Modern Healthcare: California Patients, Providers Face Hurdles As New Aid-In-Dying Law Takes Effect
A San Diego woman's harrowing account of her aunt's death last month under California's new physician aid-in-dying law suggests that healthcare providers still have a long way to go to make the process work smoothly for terminally ill patients. ... Compassion & Choices, a not-for-profit group that advocates for end-of-life choices and supports the law, has heard of California doctors writing 25 lethal prescriptions so far. The actual number is probably double or triple that, said Kat West, the group's national director of policy and programs. (Meyer, 8/17)

Read the woman's account here.

Los Angeles Times: Smoking Near Youth Sports Events Is Closer To Being Banned In California
Cigarette smoking would be banned within 250 feet of all youth sports events in California under legislation approved Thursday by the state Assembly. Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who is a pediatrician, cited the health risk of secondhand smoke to young people when he introduced the bill. It was proposed by an eighth-grade class at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Elementary School in Elk Grove. (McGreevy, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. City Attorney Pressures Pregnancy Center To Comply With State Law, Provide Info About Abortion Services
A Los Angeles pregnancy center that failed to comply with a state law requiring it to provide clients with information about free or low-cost family planning services, prenatal care, contraception and abortions has agreed to cooperate, City Atty. Mike Feuer announced Thursday. After the Pregnancy Counseling Center in Mission Hills missed an Aug. 14 deadline to correct violations, the city attorney’s office moved to file a lawsuit under a state law that bars unfair business practices and carries a possible $2,500 daily penalty. Feuer also informed the center that his office would seek a temporary restraining order to force it to comply.  (Evans, 8/18)

KPCC: 3 LA Pregnancy Centers No Longer Violating State Law
Three "crisis pregnancy centers" that were violating a new state law have now posted the required signage, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said Thursday. Last month, Feuer's office sent letters to three centers, notifying them that they were out of compliance with the law. One facility, Pregnancy Counseling Center in Mission Hills, is licensed by the state. The other two, Los Angeles Pregnancy Center in MacArthur Park and Harbor Pregnancy Help Center in Wilmington, are unlicensed. (Plevin, 8/18)

San Diego Union-Times: LoanHero Inks Deal With Matrix Biosurgical To Finance Stem Cell Treatments
Instead of requiring clients to pay out of pocket for stem cell therapy treatments, thousands of doctors around the nation can now turn to a San Diego technology company to help patients finance the costly procedures. The 2-year-old startup, named LoanHero, has built software brick-and-mortar businesses can use to help their customers secure a fixed-term loan when making purchases between $1,000 and $25,000. Founded in 2014, the company claims to have devised a way to give a larger pool of people — including those without stellar credit — financing options when making expensive offline purchases. (Grove, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: A Parents Guide To Insurance For College Students
Saying the last goodbye in the dorm parking lot, you realize more than ever that you can’t protect your child from every risk. It’s time to let go. But back at home, you can assemble a strong financial safety net. Knowing what your current insurance will pay for — and whether you need to buy extra coverage — is a good first step. (Marquand, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: Scientists Unlock A Secret To Latinos’ Longevity, With Hopes Of Slowing Aging For Everyone
A new way to measure how humans age suggests that Latinos withstand life’s wear and tear better than non-Latino Caucasians, and that they may have their Native American ancestors to thank for their longer lives. The new findings offer some insight into a longstanding demographic mystery: that despite having higher rates of inflammation and such chronic diseases as obesity and diabetes, Latinos in the United States have a longer average lifespan than do non-Latino whites. Those findings emerge from an intriguing effort to devise a biological clock — a standard measure of age more revealing than birthdays, walking speed, wrinkled skin or twinkly eyes. (Healy, 8/18)

