Capital & Main: Domino Effect: Calculating The Dangers Posed By Medi-Cal Cuts
While the conversation around cutting Medicaid funding can be made to feel either academic or political, in reality it is neither. It’s human. And in California, where nearly 15 million residents receive health care largely based on Medicaid funding, the potentially toxic effects on the state’s collective health are all too real. Those possibilities are already the subject of worried conversations among some of the folks who provide care to residents who can’t afford to receive it any other way. (Kreidler, 3/13)

Los Angeles Times: In California, Cost Of Undocumented Healthcare Is $3B Over Estimates
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in the state Legislature are under pressure to scale back the expansion of state-sponsored healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants with the cost of the program more the $3 billion over budget. (Luna, 3/13)

CalMatters: GOP Blames Immigrant Health Care As Medi-Cal Costs Increase
The California health care program that covers almost 15 million people is costing more money than Gov. Gavin Newsom projected, creating a new budget problem in a lean year. Now his administration is borrowing $3.4 billion from the state’s general fund to cover the unexpected cost increase. It’s unclear when the administration plans to restore the money. The administration acknowledges that more people are enrolled in the program than the state anticipated, and that the state is spending more than it planned on coverage expansions for immigrants without legal status. (Ibarra and Hwang, 3/14)

Modesto Bee: Modesto Hospital Says Robotic System Catches Lung Cancer Early
Doctors Medical Center operates in a geographic region with elevated lung cancer rates and cancer mortality that’s well above the average in California. The Modesto hospital recently invested in a robotic, noninvasive technology for biopsies of hard-to-reach lesions in the lungs and to remove suspected tumors early. The Ion Robot increases the accuracy of biopsies that determine if a tumor is cancerous and assists with cutting out small lesions before they can grow larger, said Dr. Mohammed Abo Khamis, a pulmonologist who has utilized the Ion Robot at DMC since November. (Carlson, 3/14)

MedPage Today: MedPAC Report Calls For Increases In Doc Pay For Medicare Services
Physician and other health professional services should get an annual 1.3% increase in Medicare claims reimbursement, and Congress should set a separate safety-net payment averaging 1.7% more for clinicians serving low-income fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries. Those were two recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) March report to Congress. The independent agency advises Congress on issues related to payment, quality of care, and access to care for 65 million beneficiaries. (Clark, 3/13)

Military.Com: VA To Step Up Rollout Of New Electronic Health Records System In 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to bring its new Federal Electronic Health Records system to nine more medical centers in 2026 than previously announced, VA officials said earlier this month. The program, which has suffered multiple setbacks since it was first introduced in the Pacific Northwest in late 2020, was to restart at four sites in Michigan in 2026. However, following meetings between the VA, medical center personnel and Oracle Health, the company that designed the system, more sites will be added in locations that will be determined following an in-depth analysis, according to the VA. (Kime, 3/13)

Politico: HHS Braces For A Reorganization
The Trump administration is readying to slash the Department of Health and Human Services workforce again, according to seven people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the changes. The announcement could come soon, three of the people said. (Reader, Cirruzzo and Cancryn, 3/13)

The Washington Post: Judges Tell Trump Officials To Offer Fired Workers Their Jobs Back
Two federal judges on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to immediately offer jobs back to thousands of fired probationary workers as they imposed separate, broad roadblocks on the administration’s efforts. The rulings — in Maryland and California — mark the most significant challenge so far to Trump’s campaign to shrink and reshape the sprawling, 2.3-million-person bureaucracy. (Rizzo and Mettler, 3/13)

MedPage Today: NCI-Designated Cancer Centers Worry About Their Future
These are uncertain times for National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers. Some have had their site visits for grant renewals cancelled -- only to have them rescheduled to virtual visits. Others are still awaiting the release of funding, even after having their renewals rubber-stamped for approval. On top of that, the advisory councils that make final funding decisions had been cancelled and still have not been rescheduled, several sources close to the matter told MedPage Today. (Fiore, 3/13)

Roll Call: Oz's Ties To Insurers May Loom Over His CMS Confirmation Hearing 
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will likely face questions during his confirmation hearing Friday about his past support of expanding the Medicare Advantage program as well as his financial ties to the industry he will be tasked with overseeing. (Heller, 3/13)

Stat: Trump Picks To Lead FDA, NIH Move Closer To Senate Confirmation 
The Senate health committee voted on Thursday to endorse Marty Makary as Food and Drug Administration commissioner and Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health. (Owermohle and Lawrence, 3/13)

CNN: After Canceling Meeting Of Independent Advisers, FDA Issues 2025-26 Flu Vaccine Recommendations
The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued recommendations for the composition of influenza shots for the upcoming respiratory virus season, but without input from its independent vaccine advisers. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee had been scheduled to meet Thursday to weigh in on the composition of the flu shots, but that session was canceled without explanation in late February. (Dillinger and Goodman, 3/13)

