California Moves Forward on Health Bills to Counteract Trump Policies
Lawmakers are considering several bills this month aimed at stabilizing California's health insurance marketplace, despite a state budget deal that effectively killed other, more expensive proposals....
View ArticleNew Report on Palliative Care Finds Big Increase in Services Throughout...
More Californians are participating in palliative care programs, but the need still outpaces the supply, according to a new report. A mapping project just released by the California Healthcare...
View ArticleDoctor’s Notes: Head Start Offers Better Beginnings for School, Resilience...
Most of my patients are low-income and many have faced adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, which can cause lifelong physical and mental health problems. After years of working with low-income...
View ArticleCalifornia Law Forbids Abusers to Own Guns, but Police Lack Resources to Take...
“There are survivors of domestic violence who have done what the system tells you to do, which is get a protective order, and they’re supposed to be safe during that. The law tells people that they...
View ArticleBudget Boosts Funding for Programs Benefiting Low-Income Families
Advocates for young children are applauding the state's budget plans for next fiscal year, which include millions of dollars for programs that help low-income parents and kids. The $200-billion...
View ArticleUC Campuses have Failed to Investigate Sexual Harassment Complaints Quickly...
The University of California often takes months to resolve sexual harassment complaints against faculty members and fails to impose consistent discipline in such cases, a state auditor's report has...
View ArticleSan Francisco Takes Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder to the Streets
San Francisco’s street medicine team brings doctors and other health professionals directly to people living on the streets to hear their stories and earn their trust. They provide as many services as...
View ArticleLifestyle Medicine Can Address Diabetes Disparities
We can minimize the harmful effects of health disparities by designing programs that offer accessible, evidence-based interventions that empower people. A new approach to medicine—that takes into...
View ArticleBlatant Gaps in Our System Allow Batterers to Keep Guns
As our country faces a gun violence epidemic, I find myself perplexed by the blatant gaps in our prevention systems. California law and the public agree that batterers should not own guns, and yet law...
View ArticleDoctor’s Notes: At this Preschool for Traumatized Kids, Emotional Care Comes...
The Children’s Institute building on Harbor-UCLA’s campus is surrounded by playgrounds. The inside is decorated in lively colors, and it’s neatly cluttered with toys and children. It looks like Crayola...
View ArticleFor Survivors of Violence in Central America, Asylum Can Be a Matter of Life...
The people who come into our shelter in Santa Cruz County have frequently been beaten, trafficked and sexually assaulted in Central America. They have come to the United States as a last resort—in...
View ArticleFew Low-Income Children Get Mental Health Care in California, Despite Need
In California, the state's key program for providing mental health treatment to low-income children and youth under age 21 serves just a fraction of those estimated to need help, statistics show. And...
View ArticleFederal Changes to Health Care Hit California in the Form of Higher Insurance...
Federal attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act will ratchet up California's health insurance premiums next year, but the spike is below last year's increase and premium hikes projected for many...
View ArticleGive Youth an Escape Route from Addiction
Every time a young person who suffers from addiction reaches out for help, we have an incredible and precious opportunity to find the road back to the youth’s full potential. Wasting that opportunity...
View ArticleCan Chef-Made Meals Serve as Medicine? State’s Low-Income Insurance Aims to...
Called “Food is Medicine,” a new Los Angeles pilot program aims to keep low-income patients with congestive heart failure out of the hospital. The three-year pilot project is being funded by the state...
View ArticleMinorities Much Less Likely to Access Mental Health Care, State Data Suggests
White people enrolled in Medi-Cal access mental health treatment at about twice the rate of other ethnic groups, even though they make up fewer than a quarter of plan enrollees, new state data...
View ArticleMental Health Care is Absent at Many California Community Colleges
California’s community colleges serve more than 2 million students annually, but mental health services are not widely available on many campuses. Even on campuses that do have mental health care,...
View ArticleIn San Joaquin, Two Medi-Cal Health Plans Struggle to Improve Quality
Two health plans that serve low-income residents in the Central Valley have consistently failed to meet state standards, recent reports show. Health Net of San Joaquin and Health Plan San Joaquin,...
View ArticleDoctor’s Notes: Youth Suicide is on the Rise, Even Among the Very Young
Parents often don’t take talk of suicide by young children seriously because they think kids don't understand the concept. But they do. By ages 5 to 7, children begin to understand death, though many...
View ArticleA New Campaign to Reduce C-Sections Is Especially Critical for...
The My Birth Matters campaign is aimed at every demographic, but experts are also keenly focused on lowering C-section rates for African-American mothers. Their rate of C-sections is on average 5...
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