CalMatters: SoCal Mental Health Workers Prepare Strike At Kaiser Permanente
California mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente are preparing to strike for the second time in a little more than two years, citing stressful working conditions, lack of pensions and inadequate pay —with resultant impacts on patient care. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents nearly 2,400 Kaiser Permanente behavioral health workers in Southern California, on Thursday officially advised the health care giant that its members will begin an open-ended strike on Oct. 21. (Wiener, 10/11)

KQED: San Francisco’s Homeless Tent Count Drops To Record Low, Mayor Says
The number of tents on San Francisco streets is at its lowest point since before the city started counting in 2018, according to new quarterly figures announced on Thursday by Mayor London Breed. The latest tally, conducted this month, found 242 tents and other structures around the city, down 60% from the 609 counted in July 2023, when a steady month-over-month decline began. The recent count found only five encampments of five or more tents, down from 14 last July. Declines were seen in every supervisorial district, ranging from a 9% drop in District 3 to 96% in District 8. (Rancaño, 10/10)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Homelessness Along The San Diego River Hits Its Highest Total Yet 
An estimated 423 homeless people are now living along the San Diego River, putting them at increased risk of drowning as well as creating new challenges for outreach workers, first responders and surrounding wildlife. (Nelson, 10/10)

San Diego Union-Times: Oceanside To Tighten Enforcement Of Homeless Camps On Public Property
Oceanside approved a tune-up of its homelessness policies Wednesday to make it easier to remove encampments from public property, in response to a Supreme Court decision earlier this year and a spate of recent violence. (Diehl, 10/10)

California Healthline: Extended-Stay Hotels, A Growing Option For Poor Families, Can Lead To Health Problems For Kids
Extended-stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families trying to avoid homelessness. But hotel living can lead to — or exacerbate — various physical and mental health issues for children, say advocates for families and researchers who study homelessness. (Miller and Rayasam, 10/11)

Reuters: California Confirms Fourth Human Case Of Bird Flu
California on Thursday confirmed a fourth case of bird flu in a person who had contact with infected dairy cattle. Nationwide, 18 people this year have tested positive for the virus, which has been confirmed in dairy herds in 14 states. All but one of the people were known to be exposed to sick cattle or poultry. The four people who tested positive in California, the most populous U.S. state, were exposed to infected cows at four separate farms, the California Department of Public Health said. (10/10)

AP: BrucePac Recalls Nearly 10 Million Pounds Of Meat For Listeria
A company is recalling nearly 10 million pounds of meat and poultry products made at an Oklahoma plant because they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria that can cause illness and death. BrucePac of Woodburn, Oregon, recalled the roughly 5,000 tons of ready-to-eat foods this week after U.S. Agriculture Department officials detected listeria in samples of poultry during routine testing. Further tests identified BrucePac chicken as the source. The recall includes 75 meat and chicken products. (Aleccia, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Microsoft, Epic Partner On AI Tool To Reduce Nursing Burnout
Microsoft is adding new artificial intelligence tools for healthcare customers, the big tech company announced Thursday. The company said it has partnered with electronic health record vendor Epic Systems along with several health systems to build an ambient AI solution that will allow nurses to efficiently document in the electronic health record. It was important for the company to create a solution that’s differentiated from the numerous physician-centric AI documentation tools, said Mary Varghese Presti, vice president of portfolio evolution and incubation at Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, during a briefing with reporters. (Perna, 10/10)

CIDRAP: IV Fluid Shortages Worsened By Hurricane Helene Likely To Linger Despite Larger Allocations
Shortages of intravenous (IV) fluids, worsened by Hurricane Helene damage at Baxter's Marion, North Carolina, manufacturing plant, are expected to continue for months, although allocations to customers and distributors have increased, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a letter to hospitals yesterday. (Van Beusekom, 10/10)

Newsweek: Against The Odds, Hospitals Are Getting Safer
Hospitals are performing better on quality and safety metrics than they did pre-pandemic, despite seeing sicker patients—and more of them. That's according to a new report from the American Hospital Association and Vizient, a health care performance improvement company. The organizations analyzed data from Vizient's Clinical Data Base, which contains information from more than 1,300 hospitals and collects data on more than 10 million inpatients and 180 million outpatients each year. (Kayser, 10/10)

CIDRAP: Understaffed Hospitals Have Higher Rates Of Infection
A lack of infection prevention and control staffing leads to more healthcare-associated infections, according to a new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study is based on a new online calculator aimed at providing facility-specific recommendations for infection prevention staffing instead of a standard infection preventionists (IPs) per inpatient bed. (Soucheray, 10/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Permanente Becomes Founding Partner Of New WNBA Team
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente became a founding partner of a WNBA expansion franchise in San Francisco and will have its name on the team's jerseys. The health system struck a multiyear deal with the Golden State Valkyries, which are set to start playing games in 2025. As the team's core jersey partner, Kaiser Permanente's logo will appear on the front center of the franchise's home and road jerseys. Kaiser will also serve as the Valkyries' official medical provider. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, a Kaiser spokesperson told Becker's. (Bruce, 10/10)

