Becker's Hospital Review: Scripps Health Back In Black With $109.7M Q3 Operating Improvement
San Diego-based Scripps Health posted an operating income of $75.8 million (6.2% margin) in the third quarter of 2024, up from an operating loss of $33.9 million (-3.2% margin) posted over the same period last year. Total operating revenues were $1.2 billion for the three months ended June 30, up from $1.1 billion posted over the same period last year, according to its finance report released Aug. 21. Patient service revenues were $982.5 million for the quarter, up from $797.7 over the same period in 2023. (Cass, 8/22)

Becker's Hospital Review: UC Davis Opens In-Home Urgent Care To Cancer Patients
Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Health expanded its same-day, in-home urgent care program to patients of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. The program, which initially launched for primary care patients last year, is designed to improve access to care, better patient experience and lessen hospital readmissions and emergency department visits, according to an Aug. 21 system news release. Care is provided by a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, as well as a trained medical technician, with support from ED physicians. Patients have access to urgent medical care from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the year. (Taylor, 8/22)

Becker's Hospital Review: GE Healthcare, UC San Diego Health Partner On Female-Specific Imaging
GE HealthCare and University of California San Diego School of Medicine are partnering to investigate advanced magnetic resonance imaging protocols and techniques for female-specific diseases. The project aims to elevate women's pelvic health and develop comprehensive educational materials for clinicians to inform decisions and diagnose conditions faster, according to an Aug. 19 company news release. The project will encompass a wide spectrum of diseases of the female pelvis, which are often understudied, misdiagnosed and ineffectively treated. (Taylor, 8/22)

Becker's Hospital Review: 12 Things To Know About Envision
After its 2023 bankruptcy restructuring, Envision Healthcare slowly began to rebuild its leadership team and clinical operations. Despite a recent legal setback in California, the company maintains its vision is to become "America's leading medical group." Here are 12 things to know about Envision's operations, financial history and leadership. (Gregerson, 8/22)

Becker's Hospital Review: Healthcare Is Ill-Equipped For Ransomware
In an era where healthcare operations are becoming increasingly digitized, the risks associated with cybersecurity are evolving at a rapid pace. Traditionally, technology was seen merely as a tool to enhance the efficiency of healthcare operations. However, Christian Dameff, MD, an emergency physician and the medical director of cybersecurity at UC San Diego Health told Becker's that this view is outdated and overlooks the consolidation of critical health information into centralized digital systems, making them vulnerable to attacks. (Diaz, 8/22)

Reuters: Musk's Neuralink Says Second Trial Implant Went Well, No Thread Retraction Issue 
Elon Musk's brain technology startup Neuralink said its implant, designed to allow paralyzed patients to use digital devices by thinking alone, is working well in a second trial patient. The company said the patient, identified as Alex, did not face issues of "thread retraction", unlike Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink's first patient who received the implant in January. (8/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fall COVID Vaccines Clear FDA On Way To Bay Area Within Weeks
The Food and Drug Administration granted approval on Thursday for updated fall COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that are designed to combat newer variants of the coronavirus. "We anticipate the updated vaccines will be better at fighting currently circulating variants,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in June. (Vaziri and Ho, 8/22)

The New York Times: Whooping Cough Is Coming Back
After a yearslong lull thanks to Covid-19 precautions like isolation and distancing, whooping cough cases are now climbing back to levels seen before the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far this year, there have been 10,865 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, nationwide. That’s more than triple the number of cases documented by this time last year, and is also higher than what was seen at this time in 2019. Doctors say these estimates are most likely an undercount, as many people may not realize they have whooping cough and therefore are never tested. (Blum, 8/22)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless Encampment At Dockweiler State Beach Cleared By City Workers
A homeless encampment that neighbors said had been growing at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey was taken down on Thursday, city officials said. The encampment was occupying a large slice of the beach’s four-mile shoreline next to Los Angeles International Airport, nearby residents said, and had been ignored by state and local government officials even as its problems grew more noticeable in recent weeks. (Solis, 8/22)

