San Francisco Chronicle: Why Are So Many S.F. Mental Health And Drug Treatment Beds Empty?
Despite San Francisco expanding its capacity to care for those struggling with mental health issues and drug addiction, dozens of treatment beds are routinely sitting empty. San Francisco over the past three years has added about 350 mental health and addiction treatment beds, marking a 16% jump in capacity and bringing the city’s total to about 2,550 beds. But from July through December 2023, the city estimates that 15%-20% of its short-term residential mental health beds went unused because of staffing shortages, according to a new report from the Department of Public Health. (Angst, 2/20)

Military Times: Student Vets Seek Mental Health Care More Often Than Military Peers
Student veterans are receiving mental health care at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the veteran population, reflecting both the stressors in their lives and their willingness to seek help, according to a study from the Government Accountability Office released last week. Researchers said the findings point to a need for Veterans Affairs officials to better publicize resources and benefits available to those veterans to ensure their needs are being met. (Shane III, 2/20)

The Desert Sun: Desert Hot Springs To Lower Cannabis Tax By 43%
Desert Hot Springs is reducing its cannabis cultivation tax by 43.6% to help relieve some of the financial pressure on the industry. (Gasparyan, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: For Marijuana Users, Even Legalization Doesn’t Guarantee Safety
Marijuana contaminated with arsenic, lead or mold is causing serious, even life-threatening illnesses around the country as use of cannabis products explodes. People who have used marijuana have higher levels of heavy metals in their blood and are more likely to develop fungal infections, according to studies. Researchers have linked contaminants found in marijuana to cases of sudden-onset numbness, fatal lung bleeding and artery disease that resulted in amputations. (Armour, 2/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mayor Breed Scraps Plan For S.F. Sober Living Facility Near Chinatown After Opposition
Mayor London Breed scrapped a plan Tuesday for a sober living facility on the edge of Chinatown for people recovering from addiction after vigorous opposition from local advocates and merchants. (Cheang, 2/20)

California Healthline: ‘Fourth Wave’ Of Opioid Epidemic Crashes Ashore, Propelled By Fentanyl And Meth
A report based on millions of urine drug tests found the United States is facing a rise in the use of multiple drugs at once, which not only is often more deadly but complicates treatment efforts. (DeGuzman, 2/21)

USA Today: Methamphetamine Plays Increasing Role In Addiction Crisis
Illicit fentanyl, the driving force behind the U.S. overdose epidemic, is increasingly being used in conjunction with methamphetamine, a new report shows. The laboratory Millennium Health said that 60% of patients whose urine samples contained fentanyl last year also tested positive for methamphetamine. Cocaine was detected in 22% of the fentanyl-positive samples. (Alltucker, 2/21)

The Washington Post: They Take Kratom To Ease Pain Or Anxiety. Sometimes, Death Follows
A Washington Post review of federal and state statistics shows that medical examiners and coroners are increasingly blaming deaths on kratom — it was listed as contributing to or causing at least 4,100 deaths in 44 states and D.C. between 2020 and 2022. The vast majority of those cases involved other drugs in addition to kratom, which is made from the leaves of tropical trees. Still, the kratom-involved deaths account for a small fraction of the more than 300,000 U.S. overdose deaths recorded in those three years. (Ovalle, 2/20)

CNN: A Quarter Of Smokers Quit Within A Year Or Two Of Menthol Bans, Researchers Find
The US Food and Drug Administration has said that a menthol ban is a “top priority,” but public health advocates have accused the Biden administration of dragging its feet, and the ban has gotten caught up in election-year politics despite research showing clear health benefits. The new research, published Wednesday in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, looked at studies that have examined the effects of bans in more than 170 US localities, two states, several countries and the European Union. (Christensen, 2/21)

Axios: More Than Half Of U.S. Newborns Got RSV Protection
More than half of U.S. newborns now appear to be protected by new RSV vaccines, according to updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The virus is considered the second leading cause of death worldwide during the first year of a child's life. The data suggests demand was strong despite broader vaccine skepticism and the potential for confusion over more childhood immunization options. (Bettelheim, 2/20)

The New York Times: Study Of Patients With A Chronic Fatigue Condition May Offer Clues To Long Covid
Seven years ago, the National Institutes of Health began a study of patients ... with the condition known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS. ... Findings from the study, which was published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, showed notable physiological differences in the immune system, cardio-respiratory function, gut microbiome and brain activity of the ME/CFS patients compared with a group of 21 healthy study participants. (Belluck, 2/21)

USA Today: Young Adults Have Higher Rates Of Long COVID Than Older Americans: See The Charts
Nearly one in four adults who contracted COVID-19 developed long COVID symptoms, according to the most recent data from the Census Bureau. ... Anyone infected with COVID-19 can develop long COVID, but the condition is more common in people who had severe COVID-19 symptoms, as well as women, older adults, people with underlying health conditions and people who did not get vaccinated, according to the Washington state Health Department. (Chernikoff and Loehrke, 2/21)

Reuters: More Than Half The World Faces High Measles Risk, WHO Says
More than half the world's countries will be at high or very high risk of measles outbreaks by the end of the year unless urgent preventative measures are taken, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday. Measles cases have been increasing across most regions mainly due to missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 years when health systems were overwhelmed and fell behind on routine vaccinations for preventable diseases. (2/21)

