CenCal-USC dispute highlights Medi-Cal pricing issues
A USC hospital is demanding $2 million for a surgery performed on a Medi-Cal patient from Santa Barbara County, more than 25 times as much as Santa Barbara County officials believe the procedure should have cost.
CMH launches residency program to combat coming doctor shortage
Ventura County’s Community Memorial Health System has embarked on an ambitious effort to address a severe shortage of family doctors that is looming nationwide. About a third of physicians now practicing are age 58 or older, Community Memorial President and CEO Gary Wilde said in answering questions after a State of the Health System address Read More →
Costly eye drug drives up region’s Medicare bills
A Santa Barbara eye doctor and a drug that costs $2,000 per dose are at the center of the debate over how to control the spiraling cost of Medicare.
Health care prices under scrutiny in Sansum-Cottage merger
As the regulatory review of the proposed merger between Cottage Health System and Sansum Clinic stretches to the six-month mark, a recent federal court ruling points out key issues that arise when a dominant hospital system buys a major physician group. In an Idaho case decided earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission intensely focused Read More →
Sebelius speaks frankly about women in leadership at Fielding talk
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Kathleen Sebelius resigned on April 10, the New York Times and other national media outlets reported.] On a day when President Barack Obama signed an executive order mandating equal pay for women working for federal contractors, Fielding Graduate University hosted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for a more down-to-earth discussion Read More →
