California

The CMS has formally signed off on California's $6.2 billion Medicaid waiver, along with its decision to renew extra funding that supports the state's public safety net hospitals for just one year instead of five. 

A California state law that takes effect in the new year aims to help hospital patients better transition home with the aid of informed family members and friends, a move that could improve quality of care, prevent readmissions and cut costs. But some warn laws like it add a layer of bureaucracy that doesn't solve the often personal issues that could muddle a hospital discharge plan. 

It's a question of major importance to parents, health policy makers and health care professionals — and a focus of national health care quality improvement initiatives. What keeps children from being readmitted to hospitals in the weeks after they're discharged?

Previous research on the subject has focused on the role that hospitals play in the equation. But a new study by doctors at UCLA looked at five factors revolving around the primary physician's office.

A large share of  low-income elderly Californians have opted out of a statewide managed care experiment because they feared losing their doctors and were reluctant to make any changes to their health care, according to survey data released Tuesday by the Field Poll.

Month after month, Natalia Pedroza showed up at the doctor’s office with uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure. Her medications never seemed to work, and she kept returning to the emergency room in crisis.

Walfred Lopez, a Los Angeles County community health worker, was determined to figure out why.

Lopez spoke to her in her native Spanish and, little by little, gained her trust. Pedroza, a street vendor living in downtown Los Angeles, shared with him that she was depressed. She didn’t have immigration papers, she told him, and her children still lived in Mexico.

Los Angeles County’s Department of Health Services is betting it can save money while radically improving the health of some of its sickest and most challenging patients. Last March, county health officials began targeting individuals in South and East Los Angeles who rely on emergency departments or hospitalizations for care and who struggle with more than one chronic disease.

More than 9 million health care consumers in the United States are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. This group, often referred to as “dual eligibles” or “duals,” includes both low-income seniors with multiple chronic conditions and young people with significant disabilities. Duals are among the poorest and sickest of health care consumers and account for a disproportionate share of health care utilization and spending.