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Barbara Feder Ostrov was a senior correspondent for Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News until 2020.
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The potentially improper payments occurred in 2014 and 2015, when the state says it was under pressure from a massive influx of new applicants due to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.
The state medical board grants probation in more than a third of cases, a KHN analysis found. Even as other institutions adapt to lessons of the #MeToo movement, the board plans no significant changes, saying it has always prioritized discipline for sexual misconduct.
To keep costs down, Blue Shield of California next year will scale back on a program allowing members to receive a wide range of care beyond the state’s borders. Customers with individual plans mostly won’t be able to get coverage out of state except for emergencies or other exceptional circumstances. Â
Patient advocates say the state’s new staffing regulations are a good start toward better protecting the frail, but the nursing home industry contends they’re too burdensome.
An “epidemic” of robocalls timed to open-enrollment season are largely illegal, fraudulent or aim to rope you into insurance you don’t need or can’t use. They're also really annoying.
A California college professor never imagined that trying to figure out what was causing her rash could add up to such a huge bill.
Dr. Prudence Hall has made a name for herself in the field of “bioidentical hormones” — plant-based compounds purportedly customized for each patient’s needs. Experts say the popular approach is unproven; California regulators say she was grossly negligent in her care of two patients.
Tait Shanafelt focuses on helping doctors cope with such problems as long hours and copious record-keeping, seeking to prevent burnout and reduce the rate of physician suicide. As doctors’ well-being improves, he says, so does patient care.
Some residents of remote Surprise Valley in Northern California fear their hospital will close like so many others around the country, as hope wanes for financial support from a Denver entrepreneur. The businessman, Beau Gertz, had planned to raise money through lab billing for faraway patients.
The community of Surprise Valley, Calif., wrestled with the idea of selling its tiny, long-cherished hospital to a Denver entrepreneur who sees a big future in lab tests for faraway patients. Last summer, another exec had a similar idea but left town.
Advocates in Oregon and Denver are pushing ballot measures to allow possession of mushrooms containing the hallucinogenic ingredient psilocybin, as new research shows it may be useful in treating depression and anxiety. Supporters of a measure to decriminalize magic mushrooms in California ended their effort late last month.
Saving the lives of people with the bleeding disorder can require high doses of expensive blood-clotting factor. Taxpayers foot much of the bill as manufacturers profit enormously.
The investigations follow testimony in a lawsuit by a former Aetna medical director who said he relied on information from nurses, without reviewing patient records himself, when deciding which treatments to allow and deny.
The lofty ideas floated and billion-dollar deals sealed at J.P. Morgan’s elite annual conference stand in stark contrast to the uncertainty that clouds health care outside its confines.
A particularly nasty flu is widespread in 46 states. Nationally, at least 106 people have died from the infectious disease.
Churches that offer marijuana as a sacrament are popping up across California and the U.S., vexing state and local officials who say they’re simply pot shops in disguise.
Fire almost destroyed one of two acute care facilities in Ventura County — wiping out most of the region’s inpatient capacity. In California and nationally, such hospitals are strained by demand — and disasters.
As the planet warms, wildfires such as the latest disastrous blazes in Northern California have increased in frequency and scope. Beyond the environmental effects, people suffer health repercussions that can be disabling and even deadly.
The ferocious fires in Northern California underscore the vulnerability of seniors and disabled people whose mobility is limited. Experts recommend basic precautions.
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The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program made it possible for young adults who came into the country illegally as children to get jobs with insurance and, in some states including California, Medicaid. Now that coverage is in peril.ĚýĚýÂ
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