Los Angeles Times: Adventist Health Glendale Again Tops Area Hospitals In Safety Study
Adventist Health Glendale aced yet another safety-care study conducted by a national hospital-safety organization. The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., awarded its seventh straight A grade to Adventist Health Glendale, in its spring 2018 results released Tuesday. Leapfrog awards hospital safety grades twice a year based on a number of criteria that measure the quality of patient safety. (Landa, 4/24)

Modern Healthcare: Urban Hospitals Perform Poorly On Leapfrog's Latest Patient Safety Grades
The majority of urban hospitals don't perform well on patient safety measures, according to the latest Hospital Safety Grade report released Tuesday by the Leapfrog Group. Of the 11 hospitals in New York City included in the report, only one—NYC Health & Hospitals/Metropolitan—received an "A" grade from the Leapfrog Group in its spring 2018 report. Additionally, just three of Los Angeles' 12 hospitals got an "A" while only six of Chicago's 18 hospitals did. (Castellucci, 4/24)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Medical Know-How For The Family Caregiver 
California law requires 120 hours of training, 20 of them hands on with real patients, to become a home health aide. But most people, family caregivers like you, are usually thrown into this work with little warning when a parent, spouse, friend or other loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, or is recuperating from surgery or other serious medical treatment. There’s simply no time for you to hit pause, enroll in caregiving course at your community college and learn what you need to know. (Sisson, 4/24)

In related news —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Does Medicare, Medi-Cal Pay For In-Home Care? 
For those age 65 and older who meet federal supplemental security income guidelines ($9,007 per year for an individual and $13,244 for a couple), the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program will tap a mix of state, federal and county funds to pay for up to 283 hours of home caregiving per month. Blind and disabled residents who meet the income guidelines but who may not yet be age 65 or older also qualify. The San Diego County Public Authority administers the program and uses social workers to interview each applicant and determine whether he or she is “unable to live at home safely without help,” assigning a specific number of hours that the program will pay to hire an “individual provider” to work in the home. (Sisson, 4/24)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Adult Day Centers Offer Caregivers A Respite 
A new daycare program for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients in Chula Vista is a miniature three-dimensional 1950s-style downtown designed to spark the long-term memories of its visitors. Called Glenner Town Square, the 8,500-square-foot village includes 13 storefronts surrounding a faux grass-lined park with benches. It’s built inside a light-industrial building with 24-foot ceilings on Main Street. (Kragen, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Study: California Gun Deaths Declined Between 2000 And 2015
Gun deaths have fallen in California over a 16-year period ending in 2015, driven largely by a decline in gang violence and falling homicide rates among black and Hispanic male victims, a recent study of firearm violence has found. Researchers at the University of California, Davis published their findings in the May issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology after reviewing 50,921 firearm deaths recorded in California between 2000 and 2015. The University provided the study results on Monday. (4/24)

Los Angeles Times: This Engineered Painkiller Works Like An Opioid But Isn't Addictive In Animal Tests
Sometimes forgotten in the spiraling U.S. crisis of opiate abuse is a clinical fact about narcotic pain medications: addiction is basically an unwanted side effect of drugs that are highly effective at blunting pain. Addiction, of course, is a particularly dangerous and disruptive side effect, since it hijacks a patient's brain and demands escalating doses of opioid drugs to hold withdrawal symptoms at bay. (Healy, 4/24)

California Healthline: Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction
Three medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid addiction: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. But access to them depends largely on where you live. Methadone and buprenorphine are the two most popular options. But many California communities, particularly rural ones, have neither a methadone clinic nor a doctor who can prescribe buprenorphine. (4/24)

Stat: 'Regifting' Transplanted Kidneys Could Ease The Organ Shortage
There have been a handful of case reports of kidneys being reused after the first recipient dies or rejects the donor kidney, generally just days after the original surgery and often while the recipient and organ are still at a transplant center, said Tom Mone, CEO of OneLegacy, a nonprofit organ procurement organization based in southern California. “There’s no history or practice of re-transplanting,” he said. “Among transplant surgeons, there’s a mistrust it will not work out. ”Kidneys that have been transplanted once are rarely used again, [Dr. Jeffrey Veale] said, because they are seen as damaged goods after going through not one, but two “death events” and because transplant surgery can be rough on organs — they get flushed with solution, put on ice, and are sometimes injured by the reperfusion of blood, he said. Immune-suppressing drugs can also be toxic to kidneys. (McFarling, 4/25)

