Capital Public Radio: Vaccine Debate Returns To California Capitol
One year after a debate over vaccinating public school children reverberated through California Legislature, a new proposal would protect doctors from discipline or liability for issuing students medical exemptions. (Adler, 3/21)

Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown takes his health tax plan to the feds —

The Sacramento Bee: Feds Begin Review Of California’s Health Plan Tax
The Brown administration this week formally asked the U.S. government to sign off on a revamped tax on health plans that has the primary goal of continuing to pull in more than $1 billion in federal money. (Miller, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: The Return Of Doctor House Calls: Convenient, But At What Cost?
Dr. Sam Kim works for Heal, a Los Angeles-based start-up that allows patients in several California counties to order doctor house calls through a smartphone app. Similar companies exist in other parts of the country, including Pager in New York City and Mend in Dallas. Health advocates generally support using technology to make medical care more convenient. As these companies grow, however, some question the return of the house call. A century ago, most medical visits were in the patient's home. But cities got bigger and doctors began using more equipment, therefore it made sense for them to not travel more than 10 steps from patient room to patient room. (Karlamangla, 3/19)

In other health IT news —

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Veterans Who Have Lost Limbs Find New Hope And Abilities With This Technology
Ramon Padilla never saw the rocket-propelled grenade that exploded in front of him. And he never heard the bullet that tore away a silver dollar-sized piece of his skull. But the 41-year-old former El Monte resident clearly remembers the aftermath. It was July 8, 2007. He had been on patrol in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan with the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade when the attack occurred. Shrapnel from the explosion virtually severed the lower part of his left arm. (Smith, 3/19)

The San Francisco Business Times: Jessica Richman: Improving Health Care By Giving Patients More Data
Jessica Richman may be stating the obvious when she says the U.S. healthcare system is “a mess in a million different ways,” but as co-founder of uBiome, Richman is doing her part to correct some of these problems from a consumer perspective. The San Francisco-based biotech company provides consumers information about how their behavior impacts their microbiome. For example, what the trendy diet you’re on is really doing to your body. (DiNitto, 3/19)

The Sacramento Bee: Lifestyle Changes Are Key To California’s Diabetes Crisis
Even for those who have worked decades to fight the spread of diabetes in the United States, last week’s news was something of a stunner. In California, more than half of all adults – 55 percent – are considered diabetic or prediabetic, according to a UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study released this month. Even more worrisome, those afflicted are getting younger, with roughly one in three adults ages 18 to 39 considered prediabetic – a danger zone that means they’re at major risk of developing life-threatening Type 2 diabetes. (Buck, 3/20)

KERO Bakersfield: Local Man Shares His Journey In The Fight Against Diabetes
A recent study out of UCLA shows that 55% of Californians have diabetes or are pre-diabetic. One man is sharing his journey on overcoming diabetes and the simple changes that can be made to prevent the disease. (Aguilar, 3/21)

KQED: What Californians Need to Know About Zika Virus
You’ve seen a burst of headlines in Bay Area news since January about Zika virus in California. This year, state health officials have confirmed 11 cases, three of them recently in the Bay Area. The good news is, all of those people contracted the bug while traveling abroad. The question now is whether that could change. (McClurg, 3/21)

In other Zika developments —

The New York Times: Puerto Rico Braces For Its Own Zika Epidemic
On an inexorable march across the hemisphere, the Zika virus has begun spreading through Puerto Rico, now the United States’ front line in a looming epidemic. The outbreak is expected to be worse here than anywhere else in the country. The island, a warm, wet paradise veined with gritty poverty, is the ideal environment for the mosquitoes carrying the virus. The landscape is littered with abandoned houses and discarded tires that are perfect breeding grounds for the insects. Some homes and schools lack window screens and air-conditioning, exposing residents to almost constant bites. (McNeil, Jr., 3/20)

Politico: America's Summer Threat: Zika Virus
If brokered conventions and third-party insurgencies aren’t enough, consider the chaos that Zika could bring to the United States this summer. If the mosquito-borne virus linked to birth defects hits big — and that’s a big if — it could stir a panic like Ebola, set off an epidemic of finger-pointing and create new fear and acrimony over reproductive rights, global warming and immigration, all at the height of a presidential campaign. (Allen, 3/19)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: E-Cigarettes Appear Much Less Risky Than Smoking, Scientists Say
Jack “Papa Jack” Fontes just couldn’t kick the habit. He began smoking at age 10 and stuck with it, although he knew of the health dangers. Today, the 51-year-old said he’s off cigarettes and credits electronic cigarettes for making it possible. (Fikes, 3/19)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Government-Funded Study Tracks E-Cigarette Fans On Twitter
Federal health officials can identify electronic cigarette supporters with near total accuracy by using a predictive model, according to a government-funded study published earlier this month. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration can use this model to monitor what e-cigarette supporters say on Twitter as the agency prepares to regulate the devices, according to the study. The model requires human assistance to function, but the goal is develop a program that can run independently. (Fikes, 3/20)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: A Big Thinker's $10M Bet To Cure Cancer
This is how Ralph Whitworth thinks. Big. When his first wife turned 50, he reserved Rancho Santa Fe’s Delicias for Katie Couric, Larry King and dozens more, then dropped $1 million on the entertainment: Paul McCartney. Bigger. For his second wife’s birthday last year, he booked Solana Beach’s Belly Up and another group: The Rolling Stones. (Rowe, 3/18)

