Report: Calif. could save $110B by better coordinating health care

A new report from a team of health care CEOs and researchers says California could save $110 billion over a decade if the state moved away from "fee-for-service" payment to doctors and into more coordinated care.

Los Angeles Times: Coordinated Health Care Could Save California $110 Billion, Group Says
California could cut $110 billion in health care spending over the next decade, saving the average household $800 a year, by quickly moving away from conventional fee-for-service medicine and embracing more coordinated care, a new report says (Terhune, 2/26).

Sacramento Bee: California Coalition's Report Calls For Overhaul To Rein In Health Care Costs
California's health industry heavyweights, warning that insurance premiums will soon consume a third of people's incomes, today threw their weight behind a plan to revamp the health care delivery system. A dozen CEOs from health care providers and insurers spent the past year participating in an unprecedented, collaborative effort with public policymakers and health care researchers, dubbed the Berkeley Forum and based at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. The result: a report that contains a variety of proposals for changing health care delivery and also stresses the need for Californians to take more responsibility for staying healthy (Craft, 2/26).

In addition, state lawmakers and others consider what changes the health law could have in store for coverage in California -- and not all of them are good.

Los Angeles Times: Health Care Overhaul May Threaten California's Safety Net
An estimated 3 million to 4 million Californians -- about 10 percent of the state's population -- could remain uninsured even after the health care overhaul law takes full effect. The burden of their care will fall to public hospitals, county health centers and community clinics. And those institutions may be in jeopardy (Gorman, 2/25).

California Healthline: Rating Regions Headed For Floor Debate
The debate over geographic rating regions has not ended, despite being approved by the Assembly and Senate health committees last week and by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Friday. Competing interests want to change it -- in different ways. At the appropriations committee meeting Friday, two groups took oppose-unless-amended positions on the six-region legislation, but were not in agreement on how to divide the geographic rating regions in California. Janice Rocco, deputy commissioner of the Department of Insurance, said her department's opposition was based on preference for an 18-region proposal from DOI, which she said could keep premium increases down to a maximum of 8%, rather than almost three times that with the six-region plan (Gorn, 2/26).

California Healthline: Individual Market Reforms Called 'Historic'
Two health reform bills working their way through the state Legislature still contain question marks about some of the details, but overall they represent a major milestone for Californians who buy their own health insurance, according to consumer advocates. … The two companion bills, ABx1 2 and SBx1 2, retool the laws governing California's individual insurance market to align with new regulations in the Affordable Care Act. Similar legislation was proposed and passed by the Legislature last year but vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The governor didn't want the state to make new laws based on a federal law that could be repealed if a Republican moved into the White House. The bills, moving through committees now, are expected to be approved in both houses and signed by the governor (Lauer, 2/25).