? When Sean Recchi was told last March that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his wife Stephanie knew she had to get him to MD Anderson [...]
Eleven Health Care Organizations Are Members of the California ICD-10 Collaborative
Eleven health care organizations or associations are early members of the newly formed California ICD-10 Collaborative, designed to aid stakeholders in working collectively to implement the new code sets. The goal is for providers, insurers, vendors and associations to share best practices and collaborate in end-to-end testing, lowering risks and [...]
Sequestration Cuts Will Squeeze California’s Health Sectors
California’s health care sector is expecting millions of dollars in cuts and potential job losses if the automatic federal spending cuts known as "sequestration" take place. Anticipated cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget could delay or erase research funding for 12,000 California scientists, says Dr. Kavita Patel, [...]
Coordinated Healthcare Could Save CA $110 billion
California could cut $110 billion in healthcare spending over the next decade, saving the average household $800 a year, by quickly moving away from conventional fee-for-service medicine and embracing more coordinated care, a new report says. These findings come from the Berkeley Forum, a new group of healthcare executives, state officials and [...]
California Reports Positive Effects of Health Reform
Data is coming in on pilot studies for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) showing reduction in costs and improvement in care, along the lines intended by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a report issued by the California Primary Care Association (CPCA). Carmela Castellano-Garcia, the CPCA CEO said, “It’s very powerful to have this [...]
Geography To Play Bigger Role in CA Health Costs
Geography in California is expected to play a larger role in the cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Under the ACA, insurers no longer can deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or place lifetime limits on medical care. They also cannot charge older policyholders more than three times what younger enrollees [...]
California Reveals Details of Health-Law Insurance Plans
Consumers are getting their first glimpse at what health insurance will look like in California as the state prepares to implement the federal healthcare law. State officials are about to spell out the details on policies available next year to people buying their own coverage. In January 2014, most Americans will be required to have health [...]
California Saved $134B in Costs Thanks to Tobacco Control
California’s tobacco prevention program saved $134 billion in health care costs over the last two decades, according to a new study published Wednesday about the smoking control program’s impacts in the most populous state. California spent about $2.4 billion from 1989 through 2008 on one of the nation’s most aggressive tobacco control [...]
State Lacks Doctors to Meet Demand of National Healthcare Law
Some lawmakers want to fill the gap by redefining who can provide healthcare and are working on proposals that would enable physician assistants, nurse practitioners, optometrists and pharmacists to diagnose, treat and manage some illnesses. They are working on proposals that would allow physician assistants to treat more patients and nurse [...]
