Los Angeles Times: Thousands Of UC Healthcare And Research Employees Go On Strike
Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees walked off the job Wednesday, urging the university to address staffing shortages and end what they describe as restrictions on employees’ ability to raise concerns about workplace conditions. The planned three-day strike comes amid strained negotiations between the 10-campus UC system and University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119, the union representing nearly 20,000 employees. (Hussain, 2/26)

Berkeleyside: Strikes At UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab Impact Cal Health Services, BAMPFA
Thousands of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory workers stopped working as part of a statewide strike Wednesday morning amid fraught contract negotiations with the University of California. The strikes are expected to impact some UC Berkeley campus operations, including the university’s health center, campus shuttles and programming at BAMPFA. (Kwok, 2/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: Incredible Health Expands To Tackle The Next Workforce Crisis
[San Francisco-based] Incredible Health, the most expansive AI-driven career platform for permanent healthcare professionals, is growing its marketplace to include technicians, branching into home health organizations and ambulatory surgery centers. Already serving over 1 million nurses and 1,500 hospitals across the nation, the company is the first to streamline permanent hiring for technicians, a crucial step in addressing a growing labor shortage. (Falvey, 2/26)

Bay Area News Group: Medical Tech Heart Health Company Expands With South Bay Office Deal
A medical tech company that has embarked on a quest to combat heart problems has struck a deal to lease space in Santa Clara in an expansion move. (Avalos, 2/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'You Have To Spend Money To Make Money': Sharp HealthCare CFO On Long-Term Sustainability
At a time when many hospitals and health systems struggle to combat ongoing workforce challenges in the industry, San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare is cracking the code of strengthening recruitment and retention. In November 2024, the system reached a three-year agreement with around 5,000 front-line workers represented by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West. The agreement increases pay up to 35% over three years and includes provisions to cut family medical coverage premiums by up to 50% for workers and their families. (Ashley, 2/26)

Axios: Telehealth Advocates Turn Up The Pressure As Medicare Deadline Nears
Providers, patients and digital health companies are ramping up their calls for more certainty that Medicare will continue to reimburse them for telehealth appointments after the current authority to do so expires on April 1. (Goldman, 2/27)

The New York Times: Organ Transplant System ‘In Chaos’ As Waiting Lists Are Ignored 
The sickest patients are supposed to get priority for lifesaving transplants. But more and more, they are being skipped over. (Rosenthal, Hansen and White, 2/26)

MedPage Today: Legal Group Issues 'Restatement' Of Medical Malpractice Law
The American Law Institute (ALI) -- an organization of judges, professors, and practicing attorneys -- published a new standard for medical malpractice that takes into account evidence-based medicine. "The new standard of care ... represents a shift away from strict reliance on medical custom and invites courts to incorporate evidence-based medicine in malpractice law," wrote Christopher Robertson, JD, PhD, of the Boston University School of Law, and co-authors in JAMA. (Frieden, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: Pacific Palisades Residents Can Now Monitor Water Contamination Online
Pacific Palisades residents who have been unable to safely use their tap water due to carcinogens in the system have a new tool to track their utility’s progress in flushing out the contaminants. ... LADWP has launched the Palisades Water Quality Restoration Dashboard. It will give residents updates on the utility’s progress in cleaning the system in their area and let them know when their water is safe to use and drink. (Garcia, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: EPA Finishes Phase 1 Of Debris Removal In Palisades, Eaton Fire Zones
In a major milestone for Los Angeles’ fire recovery, officials said Wednesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finished the first phase of debris removal in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades burn zones. Hazardous household items, including propane tanks and lithium-ion batteries, have been removed from about two-thirds of the buildings destroyed in the fires, the EPA said. The 9,201 buildings cleared include 4,852 homes in the Eaton fire footprint and 4,349 in the Palisades fire burn zone. (Nelson, 2/26)

Politico: EPA Moves To Ditch Finding That Greenhouse Gases Cause Harm
The Environmental Protection Agency will move to reverse its 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare — a step that would threaten most major climate regulations and make it harder for future presidents to enact new ones. Three people granted anonymity to discuss the action said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has recommended to the White House that the agency overhaul the finding, which underpins all Clean Air Act climate regulations. (Chemnick, Colman, Guillén and Cama, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: Study: Many Homeless People Seeking Drug Treatment Are Turned Away
Illegal drug use is deeply intertwined with homelessness, both increasing the risk of losing housing and arising or worsening when people find themselves on the streets, a new study has found. But it also found that a large majority of people living on the streets are not drug users. The study, published in the medical journal JAMA by the Benioff Homeless and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco, gives a complex statistical picture of a topic that has been fraught by conflicting narratives. Against a public perception that drug use is endemic to homeless camps, service providers and advocates see an exaggerated reaction to open drug use on the street that stigmatizes the majority of homeless people who do not use drugs. (Smith, 2/27)

Voice of San Diego: San Diego’s CARE Court Isn’t Forcing Treatment
When Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his CARE Court proposal almost three years ago, he suggested it would force thousands of people with serious untreated psychotic conditions to accept treatment – and counties to deliver that treatment. The law he signed in 2022 and the rollout in San Diego County hasn’t quite matched the rhetoric. San Diego County officials decided the law held counties accountable to provide treatment, but that it could only be voluntary for participants. (2/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: He Overdosed Waiting For Help. Why Did S.F. Turn Him Away?
Jonathan Martin was lying face down, with his head in his pillow, when Shy Baniani went to shake his roommate awake. As soon as Baniani’s hand touched Martin’s bare skin, the coldness sent a shock through his fingertips. Without time to process it, he turned over Martin’s limp body, dialed 9-1-1 and began chest compressions. But when paramedics arrived at their San Francisco apartment a few minutes later, they declared Martin dead. (Angst, 2/27)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Unified Will No Longer Make New Employees Prove They’re Vaccinated Against COVID-19 
San Diego Unified will no longer require new employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The district’s board unanimously approved a recommendation to end the requirement that new hires show proof of vaccination at its Tuesday evening meeting. (Stephenson, 2/26)

