Healthcare

UCI adopts medical error plan

October 28, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Hospitals: Staff won't immediately face penalty. UC program first assumes that the system is at fault.</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register</p> <p>University of California hospitals hope to reduce medical errors by promising not to punish the doctors and nurses who make mistakes -- a move that could revolutionize the culture of hospitals across the country.</p>

Help with making health-care choices.

October 13, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>There's no reason for making uninformed decisions, given the number of public and private resources.</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register</p> <p>Whether you're deciding among health plans, hospitals or doctors, there's no dearth of information to help you navigate your way -- and to educate yourself on the ABCs of our health-care system while you're at it. Here are some useful resources:</p>

House says ‘yes’ by narrow margin, Senate stalling as Congress eyes tort reform

October 6, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>State delegation split over medical liability reform legislation's worth</h3><p class="source">The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)</p> <p>Essentially the same political scenario is being played out in the U.S. Capitol as well as in Mississippi, as Congress confronts the same issue.</p>

MEDICAL SCHOOLING; Consumers can arm themselves with information about health plans, physicians and promising advances

September 29, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>Health plan decisions, usually made from September through November, are both important and complicated. You need information, whether you are seeking a provider for conventional care or revolutionary, state-of-the-art treatments.</p>

Doctors Get Class Status for Lawsuit Against Top HMOs;

September 27, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Fraud claims could alter California's managed-care system. In same decision, judge denies bid to combine allegations by patients.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The nation's biggest HMOs on Thursday suffered a major setback in their long-running court battle with doctors suing them for fraud, but they won a key victory in a companion case brought by consumers who claimed the insurers put profits before care.</p>

Bill OKd to Cut Cost of Contact Lenses

September 24, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>CA Legislation update</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill by Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) that will expand a program offering discounted automobile insurance to low-income drivers. The bill changes the income threshold for eligibility so that tens of thousands more poor people w</p>

Checking in can make you sick;

September 9, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Medical Errors</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Business Journal</p> <p>A landmark report by the Institute of Medicine found that up to 98,000 people die each year in the nation's hospitals from medical mistakes. On average, that's nearly 20 for each of the nation's 4,900 hospitals--making it the eighth leading cause...</p>

Kaiser compromise on rare illness

September 5, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Grant will help treat 2 young brothers denied coverage by HMO</h3><p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>The Bennett family stood in front of the Kaiser Permanente headquarters in Oakland on Wednesday, ready to wage a war against their health maintenance organization to get medical coverage for their two sons, who are suffering from a rare and fatal disease.</p>

Family’s HMO Fight Ends Happily

September 4, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">KRON-TV Website</p> <p>The news conference had been called by consumer advocacy groups to shine a public spotlight on the Bennett family's plight.</p>

Rise in Insurance Forces Hospitals to Shutter Wards

August 25, 2002  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The New York Times</p> <p>Around the country this summer, at least half a dozen hospitals have closed obstetric wards, others have curtailed trauma services, and a string of rural clinics have been temporarily shuttered as a result of soaring costs for medical malpractice insuranc</p>

MICRA did not lower insurance premiums in California

August 22, 2002  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

<!-- excerpt --><p>During the insurance crisis of the 1980s, California's 1975 law restricting the right of injured patients to sue doctors, hospitals and HMOs for medical mistakes and negligence was touted by the insurance industry and medical industry as a model "tort ref</p>

Liability premiums did not drop after “tort reform” enacted during the insurance crisis of the 1980s. – (1994)

August 20, 2002  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

<p class="source">FTCR - 1994</p> <p>After the fusillade of restrictions on the rights of victims took effect, of course, the "insurance crisis" of the 1980s rapidly dissipated. But the promised savings never materialized.</p>