Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California’s New Transparency Law Reveals Steep Rise In Wholesale Drug Prices
Pharmaceutical companies raised the wholesale cost of their drugs by a median of nearly 26% from 2017 to early 2019, according to California’s first-ever report stemming from a new drug price transparency law. Prices for generic drugs rose nearly 38% during that time. (Barbara Feder Ostrov and Harriet Blair Rowan, )
Good morning and happy Friday! Here are your top California health stories for the day.
For Vulnerable, Sick Californians Who Rely On Medical Equipment, Power Outages Stoke Fear And Resentment: The decision to turn electricity off for large areas of Northern California inconvenienced and frustrated hundreds of thousands of residents, but it became increasingly dangerous for the state’s most vulnerable. Around 600,000 customers were still without power on Thursday afternoon and there was no clear indication of when it might be restored. That uncertainty heightened residents’ anger as food spoiled and businesses and schools stayed closed. The California Department of Public Health said about 39 hospitals and 103 skilled nursing facilities had been affected by the blackout, as of Thursday evening. But much of the concern revolved around those who lived at home. Patients who need oxygen machines running nonstop to breathe began calling their nurses as soon as the outages were announced, asking what they should do. “We’ve dealt with power outages before, but never to this extent,” said Emma Baron, a nurse and vice president of quality, education and compliance at Hospice East Bay. “This is not that the electricity is out for 10 hours or six hours. This is going to be days, five or six days.” Nurses called their medical supplier to order backup oxygen tanks that can run without power. They were told supplies were already starting to run low because of increased demand related to the outages. Read more from Thomas Fuller of The New York Times; April Dembosky of KQED; and Gabrielle Paluch, Michele Chandler and Gabrielle Canon of the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
Meanwhile, despite an unprecedented effort to prevent wildfires, at least three of them erupted in Southern California on Thursday fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed evacuation orders after the high winds pushed the Saddleridge fire across two freeways and into communities. Read more from Jonathan Vigliotti of CBS News.
Researchers Call For Overhaul Of Medi-Cal So Program Better Addresses Children’s Mental Health Needs: The researchers propose a “hub and spoke” model for delivering early and preventive behavioral health services to families with young children, and connecting them with social supports. Kids and parents would be screened at a central location in their communities, such as a clinic, and providers would work with them to develop a family care plan. Families who need help would receive services on site, if available, such as parent-child therapy or child-parent bonding classes. They could also be referred to local “spoke” organizations for needs such as substance abuse treatment, affordable housing or support groups. Implementing this model would require existing providers to receive extensive training. The state would also need to develop a new workforce of people who can deliver the various supports families need, the report states. Read more from Claudia Boyd-Barrett of the California Health Report.
In other mental health news from Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times: Americans increasingly fear violence from people who are mentally ill. They shouldn’t. Read more here.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
CalMatters:
These Bills Could Make Life A Little Easier For Low-Income Californians
Lawmakers have passed a suite of bills that aim to ease financial burdens for Californians living paycheck to paycheck. While several new California laws have sparked national attention — such as the law that will convert gig economy workers into full employees and another to cap large rent increases — state legislators quietly approved dozens of other bills that address challenges faced by California’s poor. Among this year’s batch of anti-poverty bills, several tinker with public assistance programs to make them easier to get and to use. Others aim to protect people from financial catastrophes caused by crushing debt. (Jackie Botts, 10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Medical Marijuana OK At K-12 Schools In California After Gov. Newsom Signs New Law
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that paves the way for parents in some California school districts to bring medical cannabis to their students at K-12 campuses, breaking with former Gov. Jerry Brown, who had vetoed similar legislation last year. The measure, signed late Wednesday, allows medical cannabis that is not in smoking or vaping form to be administered to students by parents on campus if their school board has approved a policy providing the access. (McGreevy, 10/10)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California’s Antitrust Trial Against Sutter Health Delayed Until Next Week
Opening statements in California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s antitrust lawsuit against Sutter Health, which were slated to start Thursday, were delayed until next week because not enough jurors were present to begin the proceedings. The pool of 24 jurors lost several jurors to illness, medical conditions and other issues. Twelve jurors are needed to decide the case, but because the trial is expected to last three months, many backup jurors were added in the event that others drop out. (Ho, 10/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Infectious Mosquitoes Detected In Antelope May Carry Zika, Other Diseases
