Becker's Hospital Review: Providence Taps Leader For 2 California Hospitals
Michael Keleman was named chief executive of two Providence hospitals in California: St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna. Mr. Keleman began his new role on Jan. 22, according to a Feb. 7 news release shared with Becker's. (Gooch, 2/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Is Apple's New Vision Pro A Health Care Machine? Sharp Healthcare Thinks So
It remains to be seen whether Apple’s latest innovations will have what it takes to usher in a new era of virtual reality in health care, but the new Spatial Computing Center of Excellence now getting underway at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego aims to find out. Sharp just took delivery of 30 Vision Pro sets, giving them to health care workers doing all sorts of jobs. (Sisson, 2/5)

Stat: Medicare Advantage Plans Can’t Deny Care With AI, CMS Warns
In recent months, the federal government has repeatedly told Medicare Advantage insurers that they cannot use artificial intelligence or algorithms to deny medical services the government routinely covers. But in finalizing a rule to that effect, it also stepped into a thicket of questions from insurers about a technology that is especially difficult to pin down: What is AI? Can it be used at all to make decisions about the coverage of older patients? If so, how? (Ross and Herman, 2/7)

Axios: House Approves Ban On Disputed Measure For Valuing Treatments
A divided House of Representatives on Wednesday endorsed banning quality-adjusted life years from being used as a metric for determining a drug's value in federal health programs. QALYs are viewed as a key tool in comparative effectiveness studies, but have been held up as discriminatory against people with disabilities — and are unevenly applied across federal programs. (Knight, 2/8)

Roll Call: Lawmakers’ Retirements Risk Leaving Doctor Pay Fix Unfinished
Physician groups and other advocates for overhauling the Medicare payment system will lose three of their biggest Capitol Hill supporters to retirement next year, raising questions about next steps for long-term changes to the Medicare payment program. Republican Reps. Larry Bucshon of Indiana, Michael C. Burgess of Texas and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, all members of the GOP Doctors Caucus, have been vocal in pushing for changes to the way Medicare pays physicians. The current system has been fraught with controversy, with doctors complaining their rates don’t keep up with inflation and with requirements that payments be budget-neutral, resulting in cuts to doctor pay. Meanwhile, a near decadelong push to embrace value-based care has not panned out. (Burgess, 2/8)

Axios: Health Insurers Balk At Proposed Medicare Advantage Rates
CVS Health and Centene executives say newly proposed Medicare Advantage rates for 2025 aren't "sufficient" and hinted they could cut benefits if the federal government finalizes the rates as is. More than half of Medicare enrollees are in private Medicare Advantage plans. The specter of potential cuts to seniors' health care benefits in an election year could put pressure on the Biden administration. (Reed, 2/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: CDC Reviews Cruise Ship In S.F. After Passengers, Crew Get Sick
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing protocols on a luxury cruise ship stopped in San Francisco after more than 100 passengers and crew reported gastrointestinal illnesses. ... The CDC said 128 of the 1824 passengers onboard and 25 of 967 crew reported feeling ill during the cruise. The main symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting but the cause was not yet known, the CDC said. The health agency keeps track of illness outbreaks on cruise ships through its Vessel Sanitation Program and most of the gastrointestinal illnesses it tracks turn out to be caused by the norovirus. (Parker, 2/7)

Los Angeles Times: California's Fight Against Air Pollution Just Got Tougher
“Today’s action is a critical step forward that will better protect workers, families and communities from the dangerous and costly impacts of fine particle pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a news conference. “The science is clear, soot pollution is one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution, and it’s linked to a range of serious and potentially deadly illnesses, including asthma and heart attacks.” (Briscoe, 2/7)

Stateline: Tuberculosis Cases Rise, But Public Health Agencies Say They Lack The Resources To Keep Up
Even as the number of U.S. tuberculosis cases rises, public health experts say, awareness is lagging. And state and local health departments lack the resources to keep up with prevention and control efforts. ... A course of treatment for one tuberculosis case can cost around $20,000 in the U.S., and a drug-resistant tuberculosis case can cost at least $182,000. ... “People think tuberculosis is gone. … It’s here and growing,” said emergency medicine physician Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, which represents public health professionals. (Hassanien, 2/7)

The Hill: White House Announces Partnership With NFL, NBA To Promote Health And Wellness For Kids
The White House announced it is partnering with the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and 12 other major sports leagues and players associations to promote physical activity, nutrition and healthy lifestyles. As part of the partnership, the NFL will build on its Play 60 initiative, which encourages children to get physically active for at least 60 minutes a day and has them learn about nutrition, second gentleman Doug Emhoff announced. (Gangitano, 2/8)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Behind Thousands Of Excess US Deaths, Analysis Shows 
A new study from researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania shows that a substantial proportion of excess mortality numbers counted as deaths from natural causes during the COVID-19 pandemic were actually attributable to the novel coronavirus. (Soucheray, 2/7)

New York Post: 1 In 4 COVID Patients Developed Long-Haul Symptoms, Study Reveals
About one in four coronavirus patients developed long COVID, according to a new study. While most people who test positive for COVID-19 are over their symptoms within a week or two, more research is showing that some people continue to report symptoms — and even develop new ones — three months after their initial positive test, lasting for months or even years. A new study released by Help Advisor analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey to find the rates of American adults developing long COVID. (Diaz, 2/7)

The New York Times: New Report Raises Concerns About Long Covid In Kids 
A large analysis published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics underscores the toll long Covid can take on children, in some cases leading to neurological, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and behavioral symptoms in the months after an acute infection. “Long Covid in the U.S., in adults and in kids, is a serious problem,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies the condition but was not involved in the new report. He said that the paper, which drew on numerous studies of long Covid in children, is “important” and illustrates that the condition can affect multiple organ systems. (Smith and Blum, 2/7)

