Politico: California’s Planned Parenthood President Isn’t Buying What Trump Says About Abortion
POLITICO spoke to Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood California, on the lessons learned from that fight and what this busy week of abortion news — former President Donald Trump appearing to side against a national ban and the Arizona Supreme Court upholding a 1864 state law imposing a near total ban — means for the abortion rights movement. (Mason, 4/10)

Los Angeles Times: Arizona's 1864 Abortion Ban Was Modeled On California's 
William Howell, a New Yorker tasked with writing the code that would enshrine Arizona as a territory, cracked open the law books of a neighboring state as a model: California. In California’s laws, William Howell found and included — almost word-for-word — its provision on abortion. The paragraph is tucked into a section of Arizona code about punishment for poisoning another person. (Pinho and Wilson, 4/10)

CNN: Trump Says He Wouldn’t Sign Federal Abortion Ban 
Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected to the White House again, reversing a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and stood by during his first term in office. Trump’s latest shift on abortion is a remarkable position for a Republican presidential nominee and it is illustrative of Trump’s desire to make one of his greatest political liabilities disappear. It follows a lengthy statement released Monday in which Trump said that states and voters should decide how and when to restrict abortion but left unclear how far he would take that approach. (Contorno and Sullivan, 4/10)

Los Angeles Times: MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center Named Among Best U.S. Hospitals In Orthopedics By U.S. News & World Report
In a rigorous assessment of over 4,500 adult hospitals, U.S. News & World Report recognized MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center as one of the top 50 best U.S. hospitals in orthopedics. In addition, the medical center scored high performance rankings for hip replacement, hip fracture and knee replacement. (4/10)

Modern Healthcare: IPPS Proposal Would Boost Medicare 2025 Pay By 2.6%
Hospitals would get a 2.6% pay increase in fiscal 2025 under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule released Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The reimbursement boost, which the agency projects would be a $3.2 billion pay bump, is down from the 2.8% pay hike in fiscal 2024. The American Hospital Association, along with other hospital associations, said the proposed pay rates aren't enough to combat inflation. (Kacik, 4/10)

The Hill: Home Healthcare For Elderly Sees Largest Price Increase Ever 
Costs for home healthcare for the elderly and bed-ridden have gone up by 14.2 percent over the past year, according to new Consumer Price Index data released Wednesday.  That represents the largest percent increase in home healthcare costs during a 12-month period since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting data on such costs in 2005.  The United States has an aging population, and the need for care among the nation’s roughly 73 million Baby Boomers is driving up the cost of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home healthcare.  (O'Connell-Domenech, 4/10)

Bay Area Reporter: LGBTQ Bills Advance In Sacramento 
With state legislators back from their spring recess, various LGBTQ bills are advancing out of oversight committees in the California Legislature. As in previous years, most of the bills are related to health issues or protecting transgender individuals who have come under increasing attack by Republican leaders and conservative groups. One bill attracting significant interest from LGBTQ health advocates is Senate Bill 957 authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in January, the legislation aims to ensure that state health officials are meeting their requirements to ask about sexual orientation and gender identity demographics, known as SOGI data for short. (Bajko, 4/10)

CIDRAP: Labcorp Gets FDA Nod For At-Home Mpox PCR Test
Labcorp, a lab services company based in North Carolina, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for its PCR Test Home Collection Kit for mpox, the first at-home sample collection kit of its kind for the virus. In a statement, the company said the test is available for physicians to order for use in adults who have suspected mpox infections. (Schnirring, 4/10)

The Hill: Elevated Mpox Cases Spur Efforts To Avoid Summer Spread 
Mpox cases have been elevated since October, with an average of roughly 200 monthly cases detected per month, spurring efforts to avoid a summer surge like what was seen in 2022. Recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed a startling difference between the first quarter of 2023 and 2024, with the first three months of this year seeing nearly double the rate of cases seen the same time last year. (Choi, 4/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Clusters Of Whooping Cough Reported At Private High School In San Francisco
Small clusters of pertussis, or whooping cough, have been found among high school students at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, a Catholic high school at Ellis and Franklin streets in San Francisco, according to the public health department. Since January, 13 cases of pertussis have been confirmed in San Francisco — two in January, five in February and six in March, said the San Francisco Department of Public Health. (Ho, 4/11)

Medical Xpress: Scientists Flag Previously Overlooked Type Of Immune Cell As Suspected Source Of Severe COVID-19
Stanford Medicine investigators have implicated a type of immune cell known as an interstitial macrophage in the critical transition from a merely bothersome COVID-19 case to a potentially deadly one. Interstitial macrophages are situated deep in the lungs, ordinarily protecting that precious organ by, among other things, engorging viruses, bacteria, fungi and dust particles that make their way down our airways. But it's these very cells, the researchers have shown in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, that of all known types of cells composing lung tissue are most susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2. (Stanford University, 4/10)

The Independent: Scientist Discover Another Tell-Tale Sign Of Long Covid 
Findings from the largest UK study of patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus show that long Covid leads to ongoing inflammation which can be detected in the blood. In an analysis of more than 650 people who had been in hospital with severe Covid-19, patients with prolonged symptoms showed evidence of their immune system being activated. (Massey, 4/9)

