- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- ‘Physicians Of The Mouth’? Dentists Absorb The Medical Billing Drill
- Sacramento Watch 2
- California Health Care Providers Will Soon Have To Inform Patients If They're On Probation For Serious Misconduct
- Brown Signs Bill Curbing Kids' Soda Consumption At Restaurants, Saying State Is In 'Public Health Crisis'
- Hospital Roundup 1
- If State's High Court Weighs In On Self-Pay Patient Case, Ripples Could Be Felt Throughout Hospital Industry
- Public Health and Education 1
- With California's Booming Economy, How Are Almost Half Of The State's Children At Or Near Poverty?
- The Opioid Crisis 1
- America's Drug Death Trends Are More Complex Than The Current Narrative About Opioid Overdoses
- Around California 1
- Kids Who Have Been Diagnosed With Cancer Get To Explore STEM Interests At 'Camp Amazon' Event
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
‘Physicians Of The Mouth’? Dentists Absorb The Medical Billing Drill
Health insurance generally pays more than dental insurance, and newly minted experts say it’s legitimate to bill medical plans for services extending beyond tooth care. Medical insurers caution against inappropriate billing and fraud. (David Tuller, )
More News From Across The State
The legislation was one of several measures signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown this week. After July 2019, providers will have to disclose things such as criminal convictions involving harm to patients, drug abuse, and sexual misconduct.
Sacramento Bee:
Larry Nassar Survivors ‘Elated’ Over California Law
California resident and former standout softball player Tiffany Thomas Lopez said she was elated Thursday morning after hearing Gov. Jerry Brown had signed Senate Bill 1448 requiring physicians, chiropractors and other practitioners notify patients if they are on probation for serious misconduct such as sexual abuse. Lopez, now 38, said she was just 17 and 18 years of age when Michigan State University team doctor Larry Nassar molested her. Nassar, who also treated many of the nation’s foremost gymnasts, was sentenced earlier this year to up to 175 years in prison for decades of sexual abuse. Lopez said she came to Sacramento twice to testify in support of SB 1448. (Anderson, 9/20)
Restaurants will have to offer water or milk as the default drink for children unless requested otherwise. Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a statewide change to school start times, preferring to grant that authority to local communities.
The Associated Press:
California Makes People Ask For Straws, Sodas With Kid Meals
If you want a straw with your drink or a soda with a kids' meal at a California restaurant, you'll need to ask for them starting next year. A law signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown makes California the first state to bar full-service restaurants from automatically giving out single-use plastic straws. Another law he approved requires milk or water to be the default drink sold with kids' meals at fast-food and full-service restaurants. (9/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Milk And Water Will Be Default Drink Options For California Kids' Meals Starting In 2019
“Our state is in the midst of a public health crisis where rates of preventable health conditions like obesity and Type-2 Diabetes are skyrocketing, due in large part to increased consumption of sugary beverages,” state Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), the law’s author, said in a written statement. “This bill is an important part of a statewide public health strategy that will better inform consumers about the unique impacts that sugary beverages have on their health and that of their children.” (Myers, 9/20)
Los Angeles Times:
California Gov. Jerry Brown Rejects Bill To Prohibit Schools From Starting Before 8:30 A.M.
Under Senate Bill 328, public and charter schools would have had to adhere to the start time rule by Jan. 1, 2021, a change researchers believe would have decreased students’ risk of depression, suicide and car accidents while increasing their attendance rates, grade-point averages and test scores. “This is a one-size-fits-all approach that is opposed by teachers and school boards,” Brown said in a veto message. “Several schools have already moved to later start times. Others prefer beginning the school day earlier. These are the types of decisions best handled in the local community.” (Racker, 9/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Gov. Brown Nixes California Mandate For Later School Start Time
Brown, a proponent of local control for schools, wrote that the bill was a “one-size-fits-all approach” opposed by teachers and school boards. “Several schools have already moved to later start times,” Brown wrote in his veto message. “Others prefer beginning the day earlier. These are the types of decisions best handled in the local community.” (Gutierrez and McBride, 9/20)
A key issue involves an unpublished appellate court opinion about whether self-pay patients who were treated at two Fresno-area hospitals are allowed to challenge their bills as part of a class action. One of the patients is asking the Supreme Court to get the opinion published which would make it citable in other California cases.
