California. The state senate has approved the creation of a government-run health care system for the state, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The plan would cost an anticipated $200 billion per year. Also, the California Department of Managed Health Care has released rules that limit HMO wait times. The rules require that patients be treated by HMO primary care doctors within ten business days of requesting an appointment and by specialists within 15 days. In addition, patients seeking urgent care that does not require prior authorization must be seen within 48 hours. California is the first state to set time standards for HMOs, which serve approximately 21 million state residents. For more information, visit http://www.healthhelp.ca.gov/.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 9:06 am and is filed under California, Health Care Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.