San Francisco Chronicle: Exclusive: Sutter Health To Start Construction On Long-Planned $442 Million S.F. Expansion
Sutter Health is nearing the last phase of its long-planned build-out of its California Pacific Medical Center Mission Bernal hospital campus, with plans to break ground on a $442 million care center next summer. The five-story, 129,000-square-foot medical office building will sit adjacent to Sutter’s existing 120-bed CPMC hospital at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Valencia streets, which was built in the place of the former St. Luke’s Hospital and officially opened in 2018. (Waxmann, 4/4)

Axios: Hospital And Insurer Battles Over Medicare Advantage Set To Grow
Tensions between hospitals and Medicare Advantage insurers are poised to keep growing as the program gets larger and the federal government takes a harder line on health plans. Why it matters: How hospitals and insurers respond to financial threats could ultimately affect the care received by more than half of seniors now enrolled in the program — whether it means reduced benefits, fewer provider choices or higher costs. (Owens, 4/4)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Bristol Myers Squibb To Lay Off Hundreds Of Workers Following Its $4.8B Merger With This San Diego Biotech 
Following its $4.8 billion acquisition of local biotech Mirati Therapeutics, Bristol Myers Squibb is laying off a majority of the San Diego company’s workforce over the next year. The pharmaceutical giant announced its plans to buy Mirati in October as part of its broader effort to strengthen its oncology portfolio. (Rocha, 4/3)

NBC News: FDA Faces Backlash Over Approval Of Genetic Test For Opioid Addiction Risk
The Food and Drug Administration is facing backlash over its approval of a genetic test intended to determine if a person is at increased risk for opioid addiction. The test, called AvertD, was approved by the FDA in December. It detects a handful of genetic markers that the manufacturer, California-based SOLVD Health, claims are associated with opioid use disorder. It’s meant to be used before a person is prescribed an opioid for the first time; for example, ahead of a surgery that a doctor may prescribe a short course of opioids for recovery.  (Lovelace Jr., 4/4)

Los Angeles Times: Deputies Shoot Armed 17-Year-Old In Midst Of Mental Health Crisis
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies on Tuesday shot and killed a 17-year-old boy authorities say was experiencing a mental health crisis — the second teen killed by the law enforcement agency in less than a month. The boy was inside the Victorville foster home of his sister when deputies responded around 1 p.m. to a call of an “unwanted subject” in the house in the 17100 block of Forest Hills Drive, according to the Sheriff’s Department. (Goldberg, 4/3)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Free Nursing Assistant Program In Sonoma County Targets Crucial Health Care Shortage
The state-funded initiative, called Healthcare Career Pathway, is aimed at addressing significant staffing shortages among nursing assistants at long-term care facilities, one of the most in-demand health care fields. (Espinoza, 4/3)

inewsource: Migrants In San Diego Region Face Barriers To Medical Care
It was 9:55 p.m. when Mandy made the first call to 9-1-1. Peering between a few inches of space between the steel beams of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, she could see a man in his 30’s, cradling his broken arm. “His arm was just kind of dangling,” said Mandy, a local activist who provides food and water to migrants awaiting immigration processing between the two parallel fences that make up the U.S-Mexico border wall near San Ysidro. (Mejías-Pascoe, 4/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Transgender People Are Seeking Help In Sanctuary City Sacramento
Ethos de Leon considers themselves a refugee in their own country. Three years ago, de Leon said, they moved to Sacramento from Colorado, a state where, outside the liberal hub of Denver, transgender people are often not welcomed. (Allday, 4/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: National City Rejects Camping Ban, Seeks Other Solutions 
National City will not adopt a homeless camping ban — at least for now. But it will start enforcing existing laws that prohibit lodging in parks and public streets if the public’s health and safety are at risk. (Murga, 4/3)

KQED: Audit Finds SF Homeless Housing Provider Misspent Taxpayer Money
A leading developer of housing for people exiting homelessness in San Francisco has been “careless and irresponsible” with taxpayer money, according to a report released Tuesday by the city controller. The report details mismanagement and wasteful spending by the nonprofit, HomeRise, including $12,500 spent on a social event and $200,000 in bonuses, and comes amid rising scrutiny of the city’s nonprofits in recent years. (Rancaño, 4/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Peninsula Suburb Is Fighting Housing For The Homeless
The fight over a proposed housing project for formerly homeless people in a quiet Peninsula suburb kicked into high gear Wednesday when supporters and opponents squared off at a one-day trial over the city of Millbrae’s attempt to block the proposal. (Cheang, 4/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Mayor Breed Is Pushing For A Housing Plan With Shorter Buildings
Mayor London Breed is hoping that approving shorter buildings will result in more housing — and maybe less neighborhood backlash on the campaign trail. (Dineen, 4/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Highway 1: Evacuation Warning Issued As More Rain Brings Fresh Threats Of Collapse Near Big Sur
Caltrans-led convoys across a cratered portion of Highway 1 near Big Sur in Monterey County will temporarily halt Thursday and Friday as the region prepares for another round of rainfall that authorities fear could cause more slip-outs on the iconic coastal road. (Mishanec, 4/3)

AP: Hepatitis C Cases Dropped In The US. Health Officials Aren't Sure If It's A Blip Or A Trend
New U.S. hepatitis C infections dropped slightly in 2022, a surprising improvement after more than a decade of steady increases, federal health officials said Wednesday. Experts are not sure whether the 6% decline is a statistical blip or the start of a downward trend. Seeing 2023 and 2024 data, when it’s available, will help public health officials understand what’s going on, said Daniel Raymond, director of policy at the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, an advocacy organization. (Stobbe, 4/3)

Stat: Leading Cause Of Death Unchanged, With One Pandemic Exception
The leading causes of death haven’t changed since 1990 — with one glaring, pandemic-sized exception. According to the latest analysis of the Global Burden of Disease study, which reviewed deaths from 288 causes in over 200 states and territories, Covid-19 was the only condition that broke into the ranks — if only for two years — of the global population’s traditional top five killers: ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2020 and 2021, Covid-19 was the second-leading cause, pushing stroke to third position. (Merelli, 4/3)

Newsweek: Kids May Be Putting Grandparents At Risk Of Pneumonia
According to new research, being around grandchildren has its risks, too. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is a common and contagious microorganism responsible for a range of mild and severe infections, including pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. ... The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 5 to 10 percent of adults are thought to be asymptomatic carriers of these microbes. However, in children, this number rises to between 20 and 60 percent. (Dewan, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Big Food And Dietitians Push ‘Anti-Diet’ Advice, Despite Rising Obesity
Jaye Rochon struggled to lose weight for years. But she felt as if a burden had lifted when she discovered YouTube influencers advocating “health at every size” — urging her to stop dieting and start listening to her “mental hunger.” ... As her weight neared 300 pounds, she began to worry about her health. The videos that Rochon encountered are part of the “anti-diet” movement, a social media juggernaut that began as an effort to combat weight stigma and an unhealthy obsession with thinness. But now global food marketers are seeking to cash in on the trend. (Chavkin, Gilbert, Tsui and O’Connor, 4/3)