The Desert Sun: Desert Healthcare District Directors Vote Unanimously To Move Forward With Tenet
Negotiations between Tenet Health and the Desert Healthcare District over a 30-year lease to operate Desert Regional Medical Center have stalled as the two parties approach a critical deadline to place the issues before voters. (Sasic and Morgen, 8/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: UCSF Health Acquires 2 Dignity Health Hospitals
San Francisco-based UCSF Health has acquired two Dignity Health hospitals. Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center, both also located in San Francisco, bring a total of 1,800 employees and providers onto the UCSF Health team, according to an Aug. 1 news release. (Ashley, 8/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: UCSF Health Performs 116 Lung Transplants In A Year
The University of California San Francisco lung transplant program has performed 116 lung transplants in a year. The year's transplants, which include three heart and lung procedures, mark a 20% increase for the UCSF program from the previous year, according to a July 30 news release from UCSF. (Gregerson, 8/1)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Hospital Ratings: 60% Of Hospitals Earned 3 Stars Or Less
Many hospitals have struggled to offer safe and effective care in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic turned their operations upside down. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 2024 hospital star ratings, released Wednesday, showed more hospitals than last year performed poorly. That may be, in part, because the data submitted by hospitals was from April 2019 through March 2023 and excluded facilities’ performance on quality metrics from the first half of 2020. (Devereaux, 8/1)

Modern Healthcare: IPPS Rule Increases Medicare Pay 2.9% In 2025
Medicare reimbursements for inpatient hospital care will increase 2.9% in fiscal 2025 under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Thursday. The agency offered hospitals a larger pay hike than the 2.6% it proposed in April, which the industry decried as insufficient. The regulation also includes additional provisions such as higher graduate medical education funding and an initiative to improve drug supplies at small hospitals. (Kacik, 8/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: DOJ Will Offer Rewards To Whistleblowers Exposing Healthcare Fraud
The Justice Department is starting a pilot program to reward whistleblowers who expose healthcare fraud schemes involving private insurance plans. According to an Aug. 1 fact sheet from the Justice Department, the program is intended to fill gaps in its existing reward programs. Under the program, whistleblowers who expose healthcare fraud targeting private insurers can collect a portion of proceeds if information they report results in a successful conviction. (Wilson, 8/1)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Pharmacy Board Delays Decision On Potential Cancer-Fighting Compound 
In the end, after nearly seven hours, they punted. The California State Board of Pharmacy met Wednesday in Sacramento to take “possible action” on new regulations to restrict a group of drugs known as Category 1 sterile compounded substances, including one that firefighters say has the potential to prevent cancer. (Murphy, 8/1)

Healthcare Dive: Average Cost Of Healthcare Data Breach Nearly $10M In 2024: Report 
Healthcare remains the most expensive industry for responding to and recovering from data breaches, a rank the sector has held since 2011, according to a report by IBM and the Ponemon Institute. The average cost for a breach in the industry this year was $9.8 million, a decline from 2023 when the price tag reached $10.9 million. (Olsen, 8/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: AI Could Be Listening In On Your Next Doctor’s Appointment. Here’s Why
The next time you go to the doctor, don’t be surprised if an artificial intelligence program is listening in and transcribing what you and your doctor say. And if a summary of your next X-ray or MRI scan pops up more quickly than expected in your health app, AI could be the reason why. Technology boosters talk of AI’s potential to improve and accelerate medicine, from constructing new proteins to improving disease diagnostics. Many such uses are fraught with potential risks — and are still locked away in labs or awaiting government approval. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/2)

Fox 5 San Diego: Tuberculosis Exposure Reported At Mount Miguel High School
A potential tuberculosis exposure may have impacted students, staff and volunteers at Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley during the second semester of the 2023-24 school year, the County of San Diego said Thursday. The dates of the potential exposure at 8585 Blossom Lane are from Feb. 1 to June 4, according to health officials. (Candelieri, 8/1)

CalMatters: What To Know About Valley Fever, A Common Lung Infection In CA
It’s shaping up to be a bad year — possibly the worst yet — when it comes to Valley fever, a fungal disease marked by cough and fevers. More than 5,300 cases have been reported in California through June, that’s 63% more infections than the same period last year. Valley fever is caused when people inhale microscopic spores of a fungus found in soil. This fungus typically affects the lungs. Many cases are mild and resolve on their own, but the infections, which are not contagious, can become serious enough to require hospitalization. (Ibarra, 8/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: COVID Spreading Quickly In San Diego County 
According to the latest public health update, San Diego County’s seven-day test positivity rate hit 20.5 percent last week, technically the second-highest number recorded since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and a sure sign that coronavirus is hitting the community hard this summer. (Sisson, 8/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Hepatitis C Falling In San Diego, But Eliminating Disease Will Take More Work 
In recognition of the disease’s slow and deadly burn, the county health department, several local medical providers and the Liver Coalition of San Diego County launched a hepatitis C elimination plan in 2021 with the goal of preventing new cases while simultaneously working to discover and treat so-called “chronic” cases that have gone undetected. (Sisson, 8/1)

The Washington Post: Death Valley Just Recorded The Hottest Month Ever Observed On The Planet 
The hottest place on Earth just observed its hottest month. Death Valley, Calif., registered an average July temperature of 108.5 degrees, the highest monthly value ever recorded among thousands of weather stations around the globe, according to Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist based in Alaska. (Stillman, 8/1)

AP: Heat Deaths Of People Without Air Conditioning, Often In Mobile Homes, Underscore Energy Inequity 
Advocates say air conditioning is no longer a luxury but a public health and affordability issue. The growing number of people dying without sufficient cooling when outdoor temperatures rise underscores the necessity of air conditioning in areas affected by rising summer temperatures. (Snow, 8/2)

