San Francisco Chronicle: Bill To Ban Solitary Confinement For Pregnant Inmates Now Allows It
Advocates for women in California prisons were backing legislation that would have banned solitary confinement of pregnant inmates – until the author, under pressure from prison officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, amended it to allow them to be held in solitary for up to five days. Now many of its former supporters have changed sides. (Egelko, 9/3)

Bay Area News Group: California Lawmakers Dismiss Bill To Give Convicted Murderers Serving Life Without Parole A Chance At Release
State lawmakers have dismissed a bill by a Santa Clara County senator that would have provided a chance at release for some inmates serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder. (Lam, 9/3)

KQED: Court Weighing Takeover Of Mental Health Care In California Prisons
A federal judge overseeing a settlement meant to improve psychiatric care in California state prisons is poised to do the one thing she’s tried hardest to avoid: wrest control of prison mental health from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “The court has done every single thing within its authority to allow defendants to achieve compliance while still exercising a great degree of discretion and autonomy,” District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller wrote in a July 12, 2024, order. “The court concludes the only way to achieve full compliance in this action is for the court to appoint its own receiver.” (Small, 9/3)

CalMatters: California Democrats Strike Back Against Local Conservatives
Several other measures are headed to the governor’s desk after receiving final approval from the Legislature last week, including Bauer-Kahan’s AB 2085 to streamline the permitting process for reproductive health clinics. Though California has positioned itself as an “abortion sanctuary” since the U.S Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion — even putting reproductive rights into the state constitution — local opposition has prevented clinics from opening in cities such as Beverly Hills and Fontana. (Koseff, 9/3)

Politico: First In Nation Attempt To Fine Social Media For Child Harms Collapses In California 
A California bill that attempted to penalize social media companies for harming young users is dead for the year, the author confirmed to POLITICO, arguing amendments had watered down the effort in a victory for Silicon Valley opponents. In response to mounting concerns that online platforms are exacerbating youth addiction and mental health issues, Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal sought to threaten massive fines of up to $1 million per child on companies whose products were deemed to cause harm through negligent practices. (White, 8/30)

Los Angeles Times: GOP Rep. Mike Garcia's Ad Distorts Role In Violence Against Women Act
In its first advertisement for the general election season, the campaign for Rep. Mike Garcia, a politically vulnerable Santa Clarita Republican, offers a misleading description of the congressman’s role in passing the Violence Against Women Act, which provides aid for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. (Branson-Potts, 9/4)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Dexcom Starts Selling Its New Over-The-Counter Glucose Monitor. Here’s How Much It Costs
San Diego’s Dexcom began sales this week of Stelo, the industry’s first FDA-approved continuous glucose monitor that doesn’t require a prescription. With a two-pack of the biosensor costing just under $100 per month, the local company aims to tap a new market of users and increase access to this technology. Now, people without health insurance coverage for such devices have the option to buy Stelo directly from Dexcom’s website. (Rocha, 9/3)

Times of San Diego: Updated Flu Vaccines Now Available; Potentially Busy Season Anticipated
The annual flu season is set to begin soon, and it looks like this year’s might be a big one. American researchers typically look to Australia for clues about how severe the upcoming flu season might be, as influenza typically spreads there during the Northern Hemisphere’s spring and summer months. (Binkowski, 9/3)

LAist: After Audit Raises Dozens Of Concerns, OC Cuts Short A Key Mental Health Services Contract
Orange County officials are taking control of services at the county’s signature mental health campus, a move that pushes out a nonprofit organization paid tens of millions of dollars in public funds to run it for the last two years. The action terminates a three-year contract early and comes after a damning audit found the organization, Mind OC, failed to ensure proper staffing and effective outcomes of key services. (Replogle and Gerda, 9/3)

Modern Healthcare: Where Nursing Unions Are Negotiating With Hospitals In 2024
Thousands of healthcare workers nationwide are negotiating for new contracts, and staff at some facilities are preparing for the possibility of strikes in the coming months. ... At Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics in Southern California, more than 2,200 mental health professionals represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers are in contract negotiations. The contract expires Sept. 30. (Devereaux, 9/3)