The Washington Post: For The First Time In Years, New Groups May Vie To Run Organ Transplant Network
For 32 years, the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing has held the federal contract to run the complex U.S. transplant system, a round-the-clock operation that matches donated organs with the sick people who need them. The Richmond-based UNOS has grown substantially and become more entrenched as transplantation has expanded. It collected nearly $58 million in revenue in 2015, according to federal tax records. But it has not faced competition from any other bidder since before 2005. (Bernstein, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: HUD Secretary Ben Carson Tours Women's Homeless Center On Skid Row
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson toured a homeless women's center on L.A.'s skid row Tuesday as part of a fact-finding trip to local public-private partnerships and faith-based programs tackling homelessness and job training. Carson, whose agency provided a record $109 million last year to L.A.'s battle with one of the nation's worst homelessness problems, also met with county and business homelessness leaders and stopped at a faith-based drug treatment residential center in Echo Park. (Holland, 4/24)

Modesto Bee: New Law Offers 'Hope' To Mentally Ill People Who Need Help But Don't Want It
Stanislaus County leaders gave approval Tuesday for trying a Laura's Law program for three years. Supervisors said they overcame skepticism about the California law that authorizes court-ordered outpatient care for people who have resisted treatment for severe mental illness. (Carlson, 4/24)

In other news from across the state —

The Bakersfield Californian: Public Health Unveils Mobile Clinic To Serve Rural Communities 
For years, it's been a burden for some patients to get to the Kern County Public Health Services Department's clinics in outlying regions of the county. In some cases, patients without transportation must walk a mile down Weedpatch Highway from Arvin to get services. In others, like Mojave, patients must pass through metal detectors in a government building to access care — something not everyone is willing to do. Amid budget cuts, it has become harder to fully staff clinics across the county on a full-time basis, Kern County Public Health Director Matt Constantine said. Enter the bus.The gleaming, $330,000, 40-foot-long behemoth, which came by way of Ohio, boasts two exam rooms, an ADA-compliant bathroom and a sleek, contemporary design. (Pierce, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: Glendale Clinic Awarded Grant To Expand Dental Care For Underserved
L.A. Care, a public insurance plan that covers more than 2 million people, mostly low-income residents living in Los Angeles County, announced last week it awarded a share of an $800,000 oral health initiative grant to a Glendale nonprofit as a way to boost dental care to underserved people in the area. Comprehensive Community Health Center in Glendale was one of eight healthcare facilities given $100,000 as a way to both fund projects that would increase dental services in areas deficient in that type of care as well as provide dental care to people with developmental disabilities. (Landa, 4/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland, East Bay Municipal Utility District Fined $360,000 Over Sewage Discharge
The city of Oakland and East Bay Municipal Utility District must pay more than $360,000 for violating the Clean Water Act by allowing untreated sewage into the San Francisco Bay, officials said Tuesday. In 2014, EBMUD and seven East Bay communities it serves, including Oakland and Berkeley, paid $1.5 million in civil penalties for past sewage discharges. (Ma, 4/24)

The New York Times: After Trump Hints V.A. Nominee Might Drop Out, An Aggressive Show Of Support
President Trump acknowledged Tuesday that Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, his nominee to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, is in serious trouble amid accusations that as the White House doctor he oversaw a hostile work environment, improperly dispensed prescription drugs and possibly drank on the job. Speaking at a midday news conference with the president of France, Mr. Trump strongly defended Dr. Jackson, the White House physician, as “one of the finest people that I have met,” but he hinted that Dr. Jackson might soon withdraw from consideration, blaming Democrats for mounting an unfair attack on his nominee’s record. (Fandos and Shear, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Veterans Affairs Nominee Won’t Bow Out
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, laid out the allegations in a CNN interview Tuesday night, saying the committee was investigating allegations from active duty and retired military officers who had worked in the White House medical office and who had come to the committee with numerous complaints, including that Dr. Jackson belittled lower-ranking employees, drank to excess on overseas trips, and handed out prescriptions “like candy,” walking down the aisle during flights doling out drugs to help people fall asleep and wake up. (Nicholas, Radnofsky and Hughes, 4/24)

The Hill: Dem Senator: Trump's VA Pick Nicknamed 'Candy Man' For Handing Out Prescriptions 
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said Tuesday that Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician President Trump has nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, had been nicknamed "the candy man" for handing out prescription drugs. Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that "in overseas trips, in particular, the admiral would go down the aisle way of the airplane and say, 'All right, who wants to go to sleep?' and hand out the prescription drugs like they were candy." (Sanchez, 4/24)

