Center in the News

Features report "Final Summative Evaluation of California’s Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) Program"

A number of hospitals are now seeking to raise their treatment prices by as much as 15 percent. They say they've been hit by salary increases for nurses. It comes as local health care workers are on strike at Cedars Sinai. So, are we going to see inflation in health care costs? How much will premiums go up?

An analysis released today by UCLA researchers suggests that California’s longtime cap on pain-and-suffering awards in malpractice cases could actually have contributed to an increase in malpractice cases over the past 50 years — potentially by weakening the deterrent effect of being sued.

UCLA researchers reviewed state Medi-Cal data on potential malpractice cases from huge screw-ups like mismatched blood-type infusions or objects left inside patients. The researchers found more of these preventable mistakes — about 16 percent more — in states where such caps exist.

Since California spent

Podcast featured Tsuguke's BMJ study "Patient mortality after surgery on the surgeon’s birthday: observational study."

“The findings in this brief weren’t necessarily surprising, but they are pretty stark,” said Susan Babey of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which helped create the report, during a virtual press conference April 29.

In addition to the current law, all immigrants without papers who meet the financial criteria can obtain a limited coverage of Medi-Cal, which includes emergency and embarrassment services and, in some cases, long-term attention. “It’s a key moment, when fours are incorporating all these undocumented immigrants who have advanced to the medical attention system,” said Arturo Vargas Bustamante, professor of politics and health management at the School of Public Health at Fielding. If you have extended your chronic, dice attachments, they will simply end up in the emergency room and will be more

Children who experience food insecurity are more likely to be in overall poor health, said Babey. "They have an increased risk for depression and anxiety, and food insecurity is also associated with lower academic achievement."

“Denying a segment of our population access to vaccines because of paperwork” won’t end the pandemic any sooner, Ponce said.

Despite state policy that says immigration status does not affect vaccine eligibility, the county requires a photo ID and proof of age to receive a vaccine at its clinics, according to its policies published on the county’s website. Ninez Ponce, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said the county’s photo ID policy, and the chilling effect it could have on vaccination rates among undocumented. “Denying a segment of our population access to vaccines because of paperwork” won’t end the pandemic any sooner, Ponce said. People should be concerning for everyone in the community.

A just-published report by Nourish California and CIPC, which used statewide survey data collected from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research from 2017 to 2020, found that 45% of undocumented immigrants in California are affected by food insecurity. Among children under 18, the rate is even higher, at 64% — meaning that nearly two out of every three undocumented children are food insecure.