Sacramento Bee:
A $7,812.03 Hospital Bill Started A Case That Is Now At The California Supreme Court
The California Supreme Court has been asked to look at an appellate court decision involving a Fresno hospital patient’s emergency department bill that could have a far-reaching effect on what hospitals in the state charge patients with no insurance. At issue is an unpublished opinion by the 5th District Court of Appeal issued on July 11 that would allow self-pay patients who were treated at two Fresno-area hospitals to challenge their bills as part of a class action. Community Medical Centers appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. (Anderson, 9/20)
In other hospital news —
Ventura County Star:
A Look Inside The New St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital
Darren Lee doesn’t want people to settle for care at the new St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital that will be unveiled on Saturday. The CEO of the Camarillo hospital doesn’t want patients to end up at this place that took $80 million and three years to build simply because it’s where the ambulance took them. ...Tours of the complex that’s called an addition but is in essence a new hospital will be held in a grand opening Saturday. The actual opening for patients, once envisioned for March and later for end of September, has been pushed back to sometime before Thanksgiving. (Kisken, 9/20)
With California's Booming Economy, How Are Almost Half Of The State's Children At Or Near Poverty?
PolitiFact looks at recent statements by gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom about California's children. The high cost of living in the state contributes largely to the grim statistic.
PolitiFact California:
True: Nearly Half Of California’s Children Are ‘At Or Near Poverty’ When Considering Cost-Of-Living
Democratic candidate for governor Gavin Newsom recently described California as both "the richest and poorest state." The economy is booming for many, he said, while millions of others are mired in poverty. That includes nearly half of the state’s children, when considering the state’s high "cost-of-living," he claimed."Close to half of the children (are) at or near poverty," Newsom said while campaigning in Los Angeles County on Sept. 10, 2018. "How can that be in this place, this extraordinary place, in the world’s 5th largest economy? We must do more and we must do better." (Nichols, 9/19)
In other public health news —
The Mercury News:
Stanford Cooties Study: We're Enveloped By Germs And Microbes
You’ll never walk alone. Enveloping you is a vast menagerie of microbes and other minutia — counted and catalogued for the first time by scientists at the Stanford School of Medicine. The tally is startling: In just one week, the average person is exposed to about 800 different species of bacteria, viruses, chemicals, plant pollens, fungi and tiny microscopic animals, they report in the journal Cell. (Krieger, 9/20)
The Mercury News:
San Jose Artist Loses Drawings, Gets Help From Cancer Survivor
It was police dispatcher Tiffany Holseberg’s first week back at work following a medical leave for cancer treatments when she answered the department’s non-emergency line and spoke with an 89-year-old artist desperate for help. Jim Campbell explained how on Sept. 7 he made the mistake of driving to a San Jose post office with a box of his original pen-and-ink drawings on the roof of his SUV. Campbell, who lives in Willow Glen, believes the box flew off the car somewhere on Hillsdale Avenue. (Gomez, 9/20)
America's Drug Death Trends Are More Complex Than The Current Narrative About Opioid Overdoses
Overdose deaths are on a sharp upward trajectory, but the roles different drugs play in that overarching epidemic has been simplified to focus on opioids. A new study reveals the depth of the crisis in America over the past four decades, and offers a grim picture of the country's future.
Los Angeles Times:
Over Four Decades, An 'Inexorable' Epidemic Of Drug Overdoses Reveals Its Inner Secrets
Americans have long construed drugs of abuse as choices. Poor choices that can cost users their lives, to be sure, but choices nonetheless. But what if drugs of abuse are more like predators atop a nationwide ecosystem of potential prey? Or like shape-shifting viruses that seek defenseless people to infect? If public health experts could detect a recognizable pattern, perhaps they could find ways to immunize the uninfected, or protect those most vulnerable to the whims of predators’ appetites. (Healy, 9/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Cocaine, Meth, Opioids All Fuel Rise In Drug-Overdose Deaths
It isn’t just opioids behind a surge in deaths from drug overdoses in the U.S. Death rates from overdoses have been on an exponential-growth curve for nearly 40 years, involving methamphetamines, cocaine and other drugs in shifting patterns around the country and involving different age groups, a new analysis of federal data shows. When use of one drug has declined, another has moved in to fill the void, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health found in the analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science. (Ulick and McKay, 9/20)
Kids Who Have Been Diagnosed With Cancer Get To Explore STEM Interests At 'Camp Amazon' Event
Amazon’s event also included a $10,000 donation to Sutter Children’s Center in Sacramento.
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Fulfillment Center Hosts Camp Amazon
Amazon’s Sacramento fulfillment center hosted “Camp Amazon” on Wednesday, an event to raise awareness for childhood cancer. Six local children who have been diagnosed with cancer and are interested in science, math and technology were invited to tour the Amazon facility near Tahoe Park, according to a press release. (Darden, 9/19)
In other news from across the state —
San Francisco Chronicle:
Whole Foods To Pay $1.64 Million To Settle Hazardous Waste Claims With California Cities
Whole Foods Market will pay $1.64 million to settle claims by 21 cities and counties in California that its stores improperly handled and disposed of hazardous wastes. (Egelko, 9/20)
If Congress Can Assure Her Safety, Kavanaugh Accuser Says She's Open To Testifying
Christine Blasey Ford originally said she wouldn't testify about her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh without an FBI investigation. While that's still her preference, she said that she's willing to come in next week "on terms that are fair." Meanwhile, psychological experts dig into the complexities of memory.
