August 19, 2013
State Outlines Plan to Transition Low-Income Health Program to Medi-Cal
State officials last week said more than 90% of Low Income Health Program enrollees will be able to keep their primary care physician when LIHP is folded into the Medi-Cal expansion in 2014.
Brian Hansen, health reform advisor in the director's office at the Department of Health Care Services, made the prediction as one of about a dozen state agency experts who spoke Thursday at a conference in...
August 19, 2013
Supreme Court Decision on Insulin Injection Shapes the State’s Use of School Nurses
The California Supreme Court's unanimous decision last week that public schools have a right to allow unlicensed -- but trained -- school personnel to administer prescription medication to children was fueled partly by necessity.
There's a dearth of school-based nurses in California to administer insulin to children. As diabetes and obesity among children have risen, the number of school nurses...
August 12, 2013
Telehealth Helps Improve Pediatric Care in Rural EDs, Study Finds
Telehealth consultations helped improve pediatric care in rural emergency departments, according to a study published in the journal Critical Care Medicine, FierceHealthIT reports.
Read the full article from California Healthline...
August 1, 2013
Healthy Families Transition Concerns Highlighted as Most Difficult Phases Start
The third phase of the Healthy Families transition begins today, and it could be a bumpy passage.
The first two phases moving about 615,000 Healthy Families children to Medi-Cal managed care plans have gone relatively smoothly, with almost all of those children retaining their health plan and roughly 94% of them retaining their primary care physician, according to the Department of Health Care...
June 28, 2013
Brown Approves Budget Plan, Medi-Cal Expansion Legislation
On Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law a $96.3 billion fiscal year 2013-2014 state budget plan (AB 110) and legislation (AB X1-1) to expand Medi-Cal to more than 1.4 million state residents under the Affordable Care Act, the Los Angeles Times reports (Megerian, Los Angeles Times, 6/27).
Read the full California Healthline article...
Read the enacted 2013-14 California Budget...
January 17, 2013
Obama’s Plan To Curb Gun Violence Includes Mental Health Directives
On Wednesday, President Obama released nearly two dozen executive actions and proposals to Congress aimed at curbing gun violence, including several mental health and health policy directives, MedPage Today reports.
"...The president also proposed a new program -- Project AWARE -- that aims to reach 750,000 youths with mental illness and refer them to treatment. The project would include $15...
January 3, 2013
CMS Meets Deadline for Approving Healthy Families Transition
Tight up against the end-of-year deadline, CMS officials on Dec. 31 granted approval of California's plan to move 860,000 Healthy Families children into Medi-Cal managed care programs.
Federal officials asked for changes to the transition plan, including more frequent monitoring and evaluation of the transition to better ensure children are able to access primary care physicians under the new...