The Desert Sun: Desert Regional CEO, Nurse Discuss Latest Decision Over Palm Springs Hospital Lease
Following the Desert Healthcare District board's decision to begin crafting a new 30-year lease with Tenet Health for Desert Regional Medical Center, emotions continue to run high over the ongoing issue. (Sasic, 5/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: Young Healthcare Workers Report Stress, Burnout Related To Racism: 3 New Findings
Healthcare workers ages 18 to 29 are experiencing added stress and burnout caused by workplace racism and discrimination, according to a blog post released May 29 going into further detail of survey findings released in February. (Gooch, 5/30)

Stat: Many Docs Who Tweeted Product Endorsements Also Took Money From Manufacturers, Analysis Shows
Most physicians who endorsed a prescription drug or medical device on X — formerly known as Twitter — also received payments from the manufacturers of these products, according to a new analysis that highlights ongoing concerns about financial ties between doctors and industry. (Silverman, 5/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: Senator Urges Probe Of UnitedHealth 'Negligence' In Change Hack
Sen. Ron Wyden is urging regulators to investigate UnitedHealth Group for what he termed "negligent" security practices, which he believes contributed to the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. On May 30, Mr. Wyden wrote a letter to the FTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the agencies to probe UnitedHealth Group for "negligent cybersecurity practices." (Diaz, 5/30)

CapRadio: Self-Governed Sacramento Homeless Camp Secures Land Use Extension, But City Has Yet To Decide On Lease
A self-governed Sacramento homeless encampment plans to remain on a city-owned lot after securing a land use extension this week. Residents of and advocates for Camp Resolution announced the plan Thursday after securing a land use extension from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. The variance was set to expire on June 1, but a letter from the waterboard extends it to Dec. 1 in order to give the city of Sacramento, the tenant and board time to reach a new agreement. (Lam, 5/30)

LAist: A Less-Visible Side Of The Latino Homelessness Crisis
Trouble at the small apartment on Vernon Avenue had been brewing for months by the time things came to a head this spring. For Kevin Diaz Lopez, his housing problems began around October. That’s when his brother and two nephews moved out from the one-bedroom South Los Angeles apartment they all shared, moving to be closer to work in the Long Beach area. (Rojas, 5/30)

ABC30 Fresno: Tulare County Health Officials Confirm Measles Case From International Traveler 
The Tulare County Public Health Department has confirmed its first case of measles in 2024. Officials say the case is the traveler who flew to Fresno while having the disease. (5/30)

Los Angeles Times: Third U.S. Dairy Worker Comes Down With Avian Flu; Officials Monitoring Farm
Officials announced Thursday that a third U.S. dairy worker has been infected by avian flu, or H5N1. This is the second case in Michigan. Federal officials said that unlike the first two U.S. cases — whose symptoms were limited to conjunctivitis, or pink eye — this person presented with more typical flu-like respiratory symptoms. None of the three cases are associated with the others. The risk to the general population is still considered low, federal officials said. (Rust, 5/30)

Reuters: US Allows Bulk Milk Testing For Bird Flu Before Cattle Transport 
U.S. farmers will be able to test bulk supplies of milk from their dairy cows for bird flu rather than milk from individual cows before gaining approval to ship them across state lines, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday, in a move aimed at expanding testing. The change shows how government officials are trying to contain the disease while minimizing economic damage to farmers after the bird flu virus spread to cows and three dairy workers since late March. But some veterinarians warn the bulk tests may be insufficient. (Polansek, 5/30)

CIDRAP: WHO Launches Dengue Dashboard As Global Threat Remains High 
The global dengue burden has increased substantially over the past 5 years, and in 2024 so far, more than 7.6 million cases have been reported, which includes 16,000 severe infections and more than 3,000 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. To strengthen global tracking, the WHO has launched a new dashboard. So far, it has data from 103 countries. All regions except Europe have reported locally acquired cases this year. (Schnirring, 5/30)

CalMatters: Planned Parenthood Sought A Building Permit. Then A Southern California City Changed Zoning Rules 
The war over abortion is raging in statehouses around the country, but in California, a bastion of reproductive rights, the fight has shifted to local battlegrounds. In the Inland Empire region, Planned Parenthood is suing the city of Fontana, alleging its officials are illegally blocking its plans for a new clinic. (Brennan, 5/30)

