Category: health care

Hiking

Earlier blog posts have noted that CalPERS‘ premiums for long-term care are going nowhere but up.  Another rate hike is being announced with an option instead to move to a lesser-value plan.

UC employees and faculty are normally not covered by CalPERS’ pension and health care plans.  However, as state workers, they were offered the chance to enroll in CalPERS’ long-term care program when CalPERS got into that business.  Unfortunately, there was no guarantee concerning what the premiums would be over time.  From the Sacramento Bee‘s State Worker blog:

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System today is mailing some 150,000 official notices to long-term care insurance policyholders that a rate hike is coming. The letter explains that CalPERS is raising premiums 5 percent this year on the plan’s costliest policies, which offer lifetime coverage and daily benefit payouts that keep up with inflation.Policyholders can avoid the premium increases by moving into plans that offer up to 10 years of benefits without automatically inflation-adjusted coverage. The deadline to opt into another plan varies by policyholder. CalPERS’ letter also flags a 5 percent increase planned for 2014 and another 85 percent jump in 2015 spread over two years. All the rate hikes apply to policies offering inflation-protected, lifetime coverage for things like nursing home services and in-home care…

Full story at http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2013/04/calpers-letters-detail-long-term-care-rate-hikes-options.html

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2013/04/calpers-letters-detail-long-term-care-rate-hikes-options.html#storylink=cpy


Seems like they are asking too much for too little and doing it too late:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM39yIKoSo4?feature=player_detailpage]
Update: Legislative hearings on CalPERS long-term care are now scheduled:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/02/5388222/the-state-worker-committee-calls.html

Strike Vote to Be Taken at UC Med Centers

Strike at UCLA hospital in 2008
With contract negotiations stalled, union workers at University of California hospitals… say they will vote next week on whether to strike. The strike talk started Friday with a statement from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 13,000 employees at university medical facilities across the state…
The university attributes the current strike talk to a refusal by the union “to agree to UC’s pension reforms,” which require employees to pay a larger percentage of their incomes toward pensions starting July 1… But the union says just the opposite. “UC Medical Centers have offered their front line care workers cuts in total compensation,” the union said in its statement.The union is also focusing on the pay and benefits paid to top executives… The union has not specified a specific strike date or duration…
Full story at http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/21/afscme-threatens-strike-uc-hospitals/ 

UPDATE: AFSCME announced the strike authorization was passed on May 6.  As noted, a strike vote authorization does not necessarily mean that a strike will occur:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2013/05/university-of-california-employees-vote-to-authorize-strike.html

Dog Days at the UCLA Medical Center

Several four-legged volunteers with the People-Animal Connection (PAC) program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and their human counterparts will star in an upcoming episode of the PBS television show, “Shelter Me: Let’s Go Home,” premiering in April…

The show followed a handful of human/dog teams with UCLA’s animal-assisted therapy PAC program as they volunteered at the hospital. All of the dogs featured were adopted from shelters and now help people by bringing comfort to patients and their families, as well as joy to the doctors and nurses. “Our animal-assisted therapy dogs truly provide a sense of healing and comfort that no medicine can offer,” said Erin Rice, the recently appointed director of UCLA’s PAC program. “The show will help raise awareness about the real impact dogs can have on our hospitalized patients and we hope viewers will be moved by the program.”…

Full story at http://www.newswise.com/articles/ucla-s-hospital-therapy-dogs-showcased-in-new-pbs-documentary

and centurycity.patch.com/articles/pbs-is-going-to-the-dogs?

The program can be seen on KOCE, April 3 at 12:30 p.m. and April 9 at 7 p.m. Below is an excerpt from the program from a longer YouTube promo: 

Hospital Takeover?

The original St. John’s Hospital in the early 1940s

A report in the LA Times today suggests UCLA is considering a bid to take over St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.  St. John’s is only a few blocks from Santa Monica Hospital which UCLA previously acquired.