Reuters: White House Doctor Refuses To Pull Out As Trump's Nominee For Veterans Job
Jackson had been set to have his confirmation hearing for the job on Wednesday. But that was postponed indefinitely as senators from both parties said they wanted to look into concerns that had come to light about the Navy rear admiral, who has worked as a presidential physician since the George W. Bush administration. Trump left open the possibility during a news conference that Jackson would withdraw from a political process the president described as "too ugly and too disgusting." (Rampton and Cornwell, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Mixed Signals From Trump On VA Nominee As Allegations Build
A watchdog report requested in 2012 and reviewed by The Associated Press found that Jackson and a rival physician exhibited “unprofessional behaviors” as they engaged in a power struggle over the White House medical unit. The six-page report by the Navy’s Medical Inspector General found a lack of trust in the leadership and low morale among staff members, who described the working environment as “being caught between parents going through a bitter divorce.” “There is a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point that staff walk on ‘eggshells,’” the assessment found. (Yen, Miller and Thomas, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Trump Suggests Ronny Jackson Drop Out Of VA Nomination Because Of Ugly Process
It was another episode where a previously respected figure was lifted to prominence in Trump’s orbit — only to have their sheen and reputation tarnished. Jackson had been widely hailed by three presidents and their aides as competent, charming and fiercely protective before Trump stunned Washington last month by picking the doctor to run the country’s second-largest federal agency.  (Dawsey, Kim, Rein and Wagner, 4/24)

The Washington Post: ‘What Makes It Stop?’ Veterans Lament The Ongoing Turmoil Surrounding Trump’s Pick For VA Secretary
Ronny L. Jackson’s imperiled nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs underscores the agency’s deep-seated struggle to overcome years of scandal and return its focus to serving a constituency that, historically, has remained above the political fray. “This is complete and total chaos after years of complete and total chaos,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group. “Our veterans deserve so much better. Our whole country does. Especially in a time of war.” (Wax-Thibodeaux, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Lax Vetting On Trump Nominees Begins To Frustrate Senators
As President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Veterans Affairs skids to a halt, senators from both parties are voicing frustration that the White House is skipping crucial vetting of nominees and leaving lawmakers to clean up the mess. That sentiment was evident Tuesday on Capitol Hill after senators delayed hearings for White House physician Ronny Jackson, Trump’s surprise pick to head the VA. Jackson is facing questions about improper workplace behavior, and even Trump himself acknowledged that there were concerns about his nominee’s experience. (Mascaro, 4/25)

Politico: How Trump Botched The Ronny Jackson Nomination
President Donald Trump could have avoided the firestorm over Ronny Jackson’s nomination if he’d taken Johnny Isakson’s advice to begin with. In a private conversation with Trump last month, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs chairman mounted a strong defense of then-VA Secretary David Shulkin. But despite Isakson’s guidance, Shulkin was canned a few days later, and Jackson, the White House physician, was quickly nominated to take his place. (Everett, Johnson and Schor, 4/24)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Cracks Down On ‘Juuling’ Among Teenagers
Recognizing what it called “the troubling reality” that electronic cigarettes have become “wildly popular with kids,” the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced a major crackdown on the vaping industry, particularly on the trendy Juul devices, aimed at curbing sales to young people. The agency said it had started an undercover sting operation this month targeting retailers of Juuls, including gas stations, convenience stores and online retailers like eBay. So far, the F.D.A. has issued warning letters to 40 that it says violated the law preventing sales of vaping devices to anyone under 21. (Zernike, 4/24)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press: Medicare Will Require Hospitals To Post Prices Online
Medicare will require hospitals to post their standard prices online and make electronic medical records more readily available to patients, officials said Tuesday. The program is also starting a comprehensive review of how it will pay for costly new forms of immunotherapy to battle cancer. (4/24)

The Washington Post: Google Is Promoting The DEA’s ‘Take Back Day’ On Its Homepage To Help Combat The Opioid Crisis
Google said that it will use its homepage and maps starting Wednesday to promote a Drug Enforcement Administration project to help combat the opioid epidemic, as regulators and lawmakers call for more direct intervention by Silicon Valley to address the drug crisis. Underneath the Google search bar, the company will promote the DEA's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, an initiative that encourages people to anonymously take unused medications to a collection site where they can be safely discarded. The semiannual event will take place Saturday. (Shaban, 4/25)

Stat: Supreme Court Rules That Patent Reviews Detested By Pharma Are Constitutional
In a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a controversial procedure for reviewing patent disputes does not violate the constitutional rights of patent holders. Known as inter partes reviews, these are heard before a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appeals board, not a court, and anger drug makers because they are easier and faster to pursue than typical patent lawsuits. Drug companies have argued patents are private property that may be revoked only by a federal court and the review process violates a constitutional right to be heard by a court and jury. (Silverman, 4/24)

Stateline: What Care For The Criminally Insane Can Teach Us About Mental Health Treatment
About 14 percent of state and federal prisoners (about 200,000) and 26 percent of jailed inmates (about 190,000) have serious mental illnesses, according to a report last year by the U.S. Department of Justice. Prison and jail officials don’t have the resources to treat them, and many deteriorate behind bars. By contrast, in some states those judged to be criminally insane receive better mental health treatment than practically anybody else — including people who have never committed a crime. (Ollove, 4/25)