The Associated Press: Mailings, Social Media Ads Woo Uninsured For Health Sign-Up
The Obama administration says it’ll send more than 10 million mailings to woo the uninsured for the final health care law sign-up season of President Barack Obama’s tenure. Add to that countless email messages to both prospective and returning customers — and ads on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. (10/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Law Ads Clash With GOP Message
The Obama administration is planning to use television ads and direct mail to boost participation in the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges in the coming open-enrollment period, but its timing will mean fighting for attention amid the noise of the election. The ads, which are partly focused on the affordability of coverage under the law, will run headlong into campaigns by opponents of the law who are using their own political ads to denounce it as a costly boondoggle. (Armour, 10/13)

The New York Times: Health Care Law’s Beneficiaries Reflect Its Strengths, And Its Faults
Cara Suzannah Latil is living proof that the Affordable Care Act works — but also of why a central piece of the law is in turmoil. Ms. Latil, 49, who works at a homeless shelter in Santa Fe, N.M., is one of millions of Americans who once found it difficult or impossible to get health insurance because they already had serious illnesses. Hepatitis C was ravaging her liver when she learned in 2014 that she also had breast cancer. Through the health care law, she was able to buy subsidized insurance that paid for all but $800 of her cancer surgery and radiation, she said, as well as tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of medications that cured her hepatitis. (Goodnough and Abelson, 10/14)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press/USA Today: The Federal Government Knows Surprisingly Little About Gun Accidents
It's the kind of information you might expect from long-range government research: On average, one American child or teenager is killed or injured every day in an accidental shooting. The most common victims are ages 3 or 16. And the shootings happen most frequently in their own homes.Yet for the most part, such government research doesn't exist. (Paine, 10/14)

The Associated Press/USA Today: Gun Accidents Kill Kids Every Other Day
[Bryson Mees-Hernandez's death] could be blamed on many factors, from his grandmother’s negligence to the failure of government and industry to find ways to prevent his death and so many others. The Associated Press and the USA TODAY Network set out to determine just how many others there have been. The findings: During the first six months of this year, minors died from accidental shootings — at their own hands, or at the hands of other children or adults — at a pace of one every other day, far more than limited federal statistics indicate. (Foley, Fenn and Penzenstadler, 10/14)

Stat: Devices Putting Open-Heart Surgery Patients At Risk, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday warned that contaminated medical devices used in open-heart surgeries could be to blame for a rash of infections in patients in the United States and Europe. Data published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicate that at least 11 patients in the US were infected with bacteria from a heater-cooler device that maintains patients’ internal temperatures during surgery. Previous reports indicated that six people in Switzerland were infected, and dozens of Americans have come forward with symptoms. (Boodman, 10/13)

The Press Democrat: Mendocino County Mental Health Advocates Torn On Mental Health Facilities Tax 
Advocates of a Mendocino County ballot measure that would raise sales tax rates countywide by a half-percent for five years, creating some $37 million to build mental health and drug rehabilitation facilities, agree additional mental health services are needed. What they disagree about, though, is whether Measure AG is the way to go about accomplishing that. The ballot measure would not fund any services or pay for operating facilities. The county would be on the hook for both, potentially generating a $5 million county bill annually, a financial report commissioned by the county has found. (Anderson, 10/13)

Sacramento Business Journal: Prison Term For Dental Billing Fraud, Unnecessary Procedures
An assistant in a Sacramento dentist’s office who submitted false claims for false and unnecessary dental work was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Thursday. Nichol Lomack processed insurance in the office of dentist David Lewis, whose practice targeted employees of United Parcel Service, whose dental plan provided 100 percent coverage without annual limits. In May, Lewis was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, fined $75,000 and ordered to pay $726,300 in restitution for his role in the health care fraud scheme. (Anderson, 10/13)

Ventura County Star: Ventura County's Opioid Deaths Exceed State Rate
Deaths involving powerful painkillers and other opioids declined over two years in Ventura County but still outpaced the opioid overdose mortality rate across California by nearly 50 percent in 2014, according to data from several state agencies. The numbers, displayed on a website unveiled this month, also show prescriptions for opioids and emergency room visits for a drug category that ranges from prescription oxycodone to morphine occurred at a higher rate in Ventura County than across California. (Kisken, 10/13)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

The New York Times: Opioids May Interfere With Parenting Instincts, Study Finds
Some of the most troubling images of the opioid crisis involve parents buying or using drugs with their children in tow. Now new research offers a glimpse into the addicted brain, finding that the drugs appear to blunt a person’s natural parenting instincts. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania scanned the brains of 47 men and women before and after they underwent treatment for opioid dependence. (de la Cruz, 10/13)

