California Watch December 7, 2015 Capitol Hill Watch
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CALIFORNIA WATCH DECEMBER 7, 2015 California Healthline: Advocates Ratchet Up Pressure on Blue Shield to Increase Foundation Funding About a dozen consumer advocate groups added their voices last week to a letter urging Blue Shield of California to increase its annual funding to the Blue Shield Foundation, as a condition of approval by the Department of Managed Health Care for its merger with Care 1st Health Plan. (Gorn, 12/7) NPR: In California, Aid Withers for People with Developmental Disabilities Surrounded by stacks of packages in a brightly lit room, Michael Palone gingerly folded a box and taped it shut. His eyes averted, he shuffled to the front of the warehouse to retrieve scissors, skirting by people and tables in his path. Palone, 26, has Asperger's and mild autism that makes it nearly impossible for him to socialize with others and adjust to the constant changes of a full time job. Instead, he assembles packages with about 40 others at a Union City, Calif., work center run by The Arc of Alameda County. (Hellmann, 12/4) CAPITOL HILL WATCH The Washington Post: Pressure Mounts for a Year-End Spending Deal A bipartisan group of negotiators worked through the weekend in hopes of striking a year-end spending deal by Monday so Congress has enough time to pass the legislation before Dec. 11 and avert a government shutdown. The weekend sessions came after Democrats rejected an initial proposal from Republicans last week that included dozens of policy riders that GOP lawmakers wanted to attach to the must-pass legislation. ... The biggest issue facing negotiations on the omnibus spending bill is the policy riders being pushed by Republicans. ... Democrats said they will not budge on any riders aimed at attacking abortion rights, curbing funds for Planned Parenthood or undermining President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. (Snell, 12/7) The New York Times: Martin Shkreli, the Bad Boy of Pharmaceuticals, Hits Back A former hedge fund manager, Mr. Shkreli drew the wrath of consumers, became a talking point in the presidential campaign, and spurred federal and state inquiries as well as a dialogue about how and whether to control rising drug prices. As proof of Mr. Shkreli’s toxicity, Bernie Sanders rejected his $2,700 campaign donation, turning it over to a health clinic instead. ... Mr. Shkreli’s price increase is likely to take another pummeling at a Senate committee hearing investigating skyrocketing drug prices next Wednesday. Rather than cower as he takes a beating, Mr. Shkreli seems to relish his time in the ring. (Creswell and Pollack, 12/5) MARKETPLACE Kaiser Health News: Jobs for Medical Scribes are Rising Rapidly but Standards Lag A national campaign for electronic health records is driving business for at least 20 companies with thousands of workers ready to help stressed doctors log the details of their patients’ care — for a price. Nearly 1 in 5 physicians now employ medical scribes, many provided by a vendor, who join doctors and patients in examination rooms. They enter relevant information about patients’ ailments and doctors’ advice into a computer, the preferred successor to jotting notes on a clipboard as doctors universally once did. (Gillespie, 12/7) The Washington Post: Doctors Prescribe Old-Fashioned House Calls When Treating the Old and Frail A study published last year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, supported by other research, found that home-based primary care lowered costs as well as emergency room visits and hospitalization rates while increasing patients’ satisfaction with care. Now, a group of doctors — including Hernandez’s — is pushing to bring house calls to the nation’s 2 million oldest, frailest and costliest patients, saying it has the potential to save the government billions of dollars. Independence at Home was developed by a group of doctors around the country who were already making house calls to such patients. (Bahrampour, 12/6) Los Angeles Times: HMO Giant Kaiser Eyes Expansion and Agrees to Buy Washington State Insurer Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente has agreed to acquire a big insurer in Washington state and signaled the pursuit of similar deals across the country. The nonprofit HMO and health system said Friday that it was buying Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, which insures nearly 600,000 people. Because the deal involves two nonprofit organizations, Kaiser said it would contribute $1.8 billion to a new foundation in Washington to complete the transaction. (Terhune, 12/4) The Washington Post: New Patient Coalition Aims to Take On Cost of Health Care, Access to Quality Treatment A group seeking to lead a broad national effort by consumers to make health care more affordable and available has formed in Washington, contending that even with more widespread insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, many