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.read more »
While the California Medical Association appreciates
and shares your resolve to provide universal access
to care for the millions of uninsured Californians,
implement insurance industry reforms that prohibit
plans from excluding patients with preexisting conditions
or rescinding coverage once a patient becomes ill,
and make coverage more affordable for low-income uninsured patients, we are extremely concerned
that Congress might use the budget reconciliation process
to adopt the Senate health care reform bill which we
oppose. We believe that a successful health care reform
effort will build on what works and fix what is broken.
Therefore, we cannot support a health reform bill that
builds on the foundation of two broken programs – Medicare and Medicaid – unless they are fixed. read more »
California hospitals, like many others across the country,
have generally relied on the voluntary medical staff
model to align, albeit loosely, with physicians. The
model is premised on hospitals acting in ways that
are beneficial to physicians, such as by acquiring
new equipment, in exchange for physicians receiving
hospital admitting privileges that include implied
responsibilities, such as participating in quality
improvement activities and providing emergency call
coverage. In recent years, however, there has been
considerable erosion in the voluntary medical staff
model as services shift fo the ambulatory care setting,
often to physician-owned facilities, and as competition between hospitals
and physicians intensifies.read more »
Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, is the main source of health care
insurance for 6.8 million people, or one in six Californians. During
the 2008 – 09 fiscal year, it drew $27 billion in federal funds into the state’s health care system and accounted for 19 percent of General Fund spending. Medi-Cal is a complex program that pays providers for essential
primary, acute, and long term care services delivered
to a wide range of beneficiaries, including children,
their parents, seniors and non-elderly adults with disabilities. Because it is the
single largest source of health insurance coverage
in the state and a major source of funding for safety-net providers, a thorough grasp of Medi-Cal is essential to understanding how health care is
financed and delivered in California. For all its success,
Medi-Cal faces numerous challenges, including enrollment
barriers, low rates of participation among physicians,
and rising health care costs.read more »
In this report, results of a survey of federally and
state designated rural hospitals regarding physician
workforce recruitment issues are presented. National
Health Foundation conducted this survey per the request
of the Executive Management Group of the California
Hospital Association.In light of current financial stress on California
hospitals and the geographic maldistribution of physicians,
this survey examines retention and recruitment issues
for rural hospitals in order to identify possible solutions.Eighty-six percent of California’s 69 state and federally designated rural hospitals in
California participated in the survey.read more »
