NBC News: Obamacare Free Preventative Care Rule In Flux As Supreme Court Reviews Case
The Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear arguments in a case challenging a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires private insurers to cover health care screenings, tests and checkups for free. Experts say the court’s ruling in the case, called Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, could have sweeping consequences for patient access to preventive health care across the United States. (Lovelace Jr., 4/18)

CNN: Trump Is Defending Obamacare At The Supreme Court. A Win Could Boost RFK Jr.’s Influence
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is defending the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court – a notable contrast to his first term, when his administration sought to repeal the law in Congress and then refused to defend it in a major challenge brought by GOP-led states. But a win for the federal government in the current case, concerning the law’s mandates that certain preventive services are covered cost-free, could boost the power that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has in shaping those requirements. (Sneed, Luhby and Owermohle, 4/20)

Orange County Register: Man Deals With ‘Gut Punch’ After Routine Surgery Leads To Leg Amputation At California Hospital
Change is coming hard for Wayne Wolff, whose left leg was amputated last year after what was supposed to be a routine knee surgery at UCI Medical Center in Orange. (Saavedra, 4/21)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Palomar Health Board Backs CEO Despite Recent Difficulties 
While a majority of the Palomar Health governing board still stands behind Diane Hansen, the CEO that the elected body hired in late 2017, some are starting to call for accountability at the top as bond ratings fall, debt levels increase, expenses severely exceed revenue and services are sidelined. (Sisson, 4/20)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Lab Faces Challenges After NIH Budget Reductions
For weeks, no one could tell Dr. Charles DeCarli whether the $53 million grant powering his lab’s ambitious dementia research project would be renewed. “It was horrible,” the neurologist said. “It was really hard to face the potential of losing all of it, the money, everything I’d worked so hard for.” Then came the Monday morning call in late March. A program officer at UC Davis informed him the National Institutes of Health had sent a termination letter. His funding was gone — five years into a seven-year study tracking brain health in 1,700 diverse participants. (Anderson, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: NIH Funding Uncertainty Might Worsen Physician Shortage
Clinicians have largely avoided layoffs tied to federal research funding disruptions, but staffing cuts and federal funding uncertainty could exacerbate physician shortages. Academic health systems across the country have paused the hiring of researchers, furloughed faculty and laid off administrators in response to the National Institutes of Health’s attempts to reduce payments for overhead linked to research. (Kacik, 4/18)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Leaders Pilot New Care Models Amid Staffing Shortages
Hospitals are zeroing in on alternative care models to improve the nursing work experience and patient outcomes while lowering costs. Eight in 10 nurse leaders are piloting new care models in their organizations, ranging from virtual nursing to home health, according to a recent study by healthcare solutions company Wolters Kluwer. (DeSilva, 4/18)

Becker's Hospital Review: How Health Systems Are Adapting Supply Chains Amid Global Disruptions
In the face of persistent disruptions across supply chains, health systems across the country are making strides to help strengthen resilience, ensure continual care and build agile, responsive operations. ... Seven supply chain leaders ... were asked: In light of global supply chain disruptions experienced in recent years, what is one key adjustment your health system has made or is working towards to improve supply chain resiliency? (Murphy, 4/18)

Becker's Hospital Review: Health System IT Executives Target Future Growth
Health IT leaders are accountable for identifying and implementing technology to support the health system’s mission and teams. They are also strategic leaders tasked with looking ahead and problem-solving alongside their C-suite colleagues. Becker’s asked several IT leaders what they’re doing to set their systems up for success in the future. (Dyrda, 4/18)

Becker's Hospital Review: Orthopedics In 10 Years
Orthopedic and spine care is rapidly changing with the advent and deployment of new technologies, including robotic surgical care and artificial intelligence. Here is what two experts [including Yu-Po Lee, MD., spine surgeon at UCI Health] believe the industry will look like in 10 years. (Wallace, 4/18)

The New York Times: San Jose Considers Arresting Homeless People Who Refuse Housing 
The mayor of the Silicon Valley city has proposed arresting people who don’t accept offers of shelter. It’s the latest sign of frustrations over tent encampments in California. (Karlamangla, 4/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Drug Crisis: Battle Over Adding One Sentence To Recovery Policy
The latest debate about San Francisco’s drug policies centers on a one-sentence policy and how the city should define a person’s “recovery” from addiction. As Supervisor Matt Dorsey pushes the city to adopt a “recovery first” drug policy that prioritizes abstinence from illicit drugs, harm reduction advocates are arguing that the proposal represents a “very narrow view of recovery” and one that is “not aligned with best treatment practices.” (Angst, 4/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Travis Air Base Says It Can’t Deliver Babies Due To Nursing Shortage
A nurse shortage has prompted the hospital inside Travis Air Force Base to stop delivering babies, a situation the Air Force said will continue for several more months. In an advisory posted on the Solano County base’s website, the  60th Medical Group — which runs David Grant Medical Center inside the base — announced that the Labor and Delivery unit is short on nurses and won’t be able to deliver babies from April 8 to at least Oct. 1 this year. (Toledo, 4/19)

NBC News: Tricare Military Health Insurance Leaves Pregnant Women With Ultrasound Delays, Disrupted Care
In the throes of postpartum depression, the incision site from her Cesarean section still tender, a U.S. Navy veteran in Indiana learned she had been dropped by her health insurance. Some 500 miles away, in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Air National Guard member Cortney Frazon was trying to check in for a 20-week ultrasound when she discovered her doctor no longer accepted her insurance. Faced with a crushing out-of-pocket cost, she left. (Chan, 4/18)