KQED: 23andMe Crowdsources Customers’ Genetic Data To Find Depression Link
A study from the consumer genetic-testing company 23andMe and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has found 15 new DNA regions associated with mutations that could predispose individuals to major depression. The study was huge: Researchers took the DNA of over 75,000 people who reported being clinically diagnosed with depression and compared it with more than 230,000 customers who reported no such diagnosis.The 15 regions in the scrutinized DNA are the first to be linked to major depression in people of European descent. A previous study looking at over 10,000 people of Han Chinese ancestry found two such regions, but those are insignificant in people whose ancestors are from Europe. (Starr, 8/18)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Will Spray Mosquitoes After Resident Comes Down With Zika-Like Symptoms 
County workers will hand-spray mosquito-killing pesticide throughout a two-block section of San Diego’s South Park neighborhood Friday after a resident who recently traveled abroad came home with Zika-like symptoms.Medical testing has not confirmed that the individual, who has not been publicly identified, has Zika or any other tropical mosquito-borne infection. The individual recently returned from an unspecified location where the virus is active. (Sisson, 8/18)

In other news, a California county confirms its first case of West Nile virus —

The Tribune: West Nile Virus Case Detected In San Luis Obispo County
A 50-year-old San Luis Obispo County man who traveled to Fresno County and was bitten by an infected mosquito has contracted the West Nile virus.The unnamed man displayed no symptoms. The disease was detected Monday when he was screened for a blood donation, County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said. Because the man does not have symptoms, he is not receiving medical treatment. No other information about him was available. (Sneed, 8/18)

Fresno Bee: To Get Threat Of Lead Out Of Water, Fresno Council Bans Galvanized Pipes
Fresno will join several other major California cities to ban the use of galvanized pipe for plumbing in new residential and commercial construction and major renovation work. At its meeting Thursday afternoon, the Fresno City Council formally adopted changes to its building ordinance that prohibit the zinc-coated metal pipes. Fresno City Councilman Lee Brand originally introduced the ban on July 28. ...The ban is part of the city’s response to problems at a growing number of homes in northeast Fresno reporting discoloration – and in some homes, toxic lead – in the water coming from corroded galvanized pipes. (Sheehan, 8/18)

In other health care news from across the state —

San Diego Union-Tribune: Alzheimer's Association, Sharp HealthCare Offer Free Memory Loss Screenings 
Recent studies have found that early intervention is important for people experiencing memory loss, and a new partnership between Alzheimer’s San Diego and Sharp HealthCare aims to provide an easy place to start. The duo will offer free memory screenings to 50 San Diego County residents during a four-hour session on Aug. 25. These work-ups, explained Mary Ball, Alzheimer’s San Diego’s president, are designed to be a first step rather than a full answer. (Sisson, 8/18)

KPCC: LA-Area Accelerator Offers Health Care Startups A Jump Start
Currently, doctors who use the device to insert a breathing tube must also use a separate tool to suction the patient’s airway. That prompted (Maggie) Galloway’s team to develop a laryngoscope that integrates suction and a camera. Best of all, she says, it will be disposable and retail for about  $100- making it much cheaper than current models. But without access to a hospital system willing to test it, the innovation might have languished. Then Galloway and her colleagues got word of a new accelerator collaboration in Los Angeles between Techstars, one of the world's most successful accelerator companies, and Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. ... Their company, Inscope Medical Solutions, then became one of 11 inaugural startups - culled from about 500 applications -  accepted into the  Techstars HealthTech Accelerator. (O'Neill, 8/19)

Politico: Clinton Camp Rips 'Terribly Weak' Trump On Health Records
Hillary Clinton's campaign sees no reason to put out an update on her health, chief strategist Joel Benenson said Thursday, smacking down Donald Trump's insinuations and calling on the Republican nominee to release medical records comparable to those put out by the Democratic candidate's campaign in July. Trump knows that there is no issue with Clinton's health, Benenson told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, remarking that it "must be driving his ego crazy that she's outworking him, outthinking him, connecting better with the American voters about the issues that matter in their life." (Gass, 8/18)

In other 2016 election news, it's unclear if Clinton's policies will affect insurers' Obamacare participation, a look at where each candidate stands on Medicare and how Trump's trade stance concerns the pharmaceutical industry —

