www.doctorsforall.org NEWS ARTICLES

California's Uninsured by County

2010-08-24T10:59:19Z

Thirty-seven counties across Cailfornia - from Imperial to Kern to Shasta - saw uninsured rates increase to nearly one-third of their total nonelderly populations for all or part of 2009 (Exhibit 1).

Area's Uninsured Increase

2010-08-24T17:49:00Z

Recession leaves 85,000 more scrambling to meet basic needs, UCLA studay says

If Doctors Won’t Treat Medi-Cal Patients, Then Obama’s Health Care Reform Won’t Work in California

2010-08-24T12:54:09Z

No one is competing for low-income patients: that’s the unfortunate truth for those who depend on Medi-Cal for their health insurance.

Bill Offers Simple Solution to Rural Doctor Shortages

2010-08-10T16:06:59Z

Farmers and ranchers throughout California know that it is hard to find a doctor close to home and they are in good company, with an estimated 3.3 million Californians lacking easy access to medical care.

National Health Care Reform Only Works if California Doctors Treat Medi-Cal Patients

2010-08-11T10:50:29Z

No one is competing for low-income patients: that’s the unfortunate truth for those who depend on Medi-Cal for their health insurance. When national health care reform is fully implemented, one in four Californians will be eligible for Medi-Cal. In concept, that should mean that more Californians will have improved access to doctors, but that isn’t the reality because most doctors – 70% of California’s doctors according to the California Medical Association- won’t accept Medi-Cal patients.

San Gabriel Valley Looks at Strategies To Address Physician Shortage

2010-08-10T10:46:57Z

San Gabriel Valley hospitals, doctors, clinics and long-term care providers are evaluating strategies to curb a growing shortage of primary care physicians, in part to prepare for an expected influx of newly insured residents under the federal health reform law, the Whittier Daily News reports

Physician Hiring Bill Needs Support

2010-08-05T10:57:50Z

SB 726 has passed the Assembly and will be debated in August in the Senate. This legislation would permit small rural hospitals, like Oak Valley, to recruit and hire physicians directly. This could be a tremendous benefit to local residents.

Riverside Lobbying for Raise in State Health Care Funding

2010-08-10T10:52:46Z

Health care and government officials in Riverside County have banded together to lobby the state to adjust reimbursement rates they say are inadequate and creating a crisis in health care access.

Radio host covers rural health care in Northern California

2010-07-26T15:18:01Z

A lack of transportation, poverty, and a harsh winter climate are among the many factors preventing Northern California residents from receiving adequate health care. This is what Scott Shafer, the host of the “California Report” and “Health Dialogues,” found while working on a story about basic health services in rural Northern California, which brought him to Humboldt County.

Where the Money Goes: Understanding Medi-Cal’s High-Cost Beneficiaries

2010-07-20T15:47:57Z

In fiscal year 2009, California spent a total of $47 billion on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. As is common with other states’ Medicaid programs and health insurance generally, spending was highly concentrated among a small number of beneficiaries: Seven percent of Medi-Cal beneficiaries accounted for more than three-quarters of fee-for-service program expenditures in fiscal year 2008.

Half of Ventura County Physicians Approaching Retirement, Experts Say

2010-07-14T10:42:58Z

Of the more than 750 physicians in the Ventura County Medical Association, about half will be at least 55-years-old before the end of the year, according to estimates from VCMA, the Ventura County Star reports. VCMA also predicts that one in three medical association members will be at least 60-years-old by the end of the year.

California Physician Facts and Figures

2010-07-26T15:22:17Z

California's supply of physicians has been growing faster than the overall population in recent years, rising 7% since 1998. Demand for physicians is expected to rise as the senior population grows and more individuals obtain health insurance as a result of health care reform. With large numbers of physicians nearing retirement, and not all doctors taking new patients with private or public insurance, those seeking care, especially in some regions, could have difficulty finding a provider. This report draws from numerous sources to describe the market landscape for physician services in California.

Bill Allowing Hospital Hiring of Physicians Passes the Assembly

2010-07-07T10:36:46Z

A controversial bill to allow hospitals in underserved areas of the state to hire physicians has passed the Assembly. SB 726 by Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) passed 43 to 24 in the Assembly but will have a difficult reception in the Senate, especially given opposition by the California Medical Association.

Assembly OKs Direct Hiring of Doctors

2010-07-06T16:31:51Z

California law prohibits hospitals from hiring physicians directly. Instead, health institutions hire physician groups; it's a law designed to keep a layer of bureaucratic insulation between doctors and hospitals. But that prohibition may be lifted, in some cases. The Assembly voted this week in favor of SB 726 by Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield). The bill has already passed

Close Vote, Heated Talk on Physician Employment in Assembly

2010-06-24T15:38:37Z

Five states in the nation prohibit hospitals from directly employing physicians, and California is one of them. The push to change that law to allow some health districts and hospitals to hire doctors directly came before the state Assembly last week, and the discussion heated up.

