Times Of San Diego: New Mpox Cases Found In San Diego County As Infections Rise Across State 
San Diego County on Thursday encouraged residents to be vaccinated for Mpox, with 11 new cases recorded by public health officials so far this month. As of Saturday, the total number of cases in the county stands at 492 since cases first emerged in July 2022. The local rise in cases mirrored increases across the state. (10/26)

Politico: Gavin Newsom Slams Maine Republicans Over Gun Control After Mass Shooting 
The California governor also repeated his calls for further gun control action from Congress. He has been vocal about calling out Republicans for not passing gun safety legislation, particularly after two mass shootings in his state left 19 people dead earlier this year. (Frazier, 10/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Struggling Tri-City Medical Center Picks UCSD As Partner 
Tri-City Medical Center directors chose to cast their lot with UC San Diego Health Thursday, saying they were impressed with the specificity of the university’s plans to fold the Oceanside hospital into its broader network of care. (Sisson, 10/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Out-Of-Network Access Should Be Allowed In Scripps Medicare Advantage Split, Expert Says
The recent decision by Scripps Health to stop its clinic and coastal medical groups from participating in Medicare Advantage plans created uncertainty for thousands of seniors. But there might be one bit of good news. Research performed by San Diego’s widely-respected Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program indicates that patients with preferred provider organization Medicare Advantage plans will retain their ability to visit affected Scripps Health doctors after their groups no longer accept such coverage starting in 2024. (Sisson, 10/26)

Modern Healthcare: What California Minimum Wage Law Means For Non-Union Jobs
California's new law mandating a higher minimum wage for frontline healthcare workers takes effect in June and will have wide-ranging effects on employers and labor markets in and outside of the state. The bill, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 13, raises the state’s hourly minimum wage for healthcare workers from $15.50 to $25 over the next 10 years. Larger health systems, hospitals and dialysis clinics have until 2026 to implement the new rate. Rural independent hospitals and those with a high mix of Medi-Cal and Medicare patients have until 2033. (Devereaux, 10/26)

Modern Healthcare: 340B Drug Pricing Program Offsite Clinic Policy Reversed By HRSA
Some hospital outpatient clinics are likely to lose 340B drug discount program eligibility under a policy the Health Resources and Services Administration issued Thursday. Hospitals participating in the drug pricing program now must register offsite clinics with HRSA and list them on Medicare cost reports to qualify for 340B, the agency announced in a Federal Register notice. This reverses a 2020 HRSA policy that aimed to streamline 340B certifications during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Kacik, 10/26)

Stat: Hospitals Warn Medicare's Drug Payment Fix Is ‘Unlawful’
Hospitals are telling government officials it would be illegal to claw back $7.8 billion as part of a remedy that is making hospitals whole over underpaid drug discounts — and they may sue if that plan goes into effect. (Herman, 10/26)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Should Reform Primary Care Physician Pay: AMA
Medical societies and allied healthcare organizations are lobbying policymakers to focus on primary care amid a worsening physician shortage. The American Medical Association and the Primary Care Collaborative are among those urging Congress to pass legislation to increase Medicare reimbursement for physicians and boost graduate medical education funding for primary care providers. (Kacik, 10/26)

Military Times: Military Suicide Rates Mostly Steady Over Past Decade
There was a small uptick in active duty troop suicides in 2022, the latest Defense Department data shows, with small drops in suicides among Reserve and National Guard members. The overall trend of military suicide, meanwhile, has remained roughly the same over the past decade. Since the department began tracking numbers in 2011, both the active and reserve component suicide rates have hovered around 20 per 100,000, according to the latest annual Pentagon suicide report released Thursday. (Myers,10/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: SCOTUS Might Take Case That Could Upend Cities’ Homelessness Response
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon whether to take up a critical issue for San Francisco, other cities across the country and their homeless populations: whether people can be evicted from street camps without an offer of available shelter. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the court to overturn an appeals court decision that requires cities to have adequate shelter space available before sweeping homeless encampments. San Francisco Mayor London Breed says the ruling has undermined the city’s “compassionate attempts to address the homelessness crisis.” (Egelko, 10/27)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA Metro To Craft Homeless Action Plan To Tackle Crisis On Metro Trains, Buses 
LA Metro directors ordered a new, comprehensive action plan to address the more than 800 unhoused individuals who use trains and buses as mobile shelters and sleep in the corners of stations and depots, according to a motion approved on Thursday, Oct. 26. (Scauzillo, 10/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Leaders Say Homelessness Can Be Solved, With Federal Funds 
Yes, billions have been spent on homelessness in California. And yes, the problem is still getting worse. (Nelson, 10/27)

