health care

|

Whatever happened to grade inflation?

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times today: UCLA Medical Center gets failing grade on patient safety: Leapfrog, a healthcare quality rating group, gives an F to UCLA Medical Center for performing poorly on several measures. UCLA officials dispute the failing grade. A national report card on patient safety gave a failing grade to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, one of the country’s most prestigious hospitals and one of only 25 nationwide to receive such low marks. In a report issued Wednesday, the Leapfrog Group, an employer-backed nonprofit group focused on healthcare quality, gave a letter grade of F to UCLA Medical Center…

| | | | |

Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 15, 2012

Byuclafaculty

Now that the audio file has arrived, we are catching up with the parts of the mid-November Regents meeting not previously posted (not to be confused with the special meeting held yesterday).  Below is a link to the final day of the mid-November meeting. During the public comment period, there were complaints about tuition increases and budget cuts.  There was more about the swap deals – see earlier posts on this matter – in which UC swapped a variable interest rate for a fixed one.  As it turned out, interest rates fell so that the “insurance” against a rise in…

Rice on Health: Event Sponsored by the Emeriti Assn.

Byuclafaculty

Tom Rice Thomas Rice, Professor, Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health.  “U.S. Health Policy: Prospects After Recent Elections” Day/Date/Time/Place: Thursday, Dec. 6, Hacienda Room of the Faculty Center.  An informal reception with light refreshments will begin at 1:00 p.m.  The presentations begin at 1:30 and will allow opportunity for questions and discussion. Professor Rice is a health economist who received his doctorate in Economics from UC-Berkeley.  His research focuses on problems inherent in competition and markets in health care.  He has conducted studies on how large numbers of Medicare prescription drug plans affects the quality of choices…

|

How High?

Byuclafaculty

A prior post on this blog noted that CalPERS was considering raising its rates for long-term care insurance by 75%.  We noted that although UC was not under CalPERS, as state employees, UC employees have been allowed in the past to participate in the program. We also noted that such insurance is a very iffy proposition since it is hard to forecast costs many years ahead for long-term care and thus rates could go up (a lot). Turns out, that CalPERS is indeed planning to raise the rates.  But now the increase may be as high as 85%.  From the…

| |

Cautionary Note About CalPERS Long-Term Care

Byuclafaculty

Although UC employees are not covered by the basic CalPERS retirement plan, they are eligible to buy long-term care insurance through CalPERS as state employees, if such policies are offered. Some UC employees, who would be reluctant to buy such policies from commercial insurance companies, may have bought or considered the CalPERS version in the past. Today’s Sacramento Bee carries a cautionary story for you, if you have bought a CalPERS long-term care policy or might consider doing so in the future (if they are again offered).  Excerpts below: …CalPERS is considering imposing a 75 percent increase in premiums on…

|

They gotta have their meds!!

Byuclafaculty

UC Riverside medical school clears hurdle === Larry Gordon, LA Times, October 3, 2012 (excerpt) A national accrediting agency has approved UC Riverside’s long-embattled plan to open a full medical school and to start enrolling future doctors next summer, officials announced Tuesday. It would be the sixth medical school in the University of California system and the first to open since the late 1960s. Last year, the same panel rejected the proposal because it looked too risky after the state refused to fund the school. But UC Riverside officials have since secured enough other public and private financing for a program that…

| |

UCLA History and Follow Up: Selection and Adverse Selection

Byuclafaculty

The caption of this 1951 photo from the LA Public Library collection reads “Edward A. Dickson, chairman of the University of California Regents, signs contracts for UCLA’s $20,000,000 Medical Center, while architect Carl C. McElvy looks on.”  The selection of the design for the original UCLA med center suggests a follow-up observation on our prior post about Anthem/Blue Cross dropping UCLA (and Cedars-Sinai) from its plan for LA City workers.  Not surprisingly, there were some angry letters about that decision in the LA Times today.  See http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-0923-sunday-cedars-ucla-anthem-20120923-4,0,5880599.story.  Our prior post is athttp://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/09/there-will-be-repercussions.htmlOne of the letters to the editor asks why Anthem/Blue Cross did…

|

There will be repercussions

Byuclafaculty

If you woke up to see the front-page healthcare headline in the LA Times, you know there will be more about this story in the future.  The article refers specifically to LA City employees not being covered for care at UCLA.  However, the report is indicative of the ongoing turmoil in the U.S. healthcare system.  Although it has been a commonplace to say that uncompensated or under-compensated healthcare costs are passed along to those who do pay, in fact that kind of cost shifting is becoming more difficult to do. We don’t have a single-payer system but the insurance coverage…

| |

The UC-Riverside Med Saga Continues

Byuclafaculty

Readers of this blog will know that UC-Riverside has been trying to get a med school  going for some time but can’t get the needed dollars from the state. Inside Higher Ed today has a feature article on various universities either trying to merge med schools with others or trying to set up new ones. Riverside is mentioned in the article which notes it already has a joint med program with UCLA:   Securing funding has also been a problem for UC-Riverside’s medical school. The university currently has a “two-and-two” program where students spend two years at Riverside taking the…

| | | |

Listen to Audio of Regents Morning Session of 9-13-12

Byuclafaculty

Below is the morning agenda of the Regents.  The audio link at the bottom of this entry is provided only for the open sessions. Agenda, Thursday, September 13, 2012, Morning 8:30 am Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) Concerns were expressed by speakers over the discussion at the retreat the day before about taking more out-of-state and international students for budgetary reasons.  Also, a group of law students expressed concern about rising law school tuition. The Academic Council representatives made in clear they would recommend a tuition increase if Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative –…