Los Angeles Times: California Prisons Remain Unprepared For Extreme Heat
The potential heat-related death of a prison inmate in California’s Central Valley this week is focusing renewed attention on conditions within correctional institutions as extreme heat, wildfire smoke and flooding pose increasing threats to incarcerated people. Though extreme heat endangers residents throughout the state, experts say California’s prisons are uniquely unprepared for climate change because of a variety of factors, including their remote locations, aging infrastructure and overcrowding. (Smith, 7/13)

The New York Times: Burns From Scorching-Hot Sidewalks And Roads Are Rising, And Can Be Fatal
As climate change pushes summer temperatures ever higher and for longer stretches, and with more Americans moving into rapidly expanding cities in the Southwest, more people are suffering serious burns from contact with hot outdoor surfaces. For some, the burns are so extensive that they prove fatal, according to burn experts. In 2022, the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix ... admitted 85 patients for contact burns over the summer. ... This year, the center has already treated 50 patients, and four of them died. (Hassan and Taft, 7/14)

AP: Why Extreme Heat And Some Medicines Can Be A Risky Combo
Extreme heat can raise the danger of heat-related illnesses and threaten health in a more subtle way — by amplifying the side effects of many common medications. Hot weather, too, can damage medicines such as insulin that require refrigeration. Inhalers can explode. Epinephrine injectors such as EpiPens can malfunction. Meds delivered in the mail can deteriorate. (Johnson, 7/12)

AP: Things To Know About Heat Deaths As A Dangerously Hot Summer Shapes Up In The Western US
A dangerously hot summer is shaping up in the U.S. West, with heat suspected in dozens of recent deaths. ... Heat is the top cause of weather-related fatalities nationwide. But because investigations of suspected heat deaths can take months, and a mishmash of methods is used by counties to count them, it is unknown exactly how many people died in the recent heat wave beginning July 1. (Snow, 7/13)

Stat: The Effort To Reform Physician Pay Is Set To Pit Primary Care Docs Against Highly Paid Specialists
There’s been a long lull in fighting between primary care and specialty doctors over how much they get paid by Medicare, but that truce might not last if Congress overhauls the system that determines physician payment. (Wilkerson, 7/15)

Modern Healthcare: CMS ACO Proposals Give New Medicare Shared Savings Program Option
The Medicare pay cut looming for doctors next year comes with a sweetener for providers that participate in Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organizations. Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a 2.9% physician reimbursement reduction for 2025 on Wednesday — which would make five straight years of lower Medicare rates — the agency also wants to enable high-performing ACO providers to claim a share of the savings they generate early. (Early, 7/12)

Axios: Medicare Proposes Payment For Digital Mental Health Therapies
Medicare for the first time is proposing to reimburse doctors for digital mental health therapies like apps and software to treat behavioral health conditions. The move could be a boost for digital therapeutics like wellness apps or video games that have been slow to gain adoption because there aren't consistent payment and coverage pathways. (Goldman, 7/15)

Becker's Hospital Review: Next-Gen Tech At Kaiser Permanente: A Shift From Episodic To Continuous Care
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is leaning into next-generation wearables, data collection and artificial intelligence tools in order to reach patients in their preferred settings, VentureBeat reported July 12. (Diaz, 7/12)

Politico: Feds Tackle Dialysis Giants With Antitrust Probe
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the nation’s two largest dialysis providers over allegations they illegally thwart smaller competitors, according to three people with knowledge of the probe. The investigation focuses in part on how the companies make it difficult for the physicians who work in their clinics to leave for rivals and start new businesses, said the three people, who were granted anonymity to speak about a confidential matter. (Sisco, 7/13)

Times of San Diego: Scripps Research Adds 8 Faculty Members, Experts In Immunology, Medicine, More 
Scripps Research is welcoming eight new scientists whose research focuses on HIV, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disorders and more. (7/13)

East Bay Times: Bay Area Homelessness: After Supreme Court Ruling, Advocates Seek New Plan
Less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court gave cities broader authority to police homelessness, a federal judge has halted Oakland’s plan to clear a small encampment near the Bay Bridge — a win for homeless advocates in an early test of local officials’ power to carry out sweeps in the wake of the high court’s landmark ruling. (Varian, 7/15)

CapRadio: Homeless Advocates Say Cities, Counties Should Distribute Tools To Prevent Fires In Encampments
Last month, a fire originating in a Rancho Cordova encampment burned nearly 600 acres. Fires like this one are often initially started in encampments for survival purposes — like cooking food, providing light or to clear out trash. But as reports each year show, these fires often spread beyond the control of the person who started them. In previous years, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department has said firefighters respond to fires connected to homeless encampments daily. (Secaira, 7/15)

Sacramento Bee: Affordable Public Housing Units Sit Vacant In Sacramento, CA
There are roughly 300 affordable public housing units in Sacramento sitting vacant at any given time, according to a strongly-worded letter from a federal agency obtained by The Sacramento Bee. “The HUD San Francisco Office of Public Housing has significant concerns regarding the number of vacant public housing units,” HUD wrote in an Aug. 18 2023 letter to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. “(The office) is requesting that SHRA provide a corrective action plan that identifies the actions and timelines to house more families in public housing units.” (Clift, 7/15)