The Hill: Majority Of Men Of Color Support Protecting Abortion Access: Poll
A new poll shows that men of color overwhelmingly support legal abortion. Eighty-eight percent of Black men support total legal abortion, according to a new poll from All* In Action Fund and HIT Strategies. Support is slightly lower among Asian American men at 83 percent, and among Latino men, 81 percent of whom support abortion.  (Daniels, 5/30)

Stat: Opioid Addiction Treatment Policy Shifts Away From Drug Abstinence
For as long as the federal government has worked to support substance use treatment, it has operated on a simple premise: Addiction medicine’s objective is to help people using drugs stop — completely and forever. But with over 100,000 Americans dying of drug overdose each year, the Biden administration appears to be changing its tack. (Facher, 5/31)

Axios: U.S. Drug Addiction Crisis Affects Tens Of Millions Of Lives
Everyone knows the country's addiction crisis is bad, but even the direst headlines just barely scratch the surface. We spend a lot of time talking about drug overdose deaths, which each year are nearly double the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. But overdose deaths are only one measure of the drug epidemic's severity — and even the formal toll doesn't capture the true extent of drugs' lethal power, experts say. (Owens, 5/31)

Bloomberg: Covid’s Aftereffects Can Last More Than Three Years, Study Finds
Covid’s aftereffects may reverberate for more than three years, often causing lingering pulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, according to a large study of US veterans. Although the risks for heart attack, blood clots, muscle weakness and a slew of other health problems abate over time, many patients remain in worse shape, especially those who’ve been hospitalized, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system said. (Gale, 5/30)

CIDRAP: Current COVID Boosters Offer Good Protection Against Severe Outcomes But Less So Against JN.1 
The current COVID-19 boosters targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant are still offering solid protection against infection, hospitalizations, and death, but are somewhat limited in efficacy against illnesses caused by the JN.1 subvariant, now the dominant strain in the United States, according to a research letter yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Soucheray, 5/30)

Stat: NIH Documents Show Early Flaws Of $1.6 Billion Long Covid Program
More than three years ago, the National Institutes of Health launched a $1 billion-plus initiative to find the root causes and potential treatments for long Covid, the chronic disease that has quickly changed the lives of millions of Americans. But a lack of visible progress from the initiative, called RECOVER, has drawn months of criticism from patient advocates, researchers, and lawmakers, including at a Senate hearing last week on the NIH’s budget. (Ladyzhets, 5/31)

Military.com: Watchdog Investigation Of Pentagon Traumatic Brain Injury Efforts Requested By 22 Lawmakers 
A large, bipartisan group of lawmakers say they have concerns over how the Pentagon is tracking traumatic brain injuries among troops and whether it's taking the issue seriously -- and they want a government watchdog to look into it. In a letter shared exclusively with Military.com, 22 members of Congress, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are asking the Government Accountability Office to review the Pentagon's efforts to identify, prevent and treat traumatic brain injuries related to service members' exposure to blast overpressure, the term used to describe the concussive effect of munitions. (Toropin, 5/30)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Set To Reorganize Its Food Division Starting October
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it plans to restructure its food division starting in October helping it to oversee human food supply chains and agricultural products more efficiently. The regulatory body had come under fire over its slow response to the infant formula shortage in 2022. (5/30)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sebastopol Hospital Should Keep Its Promise To Sonoma County
The company that owns Sonoma Specialty Hospital has reneged on a deal to provide urgent care services. Sonoma County should hold it accountable for $1.2 million plus interest. (5/28)

Sacramento Bee: California Must Ban Kratom Products, An Opioid-Like Drug 
While many Americans see drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine contributing to the drug crisis, another drug has recently emerged as a threat to public health: kratom. This opioid-like substance has contributed to hundreds of overdoses, but is promoted as the next wonder drug by well-funded lobbyists. It’s heartening to see legislators already weighing their options, and Californians would be well-served by their representatives taking action to ban sales of kratom. (Luke Niforatos, 5/31)

Los Angeles Times: Phew. Anti-Transgender Measure Won't Be On The November Ballot
A dozen statewide propositions have qualified for the November ballot. It’s a lot, although one or more could be pulled from consideration in the coming months. (And The Times’ editorial board will be there to help voters negotiate the long ballot with deeply reported recommendations.) Thankfully, voters won’t face a discriminatory proposition that would have required teachers and school administrators to inform parents about their child’s gender identity at school and to enact anti-trans bathroom and sports policies for students. Proponents of the ironically named Protect Kids California campaign, which also would have restricted medical care for transgender youth, announced this week that they failed to gather the more than half a million signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. (5/31)