San Diego Union-Tribune: Popular Scripps Doctor Groups Said To Have 'Terminated' Medicare Advantage Contracts 
Two sought-after physician groups affiliated with Scripps Health appear to be in fierce negotiations that have led them to file termination notices with Medicare Advantage plans that are used by thousands of San Diego County patients who could end up changing doctors or paying more in monthly premiums. (Sisson, 8/9)

Fierce Healthcare: Hospitals Often Charge Commercial Plans Double Or More Than MA For Same Services, Study Finds
Hospitals nationwide charge payers more than double for healthcare services covered under commercial plans than they do for the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, according to a recent Johns Hopkins analysis of hospitals’ published pricing data. (Muoio, 8/9)

Stat: Illumina Slashes 2023 Revenue Projections Yet Again 
After starting off the year with lower revenue projections than market analysts had hoped for, San Diego-based genomics giant Illumina lowered expectations again on Wednesday, forecasting annual growth of 1% compared to the previous year. (Wosen, 8/9)

CalMatters: Just What The Doctor Ordered: In California, A Prescription Could Pay For Your Fresh Fruits And Veggies
Every other Friday, the Stockton Emergency Food Bank hosts two live cooking classes — one in English and one in Spanish. Last week, Brenda Munoz made a classic tuna melt with an orange, romaine and dandelion salad. “Dandelion is completely edible,” said Munoz, holding the small leaves from the flower. “They’re really high in vitamin A and folate.” (Jetha, 8/9)

Axios: Hospitals And Clinics Are Now Among America's Most Dangerous Workplaces
Health care workers are increasingly being assaulted or shot on the job, making hospitals and clinics among the most dangerous workplaces in America. Violence was a serious problem before COVID-19 — the field suffered more nonfatal injuries from workplace assaults than any other profession, even law enforcement, per the Associated Press — and pandemic stressors like backlash against public health measures have made matters worse. (Reed and Millman, 8/10)

AP: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, Falls At Home And Goes To Hospital, But Scans Are Clear, Her Office Says
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, fell in her home and went to a hospital for a short time, her office said on Wednesday. The 90-year-old California Democrat, who has faced mounting concerns about her health and her ability to perform the duties of a senator, “briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home,” her office said in a statement. All of her scans were clear, and she returned home later Tuesday, said her spokesman Adam Russell, who provided no further details. (8/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Falls Like Feinstein’s Are Common Among Older People — And Treacherous
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is home after a brief hospitalization Tuesday for a “minor fall” at her San Francisco home, her spokesperson said. Feinstein went to the hospital as a precaution, stayed for an hour or two, and was released after her scans were clear. The senator’s case highlights a common occurrence among older adults in the U.S.: Almost one-third of people 65 and older reported falling during the previous year in a 2016 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and roughly 3 million older adults are treated in emergency departments annually for fall-related injuries. (Ho, 8/10)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Want To Make Social Media Safer For Young People. Can They Finally Succeed?
Samuel Chapman had no idea that drug dealers targeted teens on Snapchat until his 16-year-old son died from a fentanyl overdose. “We thought it was like a playground for kids and didn’t think of it, as I do now, as the dark web for kids,” the Los Angeles resident said. In 2021, a drug dealer reached out to his son, Sammy, on the disappearing messaging app and showed the teen a “colorful drug menu” that offered cocaine, Chapman said. After he and his wife fell asleep, the dealer delivered drugs to their house “like a pizza.” Sammy unknowingly took fentanyl and died in his bedroom. (Wong, 8/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: California COVID Surge Confirmed By 48% Walgreens Positivity Rate
The recent resurgence of COVID-19 in California is confirmed by a significant upswing in positive test results at Walgreens locations across the state. Data from the pharmacy chain reveal that the positivity rate of coronavirus tests conducted at its stores around California has reached 48.3% — the highest figure since January and nearly double the 27% figure recorded in June. (Vaziri, 8/9)

Reuters: With Eris On The Rise, US CDC Sees No Major Shift In COVID Variants
Currently spreading COVID-19 variants such as EG.5, or Eris, do not represent a major shift and updated vaccines in September will offer protection, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. "Right now, what we're seeing with the changes in the viruses, they're still susceptible to our vaccine, they're still susceptible to our medicines, they're still picked up by the tests," Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in an interview on former Biden administration adviser Andy Slavitt's "In the Bubble" podcast. "We're seeing small changes that are what I would call subtypes of what we've seen before." (8/9)

CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 Can Damage Mitochondrion In Heart, Other Organs, Study Finds
The COVID-19 International Research Team (COV-IRT) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) report that they have identified abnormal mitochondrial function in the heart, kidneys, and liver after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which leads to long-term damage and may help explain long COVID. Mitochondria are the so-called "powerhouses" of cells, and the researchers noted that previous studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 proteins can bind to mitochondrial proteins in host cells, possibly leading to dysregulation. (Van Beusekom, 8/9)