Morning Consult: Would Clinton’s Health Plans Help Struggling Insurers On Exchanges?
Hillary Clinton’s health care plan clearly intends to tackle affordability issues on Obamacare exchanges. Less clear is whether — or how — it deals with the increasingly prominent issue of insurer participation and financial viability in the marketplace. ... While some experts say addressing consumer affordability issues will, in turn, increase insurers’ profitability on exchanges, others say the Democratic nominee’s proposals fall short of addressing the issue. Some even say a public option, which she has proposed, would only make things worse for private plans by pushing premiums artificially lower. (Owens, 8/18)

CBS News: How Clinton And Trump View Medicare And Retiree Health Plans
So far in the 2016 presidential campaign, Medicare and retiree health plans haven’t been near the top of the burning issues’ list. But these important programs still deserve your careful attention when making your choice this fall. ... your options will be significantly influenced by the next president’s intentions for Medicare benefits and its financing, as well as health care plans for retirees under age 65. Let’s look at the positions Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have staked out, in alphabetical order. (Vernon, 8/18)

Stat: Donald Trump's Trade Talk Is Making The Drug Industry Uneasy
The drug industry is quietly troubled over Donald Trump’s tough talk on trade.The Republican presidential nominee has promised to aggressively renegotiate America’s trade deals — and to tear them up if need be. Those pledges are now rankling a biopharmaceutical sector that depends heavily on the deals to protect their intellectual property and, by extension, their entire business model. Provisions in the deals typically require participating nations to adhere to patent protections similar to those in the United States, to give companies relief if there is a delay in granting a patent, and to keep their clinical data confidential. (Scott, 8/18)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Opens Probe Into Concerns Over Health-Provider Payments
The Obama administration has launched a probe into whether health-care providers such as dialysis centers are steering patients eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits into insurance plans offered on the health law’s exchanges. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday said it sent warning letters to all dialysis centers that participate in the federal Medicare program. The agency also said it is weighing financial penalties on providers who are found to have directed people eligible for Medicare into Affordable Care Act plans instead. “We are concerned about reports that some organizations may be engaging in enrollment activities that put their profit margins ahead of their patients’ needs,” said CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt in a news release. (Armour and Wilde Mathews, 8/18)

Reuters: U.S. Health Agency Weighs Rules On Outside Payments For Obamacare
A U.S. government health agency on Thursday said that it was considering new rules to prevent healthcare providers or related groups from steering patients into Obamacare individual insurance plans instead of Medicare or Medicaid in order to receive higher payments for medical services. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday said it is seeking public comment and considering rules including prohibiting or limiting premium payments or cost-sharing for the individual marketplace plans, monetary penalties and limits on such payments. (Humer, 8/18)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Part D Spending Rose 17% In 2014 Because Of High-Cost Drugs 
Medicare spending on prescriptions increased more than 17% in 2014, despite a claims increase of only about 3%, according to data released Thursday. The second annual set of data shows prescription drugs paid for under the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program, which has 38 million beneficiaries. (Muchmore, 8/18)

In other national health care news —

The Wall Street Journal: T. Rowe Price Sues Valeant, Alleging ‘Fraudulent Scheme’
Mutual-fund giant T. Rowe Price Group Inc. has filed suit against Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., alleging the Canadian drug company engaged in “a fraudulent scheme” that cost T. Rowe Price and other Valeant investors billions of dollars. Valeant used mail-order pharmacy Philidor Rx Services LLC, deceptive pricing and reimbursement practices and “fictitious accounting” to artificially inflate its results and shield its drugs from competition, T. Rowe Price and Alleghany Cos., another Valeant shareholder, alleged in the lawsuit filed earlier this week in federal court in New Jersey that became publicly available Thursday. (Rapoport, 8/18)