Los Angeles Times: Homelessness A Pressing Issue In Valley Council Race
Homelessness in the northwestern San Fernando Valley has jumped in recent years. In Chatsworth, a sprawling encampment at the Metrolink station gained attention in May after a giant “Chatsworth Skid Row” sign rose at the site. Meanwhile, in that neighborhood and Granada Hills, business owners are grappling with tents and RVs outside their stores and offices. (Smith, 2/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Initiative Promised 20,000 Homes For Mentally Ill Californians
In the fall of 2018, California’s voters were determined to make a dent in the state’s rapidly escalating homelessness crisis. By a wide margin, they supported a ballot measure sold as No Place Like Home, which promised to use taxpayer money earmarked for mental health treatment to pay for a $2 billion housing bond. (Weiner, Kendall, Hwang and Yee, 2/20)

Stat: Hospitals Are Piloting Generative AI Tools As Regulators Play Catch-Up
Usually the words generative AI in health are followed by a bold claim. The technology will transform some aspect of care delivery, save gobs of money, or automate administrative tasks crucial to connecting patients with timely services. Rohit Chandra, chief digital officer of the Cleveland Clinic, said generative AI can accomplish all these things. But he also said this: “Harm is not just likely. It is for sure going to happen.” (Palmer and Ross, 2/21)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid DSH Cuts Hit Safety-Net Hospitals In CMS Final Rule
Some safety-net hospitals will receive lower Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Tuesday. The regulation sets new restrictions on how Medicaid DSH payments are calculated and distributed, carrying out a congressional directive from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. (Kacik, 2/20)

AP: Harris Announces $5.8 Billion For Water Infrastructure Projects, Says Clean Water Is A Right 
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that states will share $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects around the country. ... Vice President Kamala Harris, who traveled to Pittsburgh to make the announcement, said everyone in the U.S. should be able to have clean water. ... The White House said Tuesday’s announcement includes $3.2 billion for what’s known as the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund that can be used for upgrades to water treatment plants, water distribution and piping systems, and lead pipe replacement. (2/20)

Axios: Electric Cars Could Boost Kids' Health, Study Finds
Millions of childhood asthma attacks would be avoided and hundreds of infant lives saved by 2050 if the U.S. transitioned entirely to electric vehicles (EVs) powered by renewable energy, according to new research from the American Lung Association (ALA). (Muller, 2/20)

Los Angeles Daily News: Mother, Daughter Duo Knew The Dangers Before Deadly Butt-Lift Gone Wrong, Prosecutors Say
When a mother and daughter duo from Riverside administered a lethal dose of injectable silicone into 26-year-old Karissa Rajpaul’s buttocks at a home in Sherman Oaks in October 2019, killing her within hours of the procedure, the adverse results she showed almost immediately should not have come as a surprise, prosecutors said Tuesday, Feb. 20. (Cain, 2/20)

Newsweek: Common US Food Additives May Cause Cancer
In the U.S, over half of our daily energy intake comes from ultra-processed foods. ... Increasingly, we are learning that these ultra-processed products are associated with an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, diabetes and certain forms of cancer. In a new study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, researchers from France have found yet more evidence that common ingredients in these foods may increase our risk of certain cancers, especially breast and prostate cancers. (Dewan, 2/20)

Stat: FDA Warns Medical Device Makers About Rise In Fabricated Data
An increasing number of medical device companies are submitting fabricated and unreliable data, the Food and Drug Administration noted Tuesday morning. The data comes from third-party labs hired by device firms to test the quality of their products. Triple-check your data or we’ll reject your device, the FDA warned. (Lawrence, 2/20)

AP: A Pacemaker For The Brain Helped A Woman With Crippling Depression
Emily Hollenbeck lived with a deep, recurring depression she likened to a black hole, where gravity felt so strong and her limbs so heavy she could barely move. She knew the illness could kill her. Both of her parents had taken their lives. She was willing to try something extreme: Having electrodes implanted in her brain as part of an experimental therapy. Researchers say the treatment —- called deep brain stimulation, or DBS — could eventually help many of the nearly 3 million Americans like her with depression that resists other treatments. (Ungar, 2/21)

Los Angeles Times: Inside The Plan To Diagnose Alzheimer’s In People With No Memory Problems — And Who Stands To Benefit 
In a darkened Amsterdam conference hall this summer, a panel of industry and academic scientists took the stage to announce a plan to radically expand the definition of Alzheimer’s disease to include millions of people with no memory complaints. Those with normal cognition who test positive for elevated levels of certain proteins that have been tied to Alzheimer’s — but not proven to cause the disease — would be diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s Stage 1, the panel members explained. (Petersen, 2/20)

Axios: FDA Approval Of Cancer Treatment Provides New Weapon Against Tumors
A new class of cancer treatments that harness the body's immune system to fight tumors is being hailed as the biggest thing in oncology since CAR-T revealed the promise of cell therapy more than a decade ago. But with price tags of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the drugs raise familiar concerns about affordability and access. (Reed, 2/21)