Effective June 27, 2010, all California doctors are required to
notify their patients that they are licensed by the Medical Board
of California and provide the Medical Board’s contact
information. This notice may either be prominently posted in the
doctor’s office, or it may be in the form of a written statement
that is given to the patient. The written notification must
include the Medical Board of California’s telephone number and
Web site. Consumers can contact the Medical Board to check on a
doctor’s license status or to file a complaint.
Look for doctors and office staff who speak your family’s
language, or ask for an interpreter if you need one to talk to
your doctor or your child’s doctor. Certified medical
interpreters are trained to translate health information
correctly. They must keep your information private.
Beginning January 17, 2011, a new timely access regulation will
go into effect in California that rquires HMO doctors to see
patients with non-urgent care needs within 10 business days of
the patient’s request for an appointment. For requests to see a
specialist, patients must be seen within 15 business days of the
request. Patients seeking urgent care that does not require prior
authorization must be seen within 48 hours (96 hours for urgent
care iif it requires prior authorization). Visit
Timely Access to Care to learn more about this new
regulation.
Some hospitals provide better care than others. Visit
CalHospitalCompare.org, a service of the California
Healthcare Foundation, to view ratings of quality of
care, patient experience and safety measures for hospitals
in your area.
Visit the California Office of the Patient Advocate Web
site to learn how health insurance plans rate on the quality
of care their members receive, as well as how medical
groups, their doctors and other providers rate on the care
patients receive.
Medicare.gov provides the following online rating tools:
Nursing Home Compare has detailed information about
every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing
home in the country and the quality of care they
provide.
Home Health Compare has detailed information about
every Medicare-certified Home Health agency in the country.
Whether you are going to the hospital for an outpatient procedure
or whether you will be admitted to the hospital for medical
illness or surgical procedure, there are certain things you must
know and certain things you must do in order to ensure that your
reasonable expectations will be met.
You must become informed about the terms and limits of your
health insurance policy. See if the fees you are being charged
can be negotiated ahead of time. If you do not know the terms and
limits of your policy, you will not know the financial field upon
which you are playing, and the end result may be significantly
displeasing to you.
Do not be afraid to ask questions of your doctor. By
accepting you as a patient he or she has made a contract with you
to provide you with the best possible care. This means that the
doctor must make time to answer your questions. On the other
hand, you must realize that doctors do not have much time in
today’s medical environment owing to the system under which they
currently work. Therefore, prepare a list of questions for the
doctor each day, and set a time during the course of the day that
you and the doctor can meet so that these questions can be
answered. If possible, e-mail the questions to your doctor before
hand.
HILLSBORO, Ore. — Peter Cady, who works 12-hour shifts on his
feet at Intel’s plant here, occasionally suffers severe lower
back spasms. But he nearly gave up seeking medical help because
in the weeks it took to get a doctor’s appointment and a referral
to physical therapy, the pain usually subsided.
These days, however, Cady is much happier with his care.
Reporting from Sacramento— Fewer California companies offered
their workers health insurance last year, and the ones that did
charged employees more for their coverage.
That’s among the findings of an annual California Employer Health
Benefits Survey released Wednesday [January 4, 2012] by the
California HealthCare Foundation, a research and grant-making
nonprofit organization.
For more evidence that the Golden State has lost some of its
luster, consider this news from the federal government:
California spends less per person on healthcare than all but
eight states.
Here’s the good news: California continues to be a national
leader in low smoking rates, high rates of early prenatal care,
low infant mortality, and few workplace deaths.
But our air still is the nation’s most polluted, many children
aren’t getting immunized and lack of health insurance remains a
problem, a report released Tuesday [December 6, 2011] shows.
Battling a life expectancy rate some eight to 15 years less than
the state average according to reports, San Bernardino health
care providers are using technology and community outreach to
improve care.
A
poll released Tuesday [November 15, 2011] found that an
overwhelming majority of doctors support palliative care, with 96
percent responding that they believe enhancing the quality of
life for seriously ill patients is more important than extending
life as long as possible. Despite these sentiments, many
physicians responded that they have some hesitations about
palliative care and that there are barriers to its full adoption.
Dr. Brett White practices medicine differently than he did three
years ago.
That’s when the Gabriel Park Family Health Center in suburban
Portland adopted electronic medical records.
White, who oversees the clinic, says the effect was immediate.
The electronic records made data available that highlighted
patients who’d been diagnosed with chronic diseases like diabetes
and then hadn’t been seen for a couple of years.
For many adults, a routine visit to a primary care physician
might involve blood tests, a urinalysis, an electrocardiogram,
maybe a bone density scan. Too often, however, these tests are
inappropriate and they cost a bundle, according to a recent
study, not only for the health care system but also for
individuals, who are increasingly footing more of the bill for
their care.
Nationally, more than a quarter of Medicare’s rated prescription
drug plans that will be available to seniors in 2012 get poor
ratings from federal officials. And in the Washington metro area,
36 percent rate unacceptably low, according to an analysis of
Medicare data.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is putting these
plans on notice that, unless they take steps to improve their
performance over the next few years, they face expulsion from
Medicare.
For those worried about the shortage of doctors in the U.S.
healthcare system, here is a bit of good news: The number of
students enrolling in medical schools has reached its highest
level in more than a decade.
More than 19,200 people entered their first year of medical
school this year, a 3% increase over 2010, according to new data
from the nonprofit Assn. of American Medical Colleges.
The USC School of Pharmacy plans to double the number of
pharmacists at safety-net clinics throughout Southern California,
officials announced Wednesday [October 19, 2011].
America’s health care system is not getting any better even as it
gets more expensive, according to the third comprehensive
scorecard issued by the Commonwealth Fund, one of the country’s
biggest health care foundations.
Nine Medicare Advantage plans scored top marks on the five-star
government rating system for 2012, up from only three plans this
year, according to new figures posted by Medicare Wednesday
[October 12, 2011].
That’s a small share of the 569 private Medicare plans, but it’s
a laurel much of the industry is now chasing. For the first time,
Medicare plans will get big cash bonuses for higher scores, a new
reward created by the 2010 federal health law.
As Susan Dentzer, the editor in chief of the journal Health
Affairs, was opening a public briefing today [October 6,
2011] on a special issue dedicated to the state of health
care disparities in the country, she warned the audience members
they “might need a strong dose of Valium” to handle some of the
bleak assessments of the racial gap in care.