people cannot obtain the care they need. Partners for Better Care claims it already represents 10 million patients through affiliations with other advocacy groups such as AIDS United, the Parkinson’s Action Network and United Cerebral Palsy. The organization also is hoping to enlist larger health care advocacy groups. (Bernstein, 12/4) EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS The Washington Post's Wonkblog: Why the U.S. Should Pay Irish Drug Prices if Pfizer Wants to Pay Irish Tax Rates Last week, the drug giant Pfizer announced its plan to become an Irish drug company, moving its corporate headquarters abroad as part of a complex business maneuver that would allow it to skirt billions in U.S. taxes. That came on top of more general outrage over the soaring prices of many drugs — made by Pfizer and other companies — which are often many fold higher in America than overseas. Pharmaceutical companies often claim that the profits they earn from high U.S. prices fuels U.S. innovation. But that’s not the whole story. Non-U.S. drug companies also benefit from our high prices, and that would be true for the new Ireland-based Pfizer too. (Dr. Peter Bach, 12/6) DHNR is a daily compilation of news stories from GCHP's Communications Department. Certain news organizations are protected via a paywall requiring the purchase of a subscription to view their content. CALIFORNIA WATCH DECEMBER 8, 2015 California Healthline: Hearing Looks at Acquisition of Insurer At a public hearing on Monday in Sacramento, insurers made their case in front of officials from the Department of Managed Health Care for Centene health insurance company's proposal to buy Woodland Hills-based Health Net for $6.8 billion. (Gorn, 12/8) KQED: Catholic Hospital in Redding Denies two Women Tubal Ligation Redding’s Mercy Medical Center has refused — for the second time in four months — to allow doctors to perform sterilization on two pregnant women. The women requested the procedure be done immediately after they give birth next year. The hospital cited religious reasons. The American Civil Liberties Union and Physicians for Reproductive Health have sent a letter to Dignity Health, which owns Mercy Medical, saying they will go to court if the issue is not resolved by Wednesday evening. (Aliferis, 12/7) CAPITOL HILL WATCH The Huffington Post: Republicans Insist Planned Parenthood Committee isn't Specifically Targeting Planned Parenthood Ever since a gunman on a shooting rampage killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic late last month, Republicans on the select panel convened to investigate Planned Parenthood have been insisting that the committee isn't targeting the nation's largest abortion provider. In the wake of the Colorado Springs shooting, Democrats have called for the committee to be disbanded. ... The Republican response has been to point out that the October resolution establishing the special committee referred generally to "abortion providers," but not Planned Parenthood. (Lachman, 12/7) The Associated Press: Stewart Returns to 'Daily Show' to Push 9/11 Health Act Comedian Jon Stewart has returned to "The Daily Show" where he made a push to renew a law that provides health benefits for first responders who became ill after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ... Proponents of the law are seeking its permanent extension, but some Republicans have opposed that, saying they want a chance to periodically review it and make sure it's operating soundly. (12/7) PUBLIC HEALTH AND EDUCATION Reuters: State Policies Deter Doctors from Reporting Drug-Endangered Babies When Congress adopted the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act in 2003, the intent – spelled out in the law – was to ensure protection for drug-dependent newborns, not to punish mothers battling addiction. But today, a referral to child protection services in some states can put a mother in legal peril – a reality that dissuades some doctors from reporting cases of newborns in drug withdrawal no matter what the federal provisions intended. (Wilson and Shiffman, 12/8) USA Today: Public Health gets Least Money, but does most Just three cents of each U.S. health care dollar goes to public health even though it plays a far bigger role in keeping Americans well than medical care, a top federal official said at a forum sponsored by USA TODAY and insurer Cigna. State and local public health departments were hit especially hard by the recession and haven't recovered, said physician Karen DeSalvo, acting assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 12/7) The Washington Post: Superbug known as ‘Phantom Menace’ on the Rise in U.S. A particularly dangerous superbug, dubbed the "phantom menace" by scientists, is on the rise in the United States, according to a report Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This superbug's strains belong to the family of bacteria known as CRE, which are difficult to treat because they are often resistant to most antibiotics.