NBC News: FDA Cancels Meeting To Select Flu Strains For Next Season's Shots
A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for March to select the strains to be included in next season's flu shot has been canceled, a panel member said Wednesday. Federal health officials notified members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the cancelation in an email Wednesday afternoon, said committee member Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (Lovelace Jr., 2/27)

CBS News: U.S. Officials Walk Back Plans To Stop Culling Poultry For Bird Flu
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said Wednesday that there are "no anticipated changes" to the current federal policy requiring poultry to be culled in response to bird flu outbreaks, which have driven up egg prices to record highs in recent months. The decision marks a rebuke of an idea floated by Trump administration officials in recent weeks to change the policy. More than 35 million birds have been killed in response to bird flu outbreaks in commercial flocks so far this year, according to the USDA's figures. (Tin, 2/26)

Stat: Trump Administration Shifts Bird Flu Policy From Health To Egg Prices 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday an additional $1 billion to help the nation’s poultry industry combat an accelerating outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza, which has devastated farmers and driven the price of eggs to record highs. The infusion is part of a new strategy under the Trump administration that aims to boost financial relief to farmers whose flocks have been affected by the bird flu and aid in increasing biosecurity measures to prevent the spread from wild birds to domestic poultry operations. It also sets aside funds to develop vaccines and therapeutics for laying chickens. (Molteni and Branswell, 2/26)

Bloomberg: Trump Team Considers Pulling Funding For Moderna Bird Flu Vaccine
US health officials are reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna Inc., people familiar with the matter said. The review is part of a government push to examine spending on messenger RNA-based vaccines, the technology that powered Moderna’s Covid vaccine. The bird flu shot contract was awarded to Moderna in the Biden administration’s final days, sending the company’s stock up 13% in the two days following the Jan. 17 announcement. (Muller, Griffin, and Swetlitz, 2/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: East County House Cat Dies After Testing Positive For H5N1 Bird Flu
A house cat is the first mammal in San Diego County to test positive for H5N1 bird flu. (Sisson, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: Q&A With Barbara Ferrer: L.A. County Public Health Under Trump
As President Trump vows to rein in government spending and saddle federal money with new restrictions, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has a lot at stake — including about $1 billion in federal grants, according to its director, Barbara Ferrer. Federal grants make up roughly two-thirds of its budget, funding efforts to detect avian flu and other infectious diseases, control HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and provide services for chronically ill children, the department said. Ferrer spoke with The Times about how the Trump administration has affected the L.A. County Public Health Department so far and what could be ahead. (Alpert Reyes, 2/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Dangerous House Republicans’ Budget Could Be For California
As Republicans in Congress hash out the rough outlines of a budget that includes significant but still undefined cuts, state and local officials in California are scrambling to assess the potential impact on a vast array of critical programs. Some Republicans said they were uneasy about voting for a budget resolution that could include cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance programs ahead of a House vote Tuesday. Although the budget doesn’t explicitly say Medicaid and other social safety net programs will face cuts, the magnitude of the cuts they’re proposing means that those programs are likely on the table. (Stein, Bollag and Garofoli, 2/26)

NPR: Nearly All USAID Programs Have Been Cut By The Trump Administration
The Trump administration is terminating thousands of USAID foreign assistance grants and awards, according to the State Department. The move effectively guts the six-decade-old agency. The announcement came just hours before a federal district court deadline for the Trump administration to restart payments on those grants. The government still owes more than $1 billion for work done before Trump's foreign aid freeze. But late Wednesday the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to vacate the lower court order to start funding those programs again, saying that it could not make the payments on the deadline set by the judge. (Tanis and Langfitt, 2/26)

Politico: Chief Justice Allows Trump Administration To Keep Foreign Aid Frozen For Now
Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday night granted a respite to the Trump administration as it seeks to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen, despite a judge’s order directing the administration to resume payments immediately. Roberts’ intervention heads off the possibility of administration officials being held in contempt for failing to comply with the order from U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who imposed a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday for the federal government to pay nearly $2 billion in unpaid invoices from foreign-aid contractors. (Gerstein and Cheney, 2/26)

The Hill: VA Reverses Course, Halts Contract Cancellations After Pressure From Congress
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Wednesday paused an effort to terminate hundreds of contracts after pressure from Democrat lawmakers, according to Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The major reversal, which came a day after VA Secretary Doug Collins publicly touted the cancellation of up to 875 contracts in a video posted to social media, was relayed in an email to agency staff. (Mitchell, 2/26)

NPR: NIH Partially Lifts Freeze On Funding Process For Medical Research
The Trump administration has partially lifted a hold that had frozen ability of the National Institutes of Health to review new grant applications for research into diseases ranging from heart disease and COVID to Alzheimer's and allergies. The freeze occurred because the Trump administration had blocked the NIH from posting any new notices in the Federal Register, which is required before many federal meetings can be held. The stoppage forced the agency to cancel meetings to review thousands of grant applications. (Stein, 2/26)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County Names Yolo County Official As New Top Health Services Administrator 
Sonoma County has tapped a seasoned Sacramento Valley health administrator to lead its embattled Department of Health Services. (Murphy, 2/26)

CalMatters: Immigration Raids Rattled Kern County. Now, The ACLU Is Suing Over Alleged Abuses 
Border Patrol agents slashed tires, yanked people out of trucks, threw people to the ground, and called farmworkers “Mexican b------” during unannounced raids in Kern County in early January, according to a complaint filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. (Fry and Olmos, 2/26)