- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Insurer Slashes Breast Pump Payments, Stoking Fears Fewer Moms Will Breastfeed
- Courts 2
- Attorney General To Appeal Judge's Decision Overturning Aid-In-Dying Law
- Sutter Health Wants Court To Decline To Hear Case Over Its Pricing Strategies
- The Opioid Crisis 1
- San Francisco Launches Initiative To Seek Out Drug Users And Offer Anti-Addiction Prescriptions On The Street
- Around California 1
- Generation Of Alumnae Grapple With News Of Allegations Against USC's Campus Gynecologist
- Hospital Roundup 1
- Patients Fear For Their Privacy At San Francisco Hospital Named After Zuckerberg, Nurses Say
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Insurer Slashes Breast Pump Payments, Stoking Fears Fewer Moms Will Breastfeed
Anthem, one of the country’s largest insurers, has cut the reimbursement rate it pays for breast pumps by nearly half, fueling concerns that new moms — especially ones with lower incomes — will not be able to afford the pumps they need. (Samantha Young, )
More News From Across The State
Attorney General To Appeal Judge's Decision Overturning Aid-In-Dying Law
The judge said that the Legislature illegally passed the legislation because it was in a special session that was called to deal with health care funding.
The Mercury News:
California Attorney General To Appeal Judge’s Ruling Overturning Assisted Suicide Law
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Wednesday he will appeal a judge’s ruling late Tuesday overturning the state’s right to die law for terminally ill Californians. “We strongly disagree with this ruling and the state is seeking expedited review in the Court of Appeal,” Becerra said Wednesday. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia ruled that the Legislature violated California’s constitution by passing the End of Life Option Act in 2015 during a special session to address emergency needs in the state’s health care system, not aid in dying. (Woolfolk, 5/16)
Sutter Health Wants Court To Decline To Hear Case Over Its Pricing Strategies
In documents filed Monday, Sutter argues the suit would force the court to interject itself into complex economic and regulatory matters already overseen by the executive and legislative branches.
Sacramento Bee:
Sutter Health Asks Court To Dismiss California AG's Antitrust Lawsuit
In a case with broad implications for health-care pricing and transparency, Sutter Health has asked the San Francisco Superior Court to refuse to hear the California attorney general’s antitrust lawsuit because it would impose expensive, unwieldy regulations that would upend Sutter's business. (Anderson, 5/16)
In other news about the health system —
The Mercury News:
Sutter Health Network Restored; Bereaved Daughter Recounts Ordeal
Sutter Health said service has returned to normal after a network outage, but its effects are likely to linger for a Santa Clara woman who said Wednesday she couldn’t reach a hospice’s 24-hour hotline for many hours after her father’s death at an assisted-living facility. During the outage, which began about 10:30 p.m. Monday, a Sutter spokesperson said sites such as the system’s Santa Rosa center saw relatively little disruption, but that San Francisco’s California Medical Pacific Center was forced to delay some surgeries and Berkeley’s Alta Bates had to cancel some surgeries. (Kelly, 5/16)
Medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone is widely considered the most effective way to wean users off opioids, but a major barrier is getting people the treatment. "We can’t wait for addicts to come to us. We have to go to them and engage. And offer. And give support,” said Barbara Garcia, director of health for the city and county of San Francisco.
The Washington Post:
San Francisco Will Bring Anti-Addiction Medication To Users On The Streets
San Francisco will begin supplying anti-addiction medication to long-term drug users and homeless people on city streets, an attempt to overcome a formidable obstacle to treatment that has complicated efforts to address the opioid crisis. The city is scheduled to announce Thursday that its medical providers will offer buprenorphine and naltrexone prescriptions at needle exchanges, in parks and in other places where people with opioid disorders congregate. Users will be able to pick up the medications, which block the craving for opioids and the painful symptoms of withdrawal, at a centrally located city-run pharmacy. (Bernstein, 5/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Mayor’s Bold Plan To Treat Heroin Addicts On The Street
San Francisco’s mayor wants to create a special medical team — the first of its kind in the nation — to spread out onto the city’s streets and give homeless people a drug that one expert calls “blindingly effective” at abruptly stopping heroin cravings. ...Buprenorphine, widely available only in recent years and commonly known by its main brand name Suboxone, works faster and causes fewer side effects than methadone. (Fagan, 5/16)
In other news on the crisis —
KPCC:
How ER Docs Could Play A Key Role In Fighting The Opioid Epidemic
Emergency departments are a frequent stop for people hooked on opioids. ...But momentum is building to get emergency departments to play a bigger role in stemming the epidemic. At County USC, Dr. Rebecca Trotsky is piloting a program that would start treatment for suspected opioid use disorders in the ER. (Replogle, 5/17)
State Program Lags In Providing Special Needs Children With Medical Equipment
Children who need wheelchairs, walkers, ventilators, leg braces, hospital beds and other equipment sometimes have to wait a year or more to receive it. “It seems unconscionable,” said Maryann O’Sullivan, the report’s author.
