Los Angeles Times: Immigrants Here Illegally Could Have Chance To Buy Health Coverage If Brown Signs Legislation
The state Senate on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a measure that would ask for federal approval to allow immigrants in the country illegally to purchase their own health insurance through the Covered California exchange. State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) said his bill may lead to an estimated 390,000 immigrants who earn an income too high to qualify for Medi-Cal to fully pay for healthcare coverage through the state exchange under the Affordable Care Act. (McGreevy, 6/2)

KPCC: California Takes Step To Extend Obamacare To Immigrants Without Legal Status
On Thursday, the state Senate voted 27-8 to approve SB 10, a bill that directs the state to seek a federal waiver to an existing rule barring unauthorized immigrants from purchasing coverage through Covered California, the state health exchange. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), cleared the state Assembly earlier this week. (Berestein Ropas, 6/2)

San Jose Mercury News: Insuring Illegal Immigrants: California Legislature Approves Bill Allowing Families To Buy Plans Through State Exchange
"Covered California should be able to live up to its name and serve all Californians regardless of immigration status," said Anthony Wright, director of Health Access California, which lobbied to pass the legislation. It cleared the Senate 27-8 and the Assembly 55-20. SB 10 was one of almost 500 pieces of legislation the Senate and Assembly considered this week during several days of back-to-back, marathon floor sessions. (Calefati, 6/2)

The Associated Press: California Doctors Uneasy About Prescribing Lethal Drugs
Terry Petrovich asked her oncologist point blank: “Am I going to count on you to help me achieve a good death?” To her relief, he told her he would have no problem prescribing a lethal dose of drugs under California’s new law allowing such prescriptions for the terminally ill. But many in California’s medical community are grappling with the law that goes into effect June 9. Some physicians have told their patients they are not willing to play a role in intentionally ending a person’s life. (Watson, 6/3)

The Associated Press: Things To Know: California's New Rules For End-Of-Life Drugs
California's new law allowing life-ending drugs for the terminally ill has the strictest requirements of any of the five states that permit such prescriptions. Many physicians say they are nervous about prescribing lethal doses of drugs for the terminally ill. The law in the nation's most populous state took decades to pass and goes into effect June 9. There are concerns it will lead to hasty decisions, misdiagnosis, and even waning support by insurers for palliative care, in which dying people can be sedated to relieve their suffering. (Watson, 6/3)

Los Angeles Times: Pasadena Hospital Broke The Law By Not Reporting Outbreak, Health Officials Say
Pasadena’s Huntington Hospital broke state law by not quickly reporting a suspected deadly outbreak last year, according to a letter by city officials. The hospital released the letter this week, as well as the results of the city’s investigation into the outbreak caused by dirty scopes, which sickened 16 patients, including 11 who died. City health officials did not investigate the cause of the patients’ deaths, many of whom were seriously ill. The officials noted in the report that only one patient’s death certificate listed as a cause the dangerous drug-resistant bacteria that contaminated the scopes and sickened the patients. (Petersen, 6/2)

In other hospital news —

The Desert Sun: Health District Board OKs Six-Month Severance For Greco
Kathy Greco will be paid her full salary through the end of 2016 — eight months beyond her departure — under a severance package the district's board approved in a split vote Thursday. Greco, the public agency's former CEO, will remain on paid administrative leave through the end of July and then receive an additional six months salary, or $88,200, according to the district. (Newkirk, 6/2).

