Los Angeles Times: State Senators Respond To Fentanyl, Retail Theft With Legislation
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the California senate on Monday announced a package of legislation to address the growing fentanyl crisis and untamed outbreak of organized retail thefts. Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who was sworn in as president pro tempore last month, recited sobering statistics to reporters as he introduced proposals he said will remedy the issues through a more rehabilitative approach. (Sosa, 2/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Law To Test Poop Samples Statewide For Drugs Could Guide Public Health
For years, state and local health officials have watched in dismay as drug overdoses spiraled ever higher. Now they could gain a new tool to track the extent of the crisis. If proposed legislation from Assembly Member Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, is successful, California could become the first state to mandate routine testing of wastewater treatment plants statewide for fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs. (Ho, 2/26)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County May Lose COVID Homeless Shelter FEMA Funds
Sacramento County opened emergency homeless shelters in four hotels in 2020 as part of a statewide strategy to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. In November, local agencies learned that because of a retroactive federal rule change, the county may not receive an expected Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement of $8.9 million for Project Roomkey motels. The new rule imposed by FEMA would cap participants’ reimbursable stays at 20 days — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended isolation and quarantine period. Those who stayed in Project Roomkey sites longer than that starting in June 2021 would not have the costs associated with the additional days covered by the federal government. (Lange, 2/27)

Fresno Bee: Health Care, Jobs, Workers' Rights: Fresno-Madera Assembly Candidates Address Latino Voters
Madera residents wasted no time when questioning the California Assembly candidates competing to represent the city and northwest Fresno. They wanted to know what the winner will do to make sure Madera Community Hospital’s reopening is permanent. (Galicia, 2/26)

Politico: Gavin Newsom Faces Another Recall Threat In California 
Conservative activists are launching another attempt to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seeking to capitalize on anger over the state’s yawning budget deficit and arguing that the top White House surrogate must be stopped before he can make a presidential run of his own. A citizen-led group plans to formally serve Newsom’s office Monday morning with recall papers, organizers informed POLITICO, the initial step in a long and likely expensive process to qualify their effort for the statewide ballot. (Cadelago, 2/26)

USA Today: Will There Be A Government Shutdown? Congress Is Running Out Of Time To Strike A Deal
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Congress has until Friday to reach a spending agreement, or the nation will face a partial government shutdown. It's the fourth such deadline lawmakers have approached in recent months. The last three times, they opted for short-term deals, pushing off more permanent solutions after failing to reach a funding compromise. ... With only five days to go until a partial shutdown, leaders have still not released bills to fund agriculture, food and drug, energy and water, military construction, veterans affairs, transportation and housing programs. (Beggin, 2/26)

Roll Call: Health Package Talks Break Down Amid Broader Spending Feud 
Lawmakers who hoped to address price transparency and lower drug costs are instead negotiating a smaller health care package after talks broke down again amid a broader stalemate over government funding. (Clason, 2/26)

Stat: PBM Reform Efforts Get Punted In Congress 
Congress has abandoned its attempt to reform how pharmacy middlemen operate in an upcoming package to fund the federal government, 11 lobbyists and sources following the talks told STAT. (Cohrs and Wilkerson, 2/26)

Stat: Site-Neutral Medicare Payments Axed From Congress' Negotiations
Congress will not move forward with a controversial policy to equalize certain Medicare payments to hospitals and physicians’ offices in an upcoming government funding package, five lobbyists and sources following the talks told STAT. (Cohrs, 2/26)

Stat: Change Healthcare Cyberattack Shows Risk Of Industry Consolidation
Change Healthcare’s recent cyberattack has hospitals, doctors’ offices, and pharmacies across the country reeling as they struggle to process claims and bill patients. Experts told STAT it’s a glaring example of the risk of consolidation in health care. Change, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group, is one of the nation’s largest insurance claim processing hubs. A cyberattack, first announced Wednesday, took the entire company’s network down. Hospitals, doctors’ offices, and pharmacies have since resorted to sending claims via fax, validating patients’ insurance over the phone, and watching helplessly as unpaid bills pile up, multiple hospital employees told STAT. In an update Monday, UnitedHealth said it was still working to restore its impacted systems. (Trang, Bannow and Herman, 2/27)

Fast Company: Change Healthcare Cyberattack Update: A Bigger Deal Than You Think
Pharmacies across the United States are still grappling with substantial disruptions following a cyberattack on UnitedHealth’s technology unit, Change Healthcare, as reported by multiple pharmacy chains through official statements and on various social media platforms. The attack led to a nationwide outage of a network designed to communicate data between healthcare providers and insurance companies. The company did not provide a timeline for when services would be restored. Fast Company reached out to Change Healthcare for additional information and will update this post if we hear back. (Hamilton, 2/26)

