SCCMA EHC Member Publishes on Climate Change and the Risks to Pregnant Persons and their Offspring SCCMA Environmental Health Committee Member, Santosh Pandipati, MD, FACOG was recently asked to bring together a panel to author a lead article for a special issue of Seminars in Perinatology dedicated to climate change impacts on women and pregnancy. To download article, please click HERE. Climate change: Overview of risks to pregnant persons and their offspring Santosh Pandipati, Melanie Leong, Rupa Basu, David Abel, Sarena Hayer, Jeanne Conry Climate change is one of the greatest challenges confronting humanity. Pregnant persons, their unborn children, and offspring are particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by adverse perinatal ... October 23, 2023 Advocacy, General, Health Net, Healthcare, legislation, Public Health Climate Change, Environmental Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
CHCF Shares Resources to Support Palliative Care in Public Hospitals For people with serious illness, palliative care programs provide essential services to address the complex physical and emotional burdens that come with such illnesses. These programs are available in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Yet even with ample evidence about the positive impact of these services, leaders in palliative care programs often have to make the case about the value of these services. California Health Care Foundation's (CHCF) collection Resources to Support Palliative Care in Public Hospitals includes information and tools to help leaders of palliative care programs at public health ... April 11, 2023 General, Health Net, Healthcare, Patient Care, Public Health Hospitals, Palliative Care 0 0 Comment Read More »
Big Provisions in $1.7 Trillion Omnibus: What Doctors Should Know In enacting the 4,000-plus page, end-of-the-year spending package, Washington politicians failed to stop the entirety of scheduled Medicare pay cuts, which will come at a financially precarious time for physician practices left reeling in the COVID-19 pandemic’s third year. Because of that, physicians will face a 2% cut in Medicare payment in 2023, and 2024 will bring at least a 1.25% cut. Nevertheless, the $1.7 trillion bill signed by President Joe Biden does include a number of important AMA-supported provisions that physicians should know about. Among other things, the omnibus bill ... January 27, 2023 Advocacy, AMA, Health Net, Healthcare, legislation, Physician Workforce 0 0 Comment Read More »
Health Net Federal Services experiences significant challenges with TRICARE transition On January 1, 2018, Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) became the new Defense Heath Agency (DHA) managed care contractor for the TRICARE West Region, serving approximately 2.9 million beneficiaries in 21 western states, including California. HNFS took over the contract previously held by UnitedHealthcare Military and Veterans’ Services (UMVS). The California Medical Association (CMA) has learned that HNFS has experienced implementation issues related to provider contracting and credentialing, beneficiary reassignment to new primary care managers (PCM), and provider directory inaccuracies. Read More July 25, 2018 Health Net, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
Health Net to rescind recently announced payment policies Since Health Net first notified physicians in March of planned changes to its modifier 25 and emergency services payment policies for Medicare and Medi-Cal lines of business, the California Medical Association (CMA) has been working to educate the payor about physician concerns with the new policies. Last month Health Net agreed to delay implementation of the new policies until July 1, 2018, to allow time to review provider concerns with the new policies and to continue discussions with CMA and other stakeholders. “We believe a more collaborative approach to identify alternative ... July 13, 2018 Coding, General, Health Net, Insurance 0 0 Comment Read More »
