Modern Healthcare: Passage Of California Surprise-Bill Legislation Could Spur Other States To Act 
California medical consumers will enjoy strong new protection against surprise out-of-network medical bills starting next July, under a hard-fought bill overwhelmingly approved by the state legislature this week. It's widely expected that Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown will sign it. Under the bipartisan bill, AB 72, authored by Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta, patients who received care in in-network facilities would have to pay only in-network cost sharing. (Meyer, 9/1)

The Washington Post: Calif. Legislature Poised To Criminalize Distribution Of Planned Parenthood-Type Sting Videos
The California legislature is near final approval of a bill that would make it a crime, punishable by a jail sentence, to carry out and distribute undercover video or audio stings against Planned Parenthood and other health-care groups. The measure was inspired by two California antiabortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood. The project prompted multiple investigations by Congress and states. (Barbash, 9/1)

Sacramento Bee: Transgender Man Denied Hysterectomy At Mercy San Juan
Tuesday was supposed to be a big day for Evan Michael Minton. The Fair Oaks resident packed his bags for the hospital, said a prayer and counted down the hours until he would undergo the hysterectomy that would take him one step further in his transition from female to male. Instead he spent the day on the phone with doctors and lawyers after Mercy San Juan hospital in Carmichael abruptly canceled the procedure on religious grounds. (Ciaola and Buck, 8/30)

Orange County Register: Our Foster Kids May Be Over-Medicated, But Under-Supervised Medically, Report Says 
Thousands of California’s foster care kids may be over-drugged with psychotropic medications, often without medical follow-up or a legally required approval from a judge or parent, according to a stinging report by the California State Auditor. ... The problems partly are a result of a division of labor when it comes to oversight. Two departments oversee foster kids and their medications, but neither could completely identify which foster children are prescribed psychotropic medications or even which medications they are taking. (Sforza, 9/1)

The Sacramento Bee: Black Babies Die In Sleep At Higher Rates In Sacramento. Why? And Can We Fix It?
Renée Walker is among dozens of African American women in Sacramento County who have lost their children to sudden unexpected infant death in recent years. Black babies in Sacramento County were about five times more likely to die in their sleep than white babies between 2010 and 2015, according to a Sacramento Bee review of California death certificates. They were about seven times more likely to die in their sleep than Latino babies. No Asian babies died during sleep in Sacramento County during that period. (Caiola, 8/30)

Orange County Register: Santa Ana May Declare Public Health Crisis Over Civic Center Homeless Encampment
The Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday will consider declaring “a public health and safety crisis” over concerns that hundreds of homeless people living in the Civic Center have created an unsafe environment for the public and government workers. In a draft resolution released Thursday, Councilwoman Michele Martinez calls for the city to increase policing and code enforcement around government offices and requests that the county offer public services for the homeless in a nearby former bus terminal that it purchased for $3.3 million in December. The proposal marks the latest action in an increasingly vocal public spat between city and Orange County officials over who is to blame for the Civic Center’s deteriorating condition and who should fix it. (Graham, 9/1)

The Associated Press: Top Official Says Health Law's Insurance Markets Are Viable
Addressing concerns about rising premiums and dwindling competition, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell asserted Thursday that the federal health law's insurance markets clearly are sustainable. Willingness by Congress to help smooth out problems would definitely help, Burwell told reporters, but it is not absolutely essential. Congressional Republicans committed to repealing "Obamacare" are unlikely to assist. (9/1)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: EpiPen Price Increases Could Mean More Riches For Executives
Heather Bresch, chief executive at Mylan, the pharmaceutical giant that has been vilified for price increases on its EpiPen allergy treatment, maintains that her company has attained a sort of capitalist nirvana — it does good for others while doing well for itself. But the argument that Mylan has achieved a balance benefiting all of its stakeholders simply doesn’t hold up when viewed through the prism of the company’s recent proxy filings. Those materials detail the company’s executive pay and show, for example, that Mylan’s top brass received a windfall when it incorporated overseas in 2014 to cut its tax bill sharply. (Morgenson, 9/1)

