The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Selected For White House Health Care Job Program
The White House has chosen Sacramento and six other cities as pilot sites for its new Health Career Pathways program, a federal initiative that aims to increase the number of Americans working in sustainable, well-paying health care jobs. Over the next decade, 3.5 million new U.S. jobs will be created in the health care sector, and thousands of positions in the field remain unfilled, according to the White House. Demand is expected to grow as baby boomers age and require advanced care. (Caiola, 4/27)

KQED: Sutter Plans Closure Of Berkeley’s Alta Bates Hospital, ER
After years of speculation in Berkeley, the future closure of Alta Bates Hospital appears to be certain. Sutter Health, owner of Alta Bates, said it will close the inpatient hospital and its emergency department sometime in advance of 2030, when state seismic standards kick in. Those standards require that all inpatient hospitals are built both to withstand a major quake and to remain fully operational after the event. (Aliferis, 4/28)

Related coverage from California Healthline: Finally, Long Overdue Progress in Hospital Seismic Safety (Feder Ostrov, 4/29)

The San Jose Mercury News: Nurses, Stanford Hospitals, Reach Tentative Deal
The union that represents thousands of nurses from Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford said Thursday it has reached a tentative three-year agreement on benefits and wages that will make its members the highest paid nurses in the Bay Area. The agreement, which must be ratified next month by 3,300 members of the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, appears to avert a possible strike the nurses had said they were prepared to call after negotiations between both sides broke down. (Seipel, 4/29)

The Associated Press: AbbVie Buying Cancer Drugmaker StemCentrx For $5.8 Billion
AbbVie on Thursday reported a boost in first-quarter profit on higher sales of the drug Humira and said it will buy cancer drug developer StemCentrx for more than $5.8 billion. The drugmaker's first-quarter profit rose 32% to $1.35 billion, or 83 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and amortization costs, came to $1.15 per share. (4/28)

KPCC: California Clarifies New Law: Provide Special Ed To Unvaccinated Students
In response to confusion among some school districts, California's departments of public health and education have updated the explanation of the state's new immunization law to clarify that unvaccinated special needs kids must receive all of the services required by their Individualized Education Programs. (Plevin, 4/28)

Meanwhile, a controversial vaccination movie is opening in Orange County —

The Orange County Register: Controversial Documentary 'Vaxxed' Screening Friday At Regency South Coast Village
After being booted from the Tribecca Film Festival in New York City, “Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe,” a movie about a purported cover-up of a government study on the safety of the measles vaccine, opens Friday in Orange County. (Chandler, 4/28)

Capital Public Radio: Alternative Court Offers Therapy (And Cupcakes) To Mentally Ill Probationers
Once a month, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Martin Crosby lifts the lid off of two trays of baked goods and announces, "Everybody likes free cupcakes!" He then calls mental health court in the Sacramento County Courthouse to order, "Remain seated and come to order. Department Nine is now in session." (Moffitt, 4/28)

In other public health news —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: The Genetics Of Aging Well
For people fortunate enough to live to octogenarian status or beyond, a long life is often something of a mixed blessing. Heart disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders and other age-related ailments impair enjoyment of longevity. But there are rare men and women who lead long lives without serious chronic diseases. Their existence stirs admiration and questions. What is their secret to a long, healthy life span? And can others learn from it to extend their “health span,” as it is called? (Fikes, 4/28)

Los Angeles Daily News: 30 US States At Risk As Zika Virus Spreads Through Puerto Rico, Feds Warn
With local transmission of the Zika virus increasing in Puerto Rico, federal health officials said Thursday that Congress needs to act fast on approving $1.9 billion to aid in prevention, mosquito surveillance and testing across the United States. (Abram, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Brain Damage In Zika Babies Is Far Worse Than Doctors Expected
The scale and severity of prenatal damage by the Zika virus are far worse than past birth defects associated with microcephaly, a condition characterized by a small head and brain abnormalities. Scans, imaging and autopsies show that Zika eats away at the fetal brain. It shrinks or destroys lobes that control thought, vision and other basic functions. It prevents parts of the brain not yet formed from developing. “These aren’t just microcephaly, like a slightly small head. The brain structure is very abnormal,” said Jeanne Sheffield, director of maternal-fetal medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who has been counseling pregnant women about microcephaly for two decades. (Magalhaes and McKay, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: Andrew Bindman Named Director At AHRQ
Dr. Andrew Bindman has been named director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, effective May 2. Bindman is a primary-care physician at safety net San Francisco General Hospital. Bindman is a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and was a staffer on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served as a senior health policy adviser from 2011 to 2014, and worked to establish new Medicare payment codes for transitional care and chronic care management. (Sandler, 4/28)

