Becker's Hospital Review: California Hospital Settles Ransomware Attack Lawsuit For $650K
Stockton, Calif.-based Dameron Hospital has agreed to a $650,000 settlement for a class-action lawsuit over a 2023 cyberattack. In December 2023, a ransomware group hacked the hospital's computer network, potentially exposing the data of hundreds of thousands of patients. Class members are eligible for up to $5,000 in losses and credit monitoring related to the breach, or cash payments of $100 for subclass members or $50 for class members. The final approval hearing is set for May 29. (Bruce, 2/28)

Becker's Hospital Review: Prime Completes Purchase Of 8 Illinois Hospitals
Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare has completed its acquisition of eight St. Louis-based Ascension hospitals in Illinois. Prime entered into an asset purchase agreement with Ascension to acquire the hospitals in July 2024, and received approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board for the purchase on Dec. 17. (Ashley, 3/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: High Rents, Fewer Vouchers, Longer Waits: Federal Cuts Could Worsen Housing Affordability In San Diego, Officials Say
More than 180,000 households are on San Diego’s city and county waiting lists for rental assistance. Already they have to wait an average of 15 years before ever getting a Section 8 voucher. And now, congressional proposals to cut funding for housing vouchers risk further setting back efforts to combat San Diego’s housing affordability crisis, officials say. (Taketa, 3/3)

Bay Area News Group: He Suffered From Mental Illness. Could New Treatment Reforms Have Saved Him?
To prevent more people like Adrian Gutierrez from suffering on the street, all California counties must now adopt new reforms aimed at making it easier for the court system to compel those with severe mental health and addiction issues into treatment. They include a voter-backed initiative last November to toughen penalties for drug possession and a recently enacted state law that creates a new civil process to get people into treatment programs. (Varian, 3/3)

Los Angeles Times: Demand For Governor To Intervene Over Pesticides In Weed
Criticism that California is failing to fully address contamination in its weed crop has prompted a push for the governor and lawmakers to step in and remove that authority from the state agency in charge. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors last week asked the governor and Legislature to shift responsibility for pesticides in cannabis products from the Department of Cannabis Control to the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, which regulates pesticides on food crops. It requested that accreditation of cannabis testing labs be moved to the State Water Resources Control Board, which already certifies private labs to test food, water, soil and hazardous waste. And it asked that the state add 24 pesticides to the list of 66 chemicals for which cannabis products must now be screened prior to sale. (St. John, 3/3)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Podcast Host Says He Called 911, Was Put On Hold For An Hour
A Los Angeles content creator waited 58 minutes for 911 to pick up his call after his home was burglarized, he said. Evan Lovett, host of the “L.A. in a Minute” podcast, returned to his Studio City home just after 9 p.m. Friday after his 11-year-old son’s baseball game. A glass door in the back of the house was smashed in and valuables, including jewelry and a safe with items left to him by his deceased father, were gone. (McDonald, 3/2)

CBS News: FDA Allowed To Help WHO Update Flu Shots, Despite Trump Ban
The Food and Drug Administration was allowed to participate in the World Health Organization's meeting this week on updating influenza shots, officials for the U.N. agency said, despite an order by President Trump last month banning government employees from working with the WHO. The administration has granted some exemptions to the order. (Tin, 2/28)

CIDRAP: WHO Advisers Swap Out H3N2 Strains For Next Northern Hemisphere Flu Vaccines
The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced its advisory committee’s recommendations on strains to include for the Northern Hemisphere’s 2025-26 flu season, which swap out the H3N2 components but keep the current 2009 H1N1 and influenza B strains the same. The three strains recommended for the trivalent vaccine are also the same as those recommended for the Southern Hemisphere’s 2025 season vaccine, which the group weighed in on at its meetings in September 2024. (Schnirring, 2/28)

CNN: US Flu Season May Have Reached Its Peak, CDC Says
The worst flu season the United States has had in more than a decade may have reached its peak, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data published by the agency on Friday shows that flu activity is still elevated but has decreased for two consecutive weeks. (McPhillips, 2/28)