Meanwhile, in Ventura County, a heart condition that's striking in a cluster can occur without warning —

The Ventura County Star: Heart Condition Triggering Investigation Can Come Without Warning
As public health officials investigate a potentially fatal heart condition emerging in a cluster in Ventura County, cardiologists say the disease can be linked to a litany of causes including many viruses. Last Wednesday, Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin said his office was investigating at least nine cases of cardiomyopathy, most emerging in February. At least five cases occurred in the Oxnard area, triggering concern there could be common causes. (Kisken, 3/18)

The Associated Press: Murder Charges Against California Rehab Center Dismissed
A California judge dismissed a murder charge Friday filed against a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center where a man died after seeking help to treat a drinking problem. The case was the first time a California corporation was accused of murder, the facility's attorneys said. (3/19)

Los Angeles Times: A Riverside County Judge Says A Detox Center Didn't Murder Its Client
A murder charge against a drug and alcohol rehab corporation and its employees in the death of a client was thrown out Friday by a Riverside County judge, sharply limiting a criminal case that had sent a jolt through California’s large drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry. The judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence for murder, but decided the state attorney general’s office could continue with dependent adult abuse charges against A Better Tomorrow and four of its employees. (Esquivel, 3/18)

In other health care news from around the state —

The Ventura County Star: Agency Won't Have Role In Reforms It Pushed For Kids In Crisis
The Casa Pacifica agency called for an end to spotty services for suicidal children almost two years ago, advocated for state legislation and urged a state commission to focus on the issue. But the Camarillo-based nonprofit won't play any part in delivering the new continuum of services that could make Ventura County a leader in crisis care. (Wilson, 3/19)

The California Health Report: Crowding On Skid Row Creates A Breeding Ground For Illnesses
A downtown development boom has brought pricey lofts, condos, nightspots and galleries to the center of the city and pushed homeless people into skid row, an area of some 40 city blocks where tents, cardboard boxes and people sleeping in the open air still line the sidewalks. Even though shelters, soup kitchens and social service agencies dominate the neighborhood, there are more people than shelter beds, and many people who simply refuse to go inside. People live their lives on the street in close quarters where sanitation is spotty. (Urevich, 3/21)

The Bakersfield Californian: Taft Agrees To $250,000 Settlement Related To 2013 Sewage Overflow
The city of Taft has agreed to a $250,000 settlement stemming from a 2013 sewage spill the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board says threatened waterways and public health. As part of the settlement, the city is required to complete a pair of projects intended to minimize future overflows through early detection and response. (Cox, 3/18)

The Associcated Press: Scalia's Death Could Affect Politically Tinged Cases
Challengers in two politically tinged cases before the Supreme Court this week face the seemingly insurmountable problem of being unable to count to five — as in five votes. The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has deprived conservatives of a reliable vote on a range of issues, including the design of congressional districts in Virginia and the Obama administration's effort to accommodate faith-based groups that object to paying for contraceptives as part of their health insurance plans. (3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Timeline: Catholics And White House Battle On Health Law Contraception Rules
The Supreme Court on March 23 will weigh how far the government has to go to accommodate religiously affiliated employers that object to including contraception in workers’ insurance plans. The issues has been brewing since shortly after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010. Here is a timeline. (Radnofsky, 3/18)

The Associated Press: No Clear Path To Government-Lowered Drug Prices
Most Americans support it. Virtually all other developed countries already do it. And the two leading presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle agree: the federal government should lower drug prices. But experts say the chances for government action in the near-term are close to nil. The reasons are familiar: political gridlock in Washington, pharmaceutical industry influence and the structure of the U.S. health system itself, which limits government intervention. (3/18)

CBS News: The High Cost Of Seniors' Soaring Rx Drug Use
A recent study found that almost half (47 percent) of Americans age 75 and older took five or more prescription drugs in 2011, nearly double the 24 percent that did so in 1999, just 12 years earlier. The comparable percentage for Americans 65 to 74 also increased significantly -- from 23 percent in 1999 to 33 percent in 2011. (Vernon, 3/21)

In other national health care news —

The Wall Street Journal: General Mills To Label GMOs In Products Nationwide
General Mills Inc. is changing its labels nationwide to indicate whether its foods contain genetically modified organisms, ahead of a Vermont law that will mandate it as of July. “The complexity and the cost of having one system for Vermont and one for everywhere else is untenable,” Jeff Harmening, the company’s chief operating officer of U.S. retail, said in an interview. He said he is still hopeful that Congress will pass a national law that would supersede such state laws, but the company had to move ahead to comply with Vermont. (Gasparro, 3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Traditional Providers Get Into The Urgent-Care Game
When it comes to health issues that need immediate attention but aren’t life-threatening, more Americans are turning to urgent-care centers—and traditional health-care providers are getting into the game. Over the past two years, hospital chains and insurance companies have snapped up urgent-care centers in a spate of mergers and acquisitions. Health systems, too, are moving into this space, striking joint ventures with independent urgent-care operators, says Tom Charland, chief executive of consulting firm Merchant Medicine. (Landro, 3/20)