Posts Tagged: clinics

Opinion

Lawmakers: Make fixing broken drug program a top priority

Prescription medication available through hospitals and pharmacies. (Photo: Andy Dean Photography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: California is committed to the health of its residents. Nearly a quarter of Gov.  Newsom’s state budget for 2022-2023 is allocated to health care expenditures. Amid their focus on improving health care access and affordability, however, policymakers should also reexamine existing programs that are failing to properly protect vulnerable California communities.

Opinion

Reproductive rights, access could be limited by Prop. 23

A march for women's rights on San Francisco's Market Street. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)

It’s deeply concerning that a health care labor union in one of the most progressive, pro-choice states in the nation is pushing a ballot measure that could provide new ammunition to anti-abortion zealots in their quest to eliminate a woman’s right to choose.

Opinion

Protecting the ACA is crucial for California, nation

A sign at a downtown San Francisco rally urging support for the Affordable Care Act. (Photo: Kim Wilson, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has placed the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) back in the headlines because the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November in a case, California v. Texas, that seeks to repeal it. The widely publicized prospect of eliminating health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic should be enough to give our elected leaders and the high court pause.

News

State slow to crack down on COVID-19 ‘treatments’

A photo illustration of the coronavirus pandemic and California. (Photo: bekulnis, via Shutterstock)

The state of California and its top medical regulator remain mired in a go-slow posture on the regulation of “snake oil” stem cell clinics that are currently riding the COVID-19 crisis to peddle dubious treatments to desperate patients. The marketing surge by the clinics has drawn increased attention nationally, including in prestigious scientific journals such as Cell Stem Cell whose usual fare deals with such things as “Stem Cell Hierarchy in Colorectal Cancer.”

Opinion

Key advantages of a private nursing education

Nursing students at a university health care facility. (Photo: Africa Studio, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Nursing is in my blood. My parents are both nurses. My sister, countless cousins and others in my family have all dedicated themselves to serving others through the noble profession of nursing. When I graduated high school, I briefly tried to outrun my destiny. I left Los Angeles to enroll at UC Merced, only to find that the call to nursing remained strong.

Opinion

Oversight urged for 340B drug discount program

A woman shops for medications in a pharmacy. (Photo: Tyler Olson, via Shutterstock

OPINION: Mark Twain once proclaimed, “The government of my country snubs honest simplicity, but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two.” These humorous words may elicit a smile, but clearly ring true more than a century later, and most certainly apply to the 340B drug discount program.

Opinion

More health clinic capacity needed

Patients waiting to see the doctor. (Photo: Monkey Business Images)

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) – of which there are nearly 130 in the state — have long served as the safety net for California’s most vulnerable residents living in both urban and rural communities. Yet, as we look into the future, that net is fraying.

Opinion

Disclosure, transparency for not-for-profit hospitals

In 2015, California’s push to expand health care coverage continues at a rapid pace. Consider this statistic: 12 million of our residents are enrolled in Medi-Cal – nearly one in three Californians. This greater demand is creating new challenges for California’s hospitals, both inside and outside of their walls.

Opinion

Prop. 46: Boosts legal costs, hurts health care

OPINION: That’s why our organizations, the California Medical Association and the Central Valley Health Network, strongly oppose Proposition 46 on the November 2014 ballot. We have joined a broad coalition that includes doctors, community health centers, hospitals, local governments, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, business and labor groups and many others to fight this misleading ballot measure.

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