An image of a vaccination. (Photo: KPG_Payless, via Shutterstock)OPINION: In anticipation of a forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine, lawmakers in California must extend the authority of pharmacists to administer all vaccines approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Photo illustration of using online communication to address health issues. (Photo: PENpics Studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Telehealth is quickly becoming the new norm as the nation fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to innovative telemedicine technology, medical professionals are able to treat patients without having to travel to the doctor’s office which reduces costs, saves time, reduces pressure on the healthcare system and helps stop the COVID-19 spread.
A laboratory stem cell researcher uses a laptop in conjunction with a microscope. (Photo: moreimages, via Shutterstock)A small firm in Menlo Park, Ca., is probably the only company in the nation that is named after the number of a particular human protein. It is a small number too, only 47. But it has large implications for California’s financially strapped state stem cell agency.
Kaiser Permanente workers picketing during a five-day strike in December. (Photo: National Union of Healthcare Workers) United Healthcare Workers Mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente have overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer — a move that followed months of negotiations between Kaiser and the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Negotiations between Kaiser and NUHW are continuing.
A photo illustration of hospital billing. (Image: 9dream studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: All of us in California should get behind the opportunity to protect patients from out-of-insurance-network health care bills. That’s why it is unfortunate that some in the Legislature want to couple this unifying issue of helping patients with other controversial and polarizing issues that threaten the outcome.
Robert Klein at a November 2017 meeting of CIRM directors. (Photo: California Stem Cell Report)The man regarded as the father of the $3 billion California stem cell agency is thinking about changes in the program to help win voter approval of another $5 billion for the research program. They include a stronger requirement to make state-backed, stem cell therapies more affordable and accessible and to provide more cash for creating a greater stem cell work force in the Golden State.
A nurse in a hospital renal unit starts dialysis treatment on a patient. (Photo: Tyler Olson) OPINION: I first started having problems with my kidneys when I was 11-years-old. By the time I was 20, I was on dialysis. I was able to keep my kidneys for a while, but as often happens with kidney disease, the illness eventually took over. Almost 40 years and three kidney transplants later, I have beaten the odds by staying alive, but only because of the dialysis treatment I receive every day.
Scientists at work in a clinical laboratory. (Photo: Minerva Studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Unfortunately, California’s recently passed data privacy law will have unintended consequences for medical research and clinical trials in California and may inadvertently prevent patients like me from accessing the clinical trials that are keeping us alive.
A pharmacist checks his stock in a California drug store. (Photo: Tyler Olson, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Drugstore robberies are a symptom of a larger trend in the retail space where pharmacists are forced to work alone for hours on end, juggling telephones, cash registers, and security duties in addition to dispensing medicine.
Photo illustration of medical equipment. (Image: ESB Professional, via Shutterstock)OPINION: My insurance company has entirely ignored my doctors’ medical expertise and flatly refused to pay for the physician-prescribed treatment. I’ve learned that my plight is not unique, that there is a systematic failure to hold insurers accountable for unfair delays and inappropriate denials of recommended cancer care. California’s insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, can fix this.