The Wall Street Journal: California Homelessness Measure Pits Newsom Against Mental-Health Advocates 
As Californians grow increasingly frustrated with the mental illness, drug abuse and homelessness evident on streets from San Francisco to San Diego, Gov. Gavin Newsom is staking his political capital on a multibillion-dollar ballot measure aimed at addressing all three problems. Some of his most likely supporters, including some advocates for the mentally ill, aren’t on the Democrat’s side, complicating his sales pitch to voters. (Mai-Duc, 3/3)

Politico: Inside The Lopsided Battle To Overhaul California's Mental Health Law 
On one side of California’s Proposition 1 — the ballot measure to overhaul how the state treats mental health disorders — are Gov. Gavin Newsom, an eight-figure campaign fund backed by Uber and ads featuring big city sheriffs. On the other is a 76-year-old former mental health policy analyst named John Li, whose $1,000 donation makes him the sole funder of the official opposition. Li says he is the only one willing to stand up to a policy change favored by one of the nation’s most prominent Democrats because everyone else is worried about political repercussions. (Bluth, 3/2)

The Guardian: California Wants To Force People Into Mental Health Care. Advocates Say It Will Backfire 
California’s Proposition 1 – the only statewide measure on the ballot – would significantly restructure California’s mental health system. It is also one of the most complex and convoluted measures voters have had to decide on in recent years. The full text of the proposition in the state’s 112-page voter guide takes up 68 pages. (Singh, 3/1)

Axios: Proposition 1: How California Plans To Overhaul Its Mental Health System
California voters on Tuesday could approve an overhaul of the state's approach to mental health treatment and homelessness, creating a blueprint supporters hope — and opponents fear — could be replicated elsewhere. Why it matters: The measure is Gov. Gavin Newsom's answer to a chronic homelessness crisis that ranks among residents' biggest concerns in a state home to 28% of the country's homeless population. (Keatts, 3/4)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Health Acquires 5 Radiation Oncology Centers
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health has acquired five radiation oncology centers from GenesisCare, a cancer care services provider. The centers are in Modesto, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Stockton and Templeton, all in California, and will benefit from the nonprofit, integrated health system's practices, additional cancer resources and technologies, according to a March 1 Sutter Health news release shared with Becker's.  (Ashley, 3/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Names CEO Of 403-Bed California Hospital
Sutter Healthcare has named Tracy Roman as CEO of its Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Calif. Ms. Roman most recently served as CFO of the hospital, as well as Sutter Memorial Hospital Los Banos (Calif.) and Sutter Tracy (Calif.) Community Hospital. (Gamble, 3/1)

Axios: Medicare Advantage Patients Get Less Home Health Care: Study
Medicare Advantage patients were found to get skimpier home health care and worse outcomes than their counterparts in traditional Medicare in a study published in JAMA Health Forum. With more than half of Medicare beneficiaries in MA plans, there's growing concern about how the plans are run, including whether their guardrails around coverage are reducing access to care. (Reed, 3/4)

Stat: Congress Gives Doctors Medicare Pay Bump, Sets Up December Fight In New Funding Package
Doctors will get a 1.68% pay hike in Medicare starting March 9 under a deal struck over the weekend to fund part of the government. The pay bump is among multiple Medicare payment policies that now will run until the end of December. That year-end deadline lines up with the expiration of telehealth pay policies, setting the stage for a large health legislative package and giving Congress another shot at aligning hospital and doctor office payments and reforming the business practices of drug middlemen. (Wilkerson and Cohrs, 3/3)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Warn Congress Over DSH Cut Delay, Health Center Funding
Hospitals and other providers waiting for Congress to complete a slew of overdue spending bills are pressing for swift action to eliminate financial uncertainty—which lawmakers themselves compounded with the odd double deadline they set for themselves. Congress passed a short-term spending bill Thursday that established two deadlines: one on March 8 to pass a half-dozen full-year appropriations bills, including the Food and Drug Administration's, and a second on March 22 to approve the remaining six spending bills. (McAuliff, 3/1)

The Hill: Congress Unveils Long-Awaited Funding Bills Ahead Of Shutdown Threat
Congressional leaders on Sunday finally revealed long-awaited bipartisan bills to fund parts of the government for most of the year, setting off a bicameral sprint to avert looming shutdown threat in less than a week. The weekend rollout entails six full-year spending bills to fund a slew of agencies until early fall, including the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Transportation (DOT), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Veterans Affairs (VA), Justice (DOJ), Commerce and Energy. (Folley, 3/3)

CNN: Case Threatening Obamacare Mandate For Cost-Free Preventive Services Goes Before Federal Appellate Court 
The seemingly never-ending legal war over Obamacare returns Monday to a familiar battlefront: the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The latest case concerns the Affordable Care Act provision that mandates insurers cover preventive care services at no cost to patients. The appeals court is reviewing a district judge’s ruling that wiped away that requirement for certain preventive services – a ruling that was paused while the appeal plays out. Two of the three circuit judges on the panel hearing arguments in the case, brought by employers and individuals in Texas, have shown previous hostility to former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law. (Sneed and Luhby, 3/4)

Military.com: VA Set To Make Its Abortion Policy Official On Monday, Despite Opposition From Republicans In Congress 
The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday will finalize its policy of providing abortions to veterans and other beneficiaries in certain cases, including in states that have banned the procedure, according to a federal notice. The move will make the abortion policy official, but the VA has been providing veterans and covered dependents abortions on an interim basis since September 2022 -- just months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade -- if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or their life or health is at risk because of the pregnancy. The policy also allows VA doctors to provide abortion counseling to any patient. (Kheel, 3/1)

