Capps introduces legislation to adjust Medicare reimbursement rates locally

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  Insurer WellPoint to revamp primary care pay

  Health insurer WellPoint Inc. plans to improve primary care reimbursement and start paying for care management it doesn't currently cover, changes that could give patients more quality time with their doctors.

• Community Health Centers of the Central Coast receives grant

  Community Health Centers of the Central Coast receives grant

  Community Health Centers of the Central Coast has been awarded a three-year grant that will allow it to improve the medical care it delivers to Medicare recipients and other patients in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

  The award, called an advanced primary care demonstration grant, comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding was made available by the health reform law, the Affordable Care Act.

  Such grants are designed “to combat the explosive growth in health care costs by improving the quality and coordination of health care services,” according to Rep. Lois Capps, the Santa Barbara-based Democrat who represents coastal San Luis Obispo County.

• Viewpoint: Cuts threaten seniors, military families

  Viewpoint: Cuts threaten seniors, military families

  Congress’ frequent delays over the past decade have left California physicians who care for seniors and military families facing a 27 percent cut in payments on March 1.

  This massive cut would force many physicians to make the difficult decision to limit the number of Medicare and TRICARE military patients in their practices, severely threatening access to care for these deserving populations. Nearly 5.6 million patients in California alone rely on the Medicare and TRICARE programs for their health care.

  This could not come at a more difficult time — more than 10,000 baby boomers are entering Medicare everyday. Physicians are already struggling with low Medicare payment rates and the ongoing threat of cuts. Medicare physician payments have been nearly frozen for a decade, while the cost of caring for patients has increased by more than 20 percent. Medicare’s own advisory committee has said that one in four seniors seeking a new primary care physician in Medicare is having trouble finding one.

• Area politicians’ bills get nod from governor

  Area politicians’ bills get nod from governor

  Assisting at-risk youths in getting their GED diplomas and ensuring that San Luis Obispo County is reimbursed for the costs of court trials for offenders with mental disorders are the two latest achievements claimed by local state representatives.

  Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills making those goals law over the weekend along with hundreds of other measures in the final rush of the legislative season.

  Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, shepherded SB 461, a bill to allow students enrolled in state high school dropout recovery programs to earn a high school equivalency diploma at the age of 17.

• Mass.: Bone marrow donor recruiting cases settled

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  A bone marrow registry and medical laboratory company that used fashion models wearing high heels and short skirts to recruit potential donors will pay the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire $770,000 for engaging in an improper marketing practice, officials in both states said Thursday.