Stat: Long Covid Study Tests Exercise As Treatment Option
Fatigue leads the list of persistent problems experienced by people with long Covid — which is why patients have pushed back against treatment approaches that endorse escalating levels of exercise for a condition that researchers are still trying to understand. They fear post-exertional malaise, the debilitating price to be paid for pushing their bodies too hard. (Cooney, 2/7)

Stat: Vaccine Advisory Panel ACIP Left Half Staffed By HHS
A critical government advisory committee charged with charting U.S. vaccination policy appears to be atrophying, jeopardizing timely decision-making on how vaccines should be used in this country. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which has in recent years been a 15-person panel, has eight vacancies — one of which dates back more than a year. The other seven seats have been vacant since July. There is no chairperson. (Branswell, 2/8)

Bay Area Reporter: California Marriage Equality Campaign Launches 
LGBTQ leaders statewide launched their Freedom to Marry campaign during a virtual news conference Wednesday, beginning their pitch to voters that the California constitution's technical ban on same-sex marriage has got to go. Voters will decide on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 in November. It would remove the "zombie" same-sex marriage ban language that was added to the state's governing document by the passage 16 years ago of Proposition 8. The homophobic ballot measure was declared unconstitutional following a 2010 federal trial, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2013, with same-sex marriages resuming in the Golden State that June. (Ferrannini, 2/7)

Special to the LA Blade: Over 90,000 Satisfied Responses In Trans Survey
The early results of the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey are in, and they are stunning: For transgender individuals who have transitioned and are living as another gender, only 3% report lower satisfaction rates, with 79% stating they are “a lot more satisfied” after transitioning. That number is even higher for transgender people receiving gender-affirming care – 98% of transgender individuals taking hormones are more satisfied with their lives. These numbers challenge prevailing narratives in anti-trans media that transgender people experience significant degrees of regret or resentment towards their transition, including those published in The New York Times last weekend. (2/7)

The 19th: Trans Americans Have Faced Economic, Health Disparities For Years, Survey Shows
Transgender Americans are at the center of growing political attacks and national media coverage, and yet there is little data — and plenty of misinformation — about their lives. A report released Wednesday aims to change that. (Rummler and Sosin, 2/7)

CalMatters: An Initiative Promised 20,000 Homes For Mentally Ill Californians. It Delivered Far Less 
In the fall of 2018, California’s voters were determined to make a dent in the state’s rapidly escalating homelessness crisis. By a wide margin, they supported a ballot measure sold as No Place Like Home, which promised to use taxpayer money earmarked for mental health treatment to pay for a $2 billion housing bond. (Wiener, Kendall, Hwang and Yee, 2/7)

LA Blade: Calif. Attorney General Bonta Issues Guidance To Protect Tenants
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued five consumer alerts advising California tenants of their rights and protections under state law, and alerting property managers and landlords of their obligations to tenants. (2/7)

Bay Area News Group: California Lawmakers Push New Bill To Ban Encampments On Sidewalks, Near Schools
As frustration grows over sprawling homeless camps up and down California, a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers is pushing a new bill to ban encampments on sidewalks and near schools and bus stops. (Varian, 2/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Eyes Where To Put Homeless Shelters As Some Residents Express Concern
San Diego County leaders are exploring what land could quickly host temporary homeless shelters amid a regional shortage of beds and ongoing discussions about cracking down on encampments. (Nelson, 2/7)

AP: DEA Reverses Decision Stripping Drug Distributor Of Licenses For Fueling Opioid Crisis 
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is allowing one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to stay in business, reversing an earlier order stripping the company of its licenses for its failure to properly monitor the shipment of tens of millions of addictive painkillers blamed for fueling the opioid crisis. As part of the settlement announced Wednesday, Morris & Dickson Co. agreed to admit wrongdoing, comply with heightened reporting requirements and surrender one of its two certificates of registration with the DEA. The Shreveport, La.-based company, which has around 600 employees and generates about $4 billion a year in revenue, also agreed to forfeit $19 million. (Goodman and Mustian, 2/7)

EdSource: WCCUSD School Psychologists Face Burnout Due To Consistent Staff Shortages 
West Contra Costa Unified School District’s school psychologist internship program once flourished. The district recruited from substantial applicant pools from local universities and provided a strong start for beginning school psychologists entering the workforce, often retaining them after the internships ended. Now, however, in the years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, WCCUSD is struggling to recruit interns and fill vacant school psychologist positions. This means psychologists, considered essential pieces of school environments, are carrying larger case loads and working longer hours, leading to burnout. (Nixon, 2/7)

The Bakersfield Californian: 'Selfless Decision;" Kern Commences Awareness Campaign For Safe Surrender Program 
According to county officials, Nathan Davis is one of nearly 100 Kern County babies to be surrendered to a fire station or hospital authorities through the Safe Surrender Program. Ten years later, and standing beside his adoptive parents, Nathan Davis is tall for his age, excellent at sports — especially baseball — but quite shy. He avoids eye contact with reporters while his mother speaks at the podium. (Donegan, 2/7)

Los Angeles Times: Ill-Fitting Gear Endangers Female Firefighters, Supervisors Say 
When a female firefighter in Los Angeles County rushes into a burning building to save a life, she must deal with an extra challenge her male counterparts do not face: her uniform. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, female firefighters and lifeguards explained to the board how ill-fitting uniforms designed for men restrict their ability to move, are heavier because of unnecessary material and leave gaps that increase their risk of being burned by flying embers or inhaling smoke known to cause cancer. (Cosgrove, 2/6)