KQED: California Regulator Sued Over Delayed Mental Health Appeals
Let’s say you have a son who develops a drug problem or becomes suicidal. His doctor says he needs extensive treatment at a residential mental health center. But your insurance company denies the coverage. Consumers can appeal those decisions to California’s Department of Managed Health Care, which will review the insurance company’s decision and either uphold it or overturn it. Under law, the agency has six days to complete an urgent review, upon receipt of a complete application. A lawsuit filed late Tuesday alleges that the agency routinely violates review deadlines, sometimes taking weeks or longer to render a decision. (Dembosky, 2/24)

The Hill: Obama Health Chief Admits Abortion Law Inquiry Too Slow
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell acknowledged Wednesday that the administration has not moved fast enough in investigating an alleged violation of abortion law. Burwell was questioned at a congressional hearing Wednesday about a California state agency’s decision in 2014 to require all health insurance plans in the state to cover abortions, which Republicans say is a clear violation of the federal Weldon Amendment, protecting insurance plans from discrimination if they decline to cover abortions. The HHS Office of Civil Rights, which has the responsibility of enforcing the Weldon Amendment, said in December 2014 it had opened an investigation into California’s actions. But the investigation is still not complete. (Sullivan, 2/24)

The Sun: Health Care Costs Rising More Slowly, Says Federal Official In Loma Linda
The rate of health care cost increases in the U.S. during 2015 were the smallest in 50 years, Melissa Stafford Jones, Region 9 director the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said here Wednesday. Last year, for example, the insurance marketplace created by Covered California, the state-run health insurance exchange authorized by the Affordable Care Act, saw its costs rise 4.1 percent, far less than the double-digit growth experienced in many years prior to the passage of the ACA, Jones said. (Steinberg, 2/25)

Bloomberg: Google's DeepMind Forms Health Unit To Build Medical Software
The collaboration is part of a larger push by Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent, into health technology and research. The Mountain View, California-based company also operates a life-sciences research group called Verily and has backed an anti-aging company called Calico, while Google itself conducts basic scientific research. It has also built a dedicated cloud computing system for use by U.K.-based health-care organizations, separate from Google’s main infrastructure. (Clark, 2/24)

The San Francisco Business Times: Is Practice Fusion The Latest Wanna-Be Unicorn To Bite The Dust?
Is Practice Fusion, the San Francisco-based electronic medical records software company, the latest wanna-be unicorn to fall far short of its original promise? The political website Politico is reporting, based on unnamed "multiple sources," that Practice Fusion is "putting itself up for sale." High on the list of "desired suitors is fellow cloud-based EHR firm athenahealth," one unidentified source told Politico. (Rauber, 2/25)

The San Francisco Business Times: Patent Pirate Or Drug Cost Savior? Hedge Fund Boss Targets Anacor Drug
A hedge fund manager and his patent-trolling partner are targeting Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s toenail fungus drug in their latest attempt — according to one side or the other — to drive down the price of the drug or the stock. The Coalition for Affordable Drugs, formed by Hayman Capital Management principal J. Kyle Bass with Erich Spangenberg, best known for a series of patent suits against Silicon Valley tech companies, won a victory Tuesday when the federal Patent Trial and Appeal Board decided to hold inter partes review, or IPR, proceedings on challenges to two Anacor patents. (Leuty, 2/25)

The San Francisco Business Times: Cabilly's Last Stand: The Newest Challenge To Biotech's Biggest Patent
A patent that dates back more than three decades and covers a key step in the manufacturing process for antibodies is being challenged yet again. But this time, it’s through a new process at the U.S. patent office that may prove more difficult to defend against. The so-called Cabilly Patents ­— named after inventor Shmuel Cabilly, a scientist at City of Hope cancer center in Duarte, California in the 1980s — cover a fundamental step in making biologic drugs using mammalian cell culture. First awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1983 to the company now considered the pioneer of the biotech industry — South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. — the family of patents is now owned by Swiss drug maker Roche, which bought out Genentech in 2009 for $47 billion. (Seiffert, 2/24)

The Modesto Bee: Modesto’s Memorial Medical Center Cutting Almost 100 Positions
Citing changes in the health care landscape, Memorial Medical Center is laying off almost 100 employees, and other staff members could have their work hours reduced. The Modesto hospital affiliated with Sacramento-based Sutter Health said Wednesday the staff reductions will take effect at the end of April. (Carlson, 2/24)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: DEA: Scripps Didn't Provide Name Of Suspected Drug Thief
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday that Scripps Health never passed along the name of Rocky Allen, the recently-arrested surgical technician who tried to swipe a syringe of fentanyl from one of its operating rooms in 2013. Allen faces several federal charges on allegations that he stole or attempted to steal narcotics at hospitals in California, Arizona and Colorado, leaving many in the public asking how he was able to move from facility to facility without his past catching up with him. (Sisson, 2/24)

