What’s happening: Last week, CHA submitted comments to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) on the administration’s proposal to redirect Proposition (Prop) 35 (2024) funding, rather than allocating it for provider payment increases as voters intended.
2024 Disaster Conference
Presented by Mass General Brigham’s Department of Emergency Preparedness and Continuity (DEPC), this session outlines development of a health care-centric sustainable and effective continuity program. DEPC developed tools and adapted traditional practices to focus on capability building and maintaining mission essential functions.
What’s happening: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released a Health Advisory on June 11 recommending that, as the 2024-25 flu season ends, health care providers continue testing for influenza throughout the summer — particularly in patients with respiratory illness, conjunctivitis, or avian influenza A (H5N1) exposure risk factors.
Getting businesses — big or small — back into a community and keeping them viable after a disaster is a cornerstone of recovery. In this audio lecture, Karl Matzke, a Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus and volunteer first responder, discusses best practices and available resources with Federal Emergency Management Authority Administrator Craig Fugate.
The audio covers available resources for corporations and small to medium-sized businesses to prepare for and protect themselves from the impact of disaster. For a community to maintain a healthy recovery, Fugate asserts that private and public groups must work collaboratively to help stabilize an environment after disaster.
The Stafford Act encourages the development of comprehensive disaster preparedness assistance plans, programs and capabilities by State and local governments. It also provides grants and other assistance to state and local governments in the development of preparedness plans and procedures.
Hospitals continue to fine-tune their local disaster readiness plans and further detail how they will work with regional teams when disaster strikes. Although hospitals’ board of trustees are not responsible for the development and implementation of disaster plans, it is the board’s fiduciary responsibility to ensure that a clear plan is in place and that the funding and resources necessary to carry out the plan are available.
A couple of weeks ago, California’s Senate and Assembly appropriations committees determined which bills should move forward and which should be held this year based on estimated costs to the state.
What’s happening: State lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom this week reached a tentative agreement on the 2025-26 state budget, concluding weeks of negotiations.
What’s happening: In a letter sent June 12, CHA urged all members of the California congressional delegation to support bipartisan legislation that would improve access to care for seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.
What’s happening: On June 13, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) uploaded three new hospital-directed payment encounter files, available via the Secure File Transfer Protocol site, that hospitals must download as soon as possible — they will be deleted within 45 days of the upload date.