AP: An Illicit, Chinese-Owned Lab Fueled Conspiracy Theories. But Officials Say It Posed No Danger
Jesalyn Harper, the only full-time code enforcement officer for the small, agricultural city of Reedley in California’s Central Valley, was responding to a complaint about vehicles parked in the loading dock of a cold-storage warehouse when she noticed a foul smell and saw a garden hose snaking into the old building. A woman in a lab coat answered her knock, and behind her were two others in plastic gloves and blue surgical masks, packing pregnancy tests for shipping. Harper said they spoke broken English and told her they were from China. Walking through the lab, she found dozens of refrigerators and ultralow-temperature freezers hooked to illegal wiring; vials of blood and jars of urine in shelves and plastic containers; and about 1,000 white lab mice being kept in crowded, soiled containers. (Rodriguez, 8/9)

Stat: CDC Overhauls Leadership Of Center That Led Response To Covid-19
The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mandy Cohen, is overhauling the leadership of the CDC center that led the agency’s Covid-19 response. In an announcement to staff issued Tuesday, Cohen said José Romero, who headed the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases for the past 14 months, would be leaving the CDC at the end of August. (Branswell, 8/9)

The Hill: White House Unveils New Tracking Tool For Heat-Related Illnesses 
The Biden administration on Wednesday launched a new information system to map emergency medical services (EMS) responses to heat-related illness across the country. The online dashboard is run by the Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agencies said the system is meant to help public health officials ensure that outreach and medical aid reach the people who need it most during heat emergencies. (Weixel, 8/9)

The 19th: Extreme Heat Could Impact Birth Control, Pregnancy Test Effectiveness
Extreme heat has already made pregnancy more dangerous. Now, it is also complicating efforts to control when and how someone becomes pregnant: Record heat waves across the country could threaten access to effective pregnancy tests, condoms and emergency contraception pills. (Luthra, 8/9)

The New York Times: Extreme Heat And Your Body: What Happens When It Gets Too Hot? 
High temperatures can put the body under immense stress. Here’s what that looks like. (Smith and Isac, 8/9)

The New York Times: Heat Singes The Mind, Not Just The Body
If you find that the blistering, unrelenting heat is making you anxious and irritable, even depressed, it’s not all in your head. Soaring temperatures can damage not just the body but also the mind. As heat waves become more intense, more frequent and longer, it has become increasingly important to address the impact on mental health, scientists say. (Mandavilli, 8/10)

NPR: Heat Makes Health Inequity Worse. People With Health Risks Are Hit Harder 
Heat is dangerous for the many people with common conditions like diabetes or heart disease. And vulnerable communities face greater exposure to heat and fewer resources to escape it. (Noguchi, 8/10)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Crime Lab Finds 4% Of Seized Fentanyl Samples Contain Flesh-Eating Sedative
Five months after public health officials warned Angelenos that a dangerous, flesh-eating sedative may have infiltrated the illicit drug supply, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that it has arrived on the city’s streets. Results from a three-month pilot program showed that just over 4% of seized fentanyl samples tested by the department’s crime lab came back positive for xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that experts say is frequently mixed with illicit opioids to prolong the high. (Blakinger, 8/9)

Stat: Naloxone Nonprofit Donates 200,000 Doses After FDA Approval
A nonprofit naloxone manufacturer is celebrating its recent market approval by giving away 200,000 doses of its over-the-counter nasal spray. Harm Reduction Therapeutics said in a statement that it will donate nearly a quarter-million doses of its new product to the Remedy Alliance, an organization devoted to affordable naloxone access. (Facher, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: Sacramento, Ordered Not To Clear Homeless Camps, Did It Anyway. ‘Oversights,’ City Says
Unhoused people in the city of Sacramento were supposed to be safe from being booted out of the shade until at least mid-August after a federal court temporarily banned the clearing of encampments amid the heat wave. But at least twice in the last week, the city has violated that court order. On Friday and Monday, when temperatures rose into the triple digits, city-contracted security cleared homeless camps out of the shaded areas surrounding City Hall, a city spokesperson confirmed. (Spencer, 8/9)

VC Star: Ventura County Still Needs Shelter Beds Despite Adding Hundreds
Until recently, there weren’t places in Ventura County like Spirit of Santa Paula: full-service, year-round homeless shelters open to anyone who needs them, with counseling, job and housing placement, and other services for residents. (Biasotti, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: A Florida Town Frets About Its Homeless: 'We Can't Be L.A.'
Bulldozers and advertisements throughout this sprawling city herald new pastel homes with gyms, pools and access to nearby beaches — evidence of a boom that has pushed the population here near the 1-million mark. For most of the last decade, developers and nonprofits in Jacksonville have sought to meet the growing demand, building almost enough houses and apartments to keep even most low-income residents from becoming homeless. (Bierman, 8/10)