The Desert Sun: Tips For Helping Teens Manage Tech Amid California's New Smartphone Limits At School
In late September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill mandating that school districts ban or limit students' smartphone use during school hours, linking excessive smartphone use to increasing rates of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues among young people. As local K-12 school districts in the Coachella Valley determine their next steps, the conversation starts at home. (Cortez, 10/10)

USA Today: CDC: Experiencing Racism In School Impacts Mental Health
Students who experienced racism said their mental health also deteriorated, a new study showed. In 2023, nearly a third of high school students across the U.S. said they'd experienced racism in school, which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who published the findings defined as unfair treatment due to a person's race or ethnicity. Students of color reported they'd had two to three times more racist experiences than white students who said they'd had. (Cuevas, 10/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Camaraderie And Connection' Act As Shields, Sutter Health CEO Says
For healthcare workers, caring for others can sometimes lead to a belief that one needs to be strong and capable at all times, Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sacramento-based Sutter Health, wrote in an Oct. 10 LinkedIn post. ... Thomas emphasized the value of mental healthcare in honor of World Mental Health Day, adding that he works to create an environment where it is encouraged to seek help when needed. (Kuchno, 10/10)

KQED: 'It's Maddening': Addiction Experts Cry Foul At Mayoral Candidates' Push For Drug Arrests
San Francisco mayoral candidates promising to end drug dealing and use on San Francisco’s sidewalks are increasingly calling for greater law enforcement, putting many health experts on edge as overdose rates persist at epidemic levels. The increased politicization around the city’s drug response comes as 462 people have died from overdose in San Francisco in 2024 so far — on track for a slight decrease from 2023, when 810 people died of overdose, the city’s worst year on record. This comes amid an increasingly tense election in San Francisco, where intersecting issues of public drug use, homelessness and safety are top of mind for most voters. (Johnson, 10/11)

California Healthline: Abortion Emerges As Most Important Election Issue For Young Women, Poll Finds
A KFF survey found significant shifts among women voters since late spring — all in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris. (Wayne and Adams, 10/11)

The Washington Post: Post Reports Podcast: What Trump And Harris Could Do To Your Health Care
From Medicare to Obamacare, health care has long been a powerful and polarizing issue in the race for president. This year, the issue of reproductive health care is dividing Americans. The high cost of prescription drugs and access to affordable health care are also concerns. (10/10)

NPR: Politicians Say Health Plans Should Cover IVF. Currently Only 1 In 4 Employers Do
One round of in vitro fertilization or IVF can cost you around $20,000 (or more). It's a multi-step process that involves retrieving eggs from ovaries, fertilizing them in a lab, watching the embryos develop, and then transferring them into the uterus. For those who are lucky enough to get pregnant and have a baby, it can take several cycles to get there.It’s so expensive that access to insurance coverage for IVF is basically access, period. (Simmons-Duffin, 10/10)

Newsweek: Warehouses Drive Air Pollution Spike In California, NASA Study Finds
Warehouses in Southern California have been linked with increased pollution in a study that used NASA satellites to map toxic particles in the air. As warehouses were built over the last two decades to keep up with online shopping, air pollution rose too—particularly affecting low-income neighborhoods nearby. Scientists identified diesel trucks visiting the warehouses as the source of the problem, because of contaminants emitted by their exhaust fumes as they visit to pick up and drop off goods. (Willmoth, 10/10)

East Bay Times: Walnut Creek Oral Surgery Clinic Launches Smiles For Veterans Program
The owners and staff at Walnut Creek’s Muir Oral, Facial & Dental Implant Surgery are giving back to veterans through a new program called “Smiles for Veterans” to thank them for their service. (Earley, 10/11)

Capital & Main: Seniors Move And Dance To Build Brain Health
Lisa Fukuzato looked at her class in the dance studio of Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center in Los Angeles’ Lincoln Heights. Twelve students, between the ages of 57 and 89, all have high blood pressure. Most have difficulty with balance, movement and understanding. The classes — known as Salud Pa’ Ti — are open to all seniors. Many come from outside the neighborhood. ... Giselle Petzinger, a researcher at Keck Medicine of USC, just across the railroad tracks from Plaza de la Raza, worked with the art school to create the program this year. Petzinger’s research focuses on Parkinson’s Disease, a brain disorder noticeable through a person’s uncontrolled movement, like shaking. Exercise is a key way to manage Parkinson’s, and in parts of California, Latinos are diagnosed with the disease at a rate higher than any other group. (Sánchez-Tello, 10/10)

Axios: Swing Recall: Fisher-Price Recalls 2.1 Million Snuga Swings After 5 Babies Died
More than 2 million Fisher-Price Snuga Swings were recalled following the deaths of five infants over a decade. State of play: Suffocation risks prompted the recall, and customers are told to remove parts of the swing before continuing to use it for "awake-time activities" only. (Rubin, 10/10)

