511327024OPINION:Some California hospitals and pharmacies are exploiting a federal assistance program that was created to help vulnerable communities access low-cost treatments. Instead, these healthcare systems and chain pharmacies continue charging some underserved patients high costs for their medicines while pocketing the discounts to boost their own bottom lines.
The pharmaceutical section of a Costco store in Folsom, Calif. (Photo: Cassiohabib, via Shutterstock)OPINION: When the COVID-19 pandemic again reinforced that California’s communities of color disproportionately bear the burden of public health threats, some California lawmakers made promises about closing gaps in health equity and access. More than two years later, however, many Californians inhabited by its most diverse populations are still struggling to access and afford their health care.
Photo illustration of money and medical care. (Image: ShutterstockProfessional, via Shutterstock)OPINION: If passed, SB 958 would severely limit specialty pharmacies’ ability to deliver lower cost medications to patients, while also making it even easier for hospitals to markup the cost they charge patients for critical medications, and in the end, we would see higher health care premiums for California’s employers and individuals.
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.
The USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, a major California hospital. (Photo: TonelsonProductions, via Shutterstock)Last year during the winter’s peak, hospitals in the state had an estimated 54,000 patients, with roughly 22,000 of them testing Covid positive. Today, similar numbers reflect the hospitals’ overcrowding. But now, there is an overall 20 percent reduction in health care workers, and the combination of the two has seriously stressed hospitals.
A nurse at a protest at Alameda Hospital in 2020 seeking improved medical protective equipment. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)On the front line of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, registered nurse members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United are pushing for more employer accountability tied to a crisis of staffing and unsafe workplaces. The union, which represents about 100,000 registered nurses in California, says the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has not adopted such workplace protections.
California made national headlines this week with an aggressive push toward achieving Universal Healthcare in the state. John Howard and Tim Foster of Capitol Weekly sit down with Anthony Wright of Health Access California to hear his insights on these major developments in California healthcare policy, and learn what to expect next.
A team from the intensive care unit at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon, prepares to intubate a crashing covid-19 patient. (Photo: Michael Blumhardt, via Asante)If you live in one of the rural communities tucked into the forested hillsides along the Oregon-California border and need serious medical care, you’ll probably wind up at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. It serves about nine counties on either side of the border. It is one of three hospitals Asante owns in the region. All three ICUs are 100% full of covid patients, according to staff members.
A suspect in custody, handcuffed by police. (Photo: Boyfare, via Shutterstock)Police response to mental-health calls often ends – again and again – in chaotic, noisy hospital emergency rooms, where staff is stretched thin, and a heart attack is likely to take precedence over someone in the throes of a mental-health crisis. “Traditionally, people would be dropped off at the ER, and the only option was to transfer them to a psychiatric facility,” says Dr. Scott Zeller, a nationally known emergency psychiatrist and former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.
Photo illustration of the coronavirus in California. (Photo: Maridav, via Shutterstock)COVID-19 cases in California are spiking dramatically — more than 6,600 new cases on Tuesday alone — and scientists predict California will double its transmission rate every four to five weeks. On Wednesday, the death toll spiked to 98, bringing to 5,725 the total number of deaths so far.