NBC Los Angeles: OC Doctor Accused Of Sexually Abusing Dozens Of Patients
An Orange County doctor facing criminal charges for allegedly sexually abusing patients is now being sued by 73 former patients. Dr. William Moore Thompson IV, an infectious disease specialist, is accused of molesting patients during visits at both his Newport Beach office as well as at Hoag Hospital. (Dickerson, 1/25)

Becker's Hospital Review: California Hospital Taps Permanent CEO Amid Union Opposition
The San Benito Health Care District board, which oversees Hollister, Calif.-based Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, voted Jan. 25 to name Mary Casillas CEO. Ms. Casillas, who was originally hired as COO, has been serving as interim CEO since fall 2022. Her appointment to the permanent role comes as the hospital awaits a ruling on bankruptcy eligibility. The San Benito Health Care District board voted in May 2023 to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and a federal bankruptcy court is determining the validity of the financial emergency that hospital administrators cited as the reasoning behind the filing. (Gooch, 1/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: Nurses At HCA California Hospital Approve Contract 
Members of SEIU 121RN have approved a new labor contract with Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, hospital and union spokespeople confirmed to Becker's. The three-year agreement, approved Jan. 17, covers about 800 nurses at the hospital. (Gooch, 1/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Go Back To Your Mission': City Of Hope Nursing Leader On Improving Turnover Rates 
With the national nursing turnover rate hitting 22.5% in 2023, Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope is working hard to create an environment and culture that ensures nursing support. "Our clinical nurse turnover for 2023 was just under 10% for City of Hope's Southern California locations. We've also successfully created opportunities for nurses to move within the organization — not only vertically, but also horizontally — allowing them to grow and develop professionally without leaving the organization," Susan Brown, PhD, RN, senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at City of Hope, told Becker's. (Ashley, 1/26)

Axios: Health Care Workers Kept Leaving The Industry After Pandemic: Study
There's been a "substantial and persistent" increase in health care workers leaving the industry since the pandemic, as staff who stayed on during the worst of COVID-19 leave for new opportunities in a robust jobs market, according to a new study in JAMA Health Forum. While exit rates have been matched by an uptick in hiring, the constant churn can disrupt the continuity of care and result in poorer patient outcomes, researchers wrote. (Reed, 1/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Spine Tech Company NuVasive Lays Off 157 
Local medical technology firm NuVasive laid off 157 workers in San Diego following the completion of its $3.1 billion merger with Globus Medical. (Rocha, 1/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Can Artificial Intelligence Make Sepsis Less Deadly? UCSD Health Study Suggests Yes 
A team of researchers and clinicians at UC San Diego Health has been working to see if artificial intelligence can provide an edge in early sepsis diagnosis, and, in a paper published Tuesday, the group finds that an internally developed system called “COMPOSER,” a machine-learning model trained with more than 100,000 digital records of sepsis patients, can reduce mortality rates. (Sisson, 1/28)

Reuters: Philips' US Sales Of Sleep Apnea Devices Face Years-Long Halt After FDA Deal
Dutch health technology company Philips will not sell new devices to treat sleep apnea in the U.S. in the coming years as it works to comply with a settlement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday. The agreement followed the recall of millions of breathing devices and ventilators used to treat sleep apnea in 2021 because of concerns that foam used to reduce noise from the devices could degrade and become toxic, carrying potential cancer risks. (Meijer, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: Refusing Shelter Bed In San Mateo County Could Soon Be Crime 
San Mateo County officials are hoping to add an unusual tactic to their multi-pronged approach to tackling the homelessness crisis: making it a crime to refuse to accept available, temporary housing. In a unanimous vote this week, county supervisors moved forward with the proposal — despite significant opposition from civil rights groups and some homeless advocates — which would allow authorities to issue a misdemeanor violation to anyone living in a homeless encampment who refuses to move into available, temporary housing after a health evaluation and at least two warnings. (Toohey, 1/27)