Becker's Hospital Review: Travel Nurse Pay By State
Average weekly travel nurse pay in the U.S. in August was $2,265.01, down 0.41% from the previous month and down 4.96% from August 2023, according to data shared with Becker's from Vivian, a healthcare career marketplace. Here is the average weekly travel nurse pay for each state for August, alongside the percentage difference between August and July. (Gooch, 9/3)

Modern Healthcare: American Academy Of Physician Associates Calls Out AMA
The American Academy of Physician Associates is calling out the American Medical Association for allegedly spreading misinformation and making disparaging remarks about the profession. In a letter to the AMA dated Tuesday and made public, the trade group said the AMA has not responded to its request to meet to discuss "the impact of AMA’s disparaging rhetoric targeted at the physician associate profession." (DeSilva, 9/3)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare To Launch Prior Authorization Gold Card Program
UnitedHealthcare is launching a program next month geared toward streamlining prior authorization for qualifying providers. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary's "gold card" program, offered across its commercial, individual exchange, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid business lines, will allow certain providers to use a simplified process for about 500 procedure codes. (DeSilva, 9/3)

Becker's Hospital Review: Where Does Healthcare AI Go Next? Predictions From 4 Leaders
Health systems continue to adopt artificial intelligence for clinical documentation, patient portal messages and utilization management. But what is the next evolution of healthcare AI? Becker's recently connected with four health system leaders named to AI business intelligence firm AIM Research's list of the 100 most influential AI leaders of 2024, asking them each for a bold prediction on where AI healthcare goes next. (Bruce, 9/3)

Reuters: US Will Still Pay At Least Twice As Much After Negotiating Drug Prices
The U.S. government's first-ever negotiated prices for prescription drugs are still on average more than double, and in some cases five times, what drugmakers have agreed to in four other high-income countries, a Reuters review has found. A Reuters review of publicly available maximum prices set by other wealthy nations - Australia, Japan, Canada and Sweden - show that they have negotiated far lower prices for the same drugs. (Beasley, 9/3)

The Mercury News: San Jose Begins Clearing Part Of Troubled Columbus Park Homeless Camp
San Jose began clearing part of one of its largest and most dangerous homeless encampments on Tuesday in an effort to move around 40 tents, vehicles and makeshift dwellings out of the flight path at San Jose Mineta International Airport. (Varian, 9/4)

Voice of OC: How Are Santa Ana Officials Going To Address Homeless Encampments?
A host of Santa Ana officials say it’s time start enforcing anti-camping laws following a supreme court ruling this year that clears the way for cities to crack down on encampments. The ruling has led elected officials at recent city council meetings in Santa Ana to weigh in on how best to address homelessness – giving residents a look at where local politicians stand on one of the city’s biggest issues ahead of the November election. (Elattar and Rios, 9/4)

Los Angeles Times: Why Sacramento’s Sanctioned Homeless Camp Was Shut Down
When Sacramento officials signed a first-of-its-kind lease with a local nonprofit that allowed unhoused residents to live on city-owned land, local leaders and homeless advocates lauded what they hoped would become a national model. Dubbed Camp Resolution, the self-governing community of about 50 people — mostly women — fought for a safe haven that would not close until every resident had been placed in “individual permanent durable housing,” as stated in the agreement. (Fonseca, 9/3)

Voice of San Diego: National City Takes Up Encampment Ban Proposal Again
Officials in National City this week introduced legislation to outlaw camping on public property, near schools and along waterways and train tracks. The proposed ban is an about-face for the city, which previously pursued an outreach-oriented approach to homelessness that sought to avoid arrests or forcing people to move. If adopted after a final city council vote in two weeks, the ban would add National City to a growing list of San Diego County cities that have outlawed public camping. San Diego, Escondido and Vista all ban encampments. Officials in Carlsbad and Chula Vista are still figuring it out. (Hinch, 9/4)