Voice of OC: San Clemente Moves To Crack Down On Homeless Encampments
San Clemente officials are cracking down on homeless encampments in the city after a landmark Supreme Court ruling gave cities more power to enforce anti-camping laws. The city council unanimously approved an update to the city’s anti-camping law that prevents people from sleeping on public streets and parks. (Hicks, 8/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Oceanside Accepts $11.4M To House People In Route 78 Homeless Encampments 
Oceanside formally accepted an $11 million state grant Wednesday to be shared with Carlsbad over the next three years to secure permanent homes for an estimated 200 people living in encampments along the state Route 78 corridor between Vista and Interstate 5. (Diehl, 8/22)

The Mercury News: Alameda County Gets $14 Million To Address Mental Health And Homelessness
Alameda County Health (AC Health) was recently awarded $14 million to fund temporary housing services to alleviate homelessness among people struggling with behavioral health conditions. The $14,040,909 grant comes from the state’s Behavioral Health Bridge Housing (BHBH) program, which previously provided AC Health with an award of $46,782,359. Alameda County must utilize the $60,823,268 of combined funding by June 30, 2027. (Li, 8/22)

Los Angeles Times: Mpox Is Again A Global Health Emergency. What's California's Risk? 
Two years ago, cases of the infectious viral disease mpox were rapidly increasing in cities across the globe — particularly in the U.S. — causing a scramble for vaccine doses to help contain the outbreak and ease the virus’ uncomfortable symptoms. That strain of mpox was rarely deadly; even still, officials soon declared it a worldwide public health emergency in July 2022. In the months that followed, the spread of the virus steadily fell, though cases have never completely gone away. (Toohey and Garcia, 8/22)

NBC News: Does HPV Affect Men's Fertility? Study Finds A Link To Sperm Quality
A new study from Argentinian researchers has found that the strains of HPV considered high risk because of their links to cancer were not only more common than low-risk strains in a small study population of men, they also appeared to pose a greater threat to sperm quality. The study, published Friday in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, found that high-risk HPV appears to suppress key components of the immune system in the male genital tract. (Ryan, 8/23)

ABC News: HPV Vaccine Coverage Has Dropped Among Teens Since 2020, CDC Report Finds
The percentage of teenagers who were up to date on their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines has fallen dramatically since 2020, according to new federal data released Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends children from ages 11 to 12 receive two doses of the HPV vaccine, given six to 12 months apart, although children can get the vaccine starting at age 9. (Kekatos, 8/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Ruling Could Be A Blueprint For Defending Gun Control Laws
Finding evidence from colonial history that the Supreme Court has required to justify restrictions on firearms, a state appeals court on Thursday upheld California’s laws banning convicted felons from possessing guns or ammunition. The ruling, in a case from Berkeley, has implications that go far beyond upholding one state gun law. It contrasts with decisions striking down gun laws since the nation’s high court ruled in 2022 that any government restriction on firearms must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation,” dating back to the nation’s founding. (Egelko, 8/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Another California Gun Law Blocked Over ‘Historical Tradition' Test
In another blow to California’s efforts to restrict carrying guns in public, a federal judge has barred the state from allowing only California residents to seek concealed-carry licenses. (Egelko, 8/21)

The New York Times: Harris Promises To Chart ‘New Way Forward’ As She Accepts Nomination 
Kamala Harris focused at length on Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda drafted by Donald Trump's allies. She warned that the policies could have a devastating effect on reproductive health, leading to a nationwide abortion ban and further restrictions to women’s health care. “Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Ms. Harris said. She said that she would “proudly” sign legislation protecting abortion rights into law — a pledge also made by Joe Biden, but one that is a long shot in the current Congress. (Rogers and Epstein, 8/23)

CalMatters: How Kamala Harris' Record On Abortion In CA Prepared Her For 2024
She built a reputation in California as a prosecutor who backed abortion rights, and, as attorney general, Kamala Harris threw her weight behind multiple abortion issues with national consequences. Two standouts include investigating claims that Planned Parenthood sold fetal remains and supporting regulation of anti-abortion pregnancy centers. “As long as I have known her, this has always been a core issue,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. Chiu is a former Democratic assemblymember who has known Harris for more than 20 years and worked with her on multiple statewide campaigns opposing ballot measures that would have required doctors to tell parents before performing an abortion on a minor. (Hwang, 8/22)