UCLA and the nation’s largest Catholic healthcare system are teaming up on a potential acquisition of St. John’s Health Center, a storied Santa Monica hospital up for sale after a recent management shake-up. The partnership between UCLA Health System and Ascension Health Alliance in St. Louis is one proposal under consideration by St. John’s and its nonprofit Catholic owner, the Sisters of Charity Leavenworth Health System in Denver, according to people familiar with the matter…

A purchase of St. John’s by UCLA would further strengthen its local market power, and that could draw extra scrutiny from government officials concerned about some healthcare deals reducing competition and boosting medical prices. The California attorney general’s office is already examining the effects of healthcare consolidation statewide. A spokeswoman for UCLA said it “does not have a bid in alone or in partnership with any other party to purchase St. John’s.” Ascension, UCLA’s potential partner, has been expanding in California. In December, it agreed to an affiliation with St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles and five other California hospitals owned by another Catholic system. Ascension runs more than 70 hospitals in 21 states and it had revenue of $16.6 billion in the year that ended June 30…

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-saint-johns-deal-20130323,0,420817.story

The Never-Ending Story of the UC-Riverside Med School

UC-Riverside’s quest for $15 million from the state budget – not supported by the governor – seems unending.  From the Desert Sun:

An Inland Empire lawmaker’s bill to secure $15 million in annual state funding for the UC Riverside School of Medicine cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday. AB 27, sponsored by Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, was approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee and is now bound for the Assembly Appropriations Committee…


Much of the school’s start-up funding has come from philanthropic and other non-state sources, though the county committed $20 million over the last two years.
Full story at http://www.mydesert.com/viewart/20130319/NEWS04/303190033/Committee-OKs-bill-UC-Riverside-School-Medicine-funding
Note: It’s a long path from this step to an actual $15 million from the state.  The quest has gone on for a long time and it may continue for a long time.  A little music while we wait:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tokxcbu_Uo?feature=player_detailpage]

With One Question on Funding, Regents Approve UCLA New Med Center Building

As predicted, the UC Regents approved the architectural and CEQA review for the planned new UCLA Teaching and Learning Center for the Health Sciences with a virtual rubber stamp.  There was one question on funding from a regent and the answer was that $120 million (!) would be raised from gifts.  No follow up on funding or costs was part of the approval.  By the way, if you raise $120 million by tapping donors, that means there will be less money from gifts that could be tapped for some other purpose.  In past regental reviews of this project, the issue of a high cost per usable square foot was raised.  No questions about that concern were raised this time.  The Center may well be a worthy project.  But as with the case of the UCLA hotel project, ultimately regental review of these big buck affairs – even if objections are raised along the way – ends up in approval with no follow up to see what actually occurs.  And there is no independent auditing capacity available for the initial approval or for any follow up.

Below is a link to the audio of the approval of the Grounds and Building Committee on 3-13-13.  Gov. Brown attended part of the regents meeting that day and, as a regent, had the full agenda available.  Apparently, despite his hopes that online education will save some money, the approval of large and expensive capital projects is not a gubernatorial concern.

The full regents agenda for this meeting with links to video is at:
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13.html

UC-Riverside Pushes Ahead With Med School

UC-Riverside pushes on with its med school despite lack of state support.  From the Desert Sun:
PALM DESERT — University of California, Riverside officials should know within two weeks whether the state will OK a land transfer critical to its new medical school’s presence in the Coachella Valley.  At issue is 11.5 acres along Frank Sinatra Drive, just east of UCR’s existing Palm Desert campus… The medical school plans to build an outpatient medical clinic there that can be used as a teaching facility for students and medical residents, Dean G. Richard Olds said…
Olds said there is no plan B should the state decline to release the land. “I guess we’ll have to build it somewhere else,” he said.  A rejection would stretch out the unclear timeline. If UCR does get control of the land, what happens and when it happens still rests largely with the state. The clinic could range in size from 10,000 square feet to about 40,000 square feet and cost $20 million to $60 million depending, in part, on how much the state is willing to commit. Olds said a newly elected state senator and representative from the Riverside area have just introduced bills to restore $15 million a year in state funding for the school, after Gov. Jerry Brown squashed state contributions for the project in order to cut costs…
Full story at http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130308/NEWS04/303080023
 
