Healthcare

Strange Bedfellows: The Healthcare Workers Union and the Hospital Association

June 9, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/06/09/44585/strange-bedfellows-the-healthcare-workers-union-an/">Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast</a>.</p> <p>The informal partnership between one of California’s leading healthcare unions and the <a href="http://www.calhospital.org/">California Hospital Association</a> has drawn mixed reviews, with some praising the deal between the traditional adversaries, and others saying the union is getting too cozy with management.</p>

Initiative to Stop Drunk, Overprescribing and Negligent Doctors Will Save Lives

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Each year, 440,000 Americans die from medical negligence. It’s the third leading cause of preventable death, behind only heart disease and cancer. A big cause of these preventable deaths is doctors recklessly prescribing opioid narcotics.</p> <p>Two weeks ago, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus took on this problem by suing five of the world’s largest drug manufacturers.</p> <p>While the Orange County DA takes on the national drug companies, there’s also a simple fix close to home.</p>

United Healthcare to Settle HIV Mail-Order Meds Lawsuit

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>HIV-positive people may soon be able to opt out of United Healthcare’s specialty mail-order pharmacy program, as a class action settlement against the nation’s largest insurance provider enters into its final stages in court, according to a statement from the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP).<br /> <br />

Hospital’s Healthcare Fee Causes Nothing But Headaches

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>he arthritis in Jill Smith's knees can make walking unbearable. So she receives injections of an expensive pain medicine called Orthovisc once or twice a year.</p> <p>It's not that Smith, 58, of Pacific Palisades, has problems with the $200 fee that her doctor<strong> </strong>at the Santa Monica Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Group charges each time she comes in for her shots.</p> <p>And it's not that she's even griping about the nearly $1,000 charged for the three doses of Orthovisc she requires per knee for each round of treatment.</p>

Initiative to Raise Monetary Awards in Lawsuits Against Doctors Heads for Ballot

May 26, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>The measure would also require random drug and alcohol testing of physicians.</strong></p>

Bill About Doctors’ Substance Abuse Would Compromise Patient Safety

May 18, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>If anyone should know how to steer clear of cures that are worse than the disease, it's doctors.</p> <p>That's why it seems so odd — on the surface — that the California Medical Assn. would sponsor a bill to re-create a drug- and alcohol-treatment program for physicians that has failed miserably in the past. It's when you look under the surface that you recognize the CMA's real motive is to stave off a November ballot initiative that would be even tougher on doctors than the measure it's sponsoring.</p>

Measure To Raise Medical Malpractice Cap Qualifies for Nov. Ballot

May 16, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

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California Voters To Consider Raising Four-Decade-Old Cap On Medical Malpractice Awards

May 16, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California in November will vote on whether to raise a four-decade-old cap on medical malpractice awards to $1.1 million, from $250,000, officials said on Thursday, likely ensuring a bitter and costly fight between lawyers backing the measure and doctors who oppose it.</p> <p>Representatives of patients have tried for at least 20 years to persuade the state to raise the limit on pain-and-suffering awards, which was set in the 1970s and is not indexed to inflation. Opponents say a higher cap will raise healthcare costs and choke off access to care.</p>

Measure Inspired By Drunk-Driving Deaths Of Danville Children Qualifies For Nov. Ballot

May 15, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="bodytext"><span id="default"><span id="MNGiSection">DANVILLE -- A voter initiative spurred by the drunk-driving deaths of two Danville siblings in 2003 has garnered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, the Secretary of State's office said Thursday.</span></span></p>

Medical Malpractice Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot

May 15, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Measure to lift ceiling on medical malpractice judgments qualifies for California's November ballot<br /> - Voter initiative would require drug testing for doctors in California<br /> - California ballot measure rekindles fight between insurers, doctors and trial lawyers, consumer advocates</b></p> <p>What promises to be a hotly contested statewide voter initiative to raise the ceiling on medical malpractice judgments and require drug testing for physicians qualified Thursday for the November ballot.</p>

Peeved

May 14, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>Peeved: </strong>A "Pee in the Cup" initiative to require random drug testing for doctors in California could qualify for the November ballot this week, setting up a battle royal between trial lawyers backing the measure and the medical industry.</p> <p>In addition to the drug-testing provision, the measure would lift the state's long-standing $250,000 cap on pain-and-suffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits.</p>

Local Hospitals Prepare Patients For Costs

May 12, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="entry-content"> <div id="story"> <p>As more people switch to health insurance policies with high deductibles in an effort to reduce their premiums, some hospitals around the country are asking patients undergoing elective procedures to pay more at the time of service rather than waiting to collect what they are owed.</p> <p>The reason, apparently, is that more patients are unable to pay the high deductibles, leaving their health-care providers stuck with bad debt.</p> <p>In Fort Wayne, though, the trend has not taken hold, local health care officials said.</p>