CalHealthCares Physician Loan Repayment Program Inaugural Application Cycle Begins April 1 CalHealthCares is a new loan repayment program that incentivizes physicians to provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries by repaying educational debt up to $300,000 in exchange for a five-year service obligation. All awardees will be required to maintain a patient caseload of 30 percent or more Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The inaugural application cycle for CalHealthCares will open on April 1, 2019. The program—which aims to increase access to care for California’s 13 million Medi-Cal patients—was made possible by Proposition 56, which provided a one-time allocation of $220 million for state loan repayment programs. ... April 1, 2019 Physician Workforce, Public Health #PhysiciansLoanRepaymentActProgram, #physicianworkforce, #Proposition56, #publichealth 0 0 Comment Read More »
Opioid Prescription Restrictions at Walmart and CVS Pharmacies In 2018, Walmart (including Sam’s Club) and CVS Caremark implemented dosage and duration corporate policies to restrict opioid prescriptions filled at their pharmacies. Specifically: Walmart restricted initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain to no more than seven days and 50 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) CVS Caremark restricted initial opioid prescriptions for an acute condition to a seven-day supply and 90 MME, although prescribers may request a prior authorization for higher doses up to 200 MME/day Physicians have also reported being asked for extensive medical documentation such as treatment agreements, tried/failed ... November 1, 2018 Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
CA physicians outline agenda to improve patient affordability, access and quality The California Medical Association (CMA) recently convened the organization’s 147th annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in Sacramento. Over 500 California physicians debated and outlined a bold agenda to increase health care affordability, improve health care delivery, create efficiencies throughout the health care system, and improve health outcomes, which includes addressing social determinants of health and expanding telehealth services. “Physicians serve at the center of health care delivery, providing a unique expertise to ensure our patients are receiving affordable, timely and quality care,” said CMA President David H. Aizuss, M.D. “Health ... October 18, 2018 Healthcare, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
HHS Encouraging Physicians to Use Telemedicine to Help Treat Opioid Use Disorder The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing materials to encourage physicians to take advantage of telemedicine tools, according to a recent HHS blog post. The newly-available resources were developed to help clinicians better understand how they can use telemedicine as a tool to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) and expand treatment options. “Working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), HHS developed materials to help clarify how clinicians can use telemedicine as a tool to expand buprenorphine-based MAT [medication assisted treatment]for opioid use disorder treatment under current DEA regulations,” said the ... October 5, 2018 Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
Verity Health System Enters into Asset Purchase Agreement with Santa Clara County Santa Clara County has entered into an agreement to acquire O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, Calif., and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, Calif., for $235 million Verity Health continues to actively seek potential buyers for its other hospitals All Verity Health hospitals continue to provide high-quality care to patients throughout the Chapter 11 process Verity Health System of California, Inc. (“Verity Health”), a nonprofit healthcare system, today filed a motion in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles seeking bankruptcy court approval of a procedure to obtain bids ... October 5, 2018 Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