Sacramento Bee: More Than 732,000 Letters Urge Gavin Newsom To Support California Rent Control. Are They Ads? 
The campaign for a California rent control ballot measure has hundreds of thousands of letters calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support. But opponents say they represent a form of political advertising. The Justice for Renters Coalition appeared at the Capitol Wednesday with hundreds of boxes filled with more than 732,000 letters pushing Newsom to back an AIDS Healthcare Foundation initiative that would expand cities’ ability to enact rent control. (Holden, 10/26)

The Washington Post: Republicans Delay More Than $1 Billion In PEPFAR Funding 
Republicans have delayed more than $1 billion in funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR, the latest complication facing a lifesaving HIV program that has been ensnared in a broader political fight around abortion. (Diamond, 10/26)

Healio: Obesity Leads To Suboptimal Antiretroviral Drug Responses In People With HIV
Researchers determined that obesity can lead to reduced exposure and response to antiretroviral drugs. (Stulpin, 10/26)

MedPage Today: Clinical Challenges: How The COVID Pandemic Changed And Didn't Change HIV Care 
The COVID pandemic forced clinicians to come up with innovative workarounds to disruptions in care for people with HIV, but ultimately proved that there's no substitute for in-person visits for this population. The first year of the pandemic was plagued with numerous interruptions to HIV care, including healthcare providers canceling visits and patients missing visits, having difficulty accessing medical care, and overall lower confidence that they actually could manage their HIV care, according to a systematic review in AIDS and Behavior. (Walker, 10/24)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Mendocino County Issues Masking Order, To Take Effect In November
Mendocino County authorities announced Thursday that health care workers there must wear masks in patient-care settings, starting Nov. 24. (Hay, 10/26)

Los Angeles Times: New COVID Vaccines Are Here: Now's The Time To Get One
With Halloween just days away, and the wider autumn and winter holiday season fast approaching, now is the time for most everyone to get their updated COVID-19 vaccine, officials say — especially since initial supply shortages have eased. There are some indications the winter respiratory virus season is just beginning, exacerbating the threat not only of another potential coronavirus wave, but a resurgence of flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Last year, all three viruses surged roughly simultaneously, leaving hospitals straining under the weight of a so-called tripledemic. (Lin II, 10/27)

AP: 2% Of Kids And 7% Of Adults Have Gotten The New COVID Shots, US Data Show 
A month after federal officials recommended new versions of COVID-19 vaccines, 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children have gotten a shot. One expert called the rates “abysmal.” The numbers, presented Thursday at a meeting held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from a national survey of thousands of Americans, conducted two weeks ago. (Stobbe, 10/26)

Politico: Detecting Covid Surges Is Getting Harder, Thanks To A Contract Dispute 
A quarter of the nation’s wastewater testing sites — one of the most dependable ways of tracking Covid surges — are shut down indefinitely over a contract dispute. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to replace the firm it has worked with since 2020 to test wastewater for Covid in order to better direct public health resources. But that firm, Massachusetts-based Biobot, has filed a protest, stymieing the transition. (Leonard, 10/26)

Reuters: Pfizer, BioNtech Say Flu-COVID Shot Generates Strong Immune Response In Trial
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech said on Thursday that their vaccine to prevent flu and COVID-19 generated a strong immune response against strains of the viruses in an early- to mid-stage trial. The companies said they plan to start a late-stage trial in the coming months. "This vaccine has the potential to lessen the impact of two respiratory diseases with a single injection and may simplify immunization practices," Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer's head of vaccine research and development, said in a statement. (10/26)

Los Angeles Times: House Speaker Will Make It Hard For GOP To Downplay Abortion
Leading Republicans have strenuously tried this year to soft-pedal their party’s support for abortion bans as they seek to avoid losses like those suffered in last year’s midterm elections. That strategy has been clear in statements by former President Trump, who in September called Florida’s passage of a six-week abortion ban a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” Trump has refused to specify what limits he would back if he were once again in the White House. (Lauter, 10/26)

Politico: Newly United House GOP Faces Abortion Policy Divide 
Newly elected speaker Mike Johnson will swiftly face a test of his ability to resolve an intense intra-GOP fight. A majority of the House Republican conference backs a provision in the food and agriculture funding bill that would ban mail delivery of abortion pills nationwide, with some hard-liners even pledging to oppose any version without it. But a handful of Republican centrists who face tough reelection bids next year say federal curbs on mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill, are “a non-starter.” (Ollstein and Hill, 10/26)