In the end, the legislation fell three votes shy of passing -- including one vote that switched from a yes to a no at the last minute. That unusual vote change and the close final tally illustrate the divisive nature of this issue and are a harbinger of the fight to come. The proposal is expected to return for a rehearing and revote in the Assembly.

How to Design, Deliver New, Improved Medi-Cal

2010-06-15T11:04:24Z

If it works the way it's supposed to, health care reform will usher in a new era in which health coverage is the rule rather than the exception for everybody, regardless of social strata, income or where you work. One of the main vehicles to this new "culture of coverage" will be Medicaid, but it probably won't be -- and perhaps shouldn't be -- your father's Medicaid.

Valley's poor die younger, report finds

2010-07-26T15:21:58Z

When it comes to health and length of life, it matters where you live in the San Joaquin Valley.

Rural areas push to end ban on hiring doctors

2010-04-20T11:23:54Z

Pioneers rushed to the Sierra Nevada foothills generations ago to strike it rich. But the region has hardly been a gold mine for Dr. Bob Hartmann, a rural practitioner whose livelihood partly depends on serving the aged, poor and uninsured in Amador County.

National Expansion of Healthcare Coverage Will Require More CA Doctors Who Will Treat Newly Insured

2010-04-20T13:09:40Z

Advocates applaud healthcare victory -- call for passage of SB 726 to ease economic barrier that keeps 70% of doctors from treating government insured patients Leading Californian healthcare advocates and civil justice groups applaud passage of national health reform legislation and urge immediate passage of SB 726 -- a bill that would give California's rural hospitals and urban hospitals and clinics in medically underserved areas the ability to recruit and hire doctors to treat the uninsured and patients enrolled in government health insurance programs.

Hospitals seek best ways to achieve physician alignment

2010-04-20T13:16:03Z

More physicians want to work directly for hospitals, and hospital executives are happy to have them, according to health care industry officials.

One way to help solve the doctor shortage

2010-03-16T13:25:27Z

California is experiencing a worsening shortage of doctors in rural and low-income communities, in part because of decades-old laws that no longer serve our needs.

Hospitals renew battle to hire doctors in California

2010-03-16T13:33:06Z

Time is almost up for oncologist John Rochat. For the last four years, he's been an employee of the Mendocino Coast District Hospital under a pilot program that expires in exactly one month.

Rural Areas Are Less Healthy Than Suburbs, Says Report

2010-03-16T13:36:35Z

The first set of reports ever produced to provide comparative health data for all 3,000-plus counties in all 50 states was released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute.

California Worst in Nation in Meeting Community Healthcare Needs

2010-03-16T13:40:58Z

Leading healthcare advocates including Health Access, JERICHO, medical experts urge passage of SB 726 as immediate solution to California's growing healthcare disparities

Valley counties lag in U.S. health ranking

2010-02-17T12:33:17Z

How healthy are you? It could depend on where you live.

A health ranking of California counties made public Tuesday shows big differences in the overall health across California counties. And counties in the central San Joaquin Valley are among the unhealthiest.

Database gives snapshot of health in each county

2010-02-17T12:31:04Z

WASHINGTON — Where you live plays a role in your health, and a new report that ranks health factors in each of the nation's 3,000-plus counties promises to point local policymakers to ways they can help.

Looking at each state's best and worst further illuminates a well-known trend: The least healthy counties tend to be poor and rural, and the healthiest ones tend to be urban or suburban and upper-income.

State Senate Bill Would Allow Direct Physician Hiring by Some Hospitals

2010-02-10T15:51:27Z

California may be one of only five states that still prohibits the direct hiring of physicians by hospitals, but that could change if a State Senate Bill becomes law.

Senate Bill 726 would allow qualifying health care districts to directly hire physicians, replacing a 20-physician limit that currently applies in California.

Bill that would let hospitals hire doctors opposed

2010-02-10T16:08:59Z

SACRAMENTO -- Community health clinics and rural hospitals in the Valley both struggle to attract doctors -- but they are on opposite sides of legislation that seeks to fix the problem.

California’s "Physician Hiring Ban" Keeps Doctors From Serving Low Income Communities

2010-01-14T14:01:30Z

While there are differences in opinion as to whether the various proposed reforms at the federal level will fix our heath care crisis, there should be no question that at the heart of the problem in California is the glaring shortage of doctors now practicing or in the pipeline to treat its rural and low income residents.

Lifting “Physician Hiring Ban” Solution to CA Doctor Shortages

2010-01-14T00:37:00Z

California’s rural and low-income communities are losing doctors because they simply cannot afford to set up or maintain independent practices when a majority of the patients they treat are uninsured or covered by Medi-Cal.