Bay Area News Group: Can A $6.4 Billion Mental Health Ballot Measure Solve California Homelessness?
For decades, thousands of Californians struggling with mental health and addiction have languished on the street. Now, voters will decide whether a March 5 ballot measure is the solution to get them the care they desperately need. (Varian, 2/11)

KQED: Newsom Reneges On Sending San José Free Tiny Homes For The Unhoused
In March 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom gathered with the mayors of San José and Sacramento at Cal Expo, home of the state fair, to announce a generous gift to alleviate homelessness in the state’s largest cities. The Newsom administration would send four jurisdictions a total of 1,200 tiny homes — pre-modular sheds that could serve as a stepping stone for unhoused individuals on the path from tents to permanent housing. Perhaps the best part of the deal for cities like San José: the homes would arrive already built, free of charge. (Marzorati, 2/12)

Los Angeles Times: Free Cash Extended For Californians Behind On Mortgage Payments 
The state is again expanding its federally funded mortgage relief program to help more Californians. People who missed mortgage payments as late as Feb. 1 are now eligible for help. (Healey, 2/12)

Voice Of San Diego: Sacramento Report: San Diego’s Public Camping Ban Could Go Statewide 
When state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-Santee, proposed limiting encampments near sensitive sites last spring, his bill never made it out of the Public Safety Committee. Nearly a year later, he’s trying again, bolstered by support from several Senate Democrats and a similar San Diego ordinance that restricts public camping. (Brennan, 2/9)

Sacramento Bee: California Closes Thousands Of Farmworkers’ Housing Each Year. A Lawmaker Wants Them Opened
Thousands of California migrant farmworkers must leave their affordable housing every year when the state closes the complexes seasonally — now a Central Valley lawmaker and a legislative leader want to change that. (Holden, 2/11)

The Desert Sun: Palm Springs To See $2.9 Million From Opioid Lawsuit Settlements. What To Know
After gaining roughly $215,000 in settlement money by joining opioid lawsuits against some of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Palm Springs will use the funding for a variety of programs designed to help those struggling with substance abuse and addiction. (Coulter, 2/11)

Becker's Hospital Review: Dr. Ed Lee Joins AI Company As Medical Chief After Exiting The Permanente Federation 
Ed Lee, MD, former executive vice president of IT and CIO of Oakland, Calif.-based The Permanente Federation, joined a company developing ambient AI technology for clinical practitioners. Nabla named Dr. Lee chief medical officer Feb. 8 to help the company refine and enhance its product and development strategy. Dr. Lee joined the company shortly after Nabla announced a $24 million series B investment and set its sights on national expansion. (Dryda, 2/8)

CalMatters: Why Midwives Say They Can't Stay In Business In California
Madeleine Wisner dreamed of making community midwife services available to all expecting parents regardless of their income when she opened Welcome Home Community Birth Center in south Sacramento. But 451 births and five years later, Wisner is packing up her family and moving from California to New Zealand, where government policies are far more favorable to midwifery. She closed her birth center in October. (Hwang, 2/12)

Berkeleyside: Unions, developers, Uber and Phillip Morris: Who’s cutting big checks in the East Bay’s pricey state Senate race
What do Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, tobacco giant Phillip Morris and thousands of University of California System workers have in common? Their money is helping fuel an expensive East Bay state Senate primary this spring. Politicos across California are keeping an eye on the race for the seat representing Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and other bayshore communities. That’s because several influential labor groups have lined up behind different candidates vying to replace termed-out state Sen. Nancy Skinner. (Savidge, 2/9)

The Washington Post: U.S. Investigates Alleged Medicare Fraud Scheme Estimated At $2 Billion 
The first angry calls to the Pretty in Pink Boutique began last August, confusing staff at the Franklin, Tenn., provider of wigs, mastectomy bras and other accessories for cancer patients. Medicare recipients from around the country claimed that a company called Pretty in Pink had charged their health insurance companies thousands of dollars for urinary catheters that they never ordered or received. Flooded by dozens of complaints, the boutique launched a webpage in September to explain that its leaders were dumbfounded, too. (Diamond, Weber and Keating, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: Prior Authorization Legislation Proliferates In States
A growing number of states is imposing new limitations on prior authorization requirements to address provider and patient complaints that health insurance companies are delaying and denying care. Some of these legislative efforts go further than what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed last month for insurers participating in federal programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the health insurance exchanges. (McAuliff, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposed Rule To Increase Accrediting Organization Oversight 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed Thursday to crack down on accrediting organizations following concerns of biased, inconsistent survey results and conflicts of interest. The proposed rule would strengthen CMS’ oversight of accrediting bodies and mandate the organizations reduce conflicts of interest with healthcare facilities, including by limiting fee-based consulting services. The proposal also would standardize accrediting organizations' survey processes. (Devereaux, 2/9)

Barron's: Moderna’s RSV Vaccine May Lose Efficacy Faster Than GSK And Pfizer’s 
Moderna is girding itself for a commercial battle with two of the largest vaccine makers in the world— Pfizer and GSK —with the expected launch of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine later this year. But in an abstract released ahead of a scientific conference scheduled for next week in Mumbai, Moderna presented efficacy data for its experimental RSV shot for older adults, mRNA-1345, that is notably worse than the efficacy data from the same trial the company presented early last year. It isn’t entirely clear why the efficacy results plunged, though the new results reflect an average follow-up with patients that is nearly five months longer. Nathan-Kazis, 2/9)