Los Angeles Times: Florida Finds Zika In Trapped Mosquitoes, Confirming The Virus Is Being Spread By The Insects
Authorities in Florida have found the Zika virus in mosquitoes in Miami Beach, confirming what they had suspected: The virus that can cause devastating birth defects is being spread by the insects. The three mosquitoes that tested positive for Zika were trapped in a 1.5-square-mile area that had already been identified as a source of infection, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said Thursday. (Zavis, 9/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Therapy Granted FDA Fast-Track Status
Biogen Inc. said its investigational therapy for the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease was granted fast-track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a designation intended to bring promising drugs for serious conditions to market faster. ... The drug—called aducanumab—is designed to help clear the brain of beta amyloid plaques, which many scientists say play a role in causing Alzheimer’s, a progressive, memory-destroying condition associated with older age. (Stynes, 9/1)

The New York Times: Contraceptives Drive Teenage Pregnancy Down
The sharp decline in American teenage pregnancy and birthrates in recent years was driven exclusively by the increased use of contraceptives, a new study concludes. Researchers interviewed a nationally representative sample of more than 3,000 women ages 15 to 19 at three different time periods: in 2007, 2009 and 2012. They then combined data on sexual activity, contraceptive use and contraceptive failure rates to calculate a Pregnancy Risk Index at these times. This risk index declined steadily at an annual rate of 5.6 percent. (Bakalar, 9/1)

Los Angeles Times: Same Drug, Different Insurance Tiers, Crazy-High Co-Pays
As sky-high EpiPen costs show, price gouging of patients by greedy drug companies is one part of our dysfunctional healthcare system. Another is what may appear to be the arbitrary way that insurers decide what co-pay to charge. Santa Ana residents William and Phyllis Stevens encountered this recently when they were both prescribed the same cream for pre-cancerous skin growths. One had a co-pay of $20, the other a co-insurance cost of $300. And the much-higher charge was levied for a version of the medicine that was weaker than the cheaper version — yet had jumped nearly 1,500% in price since 2009. Welcome to Crazy Town. (David Lazarus, 8/30)

The Sacramento Bee: Rising Drug Prices The Fault Of Insurers, Not Drug Companies
Republican voters hate Obamacare, but they hate high prescription drug prices even more. Health care scholar Avik Roy recently pointed to the polls as a reason the GOP must develop a “clear plan to tackle the high and rising price of branded prescription drugs.” He proposed a number of measures aimed at reining in supposedly greedy pharmaceutical firms. But Roy, like many others who have weighed in on the cost of medicines, overlooks two key points. First, the very real financial pain many Americans feel at the pharmacy counter is the fault of insurers – not drug companies. Second, the obsessive focus on cost obscures the vastly higher value of new drugs. (Peter J. Pitts, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: New Bill To Protect Planned Parenthood Is Bad For Whistleblowers
After anti-abortion activists released hidden-camera videos last year that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials selling body parts from aborted fetuses, the organization’s opponents went into high gear, pushing state and federal officials to cut off public funds to the group and seek criminal charges. Never mind that the videos, some of which were deceptively edited, didn’t actually demonstrate that Planned Parenthood violated the federal law against fetal tissue sales. The agit-prop provided abortion opponents with enough political momentum to persuade lawmakers in at least six state capitals to bar the organization from receiving public funds for providing women’s health services. (8/31)

The Sacramento Bee: National Backup For California’s Hard Line On Vaccines
As California kids head back to school amid tighter vaccine restrictions, the medical establishment has decided to follow our lead. Good for the American Academy of Pediatrics, which on Monday issued a new policy opposing all nonmedical exemptions for vaccinations, saying that if parents refuse to immunize their children, pediatricians should tell them to find another doctor. It’s unfortunate, but given the spread of anti-vax misinformation, a firm stance is needed nationally. (8/29)

Los Angeles Times: Chiropractors See Diabetes As A Chance For New Patients — And Profit 
A Sacramento chiropractor, James Joseph Martin, was arrested in July on felony charges of practicing medicine without a license and grand theft after authorities said he claimed to be a “thyroid and diabetic specialist” who practiced “functional neurology and metabolic medicine.” According to the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, Martin presented himself as a “doctor of pastoral science,” licensed by the Pastoral Medical Assn. The Medical Board of California ruled that “doctor of pastoral science is not recognized in California and does not authorize anyone to practice medicine or any of the healing arts in the state.” What’s noteworthy about the case isn’t that a chiropractor was passing himself off as a diabetes authority. Rather, it’s that so many other chiropractors do it as well — yet manage to stay within the law. (David Lazarus, 9/2)

