Welcome to this week's issue of the Capitol Pulse.
|
TOP STORY
Number of Medi-Cal Physicians Down by 25% in Spring 2014
|
Nearly 25 percent fewer physicians were signed up to treat low-income patients in the state's insurance program this spring compared to a year prior, despite the surge in patients enrolled in Medi-Cal. The drop in providers is due to the Department of Health Care Services' efforts to remove doctors who haven't complied with application requirements or billed the program in a year. Read more...
|
Board of Pharmacy Update:
ACP Analyzing Sterile Compounding Regulations
|
The Board of Pharmacy recently released draft regulations for sterile compounding. The Academy of Compounding Pharmacists Board is appointing a working group consisting of sterile compounders in community and institutional settings to analyze and provide written comments on these during the state rulemaking process.
|
Other Pharmacy-Related News
|
Drug Makers Push Back in Court on Take-Back Law
Alameda County's trailblazing drug take-back law is an unnecessary burden that may increase the risk of unused medicines ending up in the environment or unintended hands, the drug industry said in arguing for an appeals court to help strike down the law. Read more...
Anthem Accused of 'Fraudulent' Enrollment Practices
California insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross misled "millions of enrollees" about whether their doctors and hospitals were participating in its new plans, and failed to disclose that many policies wouldn't cover care outside its approved network, according to a class action lawsuit filed. Read more...
Judge Delays Duals Injunction Decision
Complaints about the "narrow networks" in the Affordable Care Act's exchanges have taken a sharp turn, with regulators launching investigations and patients filing lawsuits. Are these simply rollout-related challenges, or are deeper problems to blame? Read more...
Two big election battles shaping up this fall are over ballot measures that might not immediately stand out to voters: Proposition 45, which would give the state insurance commissioner regulatory power over health insurance rates, and Proposition 46, which would require drug and alcohol testing of doctors and raise the cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. Read more...
Free-Speech, Safety Issues in 'Off-Label' Drug Marketing
Heroin Major Focus of New WH Drug Strategy The White House on Wednesday rolled out a 2014 drug control strategy that targets the growing scourges of heroin and prescription drug abuse, while placing a premium on treatment programs over incarceration for offenders. Read more...
|