The Wall Street Journal:
Kavanaugh Accuser Open To Negotiations To Testify Before Senate Panel
An attorney for the California college professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers said she would be willing to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, an offer that could break a partisan logjam over whether the FBI should investigate her allegations. Christine Blasey Ford isn’t willing, however, to go before the panel by Monday, when a hearing is now scheduled, her lawyer wrote in an email Thursday to committee staff members. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” wrote the lawyer, Debra Katz, who added that Dr. Ford had been receiving death threats. (Peterson, Nicholas and Andrews, 9/20)
The Washington Post:
Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Blasey Ford Won’t Testify Monday But Open To Doing So Later Next Week
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), said through a spokesman late Thursday that he would be consulting with colleagues on how to proceed. Kavanaugh wrote to Grassley in a letter released by the White House that he looks forward to testifying. “I continue to want a hearing as soon as possible, so that I can clear my name,” Kavanaugh said in the letter. “Since the moment I first heard this allegation, I have categorically and unequivocally denied it. I remain committed to defending my integrity.” Amid the maneuvering, the nomination was roiled further late Thursday by incendiary tweets from a prominent Kavanaugh friend and supporter who publicly identified another high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s as Ford’s possible attacker. (Kim, Dawsey and Brown, 9/20)
The New York Times:
Christine Blasey Ford Opens Negotiations On Testimony Next Week
Meantime, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, an independent, and his lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott, a Democrat, came out on Thursday against Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They said they worry that Judge Kavanaugh would jeopardize Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, adding that his “record does not demonstrate a commitment to legal precedent that protects working families.” They also said that he has been hostile to laws that are favorable to Alaskan Natives. And, they added, “We believe a thorough review of past allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh is needed before a confirmation vote takes place.” The statement from the governor and his lieutenant governor increased the pressure on Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and a key undecided vote in the narrowly divided Senate. (Stolberg, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
Memory's Frailty May Be Playing Role In Kavanaugh Matter
She says he sexually assaulted her; he denies it. Is somebody deliberately lying? Not necessarily. Experts say that because of how memory works, it's possible that both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford — the woman who says a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her at a party when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — believe what they say.And which one of them believes his or her version more strongly is no tipoff to what really happened. (9/21)
HHS Secretary Alex Azar became the public face of the crisis because his agency is responsible for housing the migrant children that were separated from their parents. The Washington Post looks at how he handled the pressure. Meanwhile, Azar plans to shift millions from public health programs to help pay to house detained migrant children.
The Washington Post:
Health And Human Services Secretary Confronts Migrant Child Crisis
Midnight had passed, and Alex Azar was still in a coat and tie as he looked into a computer monitor inside the Department of Health and Human Services emergency-operations hub. It was a room built for managing responses to hurricanes and disease outbreaks, but the HHS secretary was, instead, scrambling to deal with a disaster instigated by his own boss — a “zero tolerance” immigration policy that led thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Azar was not consulted on the zero tolerance policy before it was announced in early May, according to people familiar with the events, even though his department is responsible for housing migrant children who are on their own. (Goldstein, 9/20)
The Hill:
Trump Health Official Defends Funding Shifts To Pay For Detained Migrant Children
A top White House health official on Thursday defended a decision to shift money from health efforts in order to help pay to house detained migrant children. Joe Grogan, director of health programs at the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters the administration will not divert money from anti-opioid efforts. (Weixel, 9/20)
In other national health care news —
The Hill:
Lawmakers Consider Easing Costs On Drug Companies As Part Of Opioids Deal
Lawmakers are considering adding a provision easing costs on drug companies to an opioid package currently being negotiated. The powerful pharmaceutical industry has been pushing for months to roll back a provision from February’s budget deal that shifted more costs onto drug companies, and they sense they have a chance to attach the change to the bipartisan opioid package currently moving through Congress. (Sullivan, 9/20)
Stat:
Top Trump Health Official Calls On Congress To Do More On Drug Pricing
A top U.S. health official on Thursday called on lawmakers in Congress to do more to help bring down drug prices, saying that the Trump administration had “given them a lot of opportunities to step in here.” “I think Congress can do more,” said Joe Grogan, associate director for health programs at the Office of Management and Budget. He added: “As we get to the sprint before the end of the year, there are a few things that they may take up, and we’re actively in discussions about that.” (Swetlitz, 9/20)
The New York Times:
Biosafety Reforms Still Lagging At Military Labs
