BRIAN DAHLE OP-ED; Rural Healthcare Crisis can be avoided I need your help. Our hospitals are in trouble. In 2011, the state budget agreement reduced Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for hospital-based skilled nursing facilities. The budget bill also made these cuts retroactive to June 1, 2011. These cuts are already law. They were passed before I was elected to the legislature. The Governor and the State Department of Health Care Services has the authority to modify these cuts. We need to make our voices heard to make sure they do not bankrupt our hospitals in Plumas,...

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By Jane Braxton Little Bee Correspondent Published: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 3B PORTOLA – Within the next few weeks – even days – the hospital that has been saving lives in this rural Plumas County community since 1910 may itself face mortality. Eastern Plumas Health Care is confronting a combination of reductions in its Medi-Cal reimbursements that amount to as much as 25 percent of the total, said Tom Hayes, administrator of the 75-bed hospital. In addition to a $1.3 million annual cut to the federal Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal in California, the state Department of Health Care Services is...

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Contact information for letters protesting skilled nursing cuts: * Diana Dooley and Toby Douglas oversee implementation of the SNF cuts. You can ask them not to implement the MediCal cuts to our DP/SNFs or to exempt Eastern Plumas Health Care from these devastating cuts. 1. Diana Dooley, Secretary CA Health and Human Services Agency 1600 9th St # 460 Sacramento, CA 95814 Email: ddooley@chhs.ca.gov Ms. Dooley’s assistant: Maria Campos-Vergara mcamposv@chhs.ca.gov 2. Toby Douglas Director, DHCS (Dept. of Health Care Services) P.O. Box 997413, MS: 0000 Sacramento, CA 95889-7413 Toby.Douglas@dhcs.ca.gov The legislators below can introduce and support legislation (currently AB900, sponsored by Assemblyman Louis Alejo, Salinas) rescinding these cuts. 3. Senator Ted Gaines State...

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Eastern Plumas Health Care would like to congratulate the co-winners of our Employee of the Month Award: Tracy Allara and Debbie Espana. Tracy Allara gives multi-tasking a new meaning--overseeing Infection Control and Employee Health as well as working in Utilization Review and Quality Assurance. Finally, she serves as an Acute/Emergency Room RN and an Operating Room RN. According to Tracy, who has worked for EPHC for nine years, the “strong feeling of family and community make [EPHC] a warm and welcoming place to work.” Teresa Whitfield, Director of Quality and Operations, said of Tracy: “Above all else, Tracy is a...

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We need your help to save our skilled nursing facilities and stop devastating cuts to MediCal that will hurt our entire hospital and community. Diana Dooley, CA Sec. of Health and Human Services and Toby Douglas, CA Dept. of Health Care Services are charged with implementing the cuts. Letters to them are URGENT, because they can begin implementation as soon as March/April 2013. Sen. Ted Gaines and Assemblyman Brian Dahle can work with Democrats to propose legislation to stop the cuts. The best letters are personal—tell them the 25% MediCal cuts to Eastern Plumas Health Care’s hospital skilled nursing facilities will...

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To All EPHC Supporters: As many of you know, our Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) are once again under the threat of massive MediCal cuts--and, 91% of our SNF patients are on MediCal. These cuts would mean a loss of $2.4 million this year and $1.3 million ongoing. In addition, the state of CA (through Assembly Bill 97) is making these cuts retroactive to June 1, 2011, meaning they plan to take back money they've already paid to us. These cuts are so extreme, they force EPHC to consider closing the Loyalton SNF, taking no more MediCal patients in our Portola...

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Free flu vaccinations will be offered at Plumas County Public Health Agency (in Quincy) Tuesday, January 22nd from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm and Wednesday, January 23rd from 8:30 am – 11:00 am. No appointment necessary. If you did not get your flu vaccine, it’s not too late! The United States is experiencing an early influenza season, with activity elevated nationally. Plumas County Public Health has conducted local surveillance showing the flu season has begun in Plumas County which is much earlier than past years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone over the...

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Starting Aug. 1 2012, new group and individual private insurance plans and non-grandfathered* renewing plans (plans purchased after March 2010) will cover eight new preventive services for women. These services will be added to fourteen women’s preventive services that have been covered since Sept. 2010. All services, in effect, will be free to women (no deductible or co-pay) with qualifying insurance plans. Further, women have direct access to obstetrics and gynecological services without a referral from a primary care provider. New insurance policies will see the changes right away; others will see them when their policies renew—so it could be...

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Eastern Plumas Health Care has a lot to thank its Auxiliary for once again. The hospital is about to purchase a new 16 slice CT scanner. The new equipment will provide a significant increase in image quality and a substantial decrease in radiation and exam times for patients. Further, the high quality 3-D images make for a more accurate diagnosis of structures such as aneurysms, tumors, infections, and much more. The new CT equipment and room remodeling will cost the hospital close to $400,000, a portion of which will be financed. The Auxiliary raises money, primarily through its thriving Nifty...

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The Rotary Club of Portola has joined with Eastern Plumas Health Care once more, this time to provide CPR and First Aid training to Portola High School seniors. Rotary has a student group that meets at lunchtime at the high school, according to Josie Bastian. That’s where she first heard about the training. She and eight other seniors took part in the four hour course, held at EPHC’s Education Center. The CPR course was the brainchild of Rotary’s Rachelle Ramelli, who contacted the hospital with the idea. Steve Waldeck, EPHC’s Director of Ambulance Services, agreed to teach the class. He...

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