CalMatters: Six Myths About Homelessness In California: What The Data Shows 
Homelessness is one of the most prominent, hardest to solve — and most polarizing — problems California faces today. (Kendall, 7/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Workers Joust With UCSF Over Claims Of Harm From Shipyard Toxics
A half-dozen current and former workers at a UCSF lab-animal colony in Hunters Point that sits next to the heavily polluted former U.S. Navy shipyard have said in workers’ compensation claims that they were exposed to “radiation and other hazards” that triggered lung problems, hypertension and other health complications. The claims, filed in 2020 but only now made public, represent the latest chapter in a long-running controversy over the cleanup of the Superfund waste site, the health of people who have lived or worked nearby, and San Francisco’s effort to turn the radioactive former shipyard and and atomic-bomb research site into a waterfront neighborhood. (Roberts, 7/15)

Newsweek: Baby Formula Warning Over Vulnerability To Forever Chemicals
Nanoplastics and "forever chemicals" have been shown to disrupt the structure and function of key molecules in human breast milk and infant formula, raising concerns about their impact on infant health and development. Human-made compounds such as plastics and forever chemicals ... are becoming increasingly prevalent in our surrounding environment. They are both frequently found in every day products, such as food packing and baby bottles, and may leach into the foods and liquids contained inside. (Dewan, 7/12)

Newsweek: Neuroscientists Reveal Key Brain Differences Between Sex And Gender
When it comes to our brains, neuroscientists have found that sex and gender are associated with distinct neural networks; and researchers hope that their findings will underscore the importance of considering sex and gender separately in medical contexts to ensure equal access to optimal treatment outcomes. ... In a new study, published in the journal Science Advances, Dhamala and colleagues set about untangling the influences of sex and gender on our brains. (Dewan, 7/12)

Newsweek: 'First Glimpse' Of Alzheimer's-Causing Structures Inside Brain
For the first time, scientists have unraveled the structure of proteins in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. The findings provide clues into how these disease-causing proteins interact with each other and the brain and may help in the discovery of new targets for treating the disease. Alzheimer's affects roughly 5.8 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Dewan, 7/12)

Houston Chronicle, PolitiFact: Fact Check: Do Black Women Have The Highest Maternal Mortality Rate?
The claim: As the Biden administration’s most visible advocate in the fight for reproductive rights, Vice President Kamala Harris has been vocal about the U.S.’ reproductive health care’s shortcomings and how it often fails women of color. Harris has toured the nation railing against state abortion bans and touting the administration’s efforts to expand postpartum coverage. In a July 6 conversation at the Essence Festival of Culture, which bills itself as the nation’s largest African American culture and music event, Harris said Black women fare the worst in maternal mortality rates. (Putterman, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Young Women With Eating Disorders Feel The Pull Of Energy Drinks
Overconsumption of low-cal, highly caffeinated energy drinks is on the rise among young women with unhealthy eating and exercise habits, say doctors at more than a dozen of the nation’s top hospitals and eating-disorder treatment centers. Taking in too much caffeine can cause serious health problems, especially for people who aren’t eating enough, doctors say. (Jargon, 7/13)

Newsweek: Doctor Reveals 15 Overlooked Signs Of ADHD In Girls
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, affects roughly 3 percent of adults around the world. However, many of those with the condition remain undiagnosed, especially women. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, men are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than women, but roughly 75 percent of women with the condition are undiagnosed. (Dewan, 7/12)

AP: Mental Health Clinics Across The US Are Helping Latinos Bridge Language And Access Barriers
The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that just over one-fifth of Hispanic adults reported having a mental illness, defined in the report as a diagnosed mental, behavioral or emotional disorder that may have interfered with their lives. ... Mental health experts, community clinics and politicians are increasingly calling attention to barriers Latinos might face in seeking treatment — like the lack of mental health professionals who are Latino and speak Spanish or other languages — and working to create new programs to address access issues. (Figueroa, 7/13)

The New York Times: Hispanic Male Democrats Make An Abortion-Rights Pitch To Latino Men
When he was a child, Representative Gabriel Vasquez never heard his parents discuss politics, much less abortion, a topic that was off limits in many Mexican Catholic households like his. So he can see why some might think he is taking a risk by focusing on abortion rights in campaigning to Latino men. ... But Mr. Vasquez, who represents a border district in New Mexico, and several other Hispanic male Democratic candidates said there was no avoiding the abortion debate this year. (Ulloa, 7/13)

AP: Pastors See A Wariness Among Black Men To Talk Abortion Politics As Biden Works To Shore Up Base
Phoenix pastor the Rev. Warren H. Stewart Sr. has had countless discussions this election season with fellow Black men on the economy, criminal justice, immigration and other issues dominating the political landscape in their battleground state of Arizona. But never abortion. “They’re about justice. They’re about Donald Trump potentially reversing all of the gains achieved by the Civil Rights movement. They are not about abortion,” said Stewart. (Sands, 7/13)

Stat: FDA Officials Exploring Regulation Of Ultra-Processed Foods 
Top Food and Drug Administration officials met multiple times earlier this year to discuss the regulation of ultra-processed foods, according to internal agency calendars obtained by STAT. Two FDA officials, Haider Warraich and Robin McKinnon, met multiple times in February to discuss regulating these edible industrial creations, such as sodas, prepackaged cookies, and most breakfast cereals. (Florko, 7/15)

Reuters: Novo Nordisk Faces Scrutiny On Capitol Hill For Pulling Levemir Insulin From US Market
Democratic U.S. Senate aides will meet with Novo Nordisk executives on Tuesday to discuss fallout from its decision to stop selling one of its long-acting insulins in the country, two sources familiar with the meeting told Reuters. Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) will meet with the aides for Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Raphael Warnock, and Elizabeth Warren. In April, the lawmakers wrote to the company expressing alarm at its decision, announced in November, that it would permanently discontinue Levemir by the end of 2024. (Fick and Aboulenein, 7/12)