Los Angeles Times: SoCal Pair Milked Medicare For $6 Million In Gold, Feds Allege
A Medicare fraud scheme ran by a Southern California duo involved multiple local medical facilities, foreign nationals, fake bank accounts and laundering millions of dollars with gold in a Glendale apartment, prosecutors say. Larchmont-area resident Sophia Shaklian, 36, and Alex Alexsanian, 47, of Burbank, are accused of submitting more than $54 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for hospice and diagnostic testing services that were never provided, then illegally laundering the $23 million they received in reimbursements, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the indictment. (Toohey, 10/10)

Reuters: US Health Agency Releases 2025 Quality Ratings For Medicare Plans
The U.S. government announced quality ratings for 2025 Medicare health and prescription drug plans on Thursday, the first indication of which large health insurers, including CVS Health (CVS.N), UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) and Humana (HUM.N), will get bonus payments in 2026. Sixty-two percent of people currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs are covered by plans rated four or more stars, the Medicare agency said in its release, down from 74% last year. (Niasse, 10/11)

Becker's Hospital Review: Hospitals Sick Of Fighting For Medicare Advantage Dollars
Health systems are growing increasingly frustrated with fighting to receive payments from insurers in the Medicare Advantage program, which now provides health coverage to more than 55% of the nation's older adults, about 33.8 million people. MA continues to grow, but so do its administrative challenges, as health insurers prioritize their margins in the segment. (Condon, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Merger Rule Updating Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Form Finalized
Healthcare companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions will be required to submit additional information about their proposals under a final rule approved by the Federal Trade Commission Thursday. The final rule amends the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, which had not been updated for 46 years. When the rule goes into effect, likely early next year, healthcare companies involved in M&A proposals must list acquisitions that occurred within the last five years, disclose private equity and minority stakeholders with decision-making authority and report supplier relationships shared by the merging parties to the FTC, among other requirements. (Kacik, 10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Warren Toughens Private-Equity Bill, Aiming To Prevent Healthcare Abuses
A group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposed new restrictions on private-equity firms, saying tougher rules are needed to prevent buyout firms from “looting” the businesses they own in the wake of hospital operator Steward Health Care System’s bankruptcy. On Thursday, six senators and eight U.S. representatives announced the Stop Wall Street Looting Act of 2024, an updated version that puts more teeth in a measure Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has pushed since 2019. (Cumming, 10/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: It’s The Wrong Time For S.F.’s Prop I Pension Splurge
Only a few months ago, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital was in crisis. City nurses were on the verge of striking after years of understaffing. Nursing vacancy rates had consistently hovered above 10% for well over a year — hitting almost 13% in February of 2023 — leading to safety issues for workers and patients as an outgunned staff worked overtime trying to do more with less. Amid this tension, Supervisor Ahsha Safai introduced the measure that would become Proposition I as an incentive to get the staffing crisis in order. (10/9)

Capitol Weekly: Gov. Newsom’s Intoxicating Hemp Executive Order Sets Precedent In Kratom Regulation Fight
Last week, the California Office of Administrative Law signed California Governor Gavin Newsom’s emergency order banning hemp products containing intoxicating cannabinoids. The new regulations target manufacturers who have exploited legal loopholes to sell hemp products with psychoactive effects such as THC, without distinguishing them from natural, non-intoxicating hemp. (David Bregger, 10/9)

Sacramento Bee: Stockton Is A Hotbed Of Diabetes. A University Partnership Advances Community Training
One of the epicenters of the nation’s growing diabetes health crisis is Stockton, where nearly 60% of the population has diabetes or prediabetes. It’s an ideal community to explore how to improve care. (Melissa Brotz and Christopher Callahan, 10/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Vance’s Views On Older Women Are An Opportunity For Harris
I used to be a childless cat lady. Now I don’t even want the cat — sorry, Fluffy. I tick many boxes that I imagine would draw vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s condemnation, as a mid-40s, childless, unmarried, perimenopausal, sociology professor in San Francisco. But I couldn’t care less about garnering anyone’s social approval, let alone Vance, who gives me high-school-bully, least-favorite-grandson vibes. His comments decrying Democratic party leaders as miserable childless cat ladies have helped make him historically unpopular, drawing lower favorability ratings than disastrous 2008 VP nominee Sarah Palin. (Stacy Torres, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: America Needs Its Mental Health Experts To Weigh In On Trump Now
Recently in a stump speech, former President Donald Trump called his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, both “mentally impaired” and “mentally disabled.” His comments were not only untrue but utterly ironic as Trump himself is facing increasing questions in the media about his possible cognitive decline. But in all of this speculation, there is an important perspective largely missing from the conversation: Mental health professionals. And the question must be asked: Why isn’t the community of mental health professionals calling Trump on his mental disturbances? Now, especially. (Ariella Cook-Shonkoff, 10/8)