Latest Medi-Cal Stories

To: POLITICAL EDITORS Contact: Amanda Fryer of National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses, +1-901-683-8136 MEMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses (NCPS) is outraged at the proposed cuts to the HIV/AIDS Medi-Cal pilot program which was designed to help provide life-sustaining medications for thousands of Californians living with HIV/AIDS. These cuts are especially troubling in light of recent studies demonstrating that these pharmacy...

By Sandy Kleffman Scores of East Bay programs that serve the poor, elderly and disabled are teetering on the brink of financial disaster as they cope with millions of dollars in withheld revenue because of the longest budget stalemate in state history. Many program managers are angry and frustrated at the impasse, especially because they have been obtaining loans with hefty interest rates, deferring portions of their salaries and taking other dramatic steps to keep their doors open. "This...

By Rowena Coetsee Four-year-old Andrew wasn't allowed to mingle with other children without a current polio vaccination, and his mom didn't want him sitting out another day after he already had missed his kindergarten orientation. Just in the nick of time, help rolled into a Pittsburg parking lot, where Sherissa Lowery and her son patiently waited in line Tuesday morning for the shots he needed. A small crowd of parents and children formed in front of the 44- foot van stationed next to the...

California Academy of Family Physicians: Who: California Academy of Family Physicians, with other health care organizations, patients & consumer groups What: Press Conference to Call for Balanced Budget and Full Funding of Health Care Programs Where: State Capitol - North Steps When: 11 a.m. Thurs., Aug. 21 A federal judge this week blocked the state's 10% cuts in Medi-Cal payments to physicians and other health care providers. Yet current state budget proposals still call for such...

Family physicians today are commending Monday's order by a federal district judge that overturned the State of California's 10% cut in fees to physicians who see the 6.5 million patients covered by the Medi-Cal program. "The judge agreed with our evidence that patients would suffer if the payment cuts were allowed to stand," said Jeffrey Luther, MD, president of the 7,000-member California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP). The physicians learned of the ruling late yesterday....

A Federal District Court in Los Angeles ordered the state of California to stop the ten percent cuts in Medi-Cal reimbursement payments to healthcare providers. The Court found that pharmacies and other Medi-Cal providers and patients were being irreparably harmed as a result of the cuts and that the providers had show a likelihood of success on the merits. Pharmacies were losing money on nearly every Medi-Cal transaction and many pharmacies have been forced to turn away Medi-Cal patients....

The ten percent Medi-Cal provider cuts that went into effect on July 1, 2008 have already created hardships throughout California for pharmacists and the patients they serve. More and more pharmacies have been forced to stop filling Medi-Cal prescriptions because pharmacies lose money on nearly every prescription filled. To date, 224,281 Californians have signed petitions urging the Governor and Legislature to rescind the cuts to ensure that patients receive the medications they need to live...

The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) today announced a program to provide loans to members suffering the negative economic effects of the 10% Medi-Cal cut in payments to physicians that took effect July 1. "We are providing a lifeline to family physicians who otherwise may be forced to turn away Medi-Cal patients or even shut down their practices entirely," said CAFP President Jeffrey Luther, MD. "The State of California's Medi-Cal payments to physicians are the lowest in the...

FBI raids three Californian hospitals in probe of Medicare fraud LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- FBI agents raided three hospitals in Southern California on Wednesday for allegedly recruiting homeless from skid row in a Medicare fraud. The raid, the result of a nearly two-year probe, was part an investigation into what officials said was a "scheme to defraud the Medi-Cal(Medical California) and Medicare programs out of millions of dollars." Beginning at 8 a.m., agents working with the...

By Richard Halstead, The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif. Aug. 5--AGENCIES AND DOCTORS providing critical health services in Marin are being buffeted by cuts in government financial support and payment delays caused by the perennial state budget impasse. Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature continue to battle over the governor's proposed budget, they have agreed on and approved one component of that budget: a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal reimbursements. That...