Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Safety Violations Compound Pain Of Painkiller Shortages
California and federal officials have cracked down on a major compounding pharmacy they say posed a threat to public safety, but their actions are worsening shortages of medications that doctors rely on to keep their patients out of pain.
Dialysis Patients Sign Up For November Ballot Fight
Frustrated by dialysis centers they call dirty and understaffed, patients and health care workers rallied across California Thursday before delivering more than 600,000 signatures to election offices in support of a ballot initiative intended to improve patient care.
Psychiatrist Stays Close To Home And True To Her Childhood Promise
Yamanda Edwards is the only psychiatrist at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, caring for residents in South Los Angeles, a community with a shortage of mental health care.
California Takes On Health Giant Over High Costs
The lawsuit is a bold move against Northern California’s dominant hospital chain, whose prices have drawn complaints for years. It has disputed such allegations in the past.
Calif. Bill Targets Profiteering In Addiction Treatment, Dialysis Industries
The legislation is intended to curb schemes in which some treatment providers sign patients up for private plans, pay their premiums and then rake in profits from inflated claims.
Thousands Mistakenly Enrolled During California’s Medicaid Expansion, Feds Find
California health officials do not dispute most of the findings, saying they have already made improvements in determining eligibility.
Juul, el producto de tabaco que consumen estudiantes en las escuelas
Su parecido con un flash drive hace que sea difícil de detectar. Tiene nicotina y temen que impacte en una nueva generación de fumadores.
The Juul’s So Cool, Kids Smoke It In School
The teenage smoking sensation appearing on high school campuses across the country is an easy-to-hide, high-nicotine device called the Juul. Educators and health care advocates fear that vulnerable young people may become addicted.
Para los Dreamers, el sueño de convertirse en médicos pende de la “compasión” legal
De los 700,000 jóvenes beneficiarios de DACA, 99 son estudiantes de medicina. Pero sus años de residencia se pueden ver opacados por las nuevas políticas migratorias.
The Dream Among ‘Dreamers’ To Become A Doctor Now ‘At The Mercy’ Of Courts
In September, the Trump administration announced its plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, setting off an ongoing political and legal battle that could doom the dreams of immigrant doctors in training.
A Battered Doctor, A Slain Patient And A Family’s Quest For Answers
An addiction-treatment physician fatally shot a troubled ex-Marine after the man pummeled him inside his California office, police records show. The tragedy illustrates how the limited number of clinics available to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that all but erases opioid withdrawal, can become crowded, chaotic and dangerous.
Black Men’s Blood Pressure Is Cut Along With Their Hair
A new study shows that educational sessions about high blood pressure at African American barbershops, coupled with prescribing and helping to manage medication, reduced hypertension rates significantly.
Barberos logran cortar el pelo… y la presión arterial de sus clientes
Un estudio en Los Angeles comprobó que los barberos pueden jugar un rol crítico, ayudando a sus clientes a bajar su presión arterial entre charlas de salón y cortes de estilo.
Campus Voices: Should Student Health Centers Offer Abortion Pills?
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require student health centers at all of the state’s four-year public universities to carry the abortion pill. Students at campuses across the state sounded off on the proposal.
User-Friendly Or Error-Ridden? Debate Swirls Around Website Comparing Nursing Homes
State says its new site is easier to navigate, though it remains a work in progress. Advocates for nursing home patients call it “a huge step in the wrong direction” that could endanger people’s lives.
State Pay Cut For Dental Hygienists Who Serve The Poor Was Illegal, Court Finds
California officials should have obtained federal approval before they cut reimbursement rates for dental hygienists who serve frail Californians living in nursing homes and board-and-care facilities, a judge has ruled.
Cartoon Mascot Masks Nasty Health Care Feud
California’s health insurers trotted out a heart-healthy character with an ulterior motive — taking a dig at drugmakers.
At Some California Hospitals, Fewer Than Half Of Workers Get The Flu Shot
Vaccinations rates have climbed significantly among hospital workers in recent years, to 83 percent. But that rate masks wide variation among facilities and types of workers. Nationally, the rules are far from uniform or ironclad.
Matrimonio gana millones a costa de Medicaid
Norma Díaz y su esposo, Joseph García, han dedicado sus carreras a administrar una aseguradora de salud sin fines de lucro que cubre a residentes carenciados de California. Y en el proceso, han ganado millones de dólares.
Couple Makes Millions Off Medicaid Managed Care As Oversight Lags
How a California health plan’s CEO and her husband, an executive consultant, got rich off the taxpayer-funded program for the poor. Critics see a conflict of interest, the plan doesn’t, and the state has no rules either way.
