Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Benefits are taking up a continually greater share of employee compensation. This trend is as true for hospitals as any other industry. Keenan Health Care summarizes some recent trends for California hospitals. According to a survey of 83 California health care organizations (representing 219 hospitals): Benefits represent 28% of the employee compensation for the average…
…unless you call from a land line. If you call from your cell phone, you may be in for a busy signal or wait times of 20 minutes or more. Why is this? Emergency Management explains: In California, all cellular 911 calls were initially routed to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), on the theory that…
Each year, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) examines trends in employer health benefits in the state of California. Last year, I reported on the 2010 CHCF report and now I will examine the 2011 report. Between 2010 and 2011, some things have remained the same. Healthcare premiums are far outpacing inflation over the medium…
Although Health Reform has passed, many of its mandates–such as Health Insurance Exchanges–have not yet been implemented. As the cost of health care has been growing over time, the number of uninsured has also been growing. The California Health Care Foundation examines the uninsured in California in more detail. Although Texas has the highest share…
The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF)’s Health Care Almanac provides some unique insights on trends in health care quality in California and for the United States as a whole. Many of the national figures for the Almanac come from the CDC (BRFSS and Vital Stats) and AHRQ’s National Healthcare Quality Report. California quality figures come…
In short, yes. California is the land of managed care. Kaiser-Permanente–the managed care poster child–owns one third of the market. Love for managed care is not just in the private market; in 2010, over half of all Medi-Cal and more than one-third of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans. Further, California managed care…
The California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) notes that States face a number of challenges when determining how to design their Health Exchanges mandated by health reform. Today, I briefly highlight some of the requirements State Exchanges must fulfill.
One of the goals of health reform was to expand coverage to poor childless adults who previously did not qualify for Medicaid. One unintended (or perhaps intended) consequence of this expansion is that a large number of individuals formerly convicted of crimes will be eligible for the this coverage. Policymakers face a number of questions. …
California think they have found the answer. “The bill in question is AB 52, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles). It would prevent health insurance premium increases from going into effect without the prior approval of the commissioner of insurance or the director of the Department of Managed Health Care, who share jurisdiction over…
Health Reform made a number of changes for State’s health care policies. But states themselves have also been enacting legislation to alter health care payment policies and regulations. The CHCF describes some examples of legislative changes in California: Safety Net Care Pool (SNCP) – covers uncompensated costs in public hospitals and finances other state health…