Military.com: Veterans Hit With Error Messages While Filing To Make PACT Act Deadline 
What was described as an "extremely high volume" of PACT Act claims overwhelmed the Department of Veterans Affairs website Tuesday, causing veterans and survivors to be shut out as a deadline looms for backdated payments. The online system sent error messages to about 18% of veterans and survivors who were submitting claims as well as notices of intention to file claims, which were due Wednesday to receive retroactive disability payments dated to Aug. 10, 2022. (Kime, 8/9)

Military Times: Officials Urge Vets To Apply For PACT Act Benefits Despite Tech Issues
Despite some technical issues with online submissions, officials are encouraging applications for payouts connected to historic legislation aimed at helping veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service before an important deadline passes. President Joe Biden signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — better known as the PACT Act — a year ago on Aug 10, 2022, expanding Department of Veterans Affairs health care benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. (Lehrfeld, 8/9)

DVIDS: Defense Health Agency Kicks Off Health IT Symposium
Leaders in government, military, and industry health information technology convened at the 2023 Defense Health Information Technology Symposium on Aug. 8, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Defense Health Agency sponsored the IT symposium, which focuses on the latest health IT information, research, and studies focused on the symposiums theme, “Pursuing Enterprise Standardization—Joint, Resilient, Excellent.” (Hammer, 8/9)

Military Times: The Navy’s Deployed Resiliency Counselor Program Evolves, 10 Years In
Among the many takeaways that Andrew Mauldin has gleaned in his years working as one of the Navy’s deployed resiliency counselors, one stands out: Never underestimate the little things that remind you of home, even something as simple as the soothing smell of an air freshener. Mauldin is a civilian marriage and family therapist by trade and has embarked aboard several aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships as a resiliency counselor. (Ziezulewicz, 8/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Ex-Berkeley Mayor Died From Injuries Suffered During Transport Van Ride, Family Claims
Former Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport died after suffering a broken neck while in the care of a van transport company driving him to a medical appointment, his family alleges in a wrongful death lawsuit. Newport’s death, on June 17 at age 88, was originally believed by the family to have been due to cardiac arrest suffered while in transit from his home in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland to the VA Medical Center in San Francisco for a routine exam. (Whiting, 8/9)

Harvard Public Health: America Has A Diaper Crisis. Here’s What Policymakers Can Do.
On a rainy Saturday morning in San Diego, California, Viridiana Montero joined a small crowd at the Logan Temple AME Zion Church. They weren’t looking for God; they were looking for diapers. Montero is a regular at the church’s weekly diaper distribution. She needed two packs of size 3 diapers to get through the week, but volunteer diaper distributors had already run out of size 3s. She took the next size up instead, along with a box of fresh fruit, and headed home. The size 4 diapers wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but they’d still keep the Montero family’s economic life — and her kids’ health — from unraveling. (Emam, 8/9)

The Washington Post: Why Moving Fast 3 Minutes A Day Can Lower Cancer Risk 
Run to catch the bus and you might also help to lower your risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer, according to a surprising new study in JAMA Oncology. The study used activity-tracker data for more than 22,000 men and women to show that those people who moved fast for at least 3 minutes a day, rushing up the stairs or hurrying to the subway, were about 30 percent less likely to die of many types of cancer than people who almost always strolled gently from place to place, even if none of them otherwise exercised. (Reynolds, 8/9)

CBS News: Daily Sugary Drinks Can Increase Liver Cancer Risk In Women, Study Suggests
A team of researchers, including from Harvard, studied dietary data on nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women over two decades. They found that those who consumed one or more servings a day of sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, had significantly higher rates of liver cancer and chronic liver disease compared to women who drank these beverages no more than three times a month. (Marshall, 8/9)

USA Today: Heartburn Relief Medicine For Acid Reflux Raises Dementia Risk: Study
People who use a common type of acid reflux drug for more than four years face a higher risk of dementia later in life, a new study found. The research examined people prescribed proton pump inhibitors for frequent acid reflux, stomach ulcers or other digestive tract issues. Those who took the drugs more than 4.4 years had a 33% greater likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who did not take the medication, according to a study published Wednesday in the medical journal "Neurology." (Alltucker, 8/9)

Stat: People With Autism Are More Likely To Engage In Self-Harm: Study
Autistic people are at a much higher risk of self-harm leading to emergency care or suicide, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open. In particular, the study found, autistic females had an 83% increased risk of self-harm compared to non-autistic females, while for males, the increased risk compared to non-autistic individuals was 47%. (Merelli, 8/9)