USA Today: House Democrats Launch New Attack On GOP After Alabama IVF Ruling
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating a memo, first shared with USA TODAY, attacking vulnerable House Republicans for being “all talk, no action” on IVF and promising “to make House Republicans’ blatant disrespect for women and families a defining campaign issue.” The memo takes aim at a pair of resolutions House GOP lawmakers introduced last week expressing support for continued access to IVF and new protections for the procedure. The resolutions, considered non-binding, have no impact on federal law. (Tran, 3/4)

AP: Alabama IVF Ruling Highlights Importance Of State Supreme Court Races In This Year's US Elections 
The recent ruling in Alabama that frozen embryos are legally considered children created a political firestorm after the decision halted treatment for many couples seeking to have families through fertility treatments. It also has turned the spotlight on the importance of institutions that are poised to play a central in this year’s elections: state supreme courts. Decisions by states’ highest courts have become especially critical in the nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion. This year, campaigns for state supreme court seats are expected to be among the most expensive and bitterly contested races on the ballot. At stake are future decisions over abortion, other reproductive rights, gerrymandering, voting rights and other crucial issues. (Fernando, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: Change Healthcare Opens Backup Pharmacy System As Outage Continues
Nine days after a cyberattack that disrupted pharmacy services across the U.S., UnitedHealth Group has established an alternate system and created a financial assistance program for healthcare providers, the company announced Friday. Change Healthcare, part of UnitedHealth Group's Optum subsidiary, opened a temporary version of its Rx ePrescribing service at 2 p.m. EST Friday for drugstores, hospital and nursing home pharmacies, and other affected providers. (Berryman, 3/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Medical Providers Fight To Survive After Change Healthcare Hack 
“This is absolutely devastating financially for us,” said Jennifer Fenton, executive director of Equine Healing Collaborative, a nonprofit psychotherapy center with four locations in California. The center is owed more than $50,000 in unpaid claims and it furloughed five clinicians Thursday, Fenton said. Without relief, the remaining nine face the same fate [this] week, she said. (Rundle, Stupp and Nash, 3/1)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Hack Poses Financial Challenges For Smaller Pharmacies
As the ripple effects from a hack on a UnitedHealth Group Inc. unit extend for more than a week, some health-care providers face an increasingly difficult dilemma: whether to deny medication to patients or risk not being paid for costly treatment. For days, providers have been unable to verify if a patient’s health insurance will cover the cost of their prescription. ... However, operators of smaller pharmacies say they can only cover the cost of prescriptions — while they wait to be reimbursed — for so long. (Pashankar, 3/1)

The Seattle Times: Why Health Care Has Become A Top Target For Cybercriminals
Cyberattacks of all sorts have plagued large corporations, small businesses and individuals for decades now, but in the past several years, health care has become a top target, according to federal and local cybersecurity experts. These organizations hold a massive amount of patient data — including medical records, financial information, Social Security numbers, names and addresses. They’re also among the few businesses that stay open 24/7, meaning they might be more likely to prioritize avoiding disruptions and, therefore, more likely to pay a hacker’s ransom. (Takahama, 3/1)

The Bakersfield Californian: STD Rates Are Soaring In US, Kern. It Could Get Worse. 
Salazar oversees the STD and HIV programs at Kern County Public Health Services, where he demonstrated for reporters on Friday the clinic’s rapid test, a 20-minute affair that checks patients’ blood for various sexually transmitted diseases or infections. (Donegan, 3/1)

Los Angeles Times: A Heated Custody Battle Over A Transgender Child In California Stokes A Viral Debate 
Adam Vena claims California took his child because he wouldn't accept the child is transgender went viral. The case is far more complicated than that. (Rector and Mejia, 3/4)

Times Of San Diego: El Cajon Mayor Vows To 'Share Truth' Behind Young Jewish Dentist's Slaying 
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, addressing a City Hall vigil for slain dentist Benjamin Harouni, vowed Sunday night to tell his family the truth about the suspected gunman’s motives. “I will not let anything be swept under the rug, and when I understand what the truth is, I will share that with you,” Wells said. “We may have to be a little patient because this may take a little bit of time.” (Stone, 3/4)

Vox: What The CDC’s New COVID Guidelines Could Mean For You 
“It’s a reasonable move,” said Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease doctor and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital on Long Island. “When you’re doing public health, you have to look at what is going to be listened to, and what is doable.” Guidelines that adhere to the highest standards of infection control might please purists in public health who don’t have to make policies for the real world. However, guidelines that seem to acknowledge that workers often don’t have paid sick leave and emergency child care, and that social interactions are important to folks, are more likely not only to be followed but to engender trust in public health authorities. (Landman, 3/1)

The Washington Post: How To Know You're No Longer Contagious With Covid, According To Experts 
The United States has entered a different stage in the pandemic. Four years after the virus emerged, the covid-19 landscape has changed dramatically. ... So now you’ve got covid-19. When can you exit isolation? If you do resume activities outside your home, can you be sure you’re no longer contagious? The important thing to consider, experts say, is that every person and every case of covid is unique. There is no hard-and-fast rule for how sick a person will get or how long a person remains infectious. The guidelines offer a framework, but patients should take into account their circumstances, priorities and resources to assess risk. (Sun and Achenbach, 3/2)

CIDRAP: US Respiratory Virus Levels Remain High As Flu Rises In Central States 
Respiratory illness levels in the United States remained high but stable last week, with flu activity rising in some regions of the country and indicators declining for both COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest data updates. (3/1)