Kiplinger: Pharmacy Disruptions Ongoing After UnitedHealth Cyberattack 
The breach also affected military clinics and hospital worldwide, according to a February 22 news release by Tricare, the government's healthcare program for the U.S. military. “Military clinics and hospitals will provide outpatient prescriptions through a manual procedure until this issue is resolved,” said Tricare, which asked for patience while pharmacies take longer than usual to safely fill prescriptions. (Solitro, 2/26)

The Register: ALPHV/BlackCat Responsible For Change Healthcare Cyberattack
The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang is reportedly responsible for the massive Change Healthcare cyberattack that has disrupted pharmacies across the US since last week. According to Reuters, citing "two people familiar with the matters," the notorious ransomware-as-a-service operation was behind the UnitedHealth owned business' attack. The Register has not independently confirmed that ALPHV was involved in the intrusion. (Lyons, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: Hours On Hold, Limited Appointments: Why California Babies Aren’t Going To The Doctor
Maria Mercado’s 5- and 7-year-old daughters haven’t been to the doctor for a check-up in two years. And it’s not for lack of trying. Mercado, a factory worker in South Los Angeles, has called the pediatrician’s office over and over hoping to book an appointment for a well-child visit, only to be told there are no appointments available and to call back in a month. Sometimes, she waits on hold for an hour. Like more than half of children in California, Mercado’s daughters have Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. (Gold, 2/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: FDA Recalls More Saline, Sterile Water Products
The FDA is recalling additional saline and sterile water products made by Nurse Assist after receiving reports of adverse events. On Nov. 6, Nurse Assist, a Texas manufacturer of water-based medical products, voluntarily recalled some products that were found to not be sterile. At the time, no adverse events were associated with the affected products. However, a Feb. 13 FDA update said the agency has received reports of adverse events associated with Nurse Assist products. The events are under investigation and no details were provided. (Taylor, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: A Bioethicist Explores The Moral Questions Of Alabama’s IVF Ruling 
The Alabama Supreme Court says frozen embryos created through IVF are children. Will clinics be required to maintain them forever? Do they have a right to be born? A bioethicist explains. (Jarvie, 2/27)

Stateline: More Places Install Drop-Off Boxes For Surrendered Babies. Critics Say They're A Gimmick
Michelle Oberman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in California who has studied state safe haven policies, said states have different rules for drop-off locations and how old a surrendered infant can be, and varying protections for parents when an infant tests positive for illegal substances. Some laws require surrendered infants to be placed into foster care, while others fast-track them into adoptions. Few, if any, require the kind of oversight that would ensure the infant surrenders are truly voluntary and not coerced, she said. “It feels to me like such a limited and heartless response to say, ‘We don’t care that you’re unhoused, addicted or mentally ill — just drop off your baby and we’ll let you go on your way,’” Oberman said. She wants states to gather better data on newborns who are surrendered, including where and under what circumstances, and use that data to write bills that would support parents in crisis. (Claire Vollers, 2/26)

Modern Healthcare: Black Maternal Mortality Rates: Can Hospitals Be The Solution? 
Amid worsening health outcomes for Black obstetric patients, some hospitals are improving maternal care by offering midwifery support, remote monitoring of patients' vitals and educational resources. Compared with white patients, Black obstetric patients are at disproportionate risk of life-threatening conditions, like preeclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage, as well as pregnancy-related complications like preterm birth. (Devereaux, 2/26)

Stat: Mifepristone Protocols Being Wielded By Pill's Opponents In Supreme Court Case
Decisions made by the Food and Drug Administration more than 20 years ago have come under heightened scrutiny thanks to a lawsuit calling for increased restrictions around the pregnancy-terminating drug mifepristone. (Goldhill, 2/27)

CNN: Major Medical Society Re-Examines Clinical Guidelines For Gender-Affirming Care 
 The major global medical association for endocrinologists will review its clinical guidelines for gender-affirming care, the Endocrine Society told CNN on Monday. Despite recent moves by some US states to restrict or ban such care, the society said it’s a routine update that was not prompted by politics. The society’s guidelines help the organization’s 18,000 members – doctors, nurses, educators and students who focus on hormone-related health – determine the best practices to provide appropriate care for people who are transgender and gender-diverse. The organization said it will take about three years for the guidelines to come together. (Christensen, 2/26)

Military.com: VA Won't Cover Gender-Affirmation Surgery For Transgender Veterans Until It Reviews PACT Act Effects 
The Department of Veterans Affairs will not move forward with covering gender-affirmation surgery for transgender veterans while it studies the effects of a sweeping law that expanded VA eligibility to millions of veterans, VA Secretary Denis McDonough confirmed Monday. McDonough did not rule out proceeding with covering gender-affirmation surgery after the PACT Act analysis is done. But the move further delays the availability of a treatment that transgender veterans have been eagerly anticipating since McDonough first announced the VA would provide it two and a half years ago -- a year before the PACT Act became law. (Kheel, 2/26)

