The Desert Sun: Desert Healthcare District Announces Public Forums On Palm Springs Hospital Lease
The Desert Healthcare District announced upcoming community forum dates to discuss Tenet Healthcare's proposed lease for Desert Regional Medical Center during its Tuesday night board meeting, and also approved an agreement to determine the implications of assuming operational responsibility for the hospital. (Sasic, 2/28)

The Bakersfield Californian: Labor Union Files FPPC Complaint Against Kern Medical
A conflict between Kern Medical and a labor union representing many of the hospital's employees escalated this week with the filing of a California Fair Political Practices Commission complaint alleging self-dealing among three former and current executives of the medical center. (Cox, 2/28)

The Bakersfield Californian: Bakersfield Heart Hospital's New Name, Adventist Health Specialty Bakersfield, Reflects New Strategy 
The new owner of what used to be called Bakersfield Heart Hospital on Wednesday unveiled a new name for the 47-bed medical center it sees as delivering tertiary services to patients from across the region, with or without an emergency department. (Cox, 2/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Boosters Strongly Recommended For Older Adults This Spring, CDC Says
Older adults should consider getting another COVID-19 shot this spring, even if they already received the latest vaccine in the fall, advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. The advisory panel voted 11-1 to recommend an additional dose of the existing 2023-era vaccine available since September for Americans aged 65 and older. The suggestion is for them to wait at least four months after their last shot. (Vaziri, 2/28)

Los Angeles Times: Judge: LAPD Officers Fired Over COVID Vaccine Dispute Won't Get Jobs Back
A Los Angeles police officer who was fired in 2022 after challenging the city’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandate is entitled to back pay but should not get her job restored, an L.A. County judge has ruled. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said police department officials denied the former officer, Natalie Stringer, her right to respond to allegations prior to a disciplinary meeting, but the city did not violate labor laws and acted within its rights when she was terminated based on her “failure to comply with a valid condition of employment.” (Jany, 2/28)

Stat: NEJM Study Measures Covid Brain Fog, Impact On IQ
Of all the lingering symptoms of long Covid, difficulty focusing and thinking, known as brain fog, may be the most frightening and baffling. A new study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, which looks at how much cognition is impaired in the months after a coronavirus infection, shows that Covid-19’s impact can be measured in the equivalent of IQ points. (Cooney, 2/28)

Axios: Health Care Quality Took A Big Hit During COVID, Medicare Report Finds
Progress on many key health care quality measures was reversed during the first two years of the pandemic, according to a new comprehensive federal review. The report identified a "significant worsening" of patient safety measures and "persistent" health equity gaps for historically disadvantaged patients as COVID-19 overwhelmed the health care system. (Goldman, 2/29)

CBS News: CDC Braces For Shortage After Tetanus Shot Discontinued, Issues New Guidance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging doctors to conserve shots of a kind of tetanus vaccine, as the agency braces for a potential shortage of those shots this year. Doctors should switch from using the so-called Td vaccine – the immunization that protects against both tetanus and diphtheria infections – to giving the broader Tdap vaccine instead whenever possible, the CDC now says. ... This year's shortage risk stems from a decision by nonprofit vaccinemaker MassBiologics to discontinue production of its Td vaccine, branded as TdVax. (Tin, 2/28)

Fox 13 News: If You Were Vaccinated For Measles In The 1970s And 80s You May Not Be Protected: Doctors
If you thought you were vaccinated for measles, you may want to double-check. Doctors say the shot some people got who were born in the 70s and the 80s actually wore off after about 20 years, putting them at risk of contracting the virus. (Bowen, 2/28)

AP: Flu Shots Are Doing OK Vs. Virus, US Numbers Indicate 
Early estimates suggest flu shots are performing OK in the current U.S. winter flu season. The vaccines were around 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, health officials said during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday. Children who were vaccinated were roughly 60% less likely to get treatment at a doctor’s office or hospital, CDC officials said. Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective. (Stobbe, 2/28)

CIDRAP: Chikungunya Vaccine Recommended For US Travelers In Outbreak Settings 
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory group today recommended the chikungunya vaccine for people ages 18 and older who will be traveling to a country or territory experiencing an outbreak of the disease. The vote passed with 12 yes votes and 1 abstention. Last November the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nation's first chikungunya vaccine, which is a live attenuated vaccine made by Valneva that is given as one intramuscular dose. (Schnirring, 2/28)

The Guardian: California Man In Remission From Blood Cancer And HIV After Remarkable Treatment 
Doctors say a man in California who contracted blood cancer while living with HIV is in remission from both potentially fatal illnesses thanks to a treatment they are hailing as remarkable and encouraging. Paul Edmonds is only the fifth-known person in the world confirmed to be in remission for both acute myelogenous leukemia and HIV, according to a recent news release from City of Hope, the national cancer institute that provided his medical care. (Vargas, 2/28)

Bay Area Reporter: SF Deficit Imperils Latino HIV Funding 
Though Latino cisgender men now make up the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco, more funding toward organizations that serve the community may not be forthcoming due to the city's projected budget deficit. Indeed, the struggle this year will be maintaining current levels of funding to fight HIV, according to the co-chairs of the HIV/AIDS Provider Network, or HAPN, which advocates with city officials for funding. (Ferrannini, 2/28)