Stars And Stripes: VA Worker Errors When Reviewing Claims For Full Disability Cost $100M, Auditors Say 
Workers with the Department of Veterans Affairs made mistakes costing $100 million when reviewing veterans claims for full disability connected to injuries and illnesses from military service, a new report from the agency’s inspector general concluded. About 75% of claims for a 100% disability rating that auditors reviewed between May 2022 and April 2023 were improperly processed, resulting in overpayments and underpayments, according to the July report. (Hersey, 7/31)

Stars And Stripes: Disabled Veterans Living Overseas Say They Pay Thousands Of Dollars For Health Care To Cover Delayed VA Claim Payments 
Vietnam veteran Jim Esposito, who retired to the Philippines from Oklahoma in 2010, receives spinal treatments and pain medication at the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Manila for injuries suffered during military service 50 years ago. Terrence Michalski, a disabled Navy veteran also residing in the Philippines, has had frequent hospitalizations for a heart condition and degenerative disk disease related to combat duty. Both veterans said they must pay thousands of dollars each year for their medical care because the VA’s paper-based claims system leads to delays and uncertainties for health care reimbursement. (Hersey, 7/30)

Military.com: New Burn Pit Registry Aims For Data On 4.7 Million Veterans To Assist In Research On Exposure To Hazards 
The Department of Veterans Affairs has overhauled its registry for veterans exposed to burn pits and other airborne hazards overseas, working with the Defense Department to include 4.7 million veterans who served in locations with potentially dangerous air quality. The VA announced Thursday that the new Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, which includes basic information on veterans as well as deployment history, will advance scientific research on the health effects of exposure overseas to smoke, sand, chemical fires and fine particulate matter. (Kime, 8/1)

Military Times: VA Secretary To Remain In Role Through End Of Term In January
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will continue in his role until President Joe Biden exits office in January, a VA official confirmed Thursday. Until that time, McDonough is “fighting like hell” to help veterans get their earned benefits and health care, said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. A Bloomberg report Tuesday suggested the VA secretary would step down after the election, which is Nov. 5. (Wentling, 8/1)

NBC News: Many OB-GYNs Aren't Getting Abortion Training, Government Report Finds
Obstetrician-gynecologists are seeing more pregnant patients with dangerous medical complications two-plus years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, while at the same time receiving less training as residents about how to perform abortions, according to a new report. The findings, shared exclusively with NBC News, are the result of a monthslong investigation by Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. (Bendix, 8/1)

The 19th: States Have Increased Anti-Abortion Center Funding By Nearly $500M Since Roe
In the two years since Roe v. Wade’s overturn, states have increased public funding for anti-abortion centers — the non-medical facilities meant to dissuade people from terminating their pregnancies — by close to $500 million, according to a new analysis published today. (Luthra, 8/1)

Berkeleyside: Remembering Sam Eletr, Whose Work Helped Sequence The Human Genome
Sam Eletr, a visionary scientist, engineer and entrepreneur, passed  away in San Francisco on May 15, 2024 after a long illness. He created  many successful biotech companies and in the late 1970s founded a  company that developed machines for DNA analysis, later used to  facilitate the Human Genome Project. (Hind, 8/2)

KVPR: New Blood Tests Can Help Diagnose Alzheimer's. Are Doctors Ready For What's Next?
A new generation of blood tests promises to change the way doctors diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease. The tests offer a fast and easy way for physicians to learn whether a patient with symptoms of cognitive decline also has the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s. Evidence of those brain changes is required before doctors can prescribe one of two recently approved drugs that can slow down the disease. (Hamilton, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: I Was Homeless. Newsom's Encampment Order Is Outrageous 
It’s outrageous that the Supreme Court is allowing states and cities to criminalize homelessness and that Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering encampments dismantled, especially when there’s not enough housing or shelter space for those who need it. (Les Gapay, 8/2)

Times of San Diego: Migrant Deaths And Agent Suicides Plague U.S. Border Patrol
This past January, I was surprised to finally see the U.S Border Patrol begin to address a long-standing, rarely acknowledged crisis: employee suicides. One hundred and fifty CBP agents and employees have died by suicide since 2015, with 14 in 2022 alone. To combat this problem, the agency hired its first “suicidologist,” who launched an awareness campaign. And it introduced a new Support Canine Program, which gives agents access to therapy dogs. But neither of these efforts address the underlying problem of why agents are taking their own lives. (Jenn Budd, 7/29)

Military Times: MDMA-Assisted Therapy Could Save Veterans And Families. Like Mine.
My life was forever changed on August 6, 2011, when insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter in Afghanistan, killing all 31 people on board. My husband served in the Navy for 20 years, where he specialized in disarming explosive devices, and his best friend was among those 31. (Elaine Brewer, 7/27)

Sacramento Bee: Postpartum Depression Affects Thousands Of California Women 
One in five women in California experience a mental health issue during the perinatal period, which includes pregnancy and up to 12 months after giving birth, according to the California Health Care Foundation. The problem affects many women of color, and particularly impacts women who experience pregnancy loss. (Lisette Lopez-Rose, 7/30)

Los Angeles Times: Opposing Vaccine Mandates, Trump Exposes Kids To Disease
As most of us have learned from experience, tracking the self-contradictions of political campaigns is usually a waste of time. Stump speeches are tailored to individual audiences, campaign promises are made to be broken or forgotten and candidates’ positions evolve over time. But Donald Trump has been making one promise to his rally audiences that should make the parents of school-age children sit up and take notice. I first noticed it in February. Since then, it has apparently become a standard line in his performance. Here’s how he put it at a rally over the weekend in St. Cloud, Minn.: “I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” (Michael Hiltzik, 7/30)