A new discovery of an especially infectious type of mosquito in the Antelope area has officials advising residents to take steps to help stop them from spreading. Officials with the Sacramento-Yolo mosquito and vector control district said they recently detected yellow fever mosquitoes, an aggressive species of day biters known as Aedes aegypti, in Antelope. The species has been linked to diseases such as the Zika virus, chikungunya and dengue fever. (Bobo, 10/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Measles Warning At Arclight And Erewhon On L.A.'s Westside
Los Angeles County officials are warning that residents may have been exposed to measles earlier this month. Health officials have confirmed that a person who spent time at a movie theater and stores on the Westside has been diagnosed with measles. (Karlamangla, 10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Measles Warning At Arclight And Erewhon On L.A.'s Westside
Los Angeles County officials are warning that residents may have been exposed to measles earlier this month. Health officials have confirmed that a person who spent time at a movie theater and stores on the Westside has been diagnosed with measles. Considered one of the most contagious diseases in the world, measles spreads through coughing and sneezing but can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the room. (Karlamangla, 10/10)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Sues City Sightseeing Tour Firm For Alleged Health Care Violations
City Attorney Dennis Herrera is suing the operators of the City Sightseeing tour bus company for allegedly failing to make mandatory health care payments for more than 200 employees over a three-year period. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera claims the companies that own City Sightseeing withheld $640,000 in health care payments from 215 employees and flouted a city law that requires businesses to fund at least a portion of their employees’ health care costs. (Fracassa, 10/10)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
West Health Opens New PACE Center In North County
For decades now, PACE centers across the nation have become well known for keeping frail seniors out of nursing homes by providing a range of tightly-coordinated services from meals and transportation to physical therapy and on-site doctor visits. The new Gary and Mary West PACE program that recently opened in San Marcos hopes to go even further. In addition to providing the first-ever such service to North County residents, they also will conduct research that could help prove what works best when caring for those with significant medical needs. (Sisson, 10/10)
The Associated Press:
2020 Democratic Candidates Pledge Support To LGBTQ Community
ddressing an LGBTQ community fearful that their gains in equality are slipping, Democratic presidential candidates on Thursday promised an aggressive agenda to end workplace discrimination, improve health care and ensure protections for people who face threats, or worse, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. At a televised forum in downtown Los Angeles, rivals for the party's nomination to challenge President Donald Trump took turns criticizing the Republican administration and detailing personal stories to underline their points before an audience of LGBTQ members, activists and supporters. (10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Democrats Vow To Reverse Trump Rollback Of LGBTQ Rights
In back-to-back appearances at a CNN town hall in Los Angeles, the Democrats sketched out similar agendas on LGBTQ issues. One after another, they vowed to reverse President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military and to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The most warmly received candidate was Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who spoke at the last primary debate about his decision to publicly come out as gay soon after returning from war. (Finnegan, 10/10)
Politico:
LBGTQ Forum Highlights Biden And Warren's Contrasting Styles
Asked what [Warren] would do to ensure passage of the Equality Act in the Senate, where Republicans currently hold the majority, Warren stressed that voters have to elect more Democrats into the upper chamber because LGBTQ protections are a priority for the Democratic Party and she wants to send a message to her GOP colleagues. “We believe that equal means equal everywhere,” Warren said of Democrats. “I also say it because I want our Republican friends to hear that in the United States Senate. I want them to know that people vote based on LGBTQ issues. So I’m willing to continue to push Mitch McConnell right now, but my No. 1 goal is to make sure that he is not the majority leader come January 2021.” (McCaskill, 10/11)
CNN:
9 Takeaways From CNN's Equality Town Hall
Judy Shepard, one of the nation's foremost LGBTQ rights figures, was on hand for CNN's town hall Thursday night and asked former Vice President Joe Biden how he would reduce hate crimes against LGBTQ and marginalized communities. Shepard is the mother of Matthew Shepard, the gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student whose 1998 murder is one of the nation's highest-profile hate crimes against LGBTQ people. ... Biden -- like other Democrats -- stressed the importance of passing the Equality Act, saying it would come "first and foremost." (Bradner, Merica, Krieg, Reston and Rocha, 10/11)
USA Today:
Trans Women Of Color The Focus Of Protestors Who Interrupt CNN Town Hall
