CalMatters and San Diego Magazine: They Delivered 5,600 Babies. They Blame California Rules For Putting Them Out Of Business
Birth centers are popular options for families who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Nineteen of them closed in California in the past decade, deepening the state’s maternity care crisis. (Hwang, 8/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: 57% Of Rural Hospitals Lack Maternity Care: 19 States With The Biggest Gaps
In the past five years, over 100 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies, contributing to the 57% of rural U.S. hospitals that lack labor and delivery services. This finding comes from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Its July report details the number of rural hospitals by state that lack maternity care services, those that do offer such services, the financial losses incurred from maternity care and the travel time to the nearest hospital providing OB services. (Gamble, 8/26)

ProPublica: Therapists Are Leaving Health Insurance Networks. Here's Why
Although federal law requires insurers to provide the same access to mental and physical health care, these companies have been caught, time and again, shortchanging customers with mental illness — restricting coverage and delaying or denying treatment. These patients — whose disorders can be chronic and costly — are bad for business, industry insiders told ProPublica. (Waldman, Miller, Blau and Eldeib, 8/25)

Los Angeles Times: Humboldt Officials Accuse San Francisco Of Busing City's Homeless Problems North
San Francisco and Humboldt County officials are trading jabs over Mayor London Breed’s plans to more aggressively promote a city program that pays to relocate homeless people to other communities where they have family or other ties. During their Tuesday meeting, Humboldt County supervisors debated sending a draft letter, addressed to Breed, questioning whether San Francisco was making sure the homeless people it’s busing out actually land housing and jobs. The supervisors were responding to a recent report in the San Francisco Standard that found the counties of Sacramento, Los Angeles and Humboldt were the top three destinations for homeless people bused out of San Francisco since September 2023. (Wiley, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: Long Beach Moves On Homeless Sites Even As Officials Say They Fear Causing More Harm
In a small, oil-stained alley in Long Beach, under a yellow bedsheet tied to a chain-link fence, Fernando Gonzalez sat cross-legged, fighting off sleep amid the summer heat. Until recently, the 55-year-old had been living with about a dozen homeless people at Gumbiner Park, a tiny green space nearby, across from the Museum of Latin American Art. Outreach workers had visited the site for weeks, offering shelter beds and motel vouchers to people while warning them that the city would soon start enforcing its anti-camping laws. (Vives, 8/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: 'This Is Too Much': An Unknown Number Of San Diego's Flood Victims Are Still Homeless
Seven months after thousands of families were displaced by historic floods, some are back home. Others have become homeless. And nobody’s quite sure how many. City agencies and community organizations have tried to ensure every family is accounted for. But many are certain that hundreds of families have fallen through the cracks. (Alvarenga, 8/25)

Bay Area News Group: At Just 7 Years Old, He Lives In A Tent In A San Jose Homeless Encampment And Wishes He Had A Microwave And A Shower
In 2023, Santa Clara County counted 211 homeless children under the age of 18 living without shelter, up from 112 the year before. Last year’s count was less than a third of the 664 unsheltered children counted in 2017, four years before the county created a campaign to end family homelessness. (Varian, 8/26)

VC Star: Ventura Affordable Housing Complex For Veterans Accepting Applications
Applications are being accepted for Ventura Springs, an affordable housing complex in east Ventura that prioritizes homeless and low-income veterans. (Woods II, 8/25)

California Healthline: For Pharma, Trump Vs. Harris Is A Showdown Between Two Industry Foes
Vice President Kamala Harris is seen as more aggressive than former President Donald Trump in taking on pharmaceutical companies, but Trump allies say he would also make lowering drug costs a top priority. (Armour, 8/26)

The Hill: Kamala Harris, Tim Walz Lean Into Erasing Medical Debt
The economic plan Harris released last week called for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), to work with states to erase medical debt for millions of Americans “to help them avoid accumulating such debt in the future, because no one should go bankrupt just because they had the misfortune of becoming sick or hurt.” (Weixel, 8/24)