CIDRAP: Bernie Sanders Calls For $1 Billion For Long-COVID Moonshot
Sen Bernie Sanders, Ind.-VT, who chairs the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, yesterday released a draft of proposed long-COVID moonshot legislation, which would earmark $1 billion for long-COVID research over the next decade. Sanders said the time is overdue for Congress to treat long COVID as the public health emergency that it is. "Congress must act now to ensure a treatment is found for this terrible disease that affects millions of Americans and their families," he said. "Far too many patients with Long COVID have struggled to get their symptoms taken seriously." (Schnirring, 4/10)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Illumina Gets Two New Executives As The San Diego Biotech Revamps Its C-Suite 
Ankur Dhingra will take over as Illumina’s new chief financial officer starting April 15, the company announced Tuesday. Prior to Illumina, he spent just under two years as the CFO of Summit Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical oncology company in Menlo Park. (Rocha, 4/10)

Stat: Medicare Estimates $3.5 Billion Cost On Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi
Medicare for the first time has estimated that a new Alzheimer’s treatment could cost the program billions of dollars by next year — well beyond what Wall Street or even the drug’s manufacturer have projected — according to a document obtained by STAT. (Herman and Zhang, 4/11)

Stat: Justice Dept. Accuses Regeneron Of Manipulating Medicare Pricing 
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit accusing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of manipulating Medicare pricing by inflating the average sales price for its expensive and widely prescribed Eylea treatment for serious eye disease. (Silverman, 4/10)

Stat: Drug Shortages Reached A Record High As 2023 Drew To A Close 
The number of ongoing and active drug shortages in the U.S. stood at 323 during the fourth quarter of last year — the highest figure reached since such data began being tracked in 2001 — underscoring growing concerns about patient harm across the country. (Silverman, 4/11)

Stat: Telehealth Antibiotic Dispensing Fuels Worries Of Antibiotic Resistance
Ho Anh had just started working at Lemonaid Health when he was caught up in a sting. In 2017, after receiving reports about the telehealth site, an investigator for the California medical board logged on to Lemonaid using an alias. “Mark Peters” filled out a brief questionnaire about his imaginary symptoms, and Anh answered in a message: “Mark” likely had a bacterial sinus infection, the doctor said, writing a prescription for 10 days of amoxicillin. (Palmer, 4/11)

VC Star: Thousand Oaks To Break Ground On Homeless Shelter Thursday
The city of Thousand Oaks will break ground Thursday on its first emergency homeless shelter. (Mason, 4/10)

Times Of San Diego: Supervisors OK Improved Mental Health Treatment, Security For Housing Sites 
Residents at the Windsor Pointe housing complex and other county-affiliated living sites will be getting increased mental health treatment and security thanks to a Board of Supervisors vote this week. The board’s 4-0 vote Tuesday follows safety concerns about the 50-unit affordable housing development at 965 Oak Ave. and 3606 Harding St. in Carlsbad. (Ireland, 4/10)

CalMatters: Here’s How San Diego's Ban On Homeless Camps Has Fared
Politicians pushing to make homeless encampments illegal across wide swaths of California point to one city as proof it will work. “San Diego gets it,” Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones said during a recent press conference. “They are having great success so far with their ordinance, and we hope we can take that success across the state.” (Kendall, 4/11)

CapRadio: California Is Equipping Some College Students With Narcan
When Kaily, a senior at Sacramento State, saw the campus was offering a free Narcan training, she signed up immediately. She’s going to Coachella this weekend and knows her friends are planning to bring drugs. “It's like the week before — it was perfect,” she said. “I thought I might as well take this training just to reduce any harm that might be done.” (Wolffe, 4/11)

Voice of OC: Costa Mesa Moves Forward On Cannabis Shop Limits
Years after Costa Mesa voters decided to legalize cannabis retail stores, city council members are moving to limit just how many shops can operate – putting a cap of 35 shops. It’s part of an ongoing effort to change the municipal codes on cannabis businesses while also streamlining how shops get permits. (Gradillas, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. Finalizes Rules To Close ‘Gun Show Loophole’
In a move that officials touted as the most significant increase in American gun regulation in decades, the Justice Department has finalized rules to close a loophole that allowed people to sell firearms online, at gun shows and at other informal venues without conducting background checks on those who purchase them. Vice President Harris and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the rules and said they would keep firearms out of the hands of potentially violent people who are not legally allowed to own guns. (Stein, 4/11)

USA Today: Will Charging Educators And Parents Stop Gun Violence? Prosecutors Open A New Front In The Fight
New legal approaches and laws are widening the scope of accountability for those who not only pull triggers, but also for educators, parents and others who fail to report red flags. Prosecutors and lawmakers are increasingly taking aim at people who could have taken steps before innocent victims were maimed or killed. "As far as I know, this is really groundbreaking," said James Ellenson, a lawyer for Deja Taylor, the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia, speaking about the criminal charges against the school official in the case. A special grand jury released a report Wednesday outlining failures by the school administration. (Jimenez, Trethan and Nguyen, 3/11)

Politico: 'Uncomfortable' AI-Generated Voicemails From Gun Violence Victims Swarm Congress
Activist groups are using a typical advocacy tool — voicemails to members of Congress — with a new, uncomfortable twist: They’re from the deceased victims of gun violence, generated by artificial intelligence. TheShotline.org, a gun reform campaign by March for Our Lives and Change the REF, is asking constituents nationwide to send representatives in their zip code the AI-generated phone calls. ... “I want these politicians to sit there and listen,” said Brett Cross, a father of one of the victims featured on Shotline.org, “I want them to imagine that that's their children's voices, because they didn't do anything to prevent countless children being slaughtered.” (Padilla, 4/9)