California news and information

Some of California's top insurers including Kaiser Permanente are protesting the state's plans to drop quality ratings from insurance listings when its exchange goes public on Oct. 1.
FULL STORY »

In California, with its many underserved ethnic populations, the need for a multicultural health care workforce will be particularly great, as uninsured people sign up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, experts say.
FULL STORY »

With dogged de-termination, scientists at the University of California at Davis have identified a gene they believe can be an important risk factor for neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida, which is caused by the incomplete closure of the spine.
FULL STORY »

Sacramento, Calif.-based Retinal Consultants Medical Group, which oversees eye-care and surgery facilities throughout Northern California, said some personal patient information may have been jeopardized as a result of the recent disappearance of a laptop computer.
FULL STORY »

A bill that seeks to grant nurse practitioners authority to see patients without doctor supervision fell two votes shy of moving forward in the state Assembly on Tuesday, though a similar bill aimed at expanding the role of pharmacists won unanimous support from legislators during a hearing.
FULL STORY »

Medical journals and healthcare publications may soon notice more readers taking deep research dives into their archives looking for old studies, reports and articles on defensive medicine. That's because California's landmark 1975 Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act—which limits pain and...
FULL STORY »

Joint replacement prices at the most costly California hospitals plunged by one-third after the state required its workers and retirees to pay out of pocket all costs above a “reference price” of $30,000 for orthopedic surgery, a new study said.
FULL STORY »

The California HealthCare Foundation, a not-for-profit philanthropic organization that provides $40 million in grants for state programs to promote the implementation of better quality and greater access to public healthcare, has named Dr. Sandra Hernandez its next president and CEO.
FULL STORY »

Increasing enrollment in health insurance is one of the primary goals of the health reform law. The CMS took a major step to achieve that by signing agreements with five online insurance brokers.
FULL STORY »

Glendale, California's three hospitals this week took the next step toward building a system to share important patient information, a step they say can be vital if a non-responsive patient arrives in the emergency room and no medical background on them is available.
FULL STORY »