Politico: ‘Immediate Shift’: Democrats Speaking About Abortion In Once Unimaginable Ways 
President Joe Biden and fellow Democratic leaders have spent two years focusing on women with wanted pregnancies who were denied emergency abortion care. The party, now firmly in its Kamala Harris era, is widening the lens. Democrats at their convention this week spotlighted stories of unwanted pregnancies, a long taboo subject in politics, as well as men who feared they’d lose their wives because they couldn’t obtain emergency abortions. It’s a notable contrast to Biden and other candidates who for years have highlighted the stories of rape survivors or women with wanted but unviable pregnancies, leaving some on the left concerned about creating a distinction between “good” and “bad” abortions. And that framing also left men on the sidelines of what was considered a women’s issue. (Messerly and Ollstein, 8/22)

Politico: Trump Attacks Walz Over DNC Speech And Tries To Distance Himself From Project 2025
Donald Trump told “Fox and Friends” on Thursday morning that Tim Walz connecting him to Project 2025 was “disgraceful” and throughout the interview, repeatedly said he had “no idea” what it was. The former president also rehashed his criticisms of Walz for Minnesota’s law placing free menstrual products in public school restrooms, describing it as having tampons “available in young men’s bathrooms.” (Ramirez, 8/22)

Los Angeles Times: Tim Walz's Son Gus Has A Nonverbal Learning Disorder. What Is That?
After his heartfelt reaction to his father’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention thrust him into the spotlight, 17-year-old Gus Walz has become one of the most high-profile people with nonverbal learning disorder. The condition doesn’t mean Gus can’t speak — he does. After hearing his dad, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, describe his family as “my entire world” Wednesday night, the tearful teenager rose to his feet, pointed toward the stage and said, “That’s my dad!” (Kaplan, 8/23)

Politico: Survivors And Relatives Speak Out On Gun Violence In Emotional Speeches
The night took a heart-wrenching turn as survivors and relatives of people killed by gun violence shared their stories with a rapt and tear-filled audience. Abbey Clements, a teacher who survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, talked as her voice broke about the day 20 first grade children and six of her colleagues were killed. “Metal folding chairs falling, 154 gun shots blaring, hiding in the coats trying to stay with my students trying to read to them trying to drown out the sounds, terror, crying, running,” she said. “I carry that horrific day with me.“ (Messerly, 8/22)

Capital & Main: A Picture Of Health In Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights
For as long as she can remember, Kylie Amigon Mojica, 18, has enjoyed the sweet flavors of candies like Reese’s Pieces, which are easily found in Boyle Heights, her densely populated Latino neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles. In the spring, she tasted cacao, the source of chocolate. She was surprised at its bitter taste. The cacao made her wonder what made the candies she grew up with so sweet. “What is in it?” Amigon Mojica said she asked herself. “Is it harmful? Is it causing changes in our body?” (Sánchez-Tello, 8/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Opioid-Related Overdoses Are A Local Curse. Our Response Must Improve. 
In many cases, those struggling with substance use disorder cycle through our emergency rooms, sometimes many times over several years. In San Diego County, there have been over 10,000 emergency department visits over the last eight years due to opioid-related overdoses, and the portion of fentanyl-related visits in our region keeps rising. (Marni Von Wilpert, 8/20)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Scary New Synthetic Drugs Keep Reaching Streets 
After years of meteoric rises, overdose numbers in San Diego County are finally steadying.  According to preliminary data — just released from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention — overdoses deaths in the county dipped to 928 in 2023, a 7 percent decrease from the year prior. This marks a historic first in the county’s struggle against fentanyl. Still, a host of new synthetic drugs are arriving to the region, setting off alarm bells among doctors and community groups on the front lines. (Joseph Friedman and Tara Stamos, 8/20)