The New York Times: New Cluster Of Zika Cases Is Reported In Miami Beach
A cluster of Zika cases most likely transmitted by local mosquitoes has been identified in Miami Beach, and federal and state officials are considering whether to advise pregnant women to avoid traveling to the city and possibly even all of Miami-Dade County, a health official said Thursday. Such a decision would signal that the potential threat of local Zika transmission had catapulted to a new level. It would no longer be confined to one zone of active local transmission in Miami — the only one identified in the continental United States up to now. (Alvarez and Belluck, 8/18)

The Washington Post: Zika Can Infect Adult Brain Cells, Not Just Fetal Cells, Study Suggests
The more researchers learn about the Zika virus, the worse it seems. A growing body of research has established that the virus can cause severe birth defects — most notably microcephaly, a condition characterized by an abnormally small head and often incomplete brain development. The virus also has been linked to cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults, a rare autoimmune disorder that can result in paralysis and even death. Now, in a study in mice, researchers have found evidence that suggests adult brain cells critical to learning and memory also might be susceptible to the Zika virus. (Dennis, 8/18)

The Sacramento Bee: Insurers, The Latest Threat To Obamacare
For three years now, Americans living with pre-existing, potentially deadly medical conditions have been able to get insurance without fear.Young people, jobless and sinking in student loan debt, have been able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans a little while longer. And poor people who would otherwise go to emergency rooms have actually been able to make appointments with physicians and get preventive care. This is the new normal brought to you by the Affordable Care Act. (Thanks, Obama.) But without a concerted effort to stem the bleeding of insurers abandoning President Barack Obama’s signature domestic program, it won’t be for long. (8/17)

Los Angeles Times: Aetna’s Withdrawal From Obamacare Exchanges Isn’t The Start Of A Death Spiral
But the biggest factors in the current shakeout appear to have been insurers’ setting premiums too low to pay for the care demanded by the newly insured, and many states’ inability to bring enough of the younger, healthier uninsured into the individual market. Those problems should fade over time as this market matures. Lawmakers could help matters with more aggressive efforts to improve efficiency in the healthcare industry, while also providing better safeguards for insurers stuck with unusually expensive customers. In the meantime, it’s unfortunate that the number of insurance choices are shrinking in many states’ Obamacare exchanges. But that’s a predictable result of the major and overdue changes the law brought about, not a sign of its failure. (8/17)

The Sacramento Bee: Rising Drug Prices Inflict Pain; Aetna Bolts ObamaCare
Our health care system’s ailments are painfully evident. Aetna is leaving “Obamacare,” and we will remain in the dark on reasons why drug prices rise. On other topics, Ronald Brownstein offers an insightful piece about proposals to slash tuition. It might backfire. And we welcome Dean Cortopassi to talk about his Proposition 53. (Dan Morain, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: My Aunt's Struggle With Assisted Suicide: There Was Death, But Not Enough Dignity
On June 9, California’s assisted-suicide Death with Dignity Act went into effect, and my aunt declared her intentions in writing the same day. I embarked on a Google search to figure out how the law worked. It was nearly impossible to get clear information, even from doctors. We would come to learn the law establishes a strict protocol to obtain the life-ending drugs. It takes a minimum of 15 days, and the countdown would start once a primary care doctor attested to my aunt’s mental fitness, her terminal condition, her desire and ability — on her own — to take the medication that would allow her to die. (Linda Van Zandt, 8/14)