The Washington Post: Five Years Since The Pandemic Began, Covid May Now Be Endemic, Experts Say
Five years after the pandemic began, covid-19 is now more consistent with an endemic disease, U.S. health experts said.It has become similar to influenza — an endemic disease — in terms of the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death, experts said. The coronavirus, which causes covid, is now less deadly, though it is more transmissible and is expected to continue experiencing waves, some of which could be severe, they said. ... There is no clear threshold for when a disease transitions from pandemic to endemic, but the endemicity of covid is largely agreed upon in the medical community, said William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases and preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University. (Bever and Gilbert, 3/13)

CIDRAP: Study: MIS-C May Be Triggered By Latent Epstein-Barr Virus
A new study suggests that kids who develop MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children), a severe complication following COVID-19 infections, may do so because COVID reactivates a latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in their bodies. The study appears in Nature. (Soucheray, 3/13)

The New York Times: Parents Of Babies Who Are Too Young For Measles Vaccine Worry About Outbreaks 
Infants are at higher risk of complications from the measles but can’t be vaccinated right away. (Pearson, 3/14)

CBS News: How Disease Detectives Are Hunting For Viruses At Major U.S. Airports
In the past year, over 135 million passengers traveled to the U.S. from other countries. To infectious disease experts, that represents 135 million chances for an outbreak to begin. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been discreetly searching for viral pathogens in wastewater from airplanes. Experts are worried that these efforts may not be enough. The CDC's Traveler Genomic Surveillance Program tests wastewater from airplanes, looking for pathogens that may have hitched a ride with passengers on long-haul international flights. (Cauchi and Gounder, 3/13)

Los Angeles Times: Gene Hackman's Death Prompts Edict From Bruce Willis' Wife
Before Gene Hackman died, his wife, Betsy Arakawa, was the 95-year-old’s primary caregiver. Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming, has been the “Die Hard” star’s primary caregiver since he stepped away from acting in March 2022. The deaths of Arakawa and Hackman, one after the other over the course of a week or so in February, are why Heming is speaking out this week about the importance of caring for caregivers — and anyone who has ever cared for a sick loved one can relate to her message. (D'Zurilla, 3/13)

CalMatters: Threats To California Schools, Buildings, Often Not Prosecuted
For over six months, San Diego resident Lee Lor sent hundreds of emails threatening a mass shooting at Shoal Creek Elementary School as replies to random spam emails. He was arrested and spent 10 months in jail, but the charges were dismissed by a judge last October because Lor didn’t name a specific individual in his threats, as the law requires for prosecution. (3/14)

Orange County Register: Los Angeles Spends Billions On Homelessness With Little Accountability
If you believe homelessness spending in California is not accomplishing its intended purpose, you must be assuming that the purpose is to reduce homelessness. It’s not. (Susan Shelley, 3/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Food Lines In SF Are Already Long. They're About To Get Longer
Each week, as president and CEO of the San Francisco social justice nonprofit Glide, I walk past the lines of people who wait for our free meal program. Those lines typically extend a city block. They’re about to get longer. (Dr. Gina Fromer, 3/12)

Times of San Diego: Senior Meals In San Diego Are At Risk In Federal Budget Fight
For too many of San Diego’s low income and homeless older adults, food insecurity is a daily struggle. Finding a decent meal is challenging. Nearly one in four people in San Diego County are food insecure with 170,000 of them being 60 and older. Serving Seniors is the largest provider of meals to San Diego County older adults since its inception in 1970, and of home-delivered meals for over 30 years. At the most basic level, our team works hard 365 days a year to ensure no older adult goes to bed hungry. (Paul Downey, 3/11)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Beliefs On Fluoride Will Hurt California’s Kids 
One aspect of Kennedy’s ideology not getting as much attention though, is his debunked beliefs on the effects fluoride has in drinking water. And if those beliefs turn to actions, it could pour fuel on the already dangerous situation concerning the oral health of California’s kids. (Eileen Espejo, 3/12)

Orange County Register: To Slow Overdose Deaths, California Needs More Flexibility 
In California, overdoses have been falling for about a year. It’s a ray of hope largely attributable to a complex web of public-health outreach, individual behavior change, and a willingness to find local solutions to local issues. But the overdose crisis isn’t over. That’s because—as new research demonstrates—the drug supply is and will remain in flux. (Stacey McKenna, 3/10)

CalMatters: Is Newsom's Tack Right To Oppose Transgender Athletes Just Posturing?
Newsom’s slow drift to the right became a jolt last week when, on the first segment of his new podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom,” he declared opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports. (Dan Walters, 3/12)