Audience members interrupted a CNN LGBTQ town hall on Thursday night multiple times, raising banners and calling attention to violence against transgender women of color. They first interrupted Pete Buttigieg’s opening answer, walking to the front of the room just as the South Bend, Indiana, mayor and Democratic presidential candidate was beginning to answer a question. They were holding up a transgender pride flag with the words "we are dying" written on it, shouting “Trans people are dying!” and "Do something!" (Behrmann, 10/10)
Politico:
Bernie Sanders: Voters Have A ‘Right To Know’ About My Health
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Thursday he’ll make his medical records public at the “appropriate time.” “People do have a right to know about the health of a senator and someone running for president,” Sanders told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta in a live interview at his Burlington, Vt. home. “At the appropriate time we'll make all the medical records public for you or anyone else who wants to see them.” (Semones, 10/10)
Politico:
Senate Democrats Seek To Reverse Trump's Regulations On Health Care, Taxes, Environment
Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats will pursue a series of votes in the coming weeks to roll back some of President Donald Trump’s regulations on health care, taxes and the environment. ... Senate Democrats will also force votes on rolling back the administration’s greenlighting skimpier health care plans that do not meet the standards of the Affordable Care Act. They will also hit back at regulations preventing workarounds to part of the 2017 tax cut law, which put a $10,000 ceiling on the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes, a limit that’s largely affected taxpayers in New York, New Jersey and California, along with a few other states. (Everett and Adragna, 10/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
Government Watchdog Faults Trump Administration’s Approval Of Medicaid Work Requirements
The Trump administration has approved states’ plans to impose work requirements on people who get Medicaid even though estimated implementation costs are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, a federal oversight report said Thursday. The Government Accountability Office said in the report that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowed states to add work requirements without requiring projections on the administrative costs, which is inconsistent with federal control standards. The administrative costs of the programs aren’t transparent to the public, based on the report, and aren’t included in calculations ensuring they don’t cause additional federal spending. (Armour, 10/10)
The New York Times:
New E.P.A. Lead Standards Would Slow Replacement Of Dangerous Pipes
The Trump administration on Thursday proposed new regulations on lead and copper in drinking water, updating a nearly 30-year-old rule that may have contributed to the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Mich., that began in 2015. The draft plan, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Andrew Wheeler, at a news conference in Green Bay, Wis., includes some provisions designed to strengthen oversight of lead in drinking water. But it skips a pricey safety proposal advocated by public health groups and water utilities: the immediate replacement of six million lead pipes that connect homes to main water pipes. The proposed new rule would also more than double the amount of time allotted to replace lead pipes in water systems that contain high levels of lead. (Davenport, 10/10)
Reuters:
Amid Vaping Crisis, U.S. To Issue New Advice For Doctors Focused On Lung Infections
U.S. health officials are preparing to release new guidance for doctors stressing the need to ask every patient with an apparent respiratory infection about their vaping history. The updated guidance will also advise physicians on how to diagnose and manage patients who may have both a lung infection and a vaping injury. (10/10)
The Associated Press:
US Urges Shared Decisions With Pain Patients Taking Opioids
U.S. health officials again warned doctors Thursday against abandoning chronic pain patients by abruptly stopping their opioid prescriptions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services instead urged doctors to share such decisions with patients. The agency published steps for doctors in a six-page guide and an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (10/10)
The Hill:
World Mental Health Day — California Takes Initiative In Battling Depression
Today is World Mental Health Day. And, California, a state with 10 percent of the U.S. population, just announced that it’s introducing the first toll-free statewide mental health line for non-emergency emotional support and referrals. What a wonderful way to kick off this occasion. This Peer-Run Warm Line is a reason to celebrate. As a psychologist, I’ve witnessed first-hand the emotional pains people carry, and how hard it is for them to come in for formal therapy. (Cook, 10/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Gavin Newsom Should Sign Bill To Lower CA Youth Suicide Rate
There is a mental health crisis in our schools, and California’s leaders are doing something about it. Last month, the state Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 428, which expands access to trainings that will help teachers and school staff recognize and act on the mental health needs of their students. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs, 1 in 3 high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row. (Jennifer Bayliss, 10/9)
Los Angeles Times:
There's Enormous Waste In U.S. Healthcare, So Why Isn't Anyone Doing Anything About It?
