Anna Gorman is a senior correspondent for KHN based in Los Angeles. She joined from the Los Angeles Times, where she worked for nearly 15 years covering health care, immigration and the Mexican border.
Mary Chiu was shocked by the bed sores on her 85-year-old mother. One on her backside was so deep it exposed the bone; others formed on her left leg, heel and big toe. Half a dozen times, Sui Mee Chiu had to receive hospital treatment for the sores and bacterial infections. The wounds persisted for […]
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health supervisor in charge of nursing home inspections has been moved to another job days after the release of a highly critical audit of his division. Ernest Poolean, who has been a county employee since 1968 and became the head of the Health Facilities Inspection Division in 2011, […]
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
COMPTON, Calif. − Carlos Velazquez’s skateboard slipped out from beneath his feet and he spiraled onto the ground, landing hard on his left arm. He decided not to go to the doctor after the 2012 accident, resorting to over-the-counter pain medication and home remedies. The reason: He and his mother had overstayed their visas when he […]
Just as they had so many times during the past 60 years, Marianna and Albert Frankel stepped onto the dance floor. He took her hand in his, and smiling, waltzed her around the room. “I remembered how it used to be and we could really do the waltz and he would whirl me around until I […]
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously ordered an audit Tuesday of how the public health department oversees nursing homes, after a news report revealed that managers told inspectors to close cases without fully investigating them. Expressing anger and shock, the supervisors summoned Department of Public Health Director Jonathan Fielding to the meeting to answer questions […]
EL MONTE, Calif. − Marcy Valenzuela arrived at the Los Angeles County offices before the doors opened, joining a line already several people deep. A former foster child without health coverage for the past four years, Valenzuela was determined to sign up for insurance. But when the 25-year-old Whittier resident handed her Medi-Cal application to […]
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
LOS ANGELES – On a recent winter morning, health outreach worker Christopher Mack walked through the streets and alleys of Skid Row, passing a man pulling a rusty shopping cart and a woman asleep on a crumpled blue tarp. The smell of marijuana wafted through the cold air. ‘Do you have health insurance?” Mack, a […]
LOS ANGELES -Latino lawmakers and health leaders in California are sounding alarms about the insurance marketplace’s preparation and tactics for enrolling Spanish speakers and are urging changes following the recent announcement that fewer than 1,000 signed up in the health law’s first month. “This is completely unacceptable,” said state Sen. Norma Torres, a Democrat who […]
Twenty years ago, Congress passed a controversial law requiring states to allow people to register to vote when they applied for driver’s licenses or social services. Now, that same law is bringing voter registration to the health insurance mark...
SAN DIEGO – Carolyn Senger, a preventive medicine doctor, regularly treats uninsured patients, coaching them how to stay healthy. Now she is teaching them one more thing — how to sign up for insurance under the nation’s Affordable Care Act. “Not only can I help you with your health, but I can also help you […]
Gabby Everett, the site director for BioLabs Pegasus Park, offered a tour of the space and shared some examples of why early-stage life science companies should choose North Texas.
BELL GARDENS, CALIFORNIA -- Carrying Spanish-language brochures, outreach worker Sandra Pena walked around a crowded health clinic here early Tuesday morning. “Have you heard of the program Obamacare?” Pena asked a group of patients. A few ...