Health
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
This proposal, part of Aguiar-Curry’s package of wildfire recovery legislation, is critical to ensure that communities continue to receive timely access to health care when disaster strikes.
After finding critical barriers to clinics’ and other health providers’ ability to provide health care and receive reimbursement for health services clinics during and after the devastating 2017 wildfires, Aguiar-Curry introduced AB 2576 to streamline the system.
The roughly 1,300 community health centers in California provide high-quality comprehensive care to 6.5 million people – that’s 1 in 6 Californians.
Community clinics provide the full spectrum of care, from primary care, to dental and behavioral care, and a variety of additional wraparound services to everyone, regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or individual circumstances.
However, when a clinic burns down or is damaged, the current rules restrict health providers from being able to deliver health services in the field.
The 2017 wildfire season was one of the worst in California’s history. Over a three month period, nearly two dozen health center corporations, serving a 10 county region, were impacted by the fires.
In addition to firefighters, police officers, and government officials who worked together to coordinate relief efforts in the affected areas, community health center providers were on the front lines, treating patients and providing resources to victims.
“When fires are raging throughout our state, doctors, nurses and other health professionals shouldn’t have to worry about arcane rules that prevent them from doing their jobs,” said Aguiar-Curry. “These folks did incredible work under impossible circumstances to help patients in every conceivable kind of ‘non-hospital’ environment. The rules said you couldn’t deliver treatments or medications to people in need without the ‘four walls’ of the clinic. Well, what if those four walls have burned down? We had to act to make sense out of a situation that couldn’t wait.”
AB 2576 will clarify state law to ensure that during an emergency providers can have telephonic appointments with patients, provide check-ups at shelters for evacuated patients, and make home visits where needed.
Current rules restrict all of these methods of providing services from receiving reimbursement outside of the “four walls” of a community health center facility.
The bill will also create an accelerated Board of Pharmacy permitting process for health centers to create temporary pharmacy sites when the clinic is inaccessible.
These changes are critical to ensuring that patients impacted by a disaster can continue to receive the care they need, while also avoiding unnecessary strain on emergency services.
“With the recent devastating fire season that affected Californians across the state, I am thankful to see the Governor’s continued dedication to essential health care and his signing of Assembly Bill 2576,” said Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president and CEO of CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates.”
This critical legislation will improve timely access to care for communities during declared emergencies. Combined efforts from the resilient leadership of Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry and our vital partnership with the Redwood Community Health Coalition enabled AB 2576 to make it to the Governor’s desk.”
Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa Counties, parts of Colusa, Solano and Sonoma counties, and all of Yolo County except West Sacramento.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Earning bipartisan support in the Legislature prior to being signed into law, SB 1041 requires the California Department of Public Health to annually notify health care providers and, in turn, parents about the risks and effects of lead exposure and of the requirement that all Medi-Cal enrolled children be tested for lead.
Federal law and state regulations currently require that children receiving Medi-Cal benefits be tested for lead at 12 and 24 months of age.
“Once implemented, SB 1041 will empower and inform physicians and parents about the dangers of lead exposure so that they can help protect children and families,” Sen. Leyva said. “Kids can sometimes be unknowingly exposed to lead through a variety of sources, including toys, drinking water and even paint. Any level of lead exposure in children is dangerous and SB 1041 will help parents know the importance of kids receiving a blood lead level screening test as a precautionary measure. This bill will help to promptly diagnose and treat children exposed to lead in our local communities.”
An analysis of Medi-Cal billing data by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows that, between 2012 and 2016, nearly three-fourths of Medi-Cal enrolled children were not tested for lead exposure.
Children in at least 4 million U.S. households are exposed to high levels of lead, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC reports that even the smallest amount of lead in children can cause mental and physical disorders such as attention deficit issues, brain damage, and delayed body growth.