CIDRAP: Early Estimates Of RSV Drug Show 70% Protection Against Hospital Illness 
Real-world efficacy data from Spain indicate that the RSV drug nirsevimab (Beyfortus) is at least 70% effective at preventing RSV hospitalizations in infants under 9 months old, according to new research in Eurosurveillance. Spain was one of the first countries to introduce nirsevimab as universal RSV prophylaxis (prevention) into its national immunization program for all infants born on April 1, 2023, and after. (Soucheray, 2/9)

AP: Flu Hangs On In US, Fading In Some Areas And Intensifying In Others 
The flu virus is hanging on in the U.S., intensifying in some areas of the country after weeks of an apparent national decline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Friday showed a continued national drop in flu hospitalizations, but other indicators were up — including the number of states with high or very high levels for respiratory illnesses. “Nationally, we can say we’ve peaked, but on a regional level it varies,” said the CDC’s Alicia Budd. “A couple of regions haven’t peaked yet.” (Stobbe, 2/9)

St. Louis Public Radio: Wash U Researchers Find Evidence Of Long Flu
Scientists at Washington University have found that patients hospitalized with the flu can display long-term effects similar to those found in long COVID patients. The researchers found evidence of long flu by looking at Veterans Administration hospital records of flu and COVID-19 patients that had been stripped of identifying information. In the year and a half after patients became sick with the flu, some suffered elevated risk of continued breathing and lung problems. (Fentem, 2/9)

The Bakersfield Californian: Advocates Accuse ICE Of Neglecting Detainees Amid January COVID-19 Spike 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and private prison company GEO Group staff have been accused of neglecting to test detainees for COVID-19 last month, despite individuals reporting being sick with coronavirus symptoms and a countywide rise in cases. (Donegan, 2/11)

The Hill: Climate Change Is Making It More Dangerous For Kids To Play Outside, Report Finds 
Blistering heat waves and more frequent wildfires are reversing a generation of U.S. clean air gains, a new study has found. The peer-reviewed research by the climate analytics firm First Street Foundation projected that by midcentury, the increased levels of microscopic soot particles and ozone molecules entering Americans’ lungs will be back to the levels they were at in 2004 — before a decades-long federal campaign to clean up the air. ... Falling air quality has driven up the number of days when children in the U.S. West can’t safely play outside nearly fivefold since 2000. (Elbein, 2/12)

CBS News: Tests Reveal "Concerning" Levels Of Plastics Found In General Mills Products
Consumer Reports says it found plastic chemicals in every food product it tested at very high levels, including products sold by General Mills. "Consumers should be very concerned, but they shouldn't panic," said Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports' Director of Food Policy. After testing dozens of supermarket products, Consumer Reports found plastic chemicals - known as phthalates in nearly all of them. (Henry, 2/9)

The Washington Post: A Pandemic Legacy: Majority Of Mental Health Appointments Stay Remote
More than half of mental health appointments — 55 percent — are being conducted remotely, mainly via videoconferencing rather than in-person visits, according to a brief research report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Telemedicine, also known as telehealth, enables patients to obtain care via technology, most often a cellphone, video chat, computer or tablet. (Searing, 2/12)

NPR: Influencers Are Asked To Help Stop The Spread Of Mental Health Misinformation
Harvard public health researchers recruited social media influencers who discuss mental health issues, and trained them to present better information to audiences. (Muraskin, 2/12)

Fox News: Ketamine Therapy Shown Effective In Treating Severe Depression In Veterans, Study Finds
The University of Michigan released a study on the effects of ketamine in cases of severe or treatment-resistant depression among veterans. Half of the study participants experienced significant relief after undergoing six weeks of ketamine therapy, according to a Michigan Medicine press release. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, looked into the data of 215 veterans receiving intravenous ketamine therapy at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. (Stabile, 2/10)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Researchers Make Progress In Developing Blood Test For Psychiatric Disorders 
Johns Hopkins researchers say they’re getting closer to developing a blood test that would identify changes in the brain associated with psychiatric and neurological disorders — an advancement that could enable doctors to detect the early signs of mental health emergencies. (Roberts, 2/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Woman Pouring Your $18 Beer At The Super Bowl Makes $14.25 An Hour With No Health Insurance
If you grabbed a beer or a soda in Allegiant Stadium’s Section 143 during Sunday’s Super Bowl, there’s a good chance Chayasura Walker filled your cup. It’s not her only job. The 43-year-old cashier from nearby Henderson works at a clothing store and slings concessions at the Sphere concert venue, too, to make ends meet. ... “I work three jobs and I still qualify for Medicaid,” Walker told the Chronicle in an interview this week after getting off work at the Las Vegas Raiders home stadium in Paradise, Nev., just southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. “That should tell you something.” (Gafni, 2/11)

Fox News: Super Bowl And Sports Fan Depression: How To Cope After The 49ers' Loss, According To Mental Health Experts
Super Bowl LVIII could cause some fans on the losing team to experience sports fan depression. Licensed counselor Jill Lamar and NYU psychologist Chris LaLima discuss the warning signs and coping skills. (Stabile, 2/12)

FiercePharma: Pfizer Enlists Queen, Einstein And More For Super Bowl Ad Showing Its Role In The History Of Science 
Pfizer has touched down at the Super Bowl. The Big Pharma ran its “Here’s to Science” ad at the event, framing its work to “outdo cancer” as part of a history of breakthroughs dating back to Hippocrates. In the 60-second ad, which also comes in an extended 90-second cut, Pfizer shows paintings, statues and photos of people such as Isaac Newton, its founders Charles Erhart and Charles Pfizer, Galileo and Albert Einstein singing along to Queen’s Don't Stop Me Now. Pfizer’s chief marketing officer Drew Panayiotou discussed the decision to show the ad at the Super Bowl in an accompanying behind the scenes video. (Pfizer, 2/12)