Inewsource: Hidden Cameras To Catch A Thief Might Nab A PR Disaster
A very angry San Diego doctor went rogue last month. In his “Open Letter to the Public,” he blasted the hospital where he once worked for aiming secret video cameras on doctors and staff as well as their patients for nearly a year. Motion-activated, they captured 14,000 or so scenes showing hundreds of women undergoing obstetric and gynecologic surgeries. Now, the hospital’s accidental release of some of those video clips may constitute an embarrassing privacy breach, currently under investigation. (Clark, 6/3)

The Washington Post: House Fetal Tissue Panel Sharpens Focus On California Firm, Demands HHS Probe
The chairwoman of a special House committee investigating links between abortion clinics and medical researchers is accusing a firm that transfers fetal tissue between the two of violating federal privacy laws and ethics regulations. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who leads the select investigative panel established last year, alleges that California-based StemExpress engaged in “systematic violations” of federal health privacy laws and accuses it of “fraudulently using invalid consent forms” in its dealings with Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. (DeBonis, 6/2)

San Francisco Business Times: How Wearables And Apps Are Revolutionizing Personal Health
How many of your friends, family members or co-workers have a MapMyRun app on their phone, or are wearing a FitBit? Chances are, a lot of them. In fact, Forrester reported in 2015 that 20 percent of Americans have admitted to owning and using a wearable fitness device. (Borack, 6/3)

In other news, NantHealth has a strong first day of trading —

The Los Angeles Times: Shares Jump On IPO For Soon-Shiong Start-Up NantHealth
Shares of biotech start-up NantHealth, run by Los Angeles billionaire physician Patrick Soon-Shiong, had a strong first day of trading Thursday, closing 32% above their offer price.The price of a NantHealth share closed at $18.59, up $4.59. NantHealth offered 6.5 million new shares at $14 a share, raising more than $90 million. That amounts to 5.5% of the company’s total shares after the offering. At the offer price, the company was valued at $1.65 billion. NantHealth sells software and medical records systems to hospitals and other providers. It soon plans to commercially sell a cancer test that analyzes patients’ DNA to determine the best treatments. (Masunaga and Petersen, 6/2)

The Modesto Bee: Planned Parenthood Health Center In Modesto Reopens
As the arson investigation into the May 25 fire at the Planned Parenthood Modesto Health Center continues, the McHenry Avenue facility has reopened and a prayer vigil will be held there Sunday. “The health center is open today with limited services for express visits,” Liz Figueroa, vice president of public affairs for San Jose-based Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, said Thursday. Services being offered include birth control, pregnancy tests and oral contraceptives. “Things are going smoothly; patients are being seen,” she added. (Farrow, 6/2)

The Los Angeles Daily News: Drug To Treat Syphilis Runs Short As Infection Rates In LA County Soar
A brand of penicillin used to treat pregnant women infected with or exposed to syphilis is in short supply across Los Angeles County and nationwide, and physicians were urged Thursday to maintain reserves. (Abram, 6/2)

In other health care news from across the state —

The Sacramento Bee: West Nile Virus Detected In Arden Arcade, Fair Oaks Areas
Three mosquito samples and six new dead birds in Sacramento County have tested positive for West Nile virus. The test results were confirmed Thursday by the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District. The mosquito sample and four of the birds were collected from the Arden Arcade area, and the two other birds were found near Fair Oaks, according to a district news release. (Locke, 6/2)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Scripps Opens Innovative Outpatient Building
A newly-opened $130 million outpatient clinic next to Prebys Cardiovascular Institute in La Jolla, provides quick access and enhanced capabilities for doctors with Scripps Clinic Medical Group. The 175,000-square-foot John R. Anderson V Medical Pavilion is one of the first in the state to contain cardiac catheterization labs outside of an acute-care hospital. (Sisson 6/2)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Cracks Down On Illegal Dispensaries
Landlords and operators of two illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego must pay $830,000 total in civil fines, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The ruling comes less than a month after operators of two other illegal dispensaries were criminally charged under a new, more aggressive approach by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. (Garrick 6/2)