In other news from across the state —

Bay Area News Group: Hayward Man's Lawsuit Accuses Nursing Home Of Causing Him Life Threatening Injuries
A Hayward man suffered life threatening injuries at a Fremont nursing home, according to a lawsuit filed this month. (Ramos, 4/28)

The Bakersfield Californian: Bat With Rabies Prompts Health Alert
Residents in the neighborhood around Q and W. Columbus streets received leaflets this week about rabies after a bat killed by a local cat tested positive for the disease. The cat was later euthanized at the owners' request as a precaution to make sure no humans were exposed, according to the Kern County Public Health Department. The last time a domestic cat was identified with rabies was in 2012. (4/28)

The Press Democrat: Health Careers Academy Gives Sonoma County Teens Close-Up View Of Medical Jobs
Meghan O’Leary knew early on she wanted to go into the medical field. She spent much of her childhood caring for her mother, who O’Leary said suffered from severe liver cirrhosis and other health problems before she died last year. (Gonzalez, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration Takes Steps To Help Former Prisoners Get Medicaid
The Obama administration is taking steps to ensure that the health law’s expansion of Medicaid also includes a smoother path for former prisoners to enroll in the program. Community activists have long seen the law’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor, as an opportunity to secure health care for people leaving prison, where they do receive treatment. It could also prevent them from sharp relapses that could result in costly emergency room admissions. Ex-inmates often have particular needs for HIV, mental health and substance abuse treatment, activists and federal officials agree. (Radnofsky, 4/28)

In other national health care news —

Modern Healthcare: Senators Want To Halt Change To Medicare Part B Drug Pay
Senate Finance Committee members from both parties told the CMS on Thursday not to go forward with a Medicare Part B initiative to change how hospitals and doctors are reimbursed for outpatient drugs. The CMS announced the mandatory change last month to criticism from some doctors and insurers as well as the pharmaceutical lobby. The five-year pilot program borne out of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation would, starting this year, decrease the percentage of a drug's average sales price paid to providers from 6% to 2.5% while adding a flat payment of $16.80 per drug a day. (Muchmore, 4/28)

The New York Times: Health Care Companies See Scale As The Only Way To Compete
A spate of deals on Thursday showed that health care companies are convinced, regardless of tax benefits, that bigger is not only better, it is necessary. The whole industry seems to be reading from the same playbook: Pair up with a company that makes the same product to become a leading provider, and thus gain more clout to negotiate business with hospitals and health insurers. (Picker, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Place Big Bets On Cancer Medicines
Despite a growing outcry over the rising cost of cancer treatments, drugmakers are placing multibillion-dollar bets on new medicines they expect will command premium prices and generate big sales. ... The flurry of deal activity surrounding cancer drugs comes as politicians, doctors and health-insurance companies blast the pharmaceutical industry for its pricing—particularly for new cancer treatments with monthly costs that commonly exceed $10,000 a patient. (Loftus, Bisserbe and Kostov, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Brain Damage In Zika Babies Is Far Worse Than Doctors Expected
The scale and severity of prenatal damage by the Zika virus are far worse than past birth defects associated with microcephaly, a condition characterized by a small head and brain abnormalities. Scans, imaging and autopsies show that Zika eats away at the fetal brain. It shrinks or destroys lobes that control thought, vision and other basic functions. It prevents parts of the brain not yet formed from developing. “These aren’t just microcephaly, like a slightly small head. The brain structure is very abnormal,” said Jeanne Sheffield, director of maternal-fetal medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who has been counseling pregnant women about microcephaly for two decades. (Magalhaes and McKay, 4/28)

NPR: Teen Birth Rates Plummet For Hispanic And Black Girls

The Associated Press: CDC: Teen Birth Rates Plunge, But Racial Disparities Persist

The Washington Post: Teen Birthrate Hits All-Time Low, Led By 50 Percent Decline Among Hispanics And Blacks

The Baltimore Sun: CDC: Pregnancies Among Black, Hispanic Teens Drop Nationally

The Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Shocker: These Insurers Are Making Money On Obamacare
The pending departure of the big insurance company UnitedHealth from most of the Affordable Care Act exchanges that it serves has prompted critics of Obamacare proclaiming the coming "death spiral" of the insurance reform. The critics aren't talking so much about the insurers who are reporting profits from the program. Their experience shows how the ACA can be made to work for customers and insurers alike. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/27)

