Center in the News

Search news

Center in the News List

Health Leaders Media — CA'S MALPRACTICE CAP ASSOCIATED WITH 16% MORE ADVERSE EVENTS — March 10, 2023

CA'S MALPRACTICE CAP ASSOCIATED WITH 16% MORE ADVERSE EVENTS — CA'S MALPRACTICE CAP ASSOCIATED WITH 16% MORE ADVERSE EVENTS — March 10, 2023

The lack of adjustment to reflect inflation or the growth of household incomes is inequitable, because it lowers the real value of the reward — which in current dollars, could be as much as $1.5 million – six times the 1975 value, says Prof. Jack Needleman, chair of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management. "The second issue is that the cap, by lowering the risk of suit for malpractice, has also weakened the deterrent effect of risk of being sued on physician’s efforts to avoid malpractice."

Features: Jack Needleman

The Daily Bruin — Opinion: Who Are We: Burnout serves as a starting point for self-reflection, healthier habits — March 10, 2023

Opinion: Who Are We: Burnout serves as a starting point for self-reflection, healthier habits — Opinion: Who Are We: Burnout serves as a starting point for self-reflection, healthier habits — March 10, 2023

Daniel Eisenberg, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said college is the place for people to challenge themselves and gain confidence as a result of success. “Up to a point, it seems like … having more of a growth mindset with respect to stress can actually lead to greater resilience and developmental growth,” Eisenberg said.

Features: Daniel Eisenberg

The Nation — California's Undocumented Children Are Going Hungry — March 10, 2023

California's Undocumented Children Are Going Hungry — California's Undocumented Children Are Going Hungry — March 10, 2023

Fully 45 percent of the state’s undocumented residents are food insecure, with the preponderance of food insecurity occurring among children.

Features: Food Insecurity

Business Wire — Free Parenting Program Helps Orange County Children Navigate Anxiety and Fear — March 10, 2023

Free Parenting Program Helps Orange County Children Navigate Anxiety and Fear — Free Parenting Program Helps Orange County Children Navigate Anxiety and Fear — March 10, 2023

A UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report released in 2020 reported 22.6% of California children aged 12-17 self-reported needing help for emotional or mental health problems such as feeling sad, anxious or nervous.

Features: California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)

San Diego Union-Tribune — Community organization working to expand health care services in southeastern San Diego — March 10, 2023

Community organization working to expand health care services in southeastern San Diego — Community organization working to expand health care services in southeastern San Diego — March 10, 2023

That data shows that central-region residents are least likely of any other HHSA region in the county to have a usual place to go when sick or needing health advice, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Southeastern San Diego specifically has the second-highest proportion of residents with no health insurance — 12.2 percent — in the central region.

Features: California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)

KNX News — Hospital costs set to rise — March 10, 2023

Hospital costs set to rise — Hospital costs set to rise — March 10, 2023

A number of hospitals are now seeking to raise their treatment prices by as much as 15 percent. They say they've been hit by salary increases for nurses. It comes as local health care workers are on strike at Cedars Sinai. So, are we going to see inflation in health care costs? How much will premiums go up?

Features: Jack Needleman

Politico — California Playbook PM: Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) analysis — March 10, 2023

California Playbook PM: Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) analysis — California Playbook PM: Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) analysis — March 10, 2023

An analysis released today by UCLA researchers suggests that California’s longtime cap on pain-and-suffering awards in malpractice cases could actually have contributed to an increase in malpractice cases over the past 50 years — potentially by weakening the deterrent effect of being sued.

UCLA researchers reviewed state Medi-Cal data on potential malpractice cases from huge screw-ups like mismatched blood-type infusions or objects left inside patients. The researchers found more of these preventable mistakes — about 16 percent more — in states where such caps exist.

Since California spent

Features: Jack Needleman

Freakonomics — Bad News — It's Your Surgeon's Birthday — March 10, 2023

Bad News — It's Your Surgeon's Birthday — Bad News — It's Your Surgeon's Birthday — March 10, 2023

Podcast featured Tsuguke's BMJ study "Patient mortality after surgery on the surgeon’s birthday: observational study."

Features: Yusuke Tsugawa

Sacramento Bee — 45% of undocumented Californians are going hungry. How CalFresh might fill the gap — March 10, 2023

45% of undocumented Californians are going hungry. How CalFresh might fill the gap — 45% of undocumented Californians are going hungry. How CalFresh might fill the gap — March 10, 2023

“The findings in this brief weren’t necessarily surprising, but they are pretty stark,” said Susan Babey of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which helped create the report, during a virtual press conference April 29.

Features: Food Insecurity