The California Health Report:
Special Needs Children Often Left Waiting For Medical Equipment, Report Says
Children with special needs often languish for months waiting to get needed medical equipment and supplies through a state health care program designed to help them, according to a new report. About 200,000 special-needs children receive health coverage through the California Children’s Services (CCS) program, which serves kids with chronic medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, cancer and traumatic injuries. Yet when children require medical equipment like wheelchairs, walkers, ventilators, leg braces and hospital beds, they sometimes wait a year or more to receive it, according to the report by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. (Boyd-Barrett, 5/16)
Generation Of Alumnae Grapple With News Of Allegations Against USC's Campus Gynecologist
After an investigation found that Dr. George Tyndall's behavior during pelvic exams was outside the scope of current medical practice, USC quietly let him resign without informing his patients or reporting to the Medical Board of California.
Los Angeles Times:
Former Students Recount Decades Of Disturbing Behavior By USC Gynecologist
When Chelsea Wu walked into Dr. George Tyndall's exam room at USC's student health clinic, she was 19 and, in her own words, "naive." The sophomore had never seen a doctor without her parents by her side and had never been to a gynecologist. "I was blindly trusting of doctors. I pretty much followed whatever they say," Wu recalled. During the 2016 appointment, Tyndall asked prying questions about her sex life, showed prolonged interest in her Chinese heritage and made comments about the tone of her pelvic muscle as he thrust his fingers inside her, Wu said. (Ryan, Hamilton, Parvini and Pringle, 5/16)
Patients Fear For Their Privacy At San Francisco Hospital Named After Zuckerberg, Nurses Say
San Francisco General Hospital was renamed in 2015 by county supervisors after Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan donated $75 million to the 147-year-old institution
Sacramento Bee:
Nurses Want Mark Zuckerberg’s Name Off S.F. Hospital
Nurses say patients at a San Francisco hospital renamed in 2015 for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife fear for their privacy given recent data breaches and security scandals on the social media platform. ...Protests by some nurses at the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center seek to have the hospital revert to its original name, the station reported. (Sweeney, 5/16)
Drug Prevention Education Evolves From Scare-Tactics To Fact-Based Information
Simplistic mottoes such as "just say no" are being replaced with encouragement for students to think through the complexities of drug use and addiction.
KQED:
In The Land Of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves From ‘Don’t’ To ‘Delay’
Public schools in California are required by law to provide anti-drug abuse education, although experts say the quality of the instruction varies widely from district to district, and there’s little enforcement. ... Today, drug abuse education is an advanced pedagogy, drawing on decades of rigorous effectiveness research and the newest teaching techniques. (Feibel, 5/16)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
'It's The Right Thing To Do.' Sacramento City Council Approves Homeless Hospice, Despite Objections
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday evening gave unanimous support to a project that would offer residential care for homeless people suffering from terminal illnesses. Following an emotional public hearing, the council ultimately rejected a neighborhood association's appeal of the hospice. The care facility will be one of the first of its kind in the country. (Hubert, 5/16)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Navy Embedding Mental Health Teams With Submarine Squadrons
Commanders are calling it the “year of change” for Navy medicine but Rear Adm. Paul D. Pearigen is excited about what the reforms promise, especially for submariners. The commander of San Diego-based Navy Medicine West, a health network that’s concentrated in the Pacific Rim but extends globally from Peru to Egypt and Vietnam, Pearigen sees 2018 as a transition from the way the armed forces traditionally treated patients to one based more on hiking readiness in deploying units and ships. (Prine, 5/16)
High Premiums A Political Hot Potato As Rates For Next Year Start To Come Out
Democrats are planning to be "relentless" in making sure Americans know who is responsible for the high costs, but Republicans say liberal lawmakers should look in the mirror. Meanwhile, a coalition of state attorneys general from blue states was granted the right to intervene in the lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
The Hill:
Premium Hikes Reignite The ObamaCare Wars
The ObamaCare premium wars are back. The cost of health insurance plans on the ObamaCare exchanges could jump in the coming weeks, some by double digits, inflaming the issue ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats argue the price increases are the result of what they refer to as “Republican sabotage.” They contend that, since the GOP controls Congress and the White House, the price hikes are their responsibility — and that's the message they plan to take into the fall campaign. (Roubein, 5/16)
The Hill:
Court Rules Dem States Can Intervene In ObamaCare Lawsuit
A federal judge granted a request from states looking to defend ObamaCare in a lawsuit filed in Texas. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and 16 other state attorneys general in Democratic states, were granted the right to intervene in the lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA). (Hellmann, 5/16)
