- California Healthline Original Stories 2
- Largest Assisted Living Chain In U.S. Sued For Poor Care Of Elderly
- Shedding New Light On Hospice Care: No Need To Wait For The 'Brink Of Death'
- Public Health and Education 1
- After Declining For Years, California Stroke Rates Are Increasing Again
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Largest Assisted Living Chain In U.S. Sued For Poor Care Of Elderly
A class-action complaint filed in a federal court in Northern California alleges that insufficient staffing and poor worker training has had “devastating” consequences for residents in the assisted living homes of Tennessee-based Brookdale Senior Living. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Shedding New Light On Hospice Care: No Need To Wait For The 'Brink Of Death'
Hospice care often prompts fear and misunderstanding, but the services provided can lead to less pain and trauma at the end of life. (Judith Graham, )
More News From Across The State
California Startup Gambles On Development Of Alzheimer's Treatment
Also in the news, lobbyists double down on efforts surrounding a California prescription drug pricing transparency bill.
Stat:
Billion-Dollar Gamble: Biotech CEO Takes A Second Shot At Alzheimer's Drug
Medivation, a California startup, was developing a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and pivotal results from a major clinical trial were finally available. An earlier study, conducted in Russia, had generated what Alzheimer’s experts hailed as the best results the field had ever seen. Dr. David Hung, the CEO, believed he had a billion-dollar product. ... The drug, Dimebon, failed all five of the trial’s key metrics, performing even worse than placebo on two of them. Medivation lost more than $1 billion in value in the first hour of trading as the company’s leaders struggled to process the startling failure. ...So he’s doing it again — headed for another crowded room and another make-or-break clinical trial. This time it’s with Axovant Sciences. (Garde, 9/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Lobbying For California Bill To Crack Down On Prescription Drug Prices Intensifies
Backers of a measure to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose more information on the list prices of their drugs are stepping up their lobbying efforts in the closing days of the California legislative session. Labor unions, consumer groups, health plans and other high-profile advocacy organizations such as the AARP and NextGen, which is bankrolled by billionaire activist Tom Steyer, made the rounds at the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge Assembly members to back the bill, SB 17, by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina). (Mason, 9/6)
In more pharmaceutical news —
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Diabetes Drug Results Positive, Ligand Says
An experimental drug for type 2 diabetes significantly and safely lowered blood glucose, San Diego drug developer Ligand Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday. The results open a path for further testing, and if all goes well, to approval of the drug. Ligand is looking for a partner to commercialize the drug, named for now LGD-6972. Patients can monitor Ligand’s website at www.ligand.com for any updates on the drug’s status. (Fikes, 9/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Startup That Makes Personalized Cancer Treatments Gets $93 Million In Funding
Gritstone Oncology, the two-year-old Emeryville startup that develops immunotherapy treatments for cancer, has received $93 million in new financing, the company announced Thursday. The privately held company is one of several Bay Area startups making inroads in applying artificial intelligence to drug discovery, a fast-growing segment of the health technology field that has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investors over the last few years. (Ho, 9/7)
Teenager Who Was Ruled Brain Dead May Not Fit Legal Criteria Of Death, Judge Writes
The decision comes in the years-long medical malpractice suit filed by the family of Jahi McMath against UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and its doctors.
The Mercury News:
Judge Weighs In On Whether Jahi McMath Is Brain Dead
Jahi McMath, the Oakland teenager whose brain death case has sparked national debate, may not currently fit the criteria of death as defined by a state law written in conjunction with the medical establishment, a judge wrote in an order Tuesday. In his ruling, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Stephen Pulido wrote that while the brain death determination in 2013 was made in accordance with medical standards, there remains a question of whether the teenager “satisfies the statutory definition of ‘dead’ under the Uniform Determination of Death Act.” (Debolt, 9/6)
In other news from the courts —
The Mercury News:
New Evidence: Santa Cruz Brain Surgeon, Nurse, Mom To Face More Charges In Child-Sex Ring
New video footage warrants numerous additional charges for a Santa Cruz brain surgeon, Watsonville nurse and Tucson, Arizona, mother accused of a child-sex ring, according to Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office. (Todd, 9/7)
After Declining For Years, California Stroke Rates Are Increasing Again
A report suggests that the numbers may have to do with the prevalence of obesity and unhealthy diets in the country.
KPCC:
As California's Stroke Death Rate Climbs, Here's How To Spot The Signs Of Stroke
The rate of death from strokes in California started going up from 2013 to 2015 after declining for more than a decade, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Golden State is not alone in this trend: Declines in the stroke death rate stalled in three out of every four states, the report finds. (Plevin, 9/6)
In other public health news —
Capital Public Radio:
Advance Peace Shares Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence
After a violent summer that culminated with another deadly shooting in Meadowview, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously last Tuesday (August 29) to fund a new program aimed at the most violent offenders. Advance Peace uses mentoring and intervention to reduce gun violence and Sacramento will invest $1.5 million in the program during the next three years. (Picard, 9/6)
Modesto Bee:
Some Cash And A Form: How Some Local Parents Got Around The Vaccination Requirement
An Escalon clinic drew recent attention by offering medical exemptions to the state law that requires vaccinations for schoolchildren. ... The service spurred debate on the clinic's Facebook page by people who favor immunizations and members of the so-called anti-vaxxer movement, who claim that common vaccinations harm children and may cause disabilities such as autism. (Carlson, 9/6)
San Diego Council To Decide Whether To Embrace Marijuana Businesses Or Mostly Ban Them
Council members are expected to weigh in on two proposals about how to handle permits for nonretail cannabis businesses.
