Sacramento Bee: Health Officials, Local Experts Say Keep An Eye On Outdoor Conditions 
The hazy, polluted conditions around the capital region are not expected to improve before the workweek’s end, and local experts and health officials all have the same message for residents: Check conditions before going outside. Air quality levels are expected to reach 150 on Wednesday, which is determined to be unhealthy for vulnerable groups, according Sacramento Region Spare The Air, a website operated by a consortium of regional air quality districts. (Holzer, 8/7)

California Healthline: Breathing ‘A Chore’: California Wildfires Threaten The Health Of Young And Old
Debbie Dobrosky noticed a peculiar hue in the sky on Monday — “a very ugly yellow casting” — as she peeked outside. A large cloud of smoke had begun to cover the sun. By Tuesday, the smoke was so heavy that “even inside my apartment I’ve had to use my inhaler twice this morning, which is not a normal thing,” said Dobrosky, a Riverside County, Calif., resident who lives about 30 miles from a fast-growing fire in the Cleveland National Forest.“Today I’m stuck inside, there’s no going out,” said Dobrosky, 67, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung condition. (Gorman and Ibarra, 8/8)

LAist: The Air Is Brown — Should I Wear A Mask?
No agency typically endorses the practice of public mask-wearing, because when the air quality is poor you should be limiting your time outside instead. ("In any area where you can see or smell smoke, everyone should avoid vigorous exertion and limit outdoor exposure," posts AQMD on its air quality index map). But if it makes you feel better to wear one, we tested five different air pollution masks with Ed Avol, air pollution expert at USC's Keck School of Medicine. He gave us some insight on which ones worked, and which ones didn't. (Brenner, Carpenter and Galarreta, 8/7)

Capital Public Radio: Extreme California Wildfires Emit More Greenhouse Gases — But Scientists Don’t Know Exactly How Much
California’s wildfires are releasing millions of metric tons of carbon into the air — exacerbated by and contributing to climate change. How bad is it?Scientists don’t know. (Bradford, 8/7)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Lidocaine Shortage Seems To Be Hitting Family Medicine Hardest
Such is the nature of an ongoing lidocaine shortage, one of 106 current drug shortages listed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Drug shortages, especially those associated with injection opioid painkillers, have been a continuous problem for medical providers at all levels this year. A survey of San Diego County health providers found that, in general, the lidocaine shortage seems to be hitting independent practitioners in primary care the hardest. The largest systems seem to be doing better and stockpiling supply. Kaiser San Diego, for example, reported having a four- to 10-week supply of the drug on hand, depending on dosage strength. Neither Kaiser, Scripps Health nor Palomar Health reported any procedure cancellations due to shortages of the drug also known as Xylocaine. (Sisson, 8/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fewer Tents On SF Streets, But Drugs, Feces, Mental Health Still Big Problems 
The number of tents on San Francisco streets has been cut by more than half in the past two years, but despite the shrinking numbers, the street behavior by the homeless, the mentally ill and the drug-addled continues to be a challenge — with no quick solution in sight. The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Services clocked the number of homeless encampments on streets and sidewalks at 568 in July — compared with 1,200 in July 2016. (Matier & Ross, 8/8)

Meanwhile, in LA —

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County To Test New Efforts To Assist People Living In Vehicles
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to create a pilot program to assist people living in vehicles and to reduce the hazards associated with vehicle dwelling. The program will consist of outreach to people living in their cars, vans and RVs to connect them with social services, money to discourage the use and reuse of dilapidated RVs as dwellings, and a solid- and hazardous-waste collection program, including free sharps containers. (Agrawal, 8/7)

Fresno Bee: Medical Board Questions Mariposa Doctor’s Opioid Prescribing
The Medical Board of California has accused a Mariposa doctor of repeatedly prescribing excessive amounts of controlled drugs for patients. The board said it began an investigation of Dr. Carolyn Joan Rose after the California Highway Patrol notified the medical board that one of the doctor’s patients had been arrested for driving while impaired. (Anderson, 8/7)