CNN: As Measles Outbreak Grows, HHS Secretary Says Vaccination Is A Personal Decision That Can Protect Individuals And Communities 
As a measles outbreak in Texas has grown to nearly 150 cases, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an opinion piece on Fox News on Sunday that parents should consult with health-care providers “to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine” for their children. Kennedy did not explicitly recommend the vaccine, but said the outbreak was a “call to action for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to public health.” (Kounang, 3/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Virologists Say Federal Turmoil Is Hurting Chances Of Spotting H5N1 Pandemic Early
Gathering at Scripps Research’s third annual Pandemic Preparedness Symposium last week, researchers working in virology and chemistry did not bother to debate whether or not H5N1 avian influenza will clear this rapidly shrinking hurdle. But some were worried that the current turmoil in Washington, D.C., could slow the nation’s ability to nimbly respond when this microscopic threat inevitably gains the ability to cause a global pandemic, potentially causing more deaths than COVID-19. (Sisson, 3/2)

Modern Healthcare: HHS To End Public Comment Requirements For Grants, Contracts 
The Health and Human Services Department is abandoning a Nixon-era practice that offered transparency into federal policymaking in a move that limits the public and the healthcare sector's ability to influence government actions. Instead, HHS intends to comply with the bare-minimum requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946, or APA, and only engage in the traditional notice-and-comment process as expressly dictated by that law, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a policy statement published Friday. HHS had followed the now-defunct guidelines for 54 years. (Early, 2/28)

Axios: RFK Jr. Move To Kill Public Comment Roils Providers
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s move to reduce public comments on certain federal health rules injects new uncertainty into the regulatory landscape and could help him make controversial policy decisions unchecked. The wonky policy statement he issued on Friday has a direct bearing on the dispute over the National Institutes of Health's research funding cap and could make it easier to impose Medicaid work rules. (Goldman, 3/3)

The Hill: Defense Health Agency Head Forced To Abruptly Retire: Report
The head of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the health system for millions of service members and their dependents, was forced to abruptly retire Friday, Reuters reported. Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, one of the most senior Black female officers in the Army who has served in her role since January 2023, “is beginning her retirement” as of Friday morning, according to a statement from Stephen Ferrara, the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. (Mitchell, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Senior USAID Official Ousted As He Details Problems Providing Lifesaving Aid 
A senior career official at the U.S. Agency for International Development was placed on leave Sunday on the same day he disseminated a detailed memo to staff describing the U.S. government’s “failure” to provide lifesaving assistance around the world because of actions by President Donald Trump’s political appointees. (Hudson, 3/3)

CBS News: USAID Freeze Hits American Manufacturer Of Product That Saves Babies' Lives
When Navyn Salem received a letter Wednesday terminating the federal government's contract with her Rhode Island company, Edesia, she halted its production line, which makes a life-saving paste for severely malnourished babies. A day later she received an email, just a few short sentences, rescinding the contract's termination. The reversal failed to put her mind at ease. (Kates and Ruetenik, 3/2)

Los Angeles Blade: PregnantTogether Unites LGBTQ+ Parents Under One Domain
For many years, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been feeling increasingly “isolated” from the rest of the world due to Republicans pushing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. Now more than ever, with the return of President Donald Trump to office, the LGBTQ+ community has raised awareness about resources available to help individuals feel safe and start a family. Services like PregnantTogether, a virtual LGBTQ+ community, is making a difference for couples who want a family, but don’t have many resources. (Harris, 2/28)

AP: Judge Blocks Trump Order Threatening Funding For Trans Youth Care
President Donald Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge’s ruling in Seattle late Friday. U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration — Colorado has since joined the case. (Johnson, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Cuts Cannot Increase Hospital Rates, Employers Warn
Large employers want hospitals to know they will not pay up if President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans follow through with their plan to deeply slash Medicaid funding. The threat of a shrunken Medicaid program, leading to more uninsured people and more unpaid hospital bills, reignites a long-running debate about whether, or to what extent, providers raise prices on commercial insurers and employers to compensate for lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. (Tepper, 2/28)

Stat: CMS Job Cuts May Erode Trump's Promises On Medicare, Medicaid 
The federal agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and other major health care programs is facing employee firings, flagging morale, confusing messaging, and the specter of additional disruption — compromising its oversight and administration of key programs that finance care for half of Americans. (Herman, 3/1)