Bay Area News Group: San Mateo County Made Refusing A Shelter Bed A Crime. Is It Helping Solve Homelessness?
San Mateo County, arguably more than any region in the Bay Area, has embraced new — and controversial — approaches to solving homelessness. Earlier this year, the county adopted an ordinance that allows officials to cite and arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse a shelter bed. (Varian, 9/4)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Fentanyl-Related Deaths Average One A Day
The number of Sacramento County deaths related to fentanyl rose more than tenfold from 2019 through 2023, with roughly one death a day reported in the last year, according to the latest data from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is much stronger than heroin or morphine. Illicit drug manufacturers increasingly add fentanyl to their supplies of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs as a cheap — but dangerous — way to make them more potent. Just a couple of milligrams of fentanyl — equivalent to about a dozen grains of table salt — can be fatal, depending on the body size of the user. (Reese, 9/3)

Reuters: 'Ketamine Queen,' Doctor To Face March Trial In Matthew Perry Death 
A California doctor and a woman charged with illegally supplying the drug ketamine to "Friends" star Matthew Perry before his overdose death will face trial in March, according to court documents released on Tuesday. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, and Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the October 2023 death of Perry. (Richwine, 9/3)

The New York Times: Rethinking Addiction As A Chronic Brain Disease 
Some researchers argue that the roles of social environment and personal choice have to be considered in order to make progress in treating people addicted to drugs. (Hoffman, 9/3)

AP: A Decision On A Major Policy Shift On Marijuana Won't Come Until After The Presidential Election 
A decision on whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the U.S. won’t come until after the November presidential election, a timeline that raises the chances it could be a potent political issue in the closely contested race. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last week set a hearing date to take comment on the proposed historic change in federal drug policy for Dec. 2. The hearing date means a final decision could well come in the next administration. (Whitehurst and Peltz, 9/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: A Guide To Staying Safe And Healthy During San Diego County’s Latest Heat Wave 
Heat-related illness is a serious concern and the CDC reports that, approximately 1,220 people die in the United States every year from issues from extreme heat. Here are some health and safety tips to keep in mind during the current heat wave, as well as any hotter-than-usual day in San Diego County. (Hamblin and Fox, 9/3)

Los Angeles Times: Extreme Heat Wave Slams Southern California. How Bad Will It Get?
A broiling heat wave is headed to Southern California this week, bringing what is expected to be the hottest temperatures of the summer to a region that has already endured stifling weather. ... The weather service issued an excessive heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday until 8 p.m. Friday for most of Los Angeles County. (Lin and Fry, 9/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Heat Wave: Wednesday Could Mark S.F.'s Hottest Day Of 2024
Tuesday brought San Francisco’s warmest day of the year. ... The heat is expected to continue and intensify slightly on Wednesday, leading the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for the city for the second consecutive day and setting up the chance for Wednesday to beat out Tuesday's high for the hottest day of the year so far in San Francisco. A separate heat advisory will go into effect for the rest of the interior Bay Area on Wednesday morning and will last through the evening, with temperatures expected to rise into the 90s and 100s. (Porter, 9/4)

NPR: Eczema Triggers Could Be In The Air We Breathe, Doctors Say
"I feel like as climate change has progressed throughout my youth and adulthood, I'm seeing how a lot of the damage is done to the environment or harming human health — and one of the ways that's happening is through the generation of air pollution," says Fadadu, who is now a resident physician in dermatology at the University of San Diego. "But there hasn't really been a lot of study on air pollution and skin disease." That is, until Fadadu and his professor, Maria Wei, a dermatologist at the University of San Francisco, decided to fill that gap. (Chinn, Carlson and Ramirez, 9/4)

The Conversation: Mobile Phones Are Not Linked To Brain Cancer, According To A Major Review Of 28 Years Of Research
A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization and is published today in the journal Environment International. Mobile phones are often held against the head during use. And they emit radio waves, a type of non-ionising radiation. These two factors are largely why the idea mobile phones might cause brain cancer emerged in the first place. (Loughran and Karipidis, 9/3)

VC Star: Oxnard Family Benefits From Expansion Of Pediatric Cancer Foundation's Aid Program
In January, 20-year-old Liliana Suarez was on vacation with her parents and sisters in Mexico when she got very sick. She got headaches, an eye infection, throat pain and bruises around her legs. On one occasion, she fainted. (Anjum, 9/3)