Bay Area Reporter: SF Nonprofits On Frontlines Of HIV In Latino Community
Health advocates and organizations that serve the Latino community in San Francisco say the city needs to do more to help prevent new HIV diagnoses and assist those living with HIV and AIDS in light of a dismal report from the health department late last year. However, the need comes just as the city is experiencing funding cuts and a budget deficit. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, those in charge of advocating for HIV/AIDS funding say that the priority this year will be to hold the line on current funding levels. (Ferrannini, 2/28)

Bay Area Reporter: D9 Supe Hopefuls Speak Up Over Latino HIV Cases
For decades San Francisco's efforts to stem the tide of HIV infections in the Latino community have largely focused on the city's Mission neighborhood, where a number of nonprofits providing health care services to a predominantly Spanish-speaking clientele are located. Representing the neighborhood and its needs at City Hall is the District 9 supervisor. With incumbent Supervisor Hillary Ronen termed out of office early next year, her successor will be elected in November. (Ferrannini, 2/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: California District Can Require Schools To Out Trans Students, Ban Critical Race Theory, Judge Rules
A judge says a Riverside County school district can require teachers to notify parents when a student identifies as transgender, the latest in a set of diverse rulings that are headed for higher courts. In the same case, the judge allowed the Temecula Valley Unified School District to ban instruction about “critical race theory,” which the district defined as anything that makes students feel guilty about their race or their sex. (Egelko, 2/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Man Accused Of Selling Fentanyl That Killed Woman
A Santa Rosa man was charged with manslaughter after allegedly selling fentanyl to a woman who overdosed and died last year, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. Callen Scheffler, 34, was arrested Friday at his home in Santa Rosa for allegedly providing fentanyl to two women on Aug. 26, 2023. Both women overdosed and were dropped off at Novato Community Hospital. One of the victims, a 30-year-old woman, died. The other was placed into a medically induced coma that night. Their identities were not immediately released. (Flores, 2/28)

Modern Healthcare: Short-Term Spending Deal To Fund Government Announced
Congressional leaders reached a "deal in principle" on government spending Wednesday that extends government funding deeper into March and likely includes key health programs. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the other senior lawmakers who announced the agreement did not provide details on its contents. (McAuliff, 2/28)

Military Times: More VA Health Care, GI Bill Eligibility Could Keep Vets Out Of Jail
A pair of former defense secretaries are backing plans to enroll all separating servicemembers in Veterans Affairs health care and extend veterans education benefits to troops with other than honorable discharges in an effort to curb homelessness and incarceration among young veterans. The recommendations are included in a new report released Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice’s Veterans Justice Commission, which also calls for an overhaul of post-military transition classes to better prepare departing troops for civilian life. (Shane III, 2/29)

AP: Republicans Block Senate Bill To Protect Nationwide Access To IVF Treatments 
Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, objected to a request for a vote by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who used IVF treatments to have her two children after struggling with years of infertility. Duckworth’s bill would establish a federal right to the treatments as the Alabama ruling has upended fertility care in the state and families who had already started the process face heartbreak and uncertainty. (Jalonick and Groves, 2/28)

Axios: How Fertility Coverage Mandates Could Clash With IVF Restrictions
Proposed "personhood" laws getting a closer look after Alabama's IVF ruling could vastly complicate reproductive care in some states that require insurance coverage of fertility treatments and drugs, by setting up potentially clashing mandates on what to do with frozen embryos. (Reed, 2/29)

AP: About As Many Abortions Are Happening In The US Monthly As Before Roe Was Overturned, Report Finds
The number of abortions performed each month is about the same as before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion more than a year and a half ago, a new report finds. The latest edition of the #WeCount report conducted for the Society of Family Planning, a nonprofit organization that promotes research on abortion and contraception, finds that between 81,150 and 88,620 abortions took place each month from July through September of last year, the most recent period for which survey results are available. Those numbers are just slightly lower than the monthly average of about 86,800 from April through June 2022, before Roe and just after was overturned. (Mulvihill, 2/28)

ABC News: Abortions Via Telehealth Medication Have Been On The Rise, Report Finds
In the first nationwide count of telehealth abortions, researchers estimated that the number of such abortions had steadily increased over an 18-month period and that in September, 16% of abortions in the U.S -- approximately 14,000 -- were done via pills dispensed by mail after consultations with virtual clinicians online. The report, released on Wednesday conducted by the Society of Family Planning, examined the seismic shift in abortion access from April 2022 to September 2023, a period of time that mostly includes months since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. (Stewart, 2/29)

NPR: Biden Just Got A Physical. But A Cognitive Test Was Not Part Of It
President Biden got his latest physical on Wednesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — an evaluation that the White House said drew on the expertise of 20 doctors but did not involve a cognitive exam. The summary of the exam will be closely scrutinized since Biden, now 81, is the oldest person ever to hold the office of U.S. president, and voters have expressed concern that he is too old for a second four-year term in the job. (Shivaram, 2/28)

USA Today: How This DOT Proposal Aims To Boost Protections For Disabled Travelers
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg unveiled a new proposal Thursday aimed at improving air travel for passengers with disabilities. Under the proposed rule set forth by the Department of Transportation, airlines would be mandated to adhere to stringent standards, guaranteeing prompt and dignified assistance for passengers with disabilities. (Rivera, 2/29)

Axios: How Biden's Housing Push For Medicaid Could Help Migrants
States struggling to house recently arrived immigrants may have a new way to get financial help from the federal government: through Medicaid. The Biden administration's push for Medicaid to cover housing and other social needs comes as blue cities and states overwhelmed by the number of immigrants arriving from the border have been demanding more federal support to provide them shelter and care. (Owens, 2/29)