Los Angeles Times: By Adding An Antibody To HIV Treatment, Researchers Send Virus Into 'Sustained Remission' In Monkeys
Scientists may have found a way for patients with HIV to keep the virus in check without having to take powerful drugs every day for the rest of their lives. A clinical trial in monkeys found that by augmenting the standard HIV treatment with an antibody developed in the lab, the animals were able to enter a state of sustained remission, according to a report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science. (Healy, 10/13)

The Bakersfield Californian: Clinical Trial To Begin Amid Looming Valley Fever Epidemic
On the eve of what could be the worst year for valley fever cases since the so-called Great Epidemic of the early 1990s, national health care leaders announced Thursday the start of a clinical trial to gain more insight into the effectiveness of early treatment. The trial, involving the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Duke University and Kern Medical Center, is the first major research study to come out of a national valley fever symposium Congressman Kevin McCarthy hosted here in 2013...The study will run over 72 months and require 1,000 adults exhibiting signs of pneumonia to participate. Half of those individuals will be given Fluconazole, a medication used to treat other fungal ailments but commonly given to valley fever patients without careful study of its effectiveness. The remainder will receive placebos. (Pierce, 10/13)

In other news from across the state —

Oakland Tribune: Antioch’s Bedford Center Expands Its Facilities 
Patricia Drake will be among those who will benefit from the center’s expansion to a 5,000-square-foot facility, in order to designate a sizable space for this ever increasing demographic, with a completion slated for some time in November. Given the greater likelihood of getting some sort of dementia diagnosis as one ages — and a projected 299 percent increase of Contra Costa County residents, 85 and older — the need is “imperative,” said Debbie Toth, chief executive officer for Rehabilitation Services of Northern California, which runs the facility, along with the Mt. Diablo Center in Pleasant Hill. Having a separate space will facilitate staff being able to pick up on the nuances of each individual, such as attuning more to their subtle body language cues, to adjusting specific pacing needed to engage them in meaningful conversation, or responding to a need to minimize distraction. (Shaw, 10/14)

San Francisco Business Times: State Bill Fuels Booming Success Of Autism Center
The willingness to make business mistakes, [Pete] Pallares said, helps companies grow, and Social Dynamics has proved this thesis. The center grew from a one-man operation in 2012 to 100 employees in a year. Now Social Dynamics employs 175 people and serves 600 patients, and Pallares hopes to finish 2016 with 300 employees. Pallares’ expertise (he was previously clinical director at Easter Seals Bay Area, a nonprofit that helps those with disabilities) provided a clear path to success in treating children and adults with autism. Like its name suggests, the Center for Social Dynamics focuses mainly on the social side of development. The center incorporates behavior analysis, occupational, speech and psychological therapies. About 80 percent of services are offered in patients’ homes. (Kilpatrick, 10/13)

Sacramento Bee: Proposition 61 Will Help Reduce Outrageous Prescription Drug Prices
As public outrage has erupted over a 500 percent price increase for life-saving EpiPens and a $1,000-per-pill cost for the most effective hepatitis C treatment, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be beyond shame. Even the price of generic drugs is skyrocketing; nearly 400 had increases of more than 1,000 percent the past seven years. Transparency is not enough. It’s long past time to cut drug prices to rein in an arrogant drug cartel that will always put its profits above public health and safety. (Kathy Dennis, 10/11)

Sacramento Bee: Prop. 61 Will Backfire, Especially Against Veterans
Proposition 61 would prohibit the state from entering into contracts for prescription drugs unless the prices are the same or lower than the special discounts provided to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA found that Proposition 61 could increase costs to the VA by $3.8 billion a year. If that happens, there will be pressure to either cut services or pass the higher costs on to veterans. (Don Harper, 10/11)

Sacramento Bee: Prop. 60 Is Needed To Protect The Health Of Porn Actors
Proposition 60 is a workplace safety measure to protect young performers in the porn industry who are now routinely and illegally exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. The callous mistreatment of these often socially marginalized young men and women employees by their bosses has gone on for too long. Proposition 60 will give state health officials more tools to enforce an existing law requiring condoms be worn in adult films to protect performers. The law is based on regulations formulated in 1992 by federal health professionals. (Gary Richwald, 10/12)

San Diego Union-Times: Yes On Proposition 52: California Should Prop Up Medi-Cal 
In 2009, with state revenue plunging as the recession took hold, the California Legislature executed something akin to an accounting trick to get more money out of the federal government for the Medi-Cal program, the primary provider of health care to poor residents. For every dollar the state spends on the program, it gets about a dollar from Uncle Sam. So state lawmakers imposed a tax on private hospitals to fund Medi-Cal for which it received matching federal funds. The twist: This new hospital tax revenue was used to increase state hospital reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal. This tax is temporary and has to be periodically renewed. (10/12)