Politico: Trump’s Pledge To Be ‘Great For Women And Their Reproductive Rights’ Angers Advocates
Donald Trump attempted to strike a new tone on the issue of abortion this week, saying he would be “great for women and their reproductive rights” — to the frustration of anti-abortion advocates. The former president invoked the phrase in a post on Truth Social on Friday, reflecting his campaign’s frenzied attempt to reset the narrative in the race against Vice President Kamala Harris and present more moderately on the issue of abortion, which has plagued Republicans electorally since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. (Piper, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Would Veto A Federal Abortion Ban, Vance Says
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance says Donald Trump would not support a national abortion ban if elected president and would veto such legislation if it landed on his desk. “I can absolutely commit that,” Vance said when asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether he could commit to Trump not imposing such a ban. “Donald Trump’s view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue.” The Ohio senator also insisted that Trump, the former president who is the Republican nominee this year, would veto such legislation if it were passed by Congress. (Colvin, 8/25)

The Hill: Elizabeth Warren On Trump-Vance Pledge To Veto Abortion Ban: ‘American Women Are Not Stupid’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday pushed back against Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) ... “American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country,” Warren said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” when asked about Vance, the GOP vice presidential nominee, saying he thinks Trump would veto a ban. (Fortinsky, 8/25)

The New York Times: Care Policies Take Center Stage In Harris’s Economic Message
The “care economy” — a broad set of policies aimed at helping parents and other caregivers — was the great unfinished work of President Biden’s domestic agenda. Vice President Kamala Harris has made it a central aspect of her campaign to succeed him. Ms. Harris, the Democratic nominee, has spoken frequently on the campaign trail about making it more affordable to raise children. She chose a running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, whose signature policy accomplishments include the creation of a paid family leave program. (Ngo and Casselman, 8/24)

Fresno Bee: Valley Fever Cases Are On The Rise In California. Here's What To Know About Symptoms, Causes
California is seeing an increase in Valley fever infections. Here’s what to know about disease symptoms, causes and how to prevent exposure. (Taylor and Linn, 8/23)

Fresno Bee: Valley Fever Continues To Be A Health Challenge In Fresno County 
If you have lived in the Central Valley for years, probably you have heard about Valley fever. If not new to the area, then you might be wondering what it is and if it is real. (Ortiz-Briones, 8/23)

Reuters: WHO Boss Calls For $135 Mln To Stop Mpox Outbreak
The head of the World Health Organization called for global concerted action to control a new mpox outbreak, announcing a response plan that will require at least $135 million over the next six months. "Let me be clear: this new mpox outbreak can be controlled and can be stopped," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to WHO member states on Friday, later posted on social media platform X. (8/23)

Stat: Fauci Recovering At Home Following Hospitalization For West Nile Virus Infection
Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is recovering at home after being hospitalized for nearly a week for West Nile virus infection. Fauci, a leader of the U.S. Covid-19 response, spent six days in hospital as doctors tried to figure out what was responsible for his illness. It was thought he had a bacterial infection, or had been infected with a tick-borne disease, until a blood test showed he was “strongly positive” for West Nile virus. (Branswell, 8/24)

California Healthline and Healthbeat: The New Covid Vaccine Is Out. Why You Might Not Want To Rush To Get It.
Although public health officials recommend the newly approved covid vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, it may make more sense to wait until closer to the holiday season. (Allen, Fawcett and Grapevine, 8/26)

The Hill: COVID Spread Mitigation In Schools Urged By Health Experts
Health experts are urging school staff and families to take active steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 amid rising infections as school districts stick to their previous plans to combat the virus similarly to how they would the flu or strep throat. Weekly deaths from COVID-19 have steadily risen in the United States since mid-June, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID Data Tracker. (Lonas and O’Connell-Domenech, 8/25)

CIDRAP: Unvaccinated Survivors Of Severe COVID Saw Rise In Mental Illness In Year After, Study Suggests
A study of nearly 19 million adults in England reveals a higher rate of mental illness among survivors of COVID-19 hospitalization—particularly among the unvaccinated—for up to a year. A team led by University of Bristol investigators evaluated the incidence of mental illness in patients before and after COVID-19 diagnosis within the past year. ... The research was published this week in JAMA Psychiatry. ( Van Beusekom, 8/23)