KPBS:
Seed To Sale: How Will San Diego Treat The Cannabis 'Supply Chain?'
On Monday, the San Diego City Council is scheduled to vote on how — or whether — to permit nonretail cannabis businesses. City staffers are proposing two options: The first would ban all businesses but testing facilities. The second would allow cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and testing, but cap the number of businesses at two per council district. (Bowen, 9/6)
Senators Kick Off Efforts To Find Elusive Compromise On Health Care At Cordial Hearing
Democrats will have to agree to something — more flexibility for states — that some may be reluctant to support. And Republicans will have to agree to something, additional funding through the Affordable Care Act, that some may be reluctant to support. That is called a compromise," Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said. State insurance commissioners spoke at the session, urging Congress to continue funding subsidies for insurers.
The New York Times:
Work Toward Bipartisan Fix For Health Markets Begins In Senate
The chairman of the Senate health committee said Wednesday that he hoped the panel would reach a consensus by the end of next week on a small, bipartisan bill to stabilize health insurance markets and prevent prices from skyrocketing next year under the Affordable Care Act. “The blame will be on every one of us, and deservedly so,” if senators fail to reach agreement, said the chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. (Pear, 9/6)
The Associated Press:
GOP, Dem Senators Calmly Discuss Bolstering Obama Health Law
Republicans and Democrats serenely discussed ways to curb premium increases for individual insurance policies on Wednesday at a Senate hearing that veered away from years of fierce partisanship over the failed GOP effort to revoke President Barack Obama's health care law. Senators and state insurance commissioners from both parties embraced the idea of continuing billions in federal subsidies to insurers for reducing out-of-pocket expenses for millions of people, flouting President Donald Trump's oft-repeated threats to halt those payments. (Fram, 9/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Senators Discuss Bipartisan Approach To Repair Obamacare
Mr. Alexander’s proposal, laid out at the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing, would formally authorize subsidy payments to insurers and loosen requirements governing the law’s state waivers. Mr. Alexander hopes to pass legislation with the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, before the end of the month, when insurers must sign contracts to participate in next year’s markets. (Hackman, 9/6)
The Washington Post:
A GOP Senate Leader Calls For Bipartisan Compromise On ACA Marketplaces
The set of ideas advocated in a large, crowded hearing room amount to a strategy to slow recent spikes in premium rates by some health plans sold on ACA marketplaces and to expand consumers’ choices given major insurers’ defections from some marketplaces. The ideas track the basic contours of changes being touted by Republicans or Democrats — though not necessarily by both — on the HELP committee. (Goldstein and Eilperin, 9/6)
Los Angeles Times:
In The Face Of Major Premium Hikes, State Insurance Regulators Urge Congress To Act Quickly
State officials — both Republican and Democratic — urged lawmakers to maintain the federal funding that subsidizes poor customers’ deductibles and co-pays, even as the president continues to threaten to withhold that aid. And they called on Congress to move quickly in the face of mounting warnings from health insurers that without congressional action by the end of September, consumers will face major premium hikes next year. “Uncertainty destabilizes the market,” Lori Wing-Heier, Alaska’s nonpartisan insurance regulator, told senators at the Senate health committee. (Levey, 9/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health-Care Sign-Up Groups Brace For Enrollment Challenge
Democrats and activists are trying to promote the Affordable Care Act’s open-enrollment period and raise money for outreach following a Trump administration decision to cut millions of dollars from programs that help people sign up for health coverage. That outside effort, unfolding alongside a push on Capitol Hill to restore some of the funds, includes more than 1,500 volunteers organizing on social-media sites such as Facebook under the name Indivisible ACA Signup Project, seeking to promote the open-enrollment season beginning Nov. 1. (Armour, 9/6)
Fallout From Rolling Back DACA Would Ripple Through Health Care Industry
Surveys of DACA beneficiaries reveal that about one-fifth of them work in the health care and educational sector, suggesting a potential loss of tens of thousands of workers from in-demand job categories like home health aide and nursing assistant.
The New York Times:
What Older Americans Stand To Lose If ‘Dreamers’ Are Deported
When the Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would end an Obama-era program that shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation, Sherwin Sheik quickly sized up the potential toll on his business. Mr. Sheik is the chief executive and founder of CareLinx, which matches home care workers with patients and their families. The company relies heavily on authorized immigrant labor, making the looming demise of the program — which has transformed around 700,000 people brought to this country as children into authorized workers — a decidedly unwelcome development. (Scheiber and Abrams, 9/6)
In other news about the administration's decisions —
The Washington Post:
Two Senators Aim To Challenge Trump’s Transgender Troops Order In Defense Bill
Two senators are preparing an amendment to challenge President Trump’s announced ban on transgender people serving in the military that they hope to attach to a sweeping defense bill the chamber is set to consider this month. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that she is drafting the amendment with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to “try to protect the transgender troops” against the order that Trump initially issued via Twitter in July banning them from the military. (Demirjian, 9/6)