Sacramento Bee: Prop. 52 Will Protect Health Care Access For Millions
There’s a good reason that Proposition 52 – the Medi-Cal Funding and Accountability Act – enjoys such diverse support from labor, business and health care groups and from both sides of the political aisle. It promises to continue access to vital health care for more than 13.5 million Californians, or one in every three of the state’s residents. (Duane Dauner, 10/13)

Sacramento Bee: Prop. 56 Will Save Lives And Discourage Young People From Smoking
The leading cause of preventable death nationwide and in California, tobacco exacts a grave toll on communities, families, health care systems and businesses. Tobacco kills more Californians than car accidents, guns, alcohol, illegal drugs and AIDS combined, and harms the health of nonsmokers through secondhand smoke. This is a public health crisis. (Michael Ong, 10/10)

Sacramento Bee: Drug Prices, Black Lives, Presidential Candidates, Recreational Pot
Big Pharma has proven itself to be interested more in profit than the public good. If drug companies are not willing to reduce their costs significantly, it may be time to nationalize the industry. Life-saving drugs should not be the purview of an industry that cares not whether patients live or die but is more interested in the almighty dollar. (Jack Ohman, 10/9)

Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Proposals On Tax Loopholes And Healthcare Aren’t What They Seem
On healthcare, Trump pledged to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act and replace it with “something absolutely much less expensive.” His prime tool for lowering costs, he said, would be to let insurers offer policies across state lines. That’s a change that Republicans have been touting for years, premised on the idea that an insurer in a state with light regulation could undercut the premiums of those in states with tougher rules. But Trump either overlooked or ignored that insurers can’t offer policies in a new state unless they strike deals with the doctors, hospitals and other providers in every community they plan to sell coverage. (10/11)

Los Angeles Times: Why Do People Still Hate Obamacare? Probably Because They Still Don't Know Much About It.
Much about our current political climate may be volatile, but one feature seems to be as stable as the Rockies: Americans’ dislike of the Affordable Care Act. The Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been tracking this sentiment almost since the law’s passage in early 2010 (its latest reading shows unfavorable opinion of Obamacare outpolling favorable 47% to 44%) thinks it may have a clue as to why that is. Its poll also shows that the vast majority of Americans still have no idea about what the law has accomplished. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/12)

Fresno Bee: Can Someone Steal Your Medical Identity?
Medical identity theft is on the rise. According to the Ponemom Institute, a private cybersecurity research firm, an estimated 481,657 new cases of medical identity theft were reported between 2013 and 2014, an increase of almost 22 percent. Who knows how many cases went unreported! (Blair Looney, 10/11)

Los Angeles Times: DNA Database Highlights Need For New Medical Privacy Protections
Relatively little attention was paid last year when President Obama called for creation of a database containing the DNA of a million volunteers as part of moves toward “precision medicine,” or tailoring healthcare to people’s individual needs. But to many in the healthcare field, Obama’s embrace of a national repository of genetic information was seen as a turning point in advancing use of “big data” to reduce medical costs and improve people’s well-being by anticipating disorders before they become serious problems. (David Lazarus, 10/14)

Los Angeles Times: 'Big Data' Could Mean Big Problems For People's Healthcare Privacy 
Defense giant Northrop Grumman has signed a nearly $92-million contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to build the second phase of a computer system that’s currently focused on reducing fraud but down the road will play a greater role in anticipating beneficiaries’ medical disorders. It’s the most prominent example of how public and private insurers are spending millions of dollars on “big data”  — using advanced technology to predict people’s future healthcare needs based on their interactions with doctors, hospitals and pharmacies, as well as information gleaned from other sources, such as social media... The trade-off: Say goodbye to individual privacy. (David Lazarus, 10/11)

Los Angeles Times: What We Don’t Know About Superbugs Could Kill Us
The United Nations General Assembly sounded the alarm last month on superbugs, antibiotic-resistant organisms that are cropping up with disturbing frequency around the world and rendering formerly tamed foes into new threats. Among them: a new strain of drug-resistant tuberculosis and an E.coli that’s impervious to the strongest medicine we’ve got. The bacteria that cause gonorrhea may soon be untreatable by all current antibiotics too. (10/12)

Los Angeles Times: More On Mylan's EpiPen Profiteering: It Allegedly Ripped Off Medicaid Too 
Very quietly, on the Friday before a long federal holiday weekend, Mylan last week paid $465 million to stifle government allegations that it had systematically overcharged Medicaid for its notorious EpiPen medical device. This sum is, amazingly, well more than twice the $185 million paid by Wells Fargo over charges that its bankers systematically ripped off and stole the identities of their clients, but it hasn’t received an iota of the attention of the Wells scandal. Let’s redress the balance just a bit. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/11)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Brain For Life
Nutrition is only one factor in keeping the brain healthy. Regular physical activity is crucial. Exercising the mind is a no-brainer when it comes to a healthy and alert brain. The fourth, perhaps less obvious, factor is regular social interaction. (Beth Wood, 10/11)