Salon: Long COVID Is A "Public Health Crisis For Kids," Experts Say
For years, public health experts have said that COVID-19 infections in children are “mild.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most common symptoms of COVID in kids are a fever and cough. While some children with the coronavirus are admitted to the ICU and there are pediatric deaths, studies have found that underlying medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, cardiac and lung disorders, increase the risk of severe outcomes. (Karlis, 8/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive | J&J Takes Aim At Hospital Drug-Discount Program
Johnson & Johnson is opening a new front in the pharmaceutical industry’s fight against lucrative drug discounts for hospitals. Johnson & Johnson told certain hospitals around the U.S. Friday, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, they will have to pay full price for two drugs that the company has sold at a discount under the drug-savings program and can apply later for a rebate. (Evans and Loftus, 8/23)

Stat: U.S. Agency Slaps Down A J&J Plan To Switch Payments For 340B Hospitals 
A U.S. government agency said that a planned move by Johnson & Johnson to alter payment methods for some hospitals participating in a controversial drug discount program was “inconsistent” with federal law and requires approval before the company can proceed. (Silverman, 8/23)

Axios: Surprise Billing Law Helped PE-Backed Providers
A select group of private equity-backed physician practices benefited from the federal process for resolving billing disputes for out-of-network care, collecting payouts well above what insurers would have paid in-network, an analysis of 2023 data shows. (Bettelheim, 8/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive | FDA Widens Probe Of Ecstasy-Based Drug Studies
The Food and Drug Administration is ramping up its investigation of the clinical trials that tested an Ecstasy-based therapy, after the agency earlier rejected the application for its approval. FDA investigators this week interviewed four people about the clinical trials sponsored by company Lykos Therapeutics, people familiar with the matter said. Investigators asked about whether side effects went unreported. (Essley Whyte, 8/23)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Pollutants Were Found In The Warehouse That Could Be A Giant Homeless Shelter. Is That A Deal Breaker?
In March, three canisters were taken to an empty warehouse in San Diego’s Middletown neighborhood. They were placed on the lowest floor and left for hours. Later, when a laboratory ran dozens of tests on each to see if they’d caught anything dangerous floating through the air, almost all the results came back clean. But a handful of samples raised red flags. (Nelson, 8/25)

USA Today: Great Value Apple Juice Sold At Walmart Recalled Over Arsenic
A voluntary recall for 9,535 of the eight-ounce Great Value Apple Juice sold at Walmart stores in a six-pack with PET plastic bottles (UPC 0-78742-29655-5) has been issued, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the recall number F-1746-2024 issued on Aug. 15, the federal agency said that the apple juice “contains inorganic arsenic above the action level set in industry guidance.”  On Aug. 23, the recall was upgraded to Class II, which is defined by the FDA as a product that "may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”  (Forbes, 8/24)

CNN: Human Brains Contain Surprising Levels Of Plastic, Study Says
Human brain samples collected at autopsy in early 2024 contained more tiny shards of plastic than samples collected eight years prior, according to a preprint posted online in May. A preprint is a study which has not yet been peer-reviewed and published in a journal. (LaMotte, 8/25)

AP: Wearable Tech Sensors Can Read Your Sweat. Privacy Advocates Are Concerned
As the world experiences more record high temperatures, employers are exploring wearable technologies to keep workers safe. New devices collect biometric data to estimate core body temperature – an elevated one is a symptom of heat exhaustion – and prompt workers to take cool-down breaks. ... But there are concerns about how the medical information collected on employees will be safeguarded. Some labor groups worry managers could use it to penalize people for taking needed breaks. (Bussewitz, 8/24)

The New York Times: Why Are Extreme Heat-Related Deaths So Hard To Track?
Researchers estimate that heat kills more people than any other extreme weather event, and the number of heat-related deaths reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has steadily risen in recent years. In 2023, the agency reported that heat played a role in approximately 2,300 deaths, though this number may be revised as more records are processed. But some researchers say the actual number is far higher. ... The C.D.C. relies on death certificates reported by local authorities for its tally, but the way these certificates are completed varies from place to place. (Selig, 8/23)