The Sacramento Bee: When A Flawed Remedy To Drug Prices Looks Better Than None At All
Flush from its triumphant gutting of a bill to impose even a modicum of transparency on drugmakers in California, the pharmaceutical industry last week cranked up the volume against a ballot initiative aimed at lowering the price of prescription drugs. “Proposition 61 is opposed by a broad coalition of more than 130 organizations,” read the dispatch, citing “bureaucratic hurdles” and other problems with the measure that would prohibit the state from paying more for drugs than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs does. For good measure, they added that one of the initiative’s backers is “controversial.” (8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Can Obamacare Be Saved? Medicare's History Shows How
Big private insurance companies bailing out of a government-sponsored healthcare program, complaining about financial losses. Hundreds of thousands of customers lose their health plans. Terminations are especially severe in rural counties, leaving virtually no competition. Total enrollment drops. Obamacare, 2016? No, Medicare, 1998-2002. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Out-Of-Network Coverage Legislation Misdiagnoses Problem
A “surprise medical bill” is any bill where the insurer paid less than the patient expected, according to a 2015 Consumers Union report. To address “surprise” bills, Bonta’s AB72 has set a pay cap on doctors. That will only create more problems. ... AB72 would require insurers to reimburse out-of-network providers at 125 percent of the rate Medicare pays or of the insurer’s average contracted rate, whichever is greater. It does not address that insurers have narrowed their provider networks so significantly over the past five years that it is nearly impossible for patients to find a full complement of providers who work within their discounted network. (Eileen Natuzzi, 8/17)

The Bakersfield Californian: Concerted Effort Making A Big Dent In Teen Birth Rate
Just as soon as the recent annual adolescent birth rate report in California announced that Kern County once again ranked as the highest in the state, others, like Danny Morrison last week in The Californian, offered an opinion about what is wrong with our county. We agree that it remains a huge concern for our county with too many teens having babies and we agree there is still a lot of work to be done. But it is also important to look at where we have been, the direction we are going and what we are collectively doing about this serious social issue. In the last 24 years we have seen a dramatic reduction in our teen birth rate. (Barbara Gladden, William T. Phelps and Stephen W. Schilling, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: Anabolic Steroids Taint Olympic Competition, But It's What They Do The Human Brain That Is Terrifying
During the Olympic Games, the world gazes admiringly upon athletes with preternatural musculature and athletic ability — and then laments every tainted urine test, every revelation of doping. In the mind of the public, this is the problem with anabolic steroids: They undermine fairness in competition between elite athletes. Damaging the spirit of sport, however, is a minor concern compared with how anabolic steroids impair the health of those who use them — not only Olympians and professional athletes, but also high school football players and rank-and-file weightlifters. (Ruth Wood, 8/17)

The Desert Sun: Educate Patients To Cut Coachella Valley ER Congestion
Have you been to a Coachella Valley hospital emergency room lately? If so, you likely noticed you were far from alone. As reported in a recent series by The Desert Sun’s Barrett Newkirk, the ERs at JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage and Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs treated nearly 189,000 people last year. That’s a jump of close to 19 percent from the figure from just four years ago, officials say. (8/16)

Los Angeles Times: Legalizing Marijuana In California: Proposition 64 Is Complicated, But Highly Likely To Pass
This year, 17 measures qualified for the statewide ballot. There is something for everyone to get worked up about: prescription drug prices, the minimum wage, background checks for ammunition purchases, plastic bags, the death penalty — and something I really wish I didn’t have to think about, mandatory condoms for porn shoots. One of the most far-reaching measures is Proposition 64, which would legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. (Robin Abcarian, 8/19)

Los Angeles Times: Medical Marijuana Ruling Is A Temporary Win
A federal appeals court gave medical marijuana advocates what seemed like a big win this week with a unanimous ruling that the federal government may not prosecute people who grow and distribute medicinal cannabis if they comply with state laws. ... But this week’s ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals came with a big warning: This is a temporary victory. Until the federal government legalizes marijuana or until lawmakers adopt a permanent policy shielding states from federal enforcement, medical marijuana shops still face the possibility of prosecution in the future. (8/18)

The Sacramento Bee: Put Environmental Justice Into Planning
When my husband and I were ready to buy our first home, we bought in Oak Park. Not only was it the only neighborhood we could afford that was within biking distance to our jobs downtown, it is an incredibly resilient community working to build on its history and incredible diversity to redefine what equitable development looks like. Oak Park also has had lower life expectancies than neighborhoods just on the other side of the freeways, the legacy of unfair development and land-use decisions. Sacramento County’s Community Health Status Report shows that where we live is a major contributor to our overall health. The environmental justice movement was founded on this inequity. (Katie Valenzuela Garcia, 8/17)