Voice of OC: Will California’s Prop 1 Help Curb Homelessness Or Cut Mental Health Programs?
Voters across California will decide March 5 if they want to approve a roughly $6.4 billion bond – and redirect mental health money – that Gov. Gavin Newsom and proponents tout will create more homes and treatment centers for people with mental health illnesses and addiction. But critics worry it will leave Californians in billions of debt, slash funding to mental health programs and potentially cut those programs for not much housing in return. (Elattar, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: ‘If It’s COVID, Paxlovid’? For Many, It Should Be Easier To Get. Here’s What To Know About Antivirals
Officials at both the federal and state level have implored healthcare providers to properly prescribe Paxlovid and other antivirals when indicated. “Antivirals are underused,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Thursday. “Don’t wait for symptoms to worsen.” In its own advisory, the California Department of Public Health said, “Most adults and some children with symptomatic COVID-19 are eligible for treatments ... Providers should have a low threshold for prescribing COVID-19 therapeutics.” (Lin II, 1/28)

Los Angeles Times: Why Some High-Risk Patients Aren't Getting Drugs To Combat COVID
As the toll from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to mount, antiviral medications such as Paxlovid were hailed by health officials as an important way to reduce the risk of severe illness or death. Yet the drugs have remained underused, studies have found. In Boston, a group of researchers wanted to know why — and what could be done about it. (Reyes, 1/26)

CIDRAP: COVID Drugs More Often Given To Medicare Patients Who Least Need Them, Study Suggests
A greater proportion of nonhospitalized Medicare enrollees infected with COVID-19 but at low risk for severe disease received drugs to combat the disease than those at higher risk in 2022, weakening their public health benefit, finds an observational study published today in JAMA Health Forum. (Van Beusekom, 1/26)

The Washington Post: U.S., China Officials To Meet On Curbing Fentanyl Supply
United States and Chinese officials will meet in Beijing on Tuesday, convening a working group designed to crack down on the flow of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs targeting U.S. users. It is the first such high-level meeting of U.S. and Chinese officials since a breakthrough agreement between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November when the two leaders pledged to restart counternarcotics cooperation. (Cadell, 1/28)

American Homefront Project: A New Lawsuit Says The VA Has Failed To Live Up To Its Promises About Gender-Affirming Care
Natalie Kastner has wanted gender-affirming surgery since she was 16 years old. “I fell into the trap where I thought like a lot of people do, that this is a phase,” the former Army engineer said about the gender dysphoria that’s she's experienced for years. “I fell into that trap, and, boy, did that hit me after I left the Army.” Now a disabled veteran living in Texas, Kastner said the Department of Veterans Affairs won’t perform the operation, and she would have to leave the state to get it privately. Two years ago, she said, she severed an artery when she attempted to cut off her genitals in her own bathroom. (D'lorio, 1/26)

NBC News: Millions Of LGBTQ Americans Have Religious Trauma. Psychiatrists Want To Help
1 in 3 adults in the United States who have suffered from religious trauma at some point in their life, according to a 2023 study. ... Religious trauma occurs when an individual’s religious upbringing has lasting adverse effects on their physical, mental or emotional well-being, according to the Religious Trauma Institute. Symptoms can include guilt, shame, loss of trust and loss of meaning in life. While religious trauma hasn’t officially been classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), there is debate among psychiatrists about whether that should change. (Macnaughton, 1/28)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern Behavioral Health To Hold Mental Health Awareness Event 
For the start of Black History Month, Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services will host a conversation about mental well-being and emotional balance on Friday to raise mental health awareness in the African American community. (1/27)