As Mark Twain reputedly said about the weather, everybody talks about waste in the U.S. healthcare system, but nobody does anything about it. A new study puts numbers on the scale of that waste and nails down its sources. But it leaves open the question of what to do about it. That’s especially true of the largest single source identified by the authors: “administrative complexity,” which accounts for as much as $265.6 billion in waste a year, or as much as one-third of the total. Yet that’s the one category for which the authors could find not a single article offering solutions for cuts. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/8)
Sacramento Bee:
California’s New Normal: How Climate Change Forced PG&E Blackout
Not enough of us have grasped what we are living with now – a new normal that is not normal – as California experiences the largest blackout in its history. PG&E is a convenient target for public scorn as 500,000 people had their electricity turned off because a massive utility dreaded live power lines tumbling in high winds and igniting cataclysmic wild fires more than it did having huge swaths of the north state go dark for days. (Marcos Breton, 10/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento CA Medical Center Gives 'Health Home’ To Patients
The community you live in is part of who you are. Even if you do not interact with your community every day, you recognize that the decisions you make impact those around you. While community health is tied to individual wellness, it’s the understanding that we are part of something larger than ourselves that promotes a collective responsibility. Improved health status at the community level is not just about health care, but also the intersection of access, economics and social interaction. (Britta Guerrero, 10/11)
San Jose Mercury News:
Use Power Of Purse To Curb Gun Violence In California
The opening of the “Joker” film across the country has reignited a conversation on the role guns and violence play in our society. From superheroes to sympathetic super-villains, guns are introduced to us as a symbol of power and control; a fairy-tale promise of dominance and self-preservation. The reality, however, is a story of cold, hard cash propping up politicians who turn a blind eye as gun violence, mass shootings, and local terrorist attacks cost innocent families everything while the gun industry profits hand over fist. (Joe Sanberg, 10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Doctors Ordered An Air Ambulance Flight. Anthem Blue Cross Won't Pay
Hassanzai said the ER doctor on duty felt unsuited to handle the scope of Ethan’s issues. She asked where he’d had his earlier brain surgery — UCLA — and immediately contacted the Westwood facility. ...Ethan was flown 20 miles north, treated and released after two nights in UCLA’s intensive care unit. Then came the bill for the air ambulance. A company called Reach Air Medical Services wanted $51,000 for the trip. (David Lazarus, 10/8)
Los Angeles Times:
When Housing Homeless People Meets Your Backyard
When Pilar Schiavo got word that a homeless housing project might be going up near her daughter’s school, Chatsworth Park Elementary, she went on the parents’ Facebook page “to ask some questions and get the facts.” Four hours later, Schiavo logged off — still short on facts, and chastened by an online juggernaut of parents rallying to block the project. (Sandy Banks, 10/10)
CalMatters:
Former Death Row Inmate Thanks Newsom For Halting Executions
I do not believe in coincidence. Too many of the events along my journey from death row to exoneration were filled with deeper meaning. In 1985, I was a 24-year-old honorably discharged Marine who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die in Maryland for a crime I did not commit. Then in 1989, I got “The Blooding” by Jospeh Wambaugh from the prison library. It was a book about a new forensic breakthrough called DNA fingerprinting. (Kirk Bloodworth, 10/10)