Physicians

Buprenorphine: An Overview for Clinicians

Scott Steiger, Triveni DeFries

Buprenorphine, an FDA-approved medication for addiction treatment and pain relief, cuts opioid overdose death rates in half. Yet the majority of people with opioid use disorder do not receive this medication-assisted treatment. This document provides answers to frequently asked questions and aims to increase provider comfort with prescribing buprenorphine.

Can Hollywood Change Attitudes About Addiction and Mental Health?

August 19, 2019

Xenia Shih Bion

Stories That Caught Our Attention: Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, provides writers and producers of films and TV shows with free and accurate resources on health.

‘Treat Me Like a Person’: What We’ve Heard So Far from Californians with Low Incomes

August 16, 2019

Medi-Cal, Workforce

A new research project is exploring how Californians in the safety net experience their health care and what they hope to get out of their encounters.

Independent Nurse Practitioners Bridge Big Gaps in Rural Care

Heather Stringer

California is one of 22 states that do not permit nurse practitioners to practice and prescribe without ongoing physician oversight. Journalist Heather Stringer traveled to Colorado to see how nurse practitioners are being deployed in two rural communities.

Opioid Safety Lessons Put Physician on Path to State Policymaking

Behavioral Health

After five years leading CHCF's High-Value Care Team and its opioid safety portfolio, Kelly Pfeifer, MD, will become deputy director of mental health and substance use disorder services for California state government.

Will Low-Income Women Lose Access to the Reproductive Health Care They Need?

Xenia Shih Bion

Stories That Caught Our Attention: The Trump administration’s changes to the Title X Family Planning Program are expected to severely reduce access to reproductive health services in California and across the country.

How California Can Finally Close In on Meaningful Health Price Transparency

Kristof Stremikis

Health Care Costs

For more than a decade, state and federal policymakers have argued for greater health care price transparency. Their efforts received a push in recent weeks.

A Doctor’s Eye-Opening House Call at a Lockup for Migrant Children

Xenia Shih Bion

Stories That Caught Our Attention: A pediatrician documents terrible conditions for kids separated from their parents at the border and put into detention centers.

Dreaming of a Career in Health Care

Xenia Shih Bion

Stories That Caught Our Attention This Week: The first undocumented student to enter UCSF School of Medicine has graduated after pausing his medical training for one year to earn a master's degree in public health from Harvard.

2010 Edition — California Physician Facts and Figures

This Almanac report describes the landscape for physician services in 2009.

2014 Edition — California Physicians

This Almanac report, California Physicians: Surplus or Scarcity?, describes the landscape for physician services in 2012.

California’s Health Care Workforce — Almanac Collection

This Almanac collection takes a look at the state's health care workforce. Detailed reports provide data on physicians and nurses, and a set of quick reference guides focus on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physician assistants, health diagnostic and treatment therapists, clinical laboratory scientists and technicians, and imaging professionals.

2014 Edition — California’s Health Care Workforce

Five Almanac quick reference guides provide data on wages, education, and workplaces for selected health professions.

Committed Physician Recruits Young People to Diversify Health Care Workforce

Heather Stringer

Jocelyn Freeman Garrick, a no-nonsense doctor from Oakland’s Highland Hospital, is on the lookout for youth from families with low incomes who could become future nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and more.

Lifting the Veil of Secrecy in Health Care Prices

Xenia Shih Bion

Health Care Costs, Coverage Trends

Stories That Caught Our Attention This Week: Economist Uwe Reinhardt famously said the system for determining prices in the US health care system was “chaos behind a veil of secrecy.” That was in 2006, and clearly, the chaos persists today.