Providers access the Medi-Cal eligibility verification system to determine if a subscriber must pay an SOC.  The message returned by the eligibility verification system includes the SOC dollar amount the subscriber must pay.  The eligibility verification system is accessed through the Point of Service (POS) device, Automated Eligibility Verification System (AEVS), state-approved vendor software and the Medi-Cal Web site on the Internet at www.medi-cal.ca.gov.

Generally, a subscriber’s SOC is determined by the county welfare department and is based on the amount of income a subscriber receives in excess of “maintenance need” levels.  Medi-Cal rules require that subscribers pay income in excess of their “maintenance need” level toward their own medical bills before Medi-Cal begins to pay.

It’s considered a rite of passage among young people acting out their independence through heavy, episodic drinking. But a new University of Cincinnati study, the first of its kind nationally, is showing how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults could be causing serious damage to a brain that’s still under development at this age.

If the obvious reasons for avoiding recreational drug use aren’t off-putting enough, physicians have yet another detrimental consequence to add to the list – crusty, purplish areas of dead skin that are extremely painful and can open the door to nasty infections. The condition is called purpura.

New software allows wireless sensor networks to run at much lower energy, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Sensor Networks. The technology could improve efficiency for hurricane and other natural disaster warning systems. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are used to monitor ecosystems, wild and urban environments.

An international team of geoscientists has discovered an unusual geological formation that helps explain how an undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004 spawned the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

At the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS in early June, India announced that it will not accept data exclusivity, a provision harmful to access to affordable medicines, as part of a free trade agreement (FTA) currently being negotiated with the European Union (EU).

People who suffer from – or have a genetic predisposition to – allergies may face new risks from GM foods and new varieties of fruit and vegetables, say experts from France and Austria today. The challenge for scientists is to assess the risk and prevent the numbers of people with food allergies increasing.

Summer’s lush lawns and landscapes bring sneezing, itching and stuffy nose misery to the millions of Americans with grass allergies. But no one needs to suffer from the symptoms caused by this common culprit. A treatment developed 100 years ago actually gives you substantially more than a shot at a cure.

Summer’s lush lawns and landscapes bring sneezing, itching and stuffy nose misery to the millions of Americans with grass allergies. But no one needs to suffer from the symptoms caused by this common culprit. A treatment developed 100 years ago actually gives you substantially more than a shot at a cure.

A new report on the Synar Amendment program – a federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors – shows that all the states and the District of Columbia have continued to meet their goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth (those under 18).

In today’s society where access to media is ever present, many parents worry about what is appropriate media usage for their children and how media consumption can potentially affect them. Two new studies led by Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH and Dr. Michelle M.

A national survey has found that more than one in twenty Australian workers report using alcohol while at work or just before work, and more than one in fifty report taking drugs during or just before work. These findings, published online in the journal Addiction, have implications for workplace safety.

Cocaine is one of the most used illegal substances. So much so that cocaine “cut” with byproducts is rampant and in a new report, it seems that cocaine is now being diluted from its pure form with levamisole, a cheap and widely available drug used to deworm livestock. Considering the rampant use, this could result in a tremendous health epidemic in the United States. The U.S.

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) today announced the publication of two new studies in the June issue of The American Journal of Managed Care1,2 evaluating pharmacoeconomic data on addiction treatments, including VIVITROL® (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension), with the endpoint of total healthcare costs.

We all knew that city dwellers are more susceptible to mental disorders than their rural counterparts – a new study has shown that specific brain structures respond differently to social stress, depending on whether you are an urban or countryside dweller, researchers from the University of Heidelberg’s Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany, reported in the journal Nature.