The Sacramento Bee: A Soldier, Home From The Abortion Wars
“It started out a day like any other,” David Daleiden was telling the crowd outside the Sacramento Planned Parenthood clinic. “I was making lunch.” The gathering wasn’t large, maybe 75 people. Most were too old to personally ever have to deal again with the topic of Daleiden’s speech, abortion. Still, as the 27-year-old activist behind the Planned Parenthood video sting discussed his crusade to shut down the abortion provider, they listened with the rapt deference of elderly civilians greeting a war hero. (Shawn Hubler, 4/25)

The Los Angeles Times: Paul Ryan's Idea To Cover Preexisting Conditions Via High-Risk Pools Is A Scam. Here's Why.
First, [House Speaker Paul D. Ryan's (R-Wis.)] estimate of the population with preexisting conditions is wildly low. Second, high-risk pools aren't a new idea. They're an old idea that was tried by 35 states before the enactment of Obamacare made them unnecessary. And they were massive failures. Put these facts together, and what you have is a scam. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/28)

The Los Angeles Times: Is Single-Payer Healthcare Dead In The U.S., Or Only Sleeping?
The dream of bringing single-payer healthcare to the United States is a hardy one. It's still with us despite years of disrespect by the general public, intense opposition from powerful stakeholders in the healthcare economic status quo, and the enactment of the very non-single payer system known as Obamacare. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/23)

KQED: Analysis: Why Medical Lab Experts Were Always Skeptical Of Theranos
Theranos’ revolutionary claim that won over investors was that it could accurately run tests using a small amount of blood taken from a poke in the patient’s finger, instead of a syringe full from a needle stuck in a vein. The idea was that dozens of tests, such as cholesterol and thyroid hormone levels, could be run on a single, tiny blood sample. Theranos has had medical laboratory experts – including me – scratching their heads for some time. Having worked quite a bit in development of innovative medical tests, I knew what the company was promising just didn’t make a lot of sense. (Norman A. Paradis, 4/25)

The Ventura County Star: Hospitals Need To Be At Top Of Their Game To Prevent Hacking
A couple of months ago, it was announced that Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles had its health care IT system essentially taken over and knocked offline by some hackers who inserted malware into the hospital servers. (Irving Loh, 4/24)

Orange County Register: Help For Victims Of ADA-Based Extortion
The Americans with Disabilities Act was intended to prohibit discrimination against people with physical or mental impairments and to improve access for the disabled to public accommodations. Too often, however, it has been used to shake down businesses for minor violations, such as a door sign affixed an inch too high or too low or a disabled parking logo that is a little too faded or painted in the wrong shade of blue. (4/26)

The Sacramento Bee: Smoking, Diet May Help Explain Health Gap
Researchers have long noted the connection between health and wealth. People with higher incomes tend to be healthier and live longer than poor people. But why this is so has puzzled experts for as long as the connection has been known. Evidence has been thin to nonexistent to support the most intuitive reasons: access to health care, income inequality and environmental factors. (Daniel Weintraub, 4/25)

The Desert Sun: Why Are So Many People Overdosing On Painkillers?
What’s being done to address the painkiller epidemic? Why are so many people overdosing and so few getting help? You are right—the non-medical use of painkillers has become an epidemic, and a very serious one. Before I answer your question, though, let’s look briefly at how the use of painkillers spiraled so quickly out of control. (Harry Haroutunian, 4/27)

The Ventura County Star: Revised Autopsy Bill Provides Clarity In Law
The California Senate Health Committee approved some excellent amendments last week in passing a bill to define autopsies and clarify who is permitted to conduct them. The legislation eliminates the ambiguity that exists in current law by stating, "A forensic autopsy may only be conducted by a licensed physician or surgeon." (4/23)

Orange County Register: Costa Mesa Waits To Inhale
The purple haze is clearing over medical marijuana in Costa Mesa. Last week the City Council voted unanimously to put a measure on the November 8 ballot to regularize medical marijuana dispensaries. It would compete with two other measures submitted by citizens, one limiting the number of dispensaries to four, the other to eight. If all three remain on the ballot and pass, according to California law, the one with the most votes would be enacted. The city’s measure does not limit the number of dispensaries, but would confine them by geography. As the Register reported, the measure “allows manufacturing and includes location restrictions (above South Coast Plaza and west of Harbor Boulevard) and a tax component.” (4/28)