In other national health care news —
The Hill:
Graham Working On New ObamaCare Repeal Bill
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday he is working on a new version of his ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill and has not given up on efforts to do away with the law despite Republicans’ failure last year. “I haven’t given up,” Graham said. “Will there be another effort to replace ObamaCare with a state-centric plan? I hope so.” The effort appears to have little, if any, chance of passing this year. Republican leadership has made clear that it has moved on from the ObamaCare repeal effort, and the GOP has an even slimmer margin in the Senate than they did last year when they failed to win enough votes for a bill. (Sullivan, 5/16)
The Associated Press:
Vermont Positioned For Cheaper Canadian Prescription Drugs
Vermont has become the first state to create a program to import more affordable prescription drugs from Canada. But it's unclear whether it will happen because it needs federal approval and the White House hasn't endorsed it. Republican Gov. Phil Scott said Wednesday the law would likely reduce costs for Vermonters, although he's unsure whether it will get federal approval. (5/16)
Stat:
Medicare Reform May Be A Long Shot. But Drug Makers Are Already Worried
Among the litany of modest changes that the Trump administration rolled out in its plan to lower drug prices is one big idea that’s already worrying drug makers: a push to consolidate the two disparate Medicare programs that pay for prescription drugs. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has been touting the idea all week as a way to bring the negotiating power of the Part D program, which covers seniors’ prescription drugs, into the Part B program, which covers other treatments. “Let me be really clear about this: We are going to bring negotiation to Part B drugs, and we are going to give Part D plans more bargaining power. It’s going to happen,” he said. (Merhson, 5/16)
The Associated Press:
House OKs Expansion Of Private Care At VA, Budget Crisis Fix
The House voted Wednesday to give veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the Veterans Affairs health system, a major shift aimed at reducing wait times and improving medical care despite the concerns of some Democrats who cast it as a risky step toward dismantling the struggling agency. The plan seeks to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise to expand private care to veterans whenever they feel unhappy with VA health care. (5/16)
The New York Times:
Fertility Rate Fell To A Record Low, For A Second Straight Year
The fertility rate in the United States fell to a record low for a second straight year, federal officials reported Thursday, extending a deep decline that began in 2008 with the Great Recession. The fertility rate fell to 60.2 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age, down 3 percent from 2016, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. It was the largest single-year decline since 2010, when families were still feeling the effects of a weak economy. (Tavernise, 5/16)
Los Angeles Times:
FDA Approves Lucemyra To Treat Symptoms Of Opioid Withdrawal And Help Patients Overcome Addiction
"The physical symptoms of opioid withdrawal can be one of the biggest barriers for patients seeking help and ultimately overcoming addiction," said Dr. Scot Gottlieb, the FDA's commissioner. "The fear of experiencing withdrawal symptoms often prevents those suffering from opioid addiction from seeking help. And those who seek assistance may relapse due to continued withdrawal symptoms." (Kaplan, 5/16)
The New York Times:
For Women With Early Breast Cancer, Herceptin Treatment Can Be Much Shorter
Over the past 20 years, hundreds of thousands of women with breast cancer have taken the drug Herceptin, typically for a year or more. The medicine, used to treat an aggressive form of the disease, is credited with saving many lives, but it also has some tough side effects, particularly damage to the heart. A large new study that followed thousands of women with early-stage breast cancer for a median of more than five years has found that those treated with Herceptin for only six months did just as well as those who got it for a year — and they suffered fewer side effects. (Grady, 5/16)
The Washington Post:
Surrogate Mothers Ask Supreme Court To Stop ‘Exploitation’ Of Women And Babies
Melissa Cook's story became headline news in 2015 when she was carrying triplets as a surrogate. The intended dad asked her to abort at least one of them, she says, because he couldn't afford to raise them all. She refused and has been fighting for custody of the children in court ever since. Cook and two other surrogate mothers — Gail Robinson and Toni Bare — are in Washington this week to call on the Supreme Court to provide more clarity on the rights of women and children in the controversial industry. The women, who have separately filed lawsuits in different states, say surrogacy contracts are exploitative to the birth mothers, create a class of women as breeders and commodify children. (Cha, 5/16)
The Associated Press:
Romaine Lettuce Outbreak Update: 172 Sick In 32 States
Health officials say nearly two dozen more cases of a food poisoning outbreak linked to romaine lettuce grown in Arizona have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the total number of people sickened by a strain of E. coli is now 172 across 32 states. At least 75 people have been hospitalized, including 20 with kidney failure. One death was in California. (5/16)