Cosponsored by EWG and the Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, SB 1041 was supported by many organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics / California, Association of Regional Center Agencies, California League of Conservation Voters, California State PTA, California Teachers Association, Children Now, Children’s Advocacy Institute, Children’s Defense Fund, Clean Water Action, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Healthy Black Families Inc, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club California and Western Center on Law and Poverty.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
SACRAMENTO – Covered California on Friday was honored for its public policy research, studies and reports on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the prestigious PR News Platinum Awards, a national contest recognizing outstanding public relations efforts.
“This national recognition underscores the work of our staff and community partners do to inform, educate and enroll Californians in affordable health insurance,” said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California. “The main reward of our outreach is in the enrollment of thousands of Californians, but these rewards validate the good work our team is doing on consumers’ behalf.”
The 2018 PR News Platinum Award winners set industry benchmarks for excellence across all areas of communications. Entrants include U.S.-based and international public relations agencies, corporations, nonprofits, associations and government organizations.
Covered California was recognized as the top organization in the External Publications category and received honorable mention in three other categories: Media Event, Multicultural Campaign and the WOW! Award.
In the External Publications category, Covered California was honored for its “issue briefs” – a series of studies, reports and analyses – which highlighted the agency’s experiences and lessons in implementing the Affordable Care Act. These reports addressed the implications of federal policy changes, the benefits of legislative and administrative changes being considered at the state and federal level and the value of marketing and outreach.
The issue briefs and reports illustrate key elements of Covered California’s approach to creating a successful competitive marketplace in California, where the rate of the uninsured has been cut by more than half since 2013, and premiums for those who do not receive subsidies have increased by only modest amounts over the past four years.
Covered California was recognized in three additional categories. Two nominations were for the Media Event category and the WOW! Award for the agency’s outreach and education work during the "Covered in Art" bus tour and mural campaign. The statewide campaign promoted enrollment and illustrated that health care is part of the fabric of every community in California. Covered California worked in partnership with its public relations contractor, Ogilvy, on the tour, which took place between Nov. 1, 2017, and Jan. 31, 2018.
Covered California’s in-house communications team was also recognized in the category of Multicultural Campaign for its targeted outreach and media activities to reach Latinos, African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders and LGBTQ communities throughout the state.
Overall, Covered California competed with nationally known public relations firms that represented companies such as Intel, 21st Century Fox, HP and Kentucky Fried Chicken, among others.
“We couldn’t do this great work without the talented team of communications professionals and policy experts working in-house at Covered California,” Lee said.
For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.
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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
After its initial success, California's fifth largest life insurer is now including the program in all its life insurance policies at no additional cost.
The Vitality Life Insurance Program allows consumers with active and healthy lifestyles the option to lower their premiums by accumulating Vitality Points for health-related activities such as exercising, getting a flu shot and logging their annual visit to the doctor. The points are translated into discounts.
In 2015, Commissioner Jones became one of the first insurance regulators in the nation to approve this program so that Californians who take care of their health could be rewarded with financial incentives.
"Innovative products like the Vitality Life Insurance Program keep California's insurance marketplace healthy and vibrant and give Californians more options to decide how best to meet their insurance needs," said Jones. "When this new life insurance product was filed, we worked to expedite approval so California consumers could benefit from more life insurance options as well as monetary discounts for healthy living. I am excited about the success the program has had so far and am hopeful it will continue as John Hancock implements this change to its policies."
Since initiating the program, John Hancock reported their policyholders with the program take nearly twice as many steps as the average American, have logged more than three million healthy activities including walking, swimming, or biking, and engage with the program approximately 576 times a year.
"The remarkable results of our Vitality offering convinced us this is the only path forward for the industry," said Brooks Tingle, president and CEO of John Hancock Insurance. "We have smart phones, smart cars and smart homes. It's time for smart life insurance that meets the changing needs of consumers. We are very appreciative of the thorough and expedited review and approval by the California Department of Insurance, which made California one of the first states to approve our innovative new product."
This life insurance program does not penalize or shift costs to consumers who are less active, but instead offers an actuarially sound method to provide discounts for those policyholders who choose to live a healthy lifestyle, and are therefore likely to increase life expectancy. The product has been available in other countries for some time.