The Associated Press Fact Checker: Trumped-Up Charge On 'Obamacare' Premiums
Donald Trump says the Obama administration plans to keep consumers in the dark about premium increases for 2017 under the president's health care law — for political reasons. But the administration says next year's sign-up season is going forward on schedule, and insurers say they've seen no indication of a delay. "The numbers are coming out, right now, the numbers are scheduled to come out on November 1. The increases are going to be so large that everybody is going to vote for Donald Trump. It's a catastrophe," the presumptive Republican nominee for president, said Wednesday at a rally in Sacramento. (6/3)

The New York Times: Prince Died From Accidental Overdose of Opioid Painkiller

Los Angeles Times: Prince Died From An Overdose Of A Powerful Painkiller Described As 'Heroin On Steroids'

The Wall Street Journal: Pop Star Prince Died Of Opioid Fentanyl Overdose

The Associated Press: Finding Overdose Killed Prince Just The Beginning Of Probe

The Associated Press: Prince's Death Adds To Opioid Overdose Epidemic's Grim Toll

The Washington Post: Prince’s Death By Opioid Overdose Is A Very Public Example Of A Growing Cultural Problem

The New York Times: Prince Overdosed on Fentanyl. What Is It?

The New York Times: Donald Verrilli Will Step Down As U.S. Solicitor General
The Justice Department announced on Thursday that Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who won historic Supreme Court rulings for the Obama administration on its signature health care law and on same-sex marriage, would be stepping down as the nation’s top appellate lawyer. Mr. Verrilli, 58, has been the solicitor general for five years, arguing the administration’s position before the justices during an unusual wave of contentious cases that drew attention far outside the legal world. (Lichtblau, 6/2)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press: Medicare Doesn't Cover Everything
Younger people may not realize it, but seniors know well that Medicare doesn't cover all health-related needs and expenses. Many Medicare beneficiaries have some kind of supplemental insurance that partly covers the gaps. But those policies mainly provide financial protection for the patient's share of costs for regular doctor visits and hospital care covered by Medicare. Until 2006, Medicare didn't cover prescription drugs. (6/2)

The New York Times: Zika May Be Transmitted by Oral Sex, Scientists Find
Scientists raised the possibility that the Zika virus can be transmitted by oral sex — perhaps even by kissing — on Friday in a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine describing one such case in France. A single incident may seem trivial. But until early this year, there was only one known instance of sexual transmission of the Zika virus — a 2008 case in which a mosquito researcher just back from Africa infected his wife in Colorado. (McNeil, 6/2)

Stat: In Treating Obese Patients, Too Often Doctors Can't See Past Weight
The persistent cough started when Rebecca Hiles was 16. She was an active high school senior, though, at 180 pounds, overweight for her height. She was diagnosed with airway irritation, given medicine, and advised to lose weight. But she was unprepared for how much those extra pounds would dog her over the course of the next seven years — overshadowing her doctors’ visits while a tumor grew undetected in her lung. (Adaeze Okewerekwu, 6/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Family Caregivers Become More Crucial As Elderly Population Grows
Strain on family caregivers is alarming many lawmakers and social-service providers. They are pushing for new ways to assist the vast unpaid workforce of people who are crucial in part because they allow more seniors to age in place and reduce reliance on public subsidies such as Medicaid, a major funder of institutional health care for older Americans. “Families have always been the backbone of our system for caring for people,” said Kathy Greenlee, the assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Really, if we didn’t have them, we couldn’t afford as a country to monetize their care and we couldn’t replace, frankly, the love they provide to family members.” (Levitz, 6/3)

The Los Angeles Times: Why Are Drug Prices Soaring? Policymakers Aren't Sure. It's Time They Find Out
The growth in U.S. healthcare spending has slowed considerably in recent years, with one notable exception: prescription drugs. The amount spent on prescriptions has climbed sharply over the last 2 ½ years, driven in part by consecutive years of double-digit price increases. It’s not just a handful of blockbuster drugs that are draining wallets; it’s higher costs for all categories of drugs, including generic medications that have been on the market for years. (6/1)

