Sacramento Bee: About 500 Homeless People Died In Sacramento Since 2023
Shonn Adams survived a decade on Sacramento-area streets and riverbanks and thought she finally had a ticket into housing. Adams, 55, was one of the 50 homeless men and women who landed a coveted spot in a first-of-its kind encampment called Camp Resolution. She was thrilled to have water, food and bathrooms while she awaited promised permanent housing. Living in a tent along the American River for years had exasperated her COPD, and caused her to break her leg and become reliant on a wheelchair. (Clift and Reese, 1/30)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: ‘I’m Already Cold’: Napa’s Annual Homeless Count Offers Harsh Glimpse Into Life On The Streets 
Misty fog wrapped around a two-person team Wednesday morning as they navigated the dark trails along the Napa River, flashlights cutting through the haze. They were among roughly a dozen small groups dispersed across Napa County for the annual one-day point-in-time count, an effort to track the region’s homeless population. (Booth, 1/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Supervisors Approve New Mental Health Crisis Unit In Chula Vista
Adding another crisis stabilization unit for those experiencing mental health crises was such an obvious choice that it sailed through Tuesday’s San Diego County supervisors meeting on the consent calendar. (Sisson, 1/29)

Stat: Study: Since 988 Launch, Mental Health Crisis Services Have Faltered 
In July 2022, 988 launched as the number anyone across the country could dial in a mental health crisis. It’s one entryway to a sprawling system of mental health care options, but new research shows that since then, critical crisis services have not become more available — a key objective of the nationwide rollout, designed to strengthen an underfunded, patchwork system that left many people alone in times of crisis. (Gaffney, 1/29) 

Bay Area News Group: Halted Research, Disciplined Doctors: Internal Audit Finds Kaiser Ignored Patient Protections In Northern California Study
Many of modern medicine’s most remarkable achievements have been accomplished through the trust of volunteers, who test new drugs, procedures and medical devices to determine if they are safe and effective. A major study by Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, however, violated this trust by breaking multiple rules designed to protect volunteers, and the two researchers in charge tried to cover up the lapses by withholding critical information from study participants and those who oversee them, according to hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the Bay Area News Group. (Krieger, 1/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Palomar Health Hits Pause On Private Management Plan, Citing Financial Turmoil
A plan to privatize top management at Palomar Health in North County is on a one-year hiatus after directors voted this week to delay a controversial management agreement they approved in 2024. (Sisson, 1/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: How A Cancer Campus Fits Into Stanford's Future
Stanford (Calif.) Medicine leaders are prioritizing interdisciplinary collaboration and integrating research with clinical practice as they develop plans to build a cancer campus. David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care, Paul King, president and CEO of Stanford Medicine Children's Health, and Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at Stanford University, shared their vision for the future of cancer care Stanford Medicine Magazine's first issue of 2025. (Gregerson, 1/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: Why Cedars-Sinai Named Its 1st Chief AI Officer
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai appointed its inaugural chief data and artificial intelligence officer in December to boost its systemwide AI strategy. Mouneer Odeh, the former vice president of analytics at Fairfax, Va.-based Inova Health System, told Becker's he accepted the position to use technology to strengthen healthcare overall. (Bruce, 1/29)

Modern Healthcare: Samsung Medison Launches AI-Enabled Ob-Gyn Ultrasound Scanner
Samsung Medison launched an artificial intelligence-powered ultrasound scanner Wednesday for advanced obstetrics and gynecology applications. The Samsung Z20 scanner, which has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, includes a deep learning tool called Live ViewAssist that can automatically identify 39 views, label up to 47 anatomic structures and perform 46 types of measurements. (Dubinsky, 1/29)

Bloomberg: Cigna Plans To Limit Out-Of-Pocket Drug Costs For US Patients
Cigna Group plans to limit patients’ out-of-pocket expenses for medications as the insurer faces pressure from Washington over its role in prescription costs. The changes aim to ensure that patients don’t pay the drug company’s list price for medications and don’t pay more out-of-pocket for their medications than the amount that their employer contributes, a top executive said in an interview with Bloomberg News. (Tozzi, 1/29)

Fierce Healthcare: Express Scripts Takes New Steps On Transparency, Affordability
Pharmacy benefit management giant Express Scripts unveiled several steps it's taking to boost transparency and mitigate high costs members may face. The PBM said in an announcement that about 80% of its members pay less than $100 per year on their medications, but the remaining 20% are at times exposed to higher costs, a trend that's particularly true for people who may be in high-deductible plans. (Minemyer, 1/30)