AP: By Defining Sex, Some States Are Denying Transgender People Of Legal Recognition 
Mack Allen, an 18-year-old high school senior from Kansas, braces for sideways glances, questioning looks and snide comments whenever he has to hand over his driver’s license, which still identifies him as female. They’ve come from a police officer responding to a car accident. They’ve come from an urgent care employee loudly using the wrong name and pronouns. They’ve come from the people in the waiting room who overheard. (DeMillo and Hanna, 2/27)

The Mercury News: Free STD In-Home Tests Available For San Mateo County Residents
Free and confidential in-home test kits to detect sexually transmitted infections are now available for San Mateo County residents, the county announced Monday. Home kits available for residents to use include tests for HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, and Hepatitis C. Dr. Vivian Levi, County Health’s STI (sexually transmitted infection) control officer said in a statement that getting tested for infections is “essential to maintaining good health overall.” (Macasero, 2/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Saving Lives: CPR Training For 1 Million San Diego County Residents Is Goal Of New Public Health Campaign 
Just 8 percent of San Diego County residents who suffered cardiac arrest outside a hospital in 2021 survived, and according to the American Heart Association, that’s slightly behind the national survival rate of 9.1 percent. (Sisson, 2/26)

Fresno Bee: E. Coli Outbreak Linked To Raw Cheese From Fresno Dairy. Product Recall Issued By CDC
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a food safety alert for certain cheese produced by Fresno-based Raw Farm. (Tehee, 2/26)

Bay Area News Group: Stanford-Led Study Offers Relief To Children With Dangerous Food Allergies, Leading To FDA Drug Approval
For Anabelle Terry, 12, even the most joyful gatherings were potentially dangerous. Born with a severe peanut allergy, “I had to watch every little thing I was eating — at friends’ houses for dinner, at parties, on Halloween when I was trick-or-treating” to prevent a medical emergency, she said. But the first-ever medication to treat food allergies, recently approved by the FDA after a successful study of volunteers like Anabelle, offers the hope of a safer future. (Krieger, 2/25)

CBS News: Eye Ointments Sold Nationwide Recalled Due To Infection Risk 
Multiple brands of lubricant eye ointments are being recalled due to a risk of infection after federal inspectors found unsterile conditions at the Indian plant where the products were manufactured. ... Sold nationwide by retailers including CVS Health and Walmart, the latest recall involves four products by brands Equate, CVS Health and AACE Pharmaceuticals, according to the notice posted Monday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Gibson, 2/26)

The New York Times: Lead-Tainted Applesauce Sailed Through Gaps in Food-Safety System
Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The New York Times and the nonprofit health newsroom The Examination, along with interviews with government and company officials in multiple countries, show that in the weeks and months before the recall, the tainted applesauce sailed through a series of checkpoints in a food-safety system meant to protect American consumers. (Jewett and Fitzgibbon, 2/27)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Seems Wary Of State Laws Regulating Social Media Platforms
The Supreme Court seemed skeptical on Monday of laws in Florida and Texas that bar major social media companies from making editorial judgments about which messages to allow. The laws were enacted in an effort to shield conservative voices on the sites, but a decision by the court, expected by June, will almost certainly be its most important statement on the scope of the First Amendment in the internet era, with broad political and economic implications. (Liptak, 2/26)

CIDRAP: Study Estimates 134,000 Missed Cancer Diagnoses In US In 2020 
A new large study based on nationwide surveillance data suggests upwards of 134,000 cancer diagnoses were missed in the United States in the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to a combination of delayed screening and missed appointments. ... Cancers caught by annual screening were the most missed, with prostate cancer accounting for most potentially missed cases (22 ,950), followed by female breast (16,870) and lung (16,333) cancers, the authors said. (Soucheray, 2/26)

The Hill: More Than Half Of Americans Don’t Know Drinking Increases Risk Of Colon, Rectal Cancer 
Colorectal cancer cases are rising in the U.S., and many Americans don’t know the risk factors. Slightly more than half of Americans—51 percent—did not know that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for colon or rectal cancer, according to a new 1,000-person survey from The Ohio State University.  According to the survey, 42 percent of adults did not know lack of exercise may contribute to these types of cancer and 38 and 37 percent did not know obesity and poor diet are also risk factors. Black and Hispanic Americans were less likely to know about the risk factors for colon and rectal cancers than white Americans, according to the survey. (O'Connell-Domenech, 2/26)