Los Angeles Times: Forbes Cuts Estimated Wealth Of 'Billionaire' Theranos Founder To $0
Forbes, the publisher of seemingly countless lists of the world’s billionaires, is patting itself on the back for seeing through the hype about the blood-testing company Theranos and its glamorous 32-year-old founder, Elizabeth Holmes. In connection with the release Wednesday of its second annual list of America’s richest self-made women, it cut the estimate of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion—the tally that placed her at the very summit of the list last year – to zero. In doing so, however, Forbes unwittingly exposed the essential fatuousness of such lists.The question Forbes should answer is how Holmes got listed in the first place. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/1)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Thumbs Down: Cutting Off Funds For The Most Vulnerable
Clearly, somebody — or several people — deserved disciplinary action up to and including termination. But what was the federal government’s response? It cut off an estimated $26 million in federal funds that would have gone toward patient care. Granted, this was not an isolated breakdown at the facility, and federal authorities had warned that the center could lose funding if problems persisted. But it’s hard to see how cutting off funding is going to improve care for the remaining residents at the Eldridge complex, a facility that already faces the potential of closure in 2018. (6/1)

The Bakersfield Californian: As Americans Hit The Highway, Blood Donations Needed
In observance of Trauma Awareness Month and in preparation for the Memorial Day holiday, Houchin Community Blood Bank is urging all eligible donors to give blood, plasma or platelets to help ensure lifesaving blood products are available to respond to emergencies, including vehicle accidents. A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 units of blood. It is critical that Houchin be prepared for this expected need with a good supply of all types of blood products, including platelets and plasma. (Greg Gallion, 5/26)

Fresno Bee: Head Start Can Make Entire Families Healthier
Head Start is already great at helping kids succeed in life. Now it’s working at helping families become healthier, too. The UCLA Health Care Institute, where I work as research director, has developed a way to use business-management principles to improve the health of families. What that means in practice is that we’ve changed the way Head Start staffers are trained to do health promotion. (Ariella Herman, 5/26)

The Los Angeles Times: How To Negotiate The Medical Bill Maze In Search Of A Better Deal
Act fast, negotiate hard and don't pay the "sticker price" for healthcare if you can possibly avoid it. Start by reviewing your bills for errors such as duplicate charges, fees for services you didn't receive and charges that seem excessive. A medical billing advocate may spot more subtle overcharges, such as separate, higher fees for procedures that should have been billed together as one bundle. (Liz Weston, 5/29)

Fresno Bee: Heat Can Be A Disaster If We’re Not Prepared
We’ve learned the terrible lesson that heat waves can’t be ignored. The forecast is predicting temperatures of 103 degrees – and higher – through Sunday. After the horrible heat wave of 2006, even the most fit Valley natives know to take special care. Ten years ago in mid-July, temperatures topped 100 degrees 10 days in a row; they never dipped below 80 at night. In those 10 awful days, 26 people perished in Fresno County. ...Every Valley county now offers “cooling centers,” from shopping malls to civic to hospitals. (6/1)

The Los Angeles Times: Mergers In The Healthcare Sector: Why You'll Pay More
We know all about the benefits in store for us when big hospital chains merge and bigger health insurance companies grow even bigger: Lower prices. More efficient healthcare. More innovation. Better customer service. That's what hospital and insurance companies say, anyway. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/27)

Sacramento Business Journal: Prevention, Support Should Be Priority
Savings from Proposition 47 prison reforms should be spent on mental health, drug treatment and prevention programs. (Glennah Trochet, 5/27)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Adding Some Facts To ‘Frankenfood’ Debate
Sonoma County voters will be asked, again, to ban genetically modified crops and seeds via an initiative on the November ballot. In 2005, local voters said no. But the idea has simmered ever since, with plenty of emotion on both sides, mirroring ongoing national debates about the safety of GMO crops and the wisdom of requiring labels on foods containing GMOs. A long-awaited report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine offers some facts to inform those strong feelings. (5/29)