health care

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UCLA Med Center Rated #1 in California; 5 in U.S.

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center nabbed top honors among California hospitals in the latest U.S. News & World Report annual rankings.  The Los Angeles medical center ranked No. 5 nationally in the publisher’s annual honor roll of best hospitals. Only one other hospital in the state, UC San Francisco Medical Center, made the national honor roll of 17 hospitals. It ranked No. 13.   The online magazine said it analyzed patient survival rates, infection rates, safety measures, staffing ratios and other data… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-hospital-rankings-20120717,0,4972814.story The listing is at http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2012/07/16/best-hospitals-2012-13-the-honor-roll

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Follow the Leader? Will UC Follow CalPERS on Health Costs?

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System plans to raise health care premiums to its members by an average of nearly 10 percent next year, one of the biggest increases in recent years. The increase of 9.6 percent would be more than twice as big as the rate hike that took effect for this year. It would have significant implications for health care affordability in California and beyond. CalPERS is a major purchaser of health insurance; it covers nearly 1.3 million public employees, retirees and their family members… “Wow – that’s pretty high,” said Joanne Spetz, an…

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LA Times Editorial on UCLA Hospital/Blue Shield Dispute Has a Buried Lede*

Byuclafaculty

In yesterday’s LA Times – if you missed it – there was an editorial about a dispute between Blue Shield and the UCLA Hospital.  Yet beyond saying that controlling costs and being efficient are Good Things, the editorial seemed to miss the point – even though the point is it the text of the editorial.  Excerpt below: —— Blue Shield of California has suspended its relationship with UCLA Medical Center, one of the state’s top hospitals, in a dispute over the cost of treating patients there. It’s a disturbing sign of things to come in the healthcare industry, as insurers become increasingly…

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LAOmission

Byuclafaculty

Our previous post deals with the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report on the state budget. Quote from page 41 of the report: “…because the state is not required under current law to contribute additional funds to UC to address its unfunded pension and retiree health liabilities, the forecast assumes no General Fund resources to assist UC for these purposes.”

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No Smoking Better Than No Scoping

Byuclafaculty

In case you haven’t noticed the signs near the Westwood Blvd. entrance to UCLA, the health center is going entirely no smoking on Nov. 17. It’s good to have no smoking. But as yesterday’s post pointed out, no scoping is not so good. We are still awaiting the scoping report on the new hotel/conference center plan which is supposed to be discussed at a public meeting next week. http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/11/waiting-for-scoping-report.html

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Stolen Data

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Health System warns patients personal information was stolen Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times. 11/5/11 The UCLA Health System is warning thousands of patients that their personal information was stolen and they are at risk of possible identity theft, officials said in a statement released Friday. Officials don’t believe the information has been accessed or misused but are referring patients to a data security company if their name and credit are affected. Information from 16,288 patients was taken from the home of a physician whose house was burglarized Sept. 6, according to the UCLA Health System… The theft is not…

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Buried Lede on Retiree Health?

Byuclafaculty

From Wiktionary “bury the lede” (idiomatic, US, journalism) To begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lede ==== An article in today’s calpensions.com indicates that both CalPERS and CalSTRS have asked GASB – the Governental Accounting Standards Board – for a delay in its proposed new rules on public pension accounting. The rule would allow public pensions such as UCRP to continue with their projections of earnings on their assets (7.5% for UCRP) but would require a much lower discount rate for unfunded liabilities. The net effect of the…

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Mumps

Byuclafaculty

Arthur Ashe Center releases mumps health alert after outbreak at UC Berkeley By KAVITHA SUBRAMANIAN, October 6, 2011, Daily Bruin Off the Press blog UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center has released a mumps health alert following an outbreak at UC Berkeley this past week. At least 20 Berkeley students have reported potential mumps infections as of this evening, and hundreds of students have been waiting in line at UC Berkeley’s student health center for free vaccinations, according to the Daily Californian. No cases have been reported at UCLA… Full article at: http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/blog/off_the_press/2011/10/arthur_ashe_center_releases_mumps_health_alert_after_outbreak_at_uc_berkeley ============== One suspects that the…