The San Francisco Business Times: Kaiser Permanente Set To Open Estimated $200M Medical Office Building In Mission Bay
Kaiser Permanente plans to open its estimated $200 million, 220,000-square-foot Mission Bay medical office building March 8. The new nine-story complex at 1600 Owens St., near UC San Francisco’s $1.52 billion Mission Bay campus and hospital complex, will house offices for 106 physicians, and employ a total of about 500 doctors, nurses, other clinicians, technicians and administrative staffers. (Rauber, 2/24)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Clerk Says Tri-City Fired Her Over Pay Petition
A worker at Tri-City Hospital says she is being fired after advocating for a ballot initiative to cap the salaries of the public health-care district’s top executives at $250,000.Cheryl Rhead worked as the lead admitting clerk in the Oceanside hospital’s emergency room. She was also a union leader who was one of the lead signatories on the proposed pay-capping measure.

And NPR reports on nursing home evictions —

NPR: Nursing Home Evictions Strand The Disabled In Costly Hospitals
What if you had to go to the hospital, and when it came time to return home your landlord said you couldn't move back in? Across the country, thousands of nursing home residents face that situation every year. In most cases, it's a violation of federal regulations. But those rules are rarely enforced by the states. So, in California, some nursing home residents are suing the state, hoping to force it to take action. (Jaffe, 2/25)

The Orange County Register: Doctors 'Alarmed' By Rise In Mastectomies
The rate of breast cancer is holding steady, but federal data released this week shows more women are undergoing mastectomies. From 2005 to 2013, the rate of mastectomy, where the entire breast is removed, increased by 36 percent, to 90 out of every 100,000 adult U.S. women, according to a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (Chandler, 2/24)

The San Francisco Business Times: Map Plots Road For Genomic Health Cancer Test, 'Personalized' Medicine
The Redwood City company's Oncotype DX molecular diagnostic test is causing the company to tweak the way it promotes its usage. (Leuty, 2/24)

KQED: What Offers Better Immunity: The Flu Vaccine Or The Flu Itself?
This year’s flu season has been fairly mild so far, as predicted. But also as predicted, flu cases have been picking up, in line with the expected February peak this year. The most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows an increase in influenza-like illnesses and notes that it’s never too late to get vaccinated. (Haelle, 2/24)

Reuters: Activists Press In-N-Out On Antibiotic Policy Amid Superbug Worries
Hamburger chain In-N-Out Burger is the newest target in a push by public health, environmental and consumer groups to convince high-profile food sellers to stop serving meat from animals fed a routine diet of antibiotics. The new campaign from CALPIRG Education Fund, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Food Safety and other public interest groups was launched amid growing concern that the overuse of such drugs is contributing to increasing numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, known as "superbugs." (2/24)

The Fresno Bee: Organic Pastures Dairy Recalls Milk
Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno County voluntarily recalled its raw milk last month after internal tests found evidence of E. coli. The tainted milk caused at least 10 illnesses, with six of those victims reporting they drank Organic Pastures raw milk, said California Department of Public Health officials. The victims all had closely related strains of E. coli 0157, the health department said. (Rodriguez, 2/24)

The San Francisco Business Times: Guidance For Employers Worried About The Zika Virus
The Zika virus has been in headlines for weeks. Although the virus has been circulating for 70 years and usually has mild symptoms, it has recently been linked to increasing numbers of children born in Brazil and other countries with a birth defect called microcephaly. The news has prompted a number of questions from employers. (Starkman, 2/25)

The Washington Post: Texas Hospitals Announce First Quick Test For Zika That Could Help Identify When The Virus Reaches U.S.
Researchers in Houston have announced that they have developed the first hospital-based, rapid diagnostic test for Zika, an advance that they said should help public health officials identify if -- or, more likely, when -- infected mosquitoes reach the United States this summer. Using a sample of a patient's blood, urine, spinal fluid or amniotic fluid for pregnant women, the test can identify whether the DNA of the virus is present in as quickly as one day. Previously, physicians have had to ship blood or other samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and wait for a response. (Cha, 2/24)

The New York Times: Proof Needed To Enroll In Health Plan Post-Deadline
People who want to buy health insurance in the federal marketplace outside the annual open enrollment period will now have to provide documents to show they are eligible, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday. In the last two years, insurers say, many people went without coverage and then signed up under the Affordable Care Act when they became sick and needed care. Insurers say that people who sign up after the deadline tend to generate more claims and more costs, raising premiums. (Pear, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Confirms Cardiologist Robert Califf As FDA Commissioner
The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday his top priorities will include using databases and electronic medical records as early-warning systems to pinpoint safety lapses of drugs and medical devices. (Burton, 2/24)