Ana B. Ibarra
CalMatters ReporterAna is a Sacramento-based health reporter. She joined CalMatters in 2020 after four years at Kaiser Health News, where she covered California health care and policy. She started her reporting career at McClatchy’s Merced Sun-Star. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and many other state and national news outlets.
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Some independent California community hospitals have struggled with rising costs since the COVID-19 pandemic. Three declared bankruptcy this year, prompting the state to distribute interest-free loans. -
As hospitals and other health care facilities struggle with staffing shortages, health workers could get a wage increase under a legislative proposal. But some smaller facilities already struggling financially say they can’t afford it.
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Some seniors have been homeless for years and are now growing older. But the increasing numbers also reflect another trend: those experiencing homelessness for the first time after age 50.
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It’s been close to 30 years since California enacted the bulk of its seismic safety standards, but hospitals continue to ask for more time and flexibility.
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The new rules will improve access to health care in many communities where it is lacking, supporters say. Some physicians are concerned the rules will expand the scope of services nurse practitioners provide.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is pushing a first-in-the-nation plan for California to partner with a drugmaker to produce cheaper insulin. It’s one of many proposed state and federal remedies to soaring insulin costs.
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The CDC said half of Californians live in high-risk counties. But the agency apparently relied on outdated numbers of COVID infections and patients. Newer data indicates only 19 counties are in the CDC’s riskiest category.
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The answer is no in many parts of California. Eighteen counties, mostly rural ones, have more hospitalized COVID-19 patients today than a year ago.
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Experts hope continued masking will reduce this season’s dual threat of COVID and flu.
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Should doctors warn patients of a policy threat that may not come to pass? That's the question pending, as the Trump administration weighs whether to deny green cards to immigrants on Medicaid.