KQED: Malfunctions At Shell's Martinez Refinery More Serious Than First Reported
Several malfunctions at Shell's East Bay refinery last month, which led to a health advisory in Martinez and Pacheco, were more dangerous than first acknowledged. In the hours following a flaring incident on July 6, the company initially reported that a fire in a compressor unit at its Martinez facility led to the release of more than 100 pounds of hydrogen sulfide. (Goldberg, 8/8)

The New York Times: Plan To Punish Immigrants For Using Welfare Could Boost G.O.P. Candidates
The Trump administration is advancing a plan to punish legal immigrants for accepting food stamps, public housing and other government benefits they are entitled to — a strategy that appeals to conservatives and could help to galvanize Republican voters before the midterm elections. The proposed rule first surfaced last year. Last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget published a notice that it was under consideration. A Trump administration official said Tuesday that details of the proposal were still weeks away from being finalized and made public. (Shear and Nixon, 8/7)

WBUR: Are Immigrants Health Care Moochers? On The Contrary, Boston Researchers Say
The Trump Administration is considering an executive order that would bar new immigrants deemed likely to draw on public benefits and prevent those already here from achieving permanent legal resident status if they do. ...Undocumented immigrants make up five percent of the population, but account for only 1.4 percent of health care spending. (Knox, 8/8)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: New York Congressman Chris Collins Is Charged With Insider Trading
Representative Chris Collins, a New York Republican who was one of President Trump’s earliest and most vocal supporters, was charged with insider trading on Wednesday. He was accused of having sold his stock in an Australian pharmaceutical company before the results of one of its failed drug tests became public, federal prosecutors said. The charges against Mr. Collins stem from his involvement with Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, a drug maker based in Sydney, Australia whose primary business was the research and development of a medication designed to treat a form of multiple sclerosis, according to an indictment. (8/8)

The Hill: Top Dem Wants Information About ObamaCare Website Removals
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may have violated federal law by removing a web page that provided information about how Medicare coverage is affected by ObamaCare, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Tuesday. In a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, Cummings asked HHS to provide documentation about any decisions to remove information from websites it maintains. (Weixel, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Advocates Condemn Psych Techniques Used To Keep Kids Online
Children's advocates want the American Psychological Association to condemn the tech industry's practice of using persuasive psychological techniques to keep kids glued to their screens. The advocates, citing research that links excessive use of social media and video games with depression and academic troubles, say it's unethical for psychologists to be involved in tactics that risk harming kids' well-being. Skeptics say the research is inconclusive, and they note that psychologists have been involved in other industries' marketing and advertising for decades. (8/8)

The Washington Post: Beyoncé, Serena Williams Open Up About Potentially Fatal Childbirths, A Problem Especially For Black Mothers
Beyoncé. Serena Williams. While one is a singer and the other is a professional tennis player, there are many similarities between the women’s lives. Both are at the top of their respective fields — Beyoncé has 22 Grammy Awards. Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Both are African American. Both are mothers. But the women have shared one life experience that has recently attracted widespread attention: Both survived potentially fatal pregnancy complications. (Chiu, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Genetic Test Some Men Don’t Know They Need
Mark Meerschaert learned from a posting in a family Facebook group a few years ago that a close male relative tested positive for an inherited mutation in the BRCA2 gene. The gene mutation is widely associated with female breast and ovarian cancer, but increases risk for other cancers, too. The relative suggested that family members consider getting tested. Dr. Meerschaert, a 62-year-old statistics and probability professor at Michigan State University, ignored the advice at first. He had already been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and as the father of two sons, getting tested didn’t feel urgent or relevant in the same way it might have, he says, if he had daughters. “I was still thinking about it mainly as a problem for the women in the family,” he says. (Marcus, 8/7)

Reuters: U.S. To Boost Drug Price Negotiation In Medicare Advantage Health Plans
The Trump administration said on Tuesday it would give Medicare Advantage health plans for the elderly new tools to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said Medicare Advantage plans will be allowed to require that patients first try certain lower-cost drugs before moving to a more expensive alternative if the first treatment is not effective. (Erman and Gershberg, 8/7)