Hmm.  Frank Sinatra Drive.  I guess the dean wants to do it his way despite lack of state support:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egY8rUpxqcE?feature=player_detailpage] 

Regents to “Review” UCLA Teaching & Learning Center for Health Sciences

The Regents will again be presented with a major UCLA capital project they have already discussed: The Teaching & Learning Center for the Health Sciences.  Regardless of the merits of this particular capital project or any other that comes before them from the campuses, in the end – as this blog has noted many times – the Regents have no independent review capability to evaluate capital proposals or to follow up on actual outcomes.  This particular project has a budget (see below) of $104.7 million, not chump change, plus another $6 million for furniture and equipment.  Past discussions at the Regents have noted a low ratio of assignable (usable) square feet to gross square feet and that when converted to dollars per usable square feet, the cost is high.  (UCLA likes to present the cost relative to gross square feet.)  But the Regents have largely approved the project.  There might be some residual handwringing.  But you can bet it will go ahead.  Everything does.

Pictures at:
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/gb4attach3.pdf

Budget, etc. at:
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/gb4.pdf

Long-Term Care Cop Out?

Back on Feb. 20, we posted a piece on a big CalPERS hike for long-term care insurance.  We noted that although UC is not covered by CalPERS, as state employees, UC employees could buy – some might say were encouraged to buy – long-term care insurance through CalPERS.  Now premiums are climbing rapidly and some may drop the insurance (losing what they paid) due to the price hikes.

From the Sacramento Bee State Worker Blog:

Longtime policyholders say that when CalPERS was pushing the insurance in the 1990s, it guaranteed their rates wouldn’t rise. That gave younger adults – a crucial group for such plans – incentive to buy. Surely CalPERS knows what it’s doing, those early purchasers thought. A graph in a sales brochure from 1998 shows inflation-protected coverage for a 45-year-old as a flat blue line. It starts at $75 per month and stays there. “With this option, your plan is designed to remain level and won’t increase each year,” the brochure says…  Asked whether CalPERS broke its promise, Ann Boynton, deputy executive officer of the CalPERS Benefit Programs Policy and Planning unit, said, “This could sound like a cop-out, but I wasn’t here. I can’t say what anyone was told or what they heard.” Again, from the brochure: “The … program is one of the most comprehensive and affordable plans available today.” But the material also left wiggle room for raising policyholder payments: “Your premiums can only be changed through action of the CalPERS Board.” …
Our earlier post can be found at:
Seems like some cops are nicer than others:

Pressure Mounts to Lift Cap on UC Student Health Insurance

Rep. Nancy Pelosi and nine other members of Congress are urging the University of California to lift its caps on student health insurance – limits that for the rest of the country are illegal under the Affordable Care Act and that jeopardize students with catastrophic medical problems. “It is troubling that the health plan of one of the world’s most prestigious university systems would not adopt this industry standard,” the representatives wrote UC President Mark Yudof last week. “UC students and student workers should have access to the same health-care protections that millions of other students, student workers and Americans already enjoy,” said the letter from California’s Democratic representatives, including Pelosi of San Francisco, George Miller of Martinez, Barbara Lee of Oakland, and Anna Eshooof Palo Alto.


More than 7,000 UC students have signed a petition, while hundreds have loudly protested the coverage limits that cap out at $400,000 on eight of the 10 UC campuses. Limits are higher at UCLA and UC San Diego – $600,000 and $750,000, respectively – where students pay more for that privilege…
We have previously posted about this issue which comes about because UC self insures – and thus is exempt from a requirement to have no cap.  See: