Reuters: California Insurance Commissioner Urges U.S. To Block Anthem-Cigna Deal
California's insurance commissioner on Thursday urged the U.S. Department of Justice to block health insurer Anthem Inc's acquisition of Cigna Corp, saying he is concerned it will raise premiums in the state. Dave Jones, who as insurance commissioner in California does not have authority to approve the deal, said he believes his recommendation will hold weight with U.S. antitrust regulators examining the acquisition. (Humer and Bartz, 6/16)

Los Angeles Times: California Regulator Asks U.S. To Block Anthem-Cigna Deal
“When it comes to the Anthem and Cigna merger, bigger is not better for California’s consumers,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. Jones does not have the authority to block the merger. But he said he had reviewed evidence presented at a March 29 hearing, as well as studies of past mergers, and concluded that the deal was “anti-competitive.” Anthem is now the nation’s second-largest insurer, while Cigna is No. 4. If combined, Jones said, the resulting company would control more than half the insurance market in 28 California counties. (Petersen, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: California Blasts Anthem-Cigna Merger, Calls On Feds To Block It
In a 22-page letter to top Justice Department leaders, Jones said the “most extreme” example of where Anthem's deal would lessen competition is the self-insured employer market. Anthem and Cigna control a combined 61% of that market. Many large, self-insured companies have expressed similar concerns over Anthem's acquisition. (Herman, 6/16)

Bloomberg: California Regulator Tells U.S. To Block Anthem-Cigna Deal
The takeover would give the combined Anthem-Cigna a greater than 50 percent market share in 28 counties in California, and a market share exceeding 40 percent in 38 counties, Jones said. (Tracer, 6/16)

California Healthline: California Insurance Commissioner Urges Feds To Block $54 Billion Anthem-Cigna Deal
Anthem criticized Jones’ decision and expressed confidence it would obtain the necessary government approval for the merger. “We do not believe that the California Department of Insurance’s opinion is based on the true merits of this transaction,” Anthem said in a statement. “We are confident that the highly complementary nature and limited overlap of our organizations that will benefit the complex and competitive health insurance markets will be reviewed on the facts by the Department of Justice and appropriate state authorities.” (Terhune, 6/16)

San Francisco Business Times: Insurance Commissioner Asks Justice Department To Block Anthem-Cigna Deal
Dave Jones, California's insurance commissioner, is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to block the blockbuster acquisition by Anthem Inc. of Cigna Corp., the nation's second- and fourth-largest health insurers. (Rauber, 6/16)

LA Times: L.A. Startup Looks To Extend Concierge Medicine To Surgery
A Los Angeles company is looking to expand the field of concierge medicine to include on-demand surgical care. Prime Surgeons has launched a beta test of its concierge surgery business in L.A. County. The group of 16 surgeons will initially specialize in orthopedic sports, spine surgery, gynecology and robotics procedures. Concierge medicine is a small but growing concept in which doctors, typically in primary care, focus on a smaller, wealthier clientele who pay a membership fee to get on-demand access to their physicians. (Masunaga, 6/17)

Stat: Pharma Loses One Battle Over Drug Take-Back Programs, But Wins Another
The latest skirmishes over drug take-back programs yielded a mixed outcome this week for the pharmaceutical industry, which has been battling local governments that want drug makers to pick up the tab. Two days ago, officials in Snohomish County, Wash., voted unanimously to require drug companies to run a program that would allow consumers to dispose of unwanted and unused medicines. At the same, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors delayed passing a similar ordinance until November, when they will review an existing disposal program that is not financed by industry. (Silverman, 6/16)

The Sacramento Bee: Audit: Vets Agency Wastes $28 Million On Failed Computer System
California’s state auditor has labeled yet another California government technology project an expensive failure. The California Department of Veterans Affairs has spent nearly $28 million on a system that launched years later than planned, wastes staff time and has not been fully implemented, according to an audit released Thursday by state Auditor Elaine Howle. (Corhs, 6/16)

PBS NewsHour: Why The Navy Is Making A Major Change In Its Approach To PTSD
For years, the military has struggled to deal with the unseen, psychological wounds of war, especially Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has instituted major changes to the rules affecting sailors and Marines who suffer from PTSD. (6/16)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Poway, Hospital To Negotiate Water Dispute
Poway and Palomar Health District are trying to negotiate a settlement relating to a billing error by the city that resulted in Pomerado Hospital being undercharged roughly $800,000 for water it used from 2008 to 2014. (Jones, 6/16)

Orange County Register: Four O.C. Clinics Receive Funds For Dental Expansion
Four Orange County nonprofits that provide dental care were awarded $1.4 million in federal money on Thursday for expansion of services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $24 million for 65 clinics in California. Funds will be used to hire more dentists and hygienists. (Perkes, 6/16)

The Press Democrat: Four Sonoma County Health Centers Get Funds For Dental Services
Community health centers in Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Ukiah and Healdsburg were awarded a total of $1.6 million to help expand much needed dental health services, the federal government announced Thursday. (Espinoza, 6/16)

KQED: The Unexpected Health Risks Of Drought
No place has been hit harder by the California drought than Tulare County in the San Joaquin Valley. By now, most Americans have read or heard stories about residential wells going dry in the county’s rural towns, such as East Porterville, Orosi and Cutler. But it has remained unclear how water shortages are affecting people in these towns. How do they cope without running water in their kitchens and bathrooms? How has this affected their physical health and mental well-being? (Deeply, 6/16)

Oakland Tribune: More West Nile Virus-Infected Mosquitoes Detected In San Jose
The Santa Clara County Vector Control District on Thursday announced that adult mosquitoes collected from three more ZIP code areas in San Jose -- 95136, 95123, and 95118 -- have tested positive for West Nile virus. (Seipel, 6/17)

The Press Democrat: REACH Air Ambulance Buys Sacramento-Area Competitor CALSTAR
REACH Air Medical Services has acquired a nonprofit air ambulance service based out of the Sacramento area. REACH Medical Holdings, the holding company for the emergency air transport service, has bought California Shock Trauma Air Rescue, more commonly known as CALSTAR, the companies announced on Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Swindell, 6/16)

Reuters: Clinton Outpaces Rivals In Drug Company Donations
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has taken more money from employees of America's 15 biggest pharmaceuticals companies than all of the Republicans who attempted a run for the White House this year combined, according to campaign finance disclosures. The donations, which were nearly double those accepted by Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, came even as the former senator and secretary of state vowed to curb price gouging in the industry if elected. (6/16)

Reuters: U.S. Top Court Puts Some Limits On Contractor Fraud Lawsuits
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday imposed some limits on the kind of fraud claims that can be brought against federal contractors in a case involving a suit against one of America's largest hospital operators over a woman's death at one of its facilities. But the 8-0 ruling was not the broad victory for business sought by the company, Universal Health Services, and other healthcare providers fearful of suits under the U.S. False Claims Act, which lets individuals make claims that the federal government has been defrauded. (6/16)

Los Angeles Times: Divided Supreme Court Once Again Decides A Case Without Settling It
The eight-member Supreme Court showed again Thursday it can issue rulings in significant cases without actually deciding who wins. The justices issued a unanimous 18-page opinion in a major case of healthcare fraud that had appeared to leave them sharply divided during oral arguments in April. They achieved agreement by adopting some key arguments of each side. Then they sent the entire dispute back to a federal appeals court to take a second look. This method of ruling without deciding has emerged in response to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the lack of a tie-breaking vote in closely contested cases. (Savage, 6/16)

The Washington Post: High Court Says Law Requires More Contracts For Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
The Supreme Court decided Thursday that the Department of Veterans Affairs must set aside more contracts to be filled by veteran-owned small businesses. The court was unanimous that the department has not fulfilled its obligation to steer more business to small companies owned by veterans or service-disabled veterans simply by meeting its annual goal. The decision is likely to help more veteran-owned businesses compete for the billions of dollars in contracts the department awards. (Barnes, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Contractors Get Partial Win At Supreme Court On Fraud Suits
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday limited the reach of a whistle-blower law designed to ferret out fraud, in a mixed ruling for health-care companies and other government contractors. The justices unanimously told a lower court to revisit a ruling that let Universal Health Services Inc. be sued under the U.S. False Claims Act for allegedly using unlicensed and unsupervised staff at a counseling center in Massachusetts. The suit is being pressed by the parents of a girl who died of a seizure after being treated at the facility. (Stohr, 6/16)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Reports 234 Pregnant Women In U.S. With Zika
The number of women infected with the Zika virus during their pregnancies in the continental United States has risen to 234, health officials said on Thursday. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to say how many of the women had given birth, citing confidentiality concerns for the women and their families. But they did cite six cases with abnormalities — three babies with birth defects and another three who died before birth with evidence of defects. (Tavernise, 6/16)

In other national health care news —

Reuters: Lifting U.S. Curbs On Gay Blood Donors Seen Years Away: Experts
U.S. health regulators are under increasing pressure to remove restrictions keeping most gay and bisexual men from donating blood, but experts say any change would require years of research to guarantee the safety of the blood supply. (Seaman and Young, 6/17)

The New York Times: Online Tools To Shop For Doctors Snag On Health Care’s Complexity
Need a dermatologist? Today, online tools can show you which doctors are in your plan’s network as well as rank them by the likely cost of a visit. Still not sure which one to pick? The tools also show whether you have already met your plan’s deductible and offer Yelp-like reviews of the doctors. The idea behind these web tools, which have been available from health insurers and start-ups for several years, is to harness the power of so-called big data. ... Yet the limits of this data are becoming increasingly clear. (Abelson, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Industry, Policymakers Have Eyes On Upcoming Medicare Trustees' Report
Policymakers are keeping their eyes on the 2016 Social Security and Medicare trustees' report expected to be unveiled Wednesday to see if the White House will stand by its projection that Medicare will be solvent until 2030. The Congressional Budget Office estimates funds for the program will dry up in 2026. Also of interest is whether the trustees will call for the creation of an Independent Payment Advisory Board called for in the Affordable Care Act to reign in Medicare costs if they grew faster than a set rate. But the board, called the death panel by ACA opponents, has not yet been created. There hasn't been the need, and some say, the willingness to expend the political capital. (Dickson, 6/16)

Politico: Why A Medicare Drug Fight Is Roiling Washington
A proposed Medicare experiment encouraging doctors to use cheaper meds is either a necessary fix for America's high drug prices — or the first step to President Donald Trump dismantling Obamacare. It all depends whom you ask. And experts interviewed for POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast showed the sides couldn't be further apart. (Diamond, 6/16)

Los Angeles Times: The NRA Has Blocked Gun Violence Research For 20 Years. It's Time To End Its Stranglehold.
The Orlando massacre reminds us that there’s an enormous amount we don’t know about gun violence — what causes it, what its consequences are for surviving families, how to stop it. You can blame our ignorance on the National Rifle Assn. – and on the federal officials the NRA has intimidated away from this crucial field of public health for 20 years. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/14)

The Modesto Bee: Who Bans Research To Holster Gun Violence? Not The Good Guys
In the stunned aftermath of the Orlando, Fla., shootings, the American Educational Research Association made the point that schools have a pivotal role in preparing children to live in a diverse world. And then the statement by AERA Director Felice Levine said this: “We also call on Congress to lift restrictions that prohibit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other Department of Health and Human Services agencies from conducting gun violence research. These restrictions have stymied the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and programs that foster gun safety.” Even the most fervent gun supporters I know want to keep kids safe around them. Creating a law to keep anyone from looking for ways to do that is outrageous. (Nan Austin, 6/14)

The Sacramento Bee: Mental Health Key To Slowing Gun Deaths
Human rights advocates blame homophobia for the weekend tragedy. "Build the wall" advocates blame immigration. Candidates and President Barack Obama debate terms like "radical Islam." Gun control advocates - and I am one - call for banning assault-style weapons. But the tragedy in Florida isn't only about hot-button issues. It's also about mental health. (David Whiting, 6/15)

The Los Angeles Times: A Sane Approach To Dealing With Mentally Ill Death Row Inmates
California’s death penalty system has been broken for so long, you could forgive people for thinking that it no longer exists. The last person executed at San Quentin was Clarence Ray Allen, who arranged the murders of three people in Fresno — one who revealed details of a burglary Allen had planned, and two others who testified against him. His January 2006 execution came 23 years after his conviction. (6/11)

San Jose Mercury News: Nix The Anthem-Cigna Merger
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is opposing the mega-insurer Anthem Blue Cross' proposed takeover of Cigna, saying it isn't in the interests of California consumers. ... The merger would lead to reduced competition, increased prices and poorer quality of a product from an insurer with a shameful history of responding to consumer grievances. We see nothing good in it. Unfortunately, Jones doesn't have the final say. The U.S. Department of Justice will decide whether the $54 billion merger impacting 53 million policyholders goes through. (6/16)

Los Angeles Times: A Warning On Hospital Mergers: After California Allowed Big Chains To Grow, Prices Soared
The debate over hospital mergers traditionally has focused on whether allowing hospitals within a local community to merge drives up prices in that community. A new study from the University of Southern California sounds a much louder alarm. The study found that the domination of the state’s hospital segment by two big systems, Sutter Health and Dignity Health, not only drove up prices everywhere their institutions were located but allowed even nonaffiliated hospitals to charge more. That’s a warning for policymakers at the federal level and in many states, where hospital mergers are on the rise. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/13)

The Los Angeles Times: The Right Way To Repeal And Replace Obamacare
More than six years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are still trying to craft a workable plan to repeal and replace it. The latest attempt was unveiled in May by Rep. Pete Sessions from Texas and Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana. It would provide every American adult with $2,500 to buy health insurance while abandoning Obamacare’s top-down, regulation-driven approach. (Joel L. Strom, 6/13)

The Fresno Bee: Achieving Consensus On Changes To Obamacare Will Not Be Easy
The Urban Institute recently reported that some 18 million Americans have gained insurance coverage under the individual mandate, employer mandate and Medicaid expansion of Obamacare, which falls well short of the expectation in 2010 that the gain would be 30 million of the 45 million then uninsured. (Daniel O. Jamison, 6/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Facebook's Suicide Prevention Tools: Invasive Or Essential?
Facebook now offers resources for users who perceive a friend's posts as suicidal, allowing them to flag a post for review by a team at the company. Users can click a drop-down menu within the post in question that allows them to specify their concerns to Facebook’s global community operations team. These reports are directed to employees trained to evaluate suicidal content. (Lydia Belanger, 6/16)

Los Angeles Times: How To Help Stop Opioid Abusers From 'Doctor Shopping' For Prescription Drugs
Like 48 other states, California has an online database that records all the prescriptions issued for potentially habit-forming or abuseable drugs, such as OxyContin and Ritalin. The hope is that the system will deter patients from “doctor shopping” to obtain excess quantities of a drug, and help authorities crack down on healthcare professionals who negligently — or cynically — prescribe pills on demand. (6/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl: Widely Used, Deadly When Abused
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid narcotic about 100 times as potent as morphine, continues to be in the news, as deaths from fentanyl overdose continue to rise and even more potent nonpharmaceutical forms become available on the street. It was the drug in Prince’s body and the cause of his death by overdose. The Centers for Disease Control has issued a health advisory to warn of its dangers, as deaths from synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, rose to 5,500 in 2014. (David A. Edwards, 6/16)

Bakersfield Californian: Opioid Epidemic Facing Our State Is Critically Grim
The opioid epidemic facing our state is one of the worst healthcare crises California has ever seen. This may be a national epidemic, but it’s hitting home hard. Currently, California hospitals treat roughly one overdose every 45 minutes due to heroin or prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet. In 2014, California had the largest number of overdose deaths of any state in the country: 4,521 of our sons, daughters, and loved ones lost. In Kern County, between 2011 and 2013, 131 people have died of opioid overdoses. Another 1,112 ended up in hospital emergency rooms for opioid overdoses and opioid-related emergencies. (Jonathan Fielding, 6/13)

Orange County Register: After Critical Grand Jury Report, Orange County Police Boost Training To Handle Mentally Ill
A year after the Orange County grand jury concluded that nearly every local police agency was inadequately trained to handle the mentally ill, a review has found dramatic changes, with law enforcement better prepared than ever. Last year, the grand jury said none of the 22 law enforcement agencies in Orange County was qualified to handle the county’s newly adopted Laura’s Law, and few departments were adequately equipped to deal with mentally ill people in any way. (David Whiting, 6/17)

Orange County Register: Nurse Practitioners Provide Quality Health Care With Positive Outcomes
As a nurse practitioner on the front lines, there is one thing I know: We need more trained health care professionals providing quality health care. Senate Bill 323 would allow the almost 20,000 nurse practitioners practicing across California to help in solving this problem by granting nurse practitioners full practice authority. Basically, this would allow California nurse practitioners to do what we do every day – providing patients with quality care. (Theresa Ullrich, 6/16)

The Desert Sun: Clear Up The Mystery At Desert Healthcare District
The Desert Healthcare District and its Chief Executive Officer Kathy Greco parted ways recently. Residents within the district’s boundaries – who fund its activities with their taxes – likely would appreciate some clarity on what spurred the move. For their part, neither the district’s board nor Greco are saying much. (6/11)