When Medi-Cal beneficiary Lloyd Tennison moved last year from Contra Costa County to San Joaquin County, he was bumped off his managed care plan without notice before his new coverage took effect. His case highlights a chronic issue in California’s fragmented Medicaid program.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious experiment in health care is supposed to cut costs as it fills the needs of hard-to-reach people. The program’s start is chaotic and limited, but it shows promise.
Hospitals are facing mixed reviews regarding their efforts to comply with a federal requirement that they post information about prices related to nearly every health care service they provide.
Doctors have no national standards on when to order urine tests to check whether adult ADHD patients are properly taking their prescription stimulants. Some patients are subjected to much more frequent testing than others.
The federal government wants to change the way health insurers use prior authorization — the requirement that patients get permission before undergoing treatment. Designed to prevent doctors from deploying expensive, ineffectual procedures, prior authorization has morphed into an unwieldy monster that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities. New federal rules may not be enough to tame it.
Many Black patients also try to be informed and minimize questions to put providers at ease. “The system looks at us differently,” says the founder of the African American Wellness Project.
More than 600,000 people are released from prisons every year, many with costly health conditions but no medications, medical records, a health care provider, or insurance.
Lawmakers are considering creating standards to set Medicaid reimbursement rates. But industry observers wonder whether the move would be too little, too late to bolster a beleaguered industry.
Twitter has been a hotbed for the burgeoning insulin access movement and activism surrounding other medical conditions. For people with diabetes, the platform has helped propel concern about insulin prices into policy. Can it continue to win with hashtags?
As a money-saving strategy, emergency rooms are turning to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other staffers who earn far less than physicians.