The War Horse: For-Profit Firm Spends Millions To Maintain Stake In VA Benefits Claims
It started in 2017 with a group of friends and colleagues—the first 40 clients whom U.S. Army veterans Scott Greenblatt and Bill Taylor signed up to help. They had come home from combat zones weary and weakened by illness and injury, with a promise of monthly disability payments from the country they served. But first, they had to navigate the lumbering bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Rosenbaum, 4/18)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Gutting Head Start Would End Services To Thousands Of San Diego Families, Cut Hundreds Of Jobs 
President Donald Trump wants to cut all funding for Head Start, a move that would deprive thousands of San Diego County’s most vulnerable children and families of early education, child care and other wraparound services and could also eliminate hundreds of jobs in local Head Start programs. (Taketa, 4/20)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County Churches, Synagogue Declare Themselves Sanctuaries For Immigrants Amid Trump Administration Crackdown
The Rev. Benjamin Broadbent carried a bold proposal to his congregation a couple of months ago, one he knew could put it at odds with federal immigration authorities and thus a potential target of the Trump administration. Would the Community Church of Sebastopol consider declaring itself a sanctuary for immigrants? (Barber, 4/19)

MedPage Today: Leaked HHS Budget Draft Deletes Federal Spending For SHIP Counseling Programs
The leaked "pre-decisional" HHS budget for fiscal year 2026 would eliminate some $55 million in discretionary funding for the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP), whose counselors help seniors navigate and understand their incredibly complex array of Medicare plan choices. That, of course, does not necessarily mean that federal money for the SHIP program will stop. The 64-page budget document circulating this week dated April 10 is just a draft, and the final budget must be approved by Congress. (Clark, 4/18)

USA Today: RFK Jr. Suggests Compensating Families Of Some People With Autism
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. − who has long spread debunked claims surrounding autism and vaccines − suggested compensating families of some Americans with autism, calling them "injured." (Kuchar, 4/20)

The New York Times: Trump-Allied Prosecutor Sends Letters To Medical Journals Alleging Bias
A federal prosecutor has sent letters to at least three medical journals accusing them of political bias and asking a series of probing questions suggesting that the journals mislead readers, suppress opposing viewpoints and are inappropriately swayed by their funders. The letters were signed by Edward Martin Jr., a Republican activist serving as interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. He has been criticized for using his office to target opponents of President Trump. (Rosenbluth and Robbins, 4/18)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: ‘Health To Go’: New Sonoma County Vending Machines To Offer Narcan, COVID Tests And Condoms
Don’t look for chocolate, soda or cheese puffs at these new vending machines being placed in specified locations across Sonoma County. Instead of the usual sweet or salty treats, they’re offering health supplies at no cost. (Armstrong, 4/18)

The New York Times: Trump Declares Lab Leak As ‘True Origins’ Of Covid On New Website
The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about Covid with a website arguing that the coronavirus leaked from a lab, throwing its weight behind a theory of the pandemic’s origins that is so far not backed by direct evidence and that has divided intelligence agencies. Covid.gov and Covidtests.gov, federal websites that used to deliver information about Covid and allow people to order tests, now redirect to the lab leak web page. (Mueller, 4/18)

The Washington Post: Study Links Heavy Drinking To Brain Injuries, Alzheimer’s
Consuming more than eight alcoholic drinks a week is associated with brain injuries linked to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, a recent study in the journal Neurology suggests. The analysis looked for links between heavy drinking and brain health. Researchers used autopsy data from the Biobank for Aging Studies at the University of São Paulo Medical School in Brazil collected between 2004 and 2024. (Blakemore, 4/19)

CNN: Marijuana Hospital Visits Linked To Dementia Diagnosis Within 5 Years, Study Finds 
Sunday is 420 day, when lovers of marijuana get together to celebrate their fondness for weed. Yet research shows that regular users of marijuana are at risk for serious conditions, including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure and myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle. Now, an increased risk of dementia can be added to the list, according to a large study of more than 6 million people published April 14 in the journal JAMA Neurology. (LaMotte, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: Fire Debris Cleanup In L.A. County Almost Halfway Done, Authorities Say
Workers have found asbestos in more than 60% of homes in Altadena and more than 40% in the extended Palisades fire zone. Cleanup crews in white hazmat suits and respirators typically needed up to three days to scrape away the material and remove it in sealed containers. “At one point we had 95 crews doing nothing but asbestos abatement,” said Col. Sonny Avichal, the West Point graduate overseeing the Altadena fire cleanup. (Rainey, 4/20)

Politico: EV Firefighting Program Gets The Ax At HHS
The Trump administration has halted a federal program to protect firefighters from dangerous chemicals, including those emitted by burning electric vehicles. The firefighter health program was swept up in the administration’s massive restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services. Its demise threatens efforts to keep firefighters safe from cancer-causing chemicals as hard-to-control blazes become more frequent and intense, writes Ariel Wittenberg. (Skibell, 4/18)

CBS News: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Says Trump Deregulatory Actions Won't Have Adverse Effects On People And The Environment
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said Sunday that he can "absolutely" guarantee Trump administration deregulations won't have an adverse health impacts on people and the environment. "We have to both protect the environment and grow the economy," Zeldin said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." (Hubbard, 4/20)