San Diego Union-Tribune: This Vending Machine Is Saving Lives In Downtown San Diego 
As an outreach worker specializing in alcohol and other drug services on Father Joe’s Village Health Center’s Street Health team, harm reduction is one of my primary focuses. Of the tools that we provide to the people we engage with, naloxone is one of the most important. Naloxone, the active ingredient in Narcan, is an opioid antagonist, a medication that can reverse the effects of respiratory depression and overdose resulting from opioid abuse. (Kayla Houston, 8/20)

Los Angeles Times: Let's Not Learn The Wrong Lessons From Matthew Perry's Ketamine Tragedy
It’s impossible to say with confidence that Matthew Perry would be alive today had he not gotten into his hot tub on Oct. 28 last year. But it’s hard not to wonder. The medical examiner’s report named “acute effects of ketamine” as the cause of Perry’s death, with contributing factors including coronary artery disease, an opioid known as buprenorphine — and drowning. The actor’s body was found face down in the water. (8/23)

Los Angeles Times: What Drives One Of America's Few Late-Term Abortion Doctors
Warren Hern is every bit as intense as you would expect of someone who has been threatened with death for most of his career. One of the few American physicians who performs late-term abortions, the 86-year-old has perhaps more than any other doctor been on the front lines of the war over reproductive rights. (Robin Abcarian, 8/21)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Dangerously Misunderstands How Voters Feel About Abortion Access
To say this year’s Republican presidential ticket does not know how to talk to or about women, or figure out what matters to them, would be the understatement of the century. And I sure hope they keep it up. It’s all mind-boggling, from nominee Donald Trump’s racist, sexist ramblings about Vice President Kamala Harris to the, ah, unusual views of his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, on parenthood. Now the hapless pair are digging in deeper as they try to cope with the post-Roe vs. Wade world — the one brought about by Trump’s Supreme Court appointees and celebrated by Vance. (Jill Lawrence, 8/19)

East Bay Times: California Medi-Cal Measure Locks In Special-Interest Funding
Proposition 35, the Medi-Cal funding measure on the Nov. 5 ballot, presents another example of special-interest ballot-box budgeting that limits the discretion of lawmakers and reduces flexibility to respond to fiscal crises. Voters should reject it. (8/25)

Capitol Weekly: Protect Prescription Drug Affordability And Access In California
In high school I discovered my passion for scientific subjects. I knew I wanted to turn my passion into purpose. I found a career path in a field of health care where science and helping people meet: pharmacy. I began working as a pharmacy technician during college and quickly found fulfillment helping patients in need, seeing firsthand the value of building one-on-one relationships. (Steven Wang, 8/21)

Capitol Weekly: California Legislators Must Protect Patients From Harmful Health Care Middlemen
Patients in California continue to struggle with balancing high health care costs with other daily essentials. Yet, little-known health industry middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are making it harder for patients to get the care they need by raising costs at the pharmacy counter and threatening the viability of local pharmacies. As health care costs continue to rise, California lawmakers must support efforts to reform the insurance industry middlemen who are increasing costs and blocking access to necessary treatments. (Anthony Asadullah Samad, 8/19)

Times of San Diego: Homelessness Doesn't Discriminate, But It's Especially Hard On LGBTQ
San Diego learned from the latest Point in Time Count, an annual survey of the homeless, that nearly 11,000 people are living on the street, in cars, and in shelters. The Regional Task Force on the Homeless also found that 30% of homeless people identify as LGBTQ. Homelessness does not discriminate as the data includes people who are in their early 20s and into their elderly years, who are black or Latino, and who identify as transgender or non-binary. The most vulnerable are elders, minor children, and transitional youth aged 18 to 26. (Marcus Fisher, 8/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Is SF Dumping Homelessness Crisis On Its Last Remaining Black Enclave?
On Thursday, San Francisco released its full point-in-time count report, detailing what was discovered about the city’s homeless population during a single day in January. This snapshot in time, conducted every two years, provides San Francisco with a better understanding of who is homeless in the city and where, and helps state and federal agencies determine where funding should go. One neighborhood stands out. ... It’s the situation in District 10, on the southeastern edge of the city, that should raise eyebrows. This includes the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, where the majority of the city’s dwindling percentage of Black residents live. (8/18)