KQED: Docs And Patients Weigh In On No-Insurance Model Of Care
Anyone who has ever waited 45 minutes past their official appointment time for their doctor, or gotten tangled in the branches of an insurance company phone tree, has thought something along the lines of: “There’s got to be a  better way.” Well, some primary care doctors say there is. It’s called direct primary care, a business model in which doctors drop off the grid of the traditional health care system by refusing to take insurance–any insurance. Instead, they charge patients a monthly fee for as many visits as needed. (Jon Brooks, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: Marijuana: A Potent Disruptor For Young Users, Whose Brains Are Still Developing
As Californians ponder whether to vote for Proposition 64, the November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for adult use, it’s important to own up to the fact that marijuana is not always the benign bud that many advocates would have us believe, particularly for teens and young adults, whose brains are still developing. Proposition 64 proposes safeguards against sales to those under 21, but the minimum age for obtaining a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana is 18, and that will not change with legalization. Opponents say delivery services such as Eaze, which have sprouted all over the state, will make it easy for minors to skirt the law. (Robin Abcarian, 9/2)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Do We Really Want To Become The Mecca For Marijuana? 
But who in the world made the decision that Santa Rosa wanted to become the new Amsterdam? Even Amsterdam doesn’t even want to be Amsterdam — or at least the Amsterdam perceived by hordes of party-minded tourists. Contrary to popular belief, the Dutch never legalized marijuana. They’ve just basically tolerated it for years and only for possession of small amounts (5 grams or less) sold in official “cannabis cafes.” But the government in recent years has been tightening the rules for these cafes, forcing many to shut down. And forget about growing it. It’s illegal. You won’t go to prison but try to grow as few as five plants and you could end up facing heavy fines and eviction. Here in Sonoma County, however, we appear to be going in the opposite direction, quickly. (Paul Gullixson, 8/28)

Los Angeles Times: Disability Rights And Reproductive Rights Don't Have To Be In Conflict
Earlier this month, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio stated that women infected with the Zika virus, which can cause congenital disabilities such as microcephaly, should not be permitted to have legal abortions. In March, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, now the Republican nominee for vice president, signed a bill banning abortions following a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome or related conditions. Similar bills have passed or are pending in other states. (David Perry and Elizabeth Picciuto, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: Chiropractors See Diabetes As A Chance For New Patients — And Profit
A Sacramento chiropractor, James Joseph Martin, was arrested in July on felony charges of practicing medicine without a license and grand theft after authorities said he claimed to be a “thyroid and diabetic specialist” who practiced “functional neurology and metabolic medicine.” According to the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, Martin presented himself as a “doctor of pastoral science,” licensed by the Pastoral Medical Assn. The Medical Board of California ruled that “doctor of pastoral science is not recognized in California and does not authorize anyone to practice medicine or any of the healing arts in the state.” (David Lazarus, 9/2)

Fresno Bee: Skilled, Loving Hands Provide ‘Amazing’ Care For Baby Jaxson
Ten-month-old Jaxson had a problem affecting his liver, a vital organ. The problem was so serious that without treatment, his liver could have failed. Invasive surgery was an option, but that would have required permanently removing a common bile duct, which can be a complicated procedure. But luckily for Jaxson and his family, Valley Children’s own Dr. Roberto Gugig is the only doctor in central California – and among the few in the state – certified to perform a remarkable procedure that fixes serious digestive problems without subjecting children to major surgery. (David Christensen, 8/26)

Mother Jones: Here's The Problem With California’s Groundbreaking Sex Ed Law 
When the Healthy Youth Act passed last fall, California joined 23 other states in requiring that all schools teach teenagers about sex. But California's law goes further, mandating that comprehensive lessons start in middle school and include information on abortion, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. It's also the only state to require sex education be medically accurate, age-appropriate, and culturally inclusive, without promoting religion...There's just one problem: The state has little way to ensure school districts teach to these new standards. (Madison Pauly, 9/2)