Three years after discovering that a military laboratory had shipped live anthrax to facilities around the world, the Department of Defense still has not developed a plan to evaluate its biological security practices, the federal Government Accountability Office reported on Thursday. The department has implemented about half of the procedural changes that had been recommended, the G.A.O. said. But the Pentagon still has not established a way to measure the effectiveness of these reforms, making it difficult for experts to determine whether safety has improved. (Baumgaertner, 9/20)
ProPublica/The New York Times:
Sloan Kettering’s Cozy Deal With Start-Up Ignites A New
An artificial intelligence start-up founded by three insiders at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center debuted with great fanfare in February, with $25 million in venture capital and the promise that it might one day transform how cancer is diagnosed. The company, Paige.AI, is one in a burgeoning field of start-ups that are applying artificial intelligence to health care, yet it has an advantage over many competitors: The company has an exclusive deal to use the cancer center’s vast archive of 25 million patient tissue slides, along with decades of work by its world-renowned pathologists. (Ornstein and Thomas, 9/20)
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
USA Today:
California Attorney General: We Focus On Taking Guns From Criminals
At the California Department of Justice, our first priority is public safety. When it comes to keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, California has figured out what makes a difference, and we’re doing it. Earlier this month, a Government Accountability Office report suggested that the federal government and states like California that perform background checks on firearm purchases could do more to investigate and prosecute those who failed background checks and might have lied on their forms. In a world of unlimited resources, we certainly would. Instead, we prioritize our finite resources to go after dangerous criminals who already possess weapons illegally. (Calif. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 9/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Prop. 71 Funds Are Laying Groundwork For Stem Cell Therapies
In 2004, the voters of California approved Proposition 71, creating the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and setting the state on the path to becoming a global leader in stem cell research. Today the therapies resulting from the institute’s work are not just changing lives — they are already saving lives. (Maria T. Millan and Jonathan Thomas, 9/17)
Los Angeles Times:
How A Stem Cell Clinic Lured Patients With Unsupported Claims Of Treatment 'Success'
Callers seeking treatment from StemGenex, a La Jolla medical clinic offering stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and other serious ailments, were hoping to hear encouraging news. For many, that’s what they got. Plaintiffs allege in depositions filed in a federal court lawsuit that they were told the clinic had a 90% “success rate” in treating its patients. ... As it turned out, however, the success rate they cited was inaccurate, according to former executives. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Chronicle Recommends Yes On California Prop. 2
Darrell Steinberg, long one of the state’s leaders in mental-health policy, had always envisioned that housing would be key to the strategy of stabilizing people with severe mental illness. California voters in 2004 approved Steinberg’s Proposition 63, a surtax on income over $1 million to expand mental-health programs — but the measure did not explicitly mention housing. Prop. 2, on the Nov. 6 ballot, would close that gap. (9/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California’s Children’s Hospitals Doing Better Than California’s Children
I wish California children were doing as well as California children’s hospitals. Even as the Golden State has maintained the nation’s highest child poverty rate and struggled to fund schools, it has developed a system of children’s hospitals that occupies a parallel California in which kids’ needs actually come first. California has 13 children’s hospitals — eight private not-for-profits and five within University of California medical centers. (Joe Mathews, 9/16)
Los Angeles Times:
One Year After Maria Hit Puerto Rico, We're Still Piecing Together What Happened And What To Do About It
FEMA may well have done its best in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, but it was responding to a disaster that has its roots in the still-amorphous relationship between the island and the rest of the U.S. The storm was a stress test, and Puerto Rico and the rest of the nation failed together. More, and tougher, tests are undoubtedly on their way, as warming oceans make hurricane season more hazardous. (9/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Netflix Is Televising Prejudice Against The Chronically Ill
Ableism kills. I’ve watched my fellow patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, suffer and even die from the ignominy of a suspect disease. Patients often can’t get effective medical care, their disability insurance applications are rejected, their marriages are torn apart, they’re abandoned by their families, they end up in poverty and food insecurity, and sometimes they die, occasionally from the disease itself, more often from suicide. As terrible as this litany is, nothing has brought home to me the dangers of prejudice against those who are chronically ill like the new Netflix documentary series “Afflicted.” (Julie Rehmeyer, 9/18)
Los Angeles Times:
I Broke The Anita Hill Story. Here's What We Need To Learn From Her Treatment
When I first called Anita Hill in 1991 to ask her, out of the blue, if she had been sexually harassed by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, she was very reluctant to give me any details. ... In my opinion, if Hill’s story had been handled properly earlier in the process, and she had been given time to prepare to testify, Thomas would not today be the senior associate justice on the Supreme Court. (Timothy M. Phelps, 9/18)