The New York Times: RFK Jr. Appears Unfamiliar With Key Elements Of Medicare And Medicaid
In a tense exchange with Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. displayed a surprising lack of familiarity with Medicare and Medicaid, the government programs responsible for covering more than 150 million Americans. At times, Mr. Kennedy seemed to confuse the two programs. Medicare is a federal program that provides coverage to older and disabled Americans, while Medicaid is a state-federal program that covers low-income people. (Kliff and Abelson, 1/29)

The 19th: RFK Jr. Confirmation Hearing: Access To Abortion Medication Could Be In Jeopardy
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suggested he is open to significantly limiting access to mifepristone if confirmed to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), citing “safety issues” to a drug that is used in most abortions and that research has shown is very safe and effective. (Luthra and Rodriguez, 1/29)

NBC News: RFK Jr. Tries (Again) To Distance Himself From The Anti-Vaccine Movement
Facing mounting criticism from public health officials, doctors’ groups and Democrats (along with some skepticism from some Republicans), Kennedy attempted a delicate balancing act: defending and denying his controversial past as a prominent anti-vaccine lawyer while pledging to be a responsible steward for an agency with 80,000 employees, a $1.8 trillion budget and the nation’s health at stake. (Zadrozny, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: Senators Question Robert Kennedy Jr. In Fiery Confirmation Hearing
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pledged to “make America healthy again” as President Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services, faced aggressive questions Wednesday from senators who were troubled by his skepticism of vaccines, embrace of debunked medical claims, financial conflicts of interest and 11th-hour changes on issues such as abortion rights. Kennedy portrayed himself as an advocate for regular folks who feel outgunned by entrenched interests. (Mehta and Kaplan, 1/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Smooth Sailing So Far For S.F. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Fentanyl Proposal
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s proposal to speed up San Francisco’s response to the fentanyl crisis was broadly embraced Wednesday at City Hall and appears likely to pass next week. Lurie’s ordinance, his first major legislative effort since he took office three weeks ago, was advanced unanimously by a Board of Supervisors committee. A majority of the entire 11-member board has indicated support for the measure, which would cut red tape in an effort to more quickly address public drug use and homelessness. (Morris, 1/29)

The New York Times: Trump Calls Canada A Big Player In The Fentanyl Trade. Is It?
Standing behind heaping piles of drugs stacked in clear plastic bags and storage boxes, Toronto’s police chief last week announced the force’s largest-ever cocaine seizure, intercepted at the border in a truck entering from the United States. A few hours later, President Trump also addressed cross-border drug trafficking — but in his case to lay blame on Canada, at least in part, for a deadly fentanyl scourge. “The fentanyl coming through Canada is massive,” Mr. Trump told reporters the day after his inauguration. “The fentanyl coming through Mexico is massive. And people are getting killed and families are being destroyed.” (Isai, 1/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Are Efforts To Address Sewage Crisis At Risk With Federal Health Agency Gag Order?
After finally agreeing to work with San Diego County to investigate the environmental and health impacts of the decades-long cross-border sewage crisis, the federal government has suddenly gone silent. (Murga, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: Big Ass Fans Hit With Fines Over False Claims About Clean Air Products
The company Big Ass Fans has been slapped with almost half a million dollars in penalties for false advertising about their air purifying devices, including claims that their pricey fans can eliminate 99.99% of the virus that causes COVID-19. On Wednesday, 11 district attorneys in California announced a joint settlement with the company regarding allegations of false and misleading advertising. Kentucky-based Big Ass Fans has agreed to pay a total of $450,000 in penalties and restitution, more than $320,000 of which it will distribute directly to California customers who purchased certain “clean air products,” prosecutors said. (Harter, 1/30)

CIDRAP: GAO Tells USDA To Tighten Oversight Of Meat, Poultry Safety 
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report today calling for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to finalize food-safety standards for the bacteria Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Listeria in meat and poultry. The report is an update of previous GAO reports on USDA actions to reduce foodborne pathogens and the challenges it faced in doing so. The authors interviewed agency officials and food-safety and industry organizations and visited a Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) lab. (Van Beusekom, 1/23)

CIDRAP: Avian Flu Strikes Second Biggest US Egg Producer
Rose Acre Farms, the nation's second largest egg producer, said yesterday that tests have confirmed avian flu at its facility in Seymour, Indiana, which could further stretch the supply of eggs as commercial farms in several states continue to battle the spread of the H5N1 virus. In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported more H5N1 detections in mammals, poultry, dairy cows, and wild birds, and European health groups issued a guide for assessing avian flu mutations that may pose a risk to humans. (Schnirring, 1/29)