The Hill: Trump Administration Gives Insurers Power To Lower Medicare Drug Prices
The policy aims to allow Medicare Advantage plans access to the same tools as private insurers to try to lower the costs of treatments delivered in a physician office or hospital under Medicare Part B. The change will impact more than 20 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. In 2017, Medicare Advantage plans spent $11.9 billion on Medicare Part B drugs, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). (Weixel, 8/7)

Stat: Private Medicare Plans Will Be Able To Use A New Tool To Lower Drug Costs 
The administration framed the announcement as a step toward lowering drug prices, saying in a press release that it will enable Medicare Advantage plans “to drive down prices for some of the most expensive drugs seniors use.” “President Trump promised better Medicare negotiation and lower drug prices for the American people. Today, we are taking an important step in delivering on that promise,” health secretary Alex Azar said. But the new policy is a far cry from President Trump’s campaign promise to let Medicare negotiate prices — a far more ambitious and controversial proposal that he and his top health officials have since abandoned. (Swetlitz, 8/7)

Reuters: Trump Says Will Make Announcement Next Week On Reducing Drug Prices
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would make an announcement next week on reducing drug prices, but he did not offer specifics. Speaking at a dinner with business leaders at his New Jersey club, Trump said, "We are announcing something next week which is going to get them down really substantially." Trump has made lowering the cost of prescription drugs an issue for his administration. (Oliphant, 8/7)

The Associated Press: Study: 1 In 7 Children Of Zika-Infected Moms Have Problems
One out of every seven babies born to U.S. mothers who were infected with Zika during pregnancy developed some kind of health problem, according to the first long-term look at those children. Tuesday's study focused on the children of women in Puerto Rico and other territories, where most of the U.S. cases were seen when the disease swept across the Americas more than two years ago. (8/7)

Reuters: Zika Exposure Before Birth Could Cause Health Issues In Babies-CDC
Some babies exposed to the Zika virus before birth may face health problems related to the mosquito-borne illness, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, providing guidance for couples planning pregnancies. About 14 percent, or one in seven babies among 1,450 infants, had one or more health problems possibly caused by Zika, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report. (Joseph, 8/7)

The Washington Post: 1 In 7 Babies Exposed To Zika In U.S. Territories Have Birth Defects, Nervous System Problems
The data analyzed come from a registry of 1,450 children in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands whose mothers were confirmed through lab tests to have been exposed to Zika while pregnant. Six percent of the children suffered from birth defects such as small head size and brain and eye damage. Nine percent had at least one neurodevelopmental issue such as seizures or difficulty swallowing. And 1 percent had both. Margaret Honein, director of the CDC’s Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders, said in an interview that there appeared to be a wide range of outcomes, with some children more affected than others. She said that some of the children born with severe microcephaly — or a smaller-than-normal head size — do in fact have major impairments, as doctors had feared. (Cha, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Zika’s Long-Term Toll Is Heavy For Children
The results “could be an underestimate” of Zika’s impact because many children born to mothers infected with Zika haven’t had follow-up medical care reported, said Peggy Honein, director of the CDC’s Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders and senior author of the report. Public-health officials are tracking children born to infected mothers to better understand the medical needs they will have and care they will require, Dr. Honein said. (McKay, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: For Zika-Exposed Babies, Trouble May Emerge In Their First Year
Microcephaly — a smaller-than-usual head size -- has emerged as a hallmark of Zika exposure in babies. But in many babies whose mothers were infected by the Zika virus during pregnancy, follow-up care revealed health issues that were less immediately evident, including brain and eye damage, vision and hearing abnormalities and nervous system problems such as seizures. Many of those babies had appeared healthy at birth, and only as the babies grew older did those abnormalities become evident. (Healy, 8/7)

NPR: Babies Who Seem Fine At Birth May Have Zika-Related Problems Later, Study Finds
"We're beginning to see the full spectrum of the impact of Zika," says Margaret Honein, director of the Division of Congenital and Developmental Disorders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC released the study Tuesday. "This is really our first look at how these children are doing as they grow and develop, and really emphasizes that the Zika story is not over, particularly for these children," Honein says. (Stein, 8/7)