Axios: Democratic Lawmakers Push Paid Leave For Pregnancy Loss
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation that would require employers to provide at least seven days of paid time off following a pregnancy loss. Miscarriages are common, occurring in an estimated 10% to 20% of known pregnancies. While more employers are offering paid leave following a pregnancy loss, there's no national paid leave program. (Goldman, 10/26)

Fresno Bee: Raw Milk From Fresno-Based Producer Linked To Salmonella Cases 
Fresno-based producer Raw Farm LLC, which specializes in raw milk products, is dealing with a state recall. At least 19 salmonella cases have been linked to consuming Raw Farm LLC raw milk or milk products. (Anteola, 10/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Parents Scramble For ADHD Drugs Amid Nationwide Shortage
When Courtney McCook first sought to get her six-year-old son Lee treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), she thought the medication trial phase — finding the type and dosage that’d work best for him — would take a few weeks. Instead, it’s been nearly a year, and most of that time has been spent waiting for pharmacies to restock the medications amid a nationwide shortage of ADHD drugs attributed to a mismatch between surging demand and murky manufacturing hold-ups that have throttled supply. (Ho, 10/27)

Los Angeles Times: California Kids Have Major Dental Decay. Don’t Just Blame Halloween
Priscilla Serrano did everything she could to keep her child’s teeth clean and healthy. She rubbed his gums twice a day with a finger brush when he was 3 months old. She brought him to the dentist before his first birthday. She weaned him off a bottle early, gave him healthy snacks, avoided juice, brushed his teeth twice a day, and even flossed for him. But despite her best efforts, Daniel still developed two cavities before his 6th birthday. (Gold, 10/27)

Stat: ITC Recommends Partial Ban Of Apple Watches In Masimo Patent Case
The United States International Trade Commission issued a partial import ban of Apple watches on Thursday, declaring that Apple infringed on patient-monitoring company Masimo’s patents. President Biden will review the commission’s decision over the next 60 days, and will have the opportunity to veto it. Presidential vetoes of import bans are uncommon, though former President Obama vetoed a ban of iPhones in 2013 after Apple lost its case to Samsung. (Lawrence, 10/26)

Bay Area Reporter: The AIDS Crisis Brought Out The Best In Dianne Feinstein
The last time Dianne Feinstein, who died September 29, ran for U.S. Senate, the member-leaders of my union voted to endorse her opponent. At the time, the question seemed to be not so much why weren't we endorsing her in 2018, but why had we endorsed her in every election dating back to the San Francisco mayoral recall of 1983. As a gay man, who came of age in the San Francisco of the late 1970s and early 1980s, supporting Feinstein through the years was an easy choice that could be hard to explain, especially to younger generations who only knew her as a centrist senator. (Sal Rosselli, 10/25)

Fresno Bee: Newsom Must Insist CA Do Better On Hiring Disabled Employees 
California has seen a marked decline in the percentage of state employees with disabilities in recent years. According to the California Department of Human Resources website, the employment rate of disabled workers in the California state government dropped from 14.7% in December of 2017 to 8.8% in June of 2023 — a 40% decrease. (Andrew Imparato, 10/25)

Fresno Bee: Magic Mushrooms Not To Blame For Pilot’s Mental Breakdown 
An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who suffered a mental breakdown mid-flight and tried to shut off the engine, endangering more than 80 lives, is partially basing his defense on the fact that he ingested “magic mushrooms” 48 hours before the flight. (Robin Epley, 10/27)

Scientific American: Doctors Do Racist Things To Patients. Here Are Seven Ways They Can Stop 
As many doctors are starting to realize, they are not passive agents in a racist society and health care system: their actions (and inactions) contribute to racial health disparities. And their biases show up on medical charts. (Ashley Andreou, 10/26)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless People Need Housing Everywhere. Including Down The Street From Your House.
When Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky proposed building temporary housing for 33 homeless people on a city-owned parking lot at the end of a residential block in her Westside district, the neighborhood erupted in fury. (10/27)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego's Dual Homeless Shelter Strategy 
City and county leaders are engaged in an ongoing quest to increase the number of shelter beds for homeless people across San Diego. (Michael Smolens, 10/27)

Los Angeles Times: The Drugstore Chains' Healthcare Fail
There was a time, in the misty, rose-hued past, when the three big drugstore chains look poised to take over the American healthcare system. Drug retailer CVS and health insurer Aetna announced a $69-billion merger. Walgreens made a $5.2-billion investment in primary care provider VillageMD and took a $330-million stake in home care provider CareCentrix, giving it control of both firms. Rite Aid wasn’t as aggressive, but still built up its national footprint to 5,000 stores before cutting back to about 2,100. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/25)