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CMA files amicus brief before the California Supreme Court in La Vida IPA nonpayment case

The California Medical Association (CMA) recently filed an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court in Centinela Freeman Emergency Medical Assocs. v. Health Net et al. to urge a fair and just interpretation of provisions within the Knox-Keene Act that permit health plans to delegate payment responsibility to risk-bearing organizations (RBO). CMA filed the brief to support the plaintiffs in the case, out-of-network health care providers who were left unpaid for emergency medical care when La Vida Independent Practice Association went bankrupt in 2010. Most of the major Knox-Keene ...

Study finds that ACA Medi-Cal expansion could fuel ER use

A retrospective study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found that the number of visits to California emergency rooms (ERs) rose by 13.2 percent between 2005 and 2010, from 5.4 million to 6.1 million annually, with a significant 35 percent increase in the number of ER patients insured through Medi-Cal. The authors suggest that the Medi-Cal expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could further increase these numbers, as millions of additional patients become eligible for Medi-Cal in 2014.   Researchers also found that Medi-Cal patients ...