Blogs

Schools mirror community's health

By Kelley Weiss | February 28, 2012

When I heard that high school students were regularly missing class because cockroaches were lodged in their ears, it was shocking.

This came up in a story I’m working on about school-based health centers. There are nearly 200 around California – the majority in underprivileged areas, where almost all of the students qualify for free lunches and Medi-Cal.

The high school I recently visited in Los Angeles had a full-fledged medical clinic on campus. That’s right – doctors, nurses, medical office equipment, all of it. It’s open to students and community members during the week and on Saturday and provides free primary care, dental and mental health services.

Steinberg calls for immediate changes to Sacramento County dental program

By Emily Bazar | February 27, 2012

The political back-and-forth over Sacramento County’s failing Denti-Cal program is heating up.

Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, on Monday called on the state’s Medi-Cal chief to take immediate action to improve dental care for more than 110,000 Sacramento County children.

In a letter to Toby Douglas, director of the Department of Health Care Services, Steinberg said Sacramento County kids can’t wait for the department to draw up new contracts with dental plans before they get better care.

How San Diego County serves its poor kids' dental needs

By Richard Kipling | February 23, 2012

Sometimes good things get cut out of good stories. This happened on my editing watch recently, when a story by Jocelyn Wiener on poor kids’ dental health access in Sacramento grew too big and had to be pared back.

This is where blogs come in handy. I can reach in, restore and expand on a relevant piece of information that otherwise would be lost to the cutting room floor or, more accurately, the delete key.

The story behind that 'AA' penalty: Poor care and a patient's death

By Deborah Schoch | February 22, 2012

This blog has been updated (see below) to reflect new filings by the care facilities.

Four times before, the woman had been admitted to the Downey nursing home with a diagnosis of diabetes.  Each time, the staff checked her blood sugar levels at least once a day and gave her regular doses of insulin.

During her fifth stay, however, her care went awry.  For 29 days, no one measured her blood sugar. She grew seriously ill and was rushed to a local hospital where she died. Doctors determined that a main cause of her death was diabetic ketoacidosis, caused by low insulin levels. 

California abandons experiment with medication-dispensing machines

By Emily Bazar | February 16, 2012

California is quietly abandoning a pilot project that would have brought automatic medication dispensers into the homes of thousands of Medi-Cal recipients, saying the experiment would cost more than it would save.

In an analysis of the potential costs, the state Department of Health Care Services determined that the pilot wouldn’t come close to saving the $140 million annually that legislators banked on when they approved it last year. 

“There was a great risk that not only would it not achieve the savings, but it might actually generate costs,” said Norman Williams, DHCS spokesman.

Doctor seeks better health safety net, as it grows bigger

By John Gonzales | February 15, 2012

The federal government gives hospitals that care for uninsured and low-income patients more than $11 billion in funds annually, with California hospitals receiving more than $1 billion.

These hospitals, designated as Disproportionate Share Hospitals, can often be found in blue-collar, sometimes blighted, neighborhoods that have profound medical need:  Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center, and Tulare District Hospital in rural California, to name a few.

Patient's persistence nearly eliminates $72,000 medical debt

By Kelley Weiss | February 14, 2012

Andy Gee says he never thought he would see his crushing medical debt basically disappear.

We profiled Gee, of San Francisco, as part of a KQED series on medical debt in the fall. When I interviewed him he wasn’t working. And he had trouble sleeping at night because he was so worried about how he would possibly pay off $72,000 in debt to San Francisco General Hospital and the SFGH Medical Group.

He was hit by a car in October 2010 and was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital for emergency surgery. After a six-day hospital stay he was on the hook for $72,000. Gee says the most shocking thing about all of this was that he had health insurance.

Doctor who suffered his own medical tragedy responds to stories

By Emily Bazar | February 13, 2012

Last month, we chronicled the story of Jerry Magner, a Northern California man who suffered a massive stroke as a result of a surgery that was intended to prevent stroke. Magner’s loved ones, still struggling with their loss, questioned whether the procedure should have been performed in the first place.

Shortly after the stories ran and aired, I received this letter from John Maa, a surgeon and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco:

Whooping cough vaccination success – Why did it work?

By Richard Kipling | February 10, 2012

It’s a triumph, no doubt about it.

There was not a single California death from whooping cough in 2011, one year after a record 10 infants died from the disease. This is truly good news, the first time since 1991 that no one in the Golden State has succumbed to the highly infectious illness.

So how did California go from such an awful record to such a good one? Let’s turn to the experts for an explanation.

Feds announce plan to reduce early elective births

By Emily Bazar | February 8, 2012

Now the feds are jumping in.

This morning, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a national campaign to reduce elective deliveries of babies before 39 weeks of pregnancy, saying the effort will improve care and save millions.

Under the “Strong Start” initiative, the government will work with hospitals across the country that have joined the Partnership for Patients, a voluntary effort to reduce preventable injuries and complications.

Syndicate content