The Washington Post: Children Of Color Face Delays In Treating Infantile Spasms, Study Finds
Prompt diagnosis and treatment of infantile epileptic spasms syndrome, a severe seizure disorder beginning in infancy, can prevent developmental delays. But non-Hispanic Black children are less likely than their White counterparts to get timely treatment for infantile spasms, a recent analysis suggests. The study, published in Epilepsia, looked at a group of 100 children with infantile spasms who were diagnosed at Boston Children’s Hospital between January 2019 and May 2022. (Blakemore, 1/28)

The Washington Post: Austin’s Prostate Cancer Case Spotlights Broader Silence Around Disease
Daniel R. Eagle, a retired Air Force general, is open about his prostate cancer. At least, he is now. Had he been in the military still, he said, he may have handled it differently. “I certainly would have been a lot more circumspect,” said Eagle, who spent nearly 40 years in uniform, retiring in 2010. “I think I would have had more embarrassment about it, and been more hesitant to share with other folks. Because there is absolutely a stigma.” (Lamothe, 1/28)

AP: Pentagon Chief Austin's Cancer Prognosis Is 'Excellent,' No Further Treatments Needed, Doctors Say 
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center say his prostate cancer prognosis is excellent and no further treatments will be needed after seeing him for a follow-up appointment Friday. Austin, 70, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and spent two weeks in the hospital following complications from a prostatectomy. Despite the complications, “his cancer was treated early and effectively, and his prognosis is excellent,” his doctors said Friday. (Copp and Baldor, 1/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: From E. Coli To Mold, Flood Increases Risk Of Health Problems As Recovery Ramps Up 
Floods like the one that submerged much of San Diego County Monday push urban waterways beyond their banks, carrying a melange of potentially harmful bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella into nearby neighborhoods. (Sisson, 1/26)

The New York Times: Pet Dragons Linked To Salmonella Cases That Sickened Dozens Of Children
The outbreak of a rare strain of salmonella that sickened scores of people, including several infants, across the United States and Canada, has been linked to pet bearded dragons, some most likely obtained from the same breeder in Southeast Asia, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak covered in the study occurred in 2021 and 2022, but salmonella infections associated with bearded dragons have become increasingly common in recent years, mirroring the rising popularity of the goofy, scaly lizards as household pets. (Jacobs, 1/26)

The New York Times: Los Angeles Times Owner Clashed With Top Editor Over Unpublished Article About Wealthy California Doctor
When Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of The Los Angeles Times, hired Kevin Merida to be the newspaper’s top editor nearly three years ago, he hailed the journalist as someone who would maintain the publication’s high standards and journalistic integrity. By this winter, the professional warmth between the two men had chilled. Their relationship was strained in part by an incident in December when Dr. Soon-Shiong tried to dissuade Mr. Merida from pursuing a story about a wealthy California doctor and his dog, three people with knowledge of the interactions said. The doctor was an acquaintance of Dr. Soon-Shiong’s, the people said. (Mac, Mullin and Robertson, 1/26)

USA Today: Levemir Insulin Will Be Discontinued
Diabetes patients who depend on insulin recently got a financial break when the three major insulin manufacturers enacted dramatic price cuts. But the good news was short-lived. The drugmaker will stop selling the injectable FlexPen version of Levemir in April and will halt sales of Levemir vials by the end of December. In a statement to USA TODAY last week, Novo Nordisk said it would discontinue U.S. sales of Levemir because of a combination of factors, including global manufacturing constraints and the availability of other forms of insulin. (Alltucker, 1/28)

Stat: Merck, Johnson & Johnson CEOs Will Testify On High Drug Prices
Merck CEO Robert Davis and Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato have agreed to voluntarily testify before the Senate health committee, avoiding a threatened subpoena, the committee announced Friday. (Cohrs, 1/26)

Axios: The Health Care Problems That Money Doesn’t Want To Solve
Some of America's most challenging behavioral health care problems include a key disadvantage: They're not very profitable to treat. Serious mental illness and addiction have a profound effect on families and communities, but their complexity and their concentration among lower-income people make them issues that the private market has little incentive to solve. (Owens, 1/29)