Original article authored by George Lauer of California Healthline on May 18, 2015 A consumer advocacy organization has launched a campaign to get state officials to explain why they revoked Blue Shield of California’s tax-exempt not-for-profit status last year. Consumer Watchdog also wants the state to explain why Californians didn’t learn of the decision for… Continue reading State Pressured To Explain Why it Revoked Blue Shield’s Not-for-Profit Exemption

Measures would help patients avoid being turned away by doctors and facing out-of-network costs The heathcare reforms in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act remain a work in progress, with some of the law’s mandates causing new problems or exacerbating older flaws. One is inaccurate lists of the healthcare providers in insurers’ networks;… Continue reading Two Bills Protecting Patients in Healthcare Networks Deserve Passage

Technology partnership with PayNearMe fills void for unbanked consumers who need to maintain mandated health insurance coverage but have no credit or debit account Twenty-eight percent of Americans have little or no relationship with a bank, leaving them with limited options when paying for health insurance because most insurance carriers require payment through credit cards,… Continue reading L.A. Care Becomes First ACA Health Plan to Offer Cash Payment Option

Californians Increasingly Visiting Hospital ERs for Non-injury Care – Original Post by Monte Morin of the Los Angeles Times on April 7, 2015 Californians are increasingly likely to visit an emergency room for complex medical problems, research shows. Californians are increasingly likely to visit a hospital emergency room for complex medical problems rather than an… Continue reading Californians Increasingly Visiting Hospital ERs for Non-injury Care

54% of Calif. Doctors Accepted New Medicaid Patients in 2013 About 54% of physicians in California said they were accepting new Medicaid patients in 2013 — the second-lowest rate among all U.S. states, according to a new CDC report, the Newark Star-Ledger reports (Livio, Newark Star-Ledger, 3/31). For the report — conducted between February 2013… Continue reading California Doctors Accepted New Medicaid

Original article published by David Gorn of California Healthline Zelda Gamble of Long Beach, 74, has diabetes, high blood pressure and severe rheumatoid arthritis that keeps her confined to a motorized wheelchair all day. Gamble is one of roughly 12,000 frail seniors across California who depend on the Multipurpose Senior Services Program, or MSSP, for… Continue reading If California Ends Coordinated Care Initiative, What Happens to Frail Senior Duals?

By the San Jose Mercury News A fleet of autonomous mobile robots programmed to transport items such as meals, medications, linens and lab specimens will begin operating around the clock Sunday when the new University of California at San Francisco’s Medical Center at Mission Bay opens to the public. The robots, which resemble small, self-guided… Continue reading World’s Largest Fleet of Automated Robots to Deploy at UCSF Mission Bay Medical Center

By David Gorn for California Healthline Sacramento Bureau Nadereh Pourat, director of research at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, gives an involuntary gasp when she’s asked where California’s health care system would be without the reforms and changes of the past five years. “It’s not fathomable,” Pourat said. “I don’t know where we… Continue reading Five Years of California Health Reform: ‘A Tremendous Designed Experiment’

By David Gorn for California Healthline State officials are in the midst of dropping a large number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries. It’s the Medi-Cal renewal process — every year, beneficiaries are required to re-enroll to continue receiving the benefit. This year, that process potentially could result in millions of beneficiaries exiting the program. Last week the Department… Continue reading One Million Medi-Cal Renewals Up Every Month, Termination Data ‘Not Available’

From California Healthline California lawmakers are considering a bill (AB 927) that aims to improve oversight and transparency of the state’s nursing home industry, the Sacramento Bee reports. The legislation comes after a Bee investigation last year found that California consumers lack information about the ownership and performance of many California nursing homes (Lundstrom,Sacramento Bee,… Continue reading Bill Aims To Boost Transparency, Oversight of Calif. Nursing Homes