San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Hospitalizations, Deaths Surge In California — And Worst Is Yet To Come, CDC Warns
As respiratory illnesses surge through the Bay Area, many residents likely had to forego New Year’s Eve celebrations. California witnessed a rapid increase in influenza activity and emergency department visits for COVID-19 during the third week of December. The surge — which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show continued nationally through the final week of December — is attributed to holiday gatherings, travel and the newly identified JN.1 coronavirus variant. (Vaziri, 1/3)

The Bakersfield Californian: COVID-19 Cases Are Up In Kern; Another Winter Surge Is Expected 
After a worrisome summer spike, COVID-19 cases are on the rise once more across California, though many counties, including Kern, are not feeling the effects. (Donegan, 1/3)

CIDRAP: Cost Of Hospital Care Rose 26% For COVID-19 Patients Over Course Of Pandemic, Data Show 
A study published today in JAMA Network Open shows the average direct cost to provide hospital treatment for COVID-19 patients in the United States rose by 26% from 2020 to 2022, with costs increasing even after the launch of vaccination and the emergence of new variants. Though the country has only 4% of the world's population, it saw 15% of the global hospitalizations for COVID-19 and 16.3% of deaths. Hospitalizations peaked during the winter of 2021-22, when the Omicron variant surged. At that time, 20% of US hospital admissions were for COVID-19, and almost 30% of intensive care unit (ICU) beds were used by COVID-19 patients. (Soucheray, 1/3)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Urges Support For State's Mental Health Reform Measure 
Gov. Gavin Newsom gathered with city leaders and public safety officials Wednesday to urge support of Proposition 1, an overhaul of the state’s mental health system that will be on California’s March 5 primary election ballot. The measure would reform California’s Mental Health Services Act and create a $6.4-billion bond to provide 10,000 new behavioral-health beds. The plan would redirect existing funding to expand substance abuse and mental health services. (Petrow-Cohen, 1/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: How Will San Diego Medical Providers Be Affected By State's Newly Launched Coverage Of Undocumented Immigrants? 
San Diego health systems see financial and operational benefits in the state’s latest expansion of Medi-Cal benefits for undocumented immigrants. (Sisson, 1/3)

CalMatters: Why Many Insured Californians Avoid Hospitals In This County 
Every three months Bernie Medina takes a day off of work and drives an hour from Salinas to San Jose to see her oncologist. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer two years ago and needs regular checkups. Medina lives in Monterey County but her health insurance forbids her from using any of the local hospitals. Medina and her wife Jeannie are both teachers in Salinas Union High School District. They’re enrolled in a local government employee health insurance plan created a decade ago to save employees and employers money. To do that, it excludes all Monterey County hospitals and their affiliates. As the hospitals have gobbled up local doctors’ offices and urgent care centers, seeing specialists like Medina’s oncologist and getting emergency care have become more difficult. (Hwang, 1/4)

Reuters: CVS Will Remove AbbVie's Humira From Some Drug Reimbursement Lists In April
CVS Health said on Wednesday it will remove AbbVie’s blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira from some of its lists of preferred drugs for reimbursement as of April 1, and will recommend biosimilar versions of the medicine instead. CVS said Hyrimoz and an unbranded version of Humira, both from Swiss drugmaker Sandoz, will be covered across all its formularies, while branded and unbranded near copies of the drug from India's Biocon will be covered on some reimbursement lists. (Wingrove, 1/3)

USA Today: Insulin Price Cap: More Americans Will Now Pay No More Than $35
A price cap on insulin from one of the three major manufacturers took effect on New Year's Day, giving more Americans with diabetes more affordable treatments. ... As of Jan. 1, 2024, Sanofi cut the price of Lantus by 78% and short-acting Apidra by 70%. The price cuts will reduce the cost of the drug for most patients at $35 through either price caps or savings programs. (Al-Arshani and Alltucker, 1/3)

CNN: FDA Looking Into Reports Of Hair Loss, Suicidal Thoughts In People Using Popular Drugs For Diabetes And Weight Loss 
The US Food and Drug Administration is evaluating reports of side effects such as hair loss and suicidal thoughts in people taking medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. These drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, are approved to treat diabetes or weight loss. They include semaglutide, branded as Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy; liragutide, branded as Saxenda and Victoza; and tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro and Zepbound. They mimic GLP-1, a hormone made naturally in the body whose roles include slowing the passage of food through the stomach. (Dillinger, 1/3)

The Bakersfield Californian: Feds Release Data Showing 'Catastrophic Rates' Of Fentanyl Offenses Locally 
Noting fentanyl is killing Americans at "catastrophic rates," U.S. Attorney Philip Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian Clark released data Wednesday showing the immensity of the problem in the Eastern District of California. (Nguyen, 1/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Paying Addicts For Rehab: Controversial Drug Treatment Taking Hold
For the past 30 years, if Daniel Costa was sober for the holidays, it was because he was in jail. This year everything is different. Costa, a 61-year-old San Jose native who has struggled with both methamphetamine addiction and housing instability for most of his life, is five months sober for the first time in over three decades, thanks to a new substance-use treatment program called Rewarding Recovery. (Cheng, 1/4)

CapRadio: Group To Sue California AG Over Title Of Ballot Initiative Seeking To Prohibit Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth
Leaders of a parental rights advocacy group announced Wednesday they’re planning to sue California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the way his office has characterized a 2024 ballot initiative they authored. In August, the group Protect Kids California announced it would petition for three 2024 ballot initiatives that would, respectively: ban transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care like puberty-blockers, ban trans girls from girls’ competitive sports and girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms, require public schools to disclose a student's gender identity to their parents, if the child is out at school. (Wolffe, 1/3)

The Hill: New Rule Designed To Protect LGBTQ Foster Children Draws GOP Opposition 
A new rule requiring child welfare agencies to place LGBTQ children in “environments free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse” based on the child’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression is drawing opposition from Republicans. The proposed rule, issued in September by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also would require caregivers to undergo cultural competency training to ensure LGBTQ youths are placed in homes where their identities are affirmed. (Migdon, 1/3)

The Hill: New Study Helps Explain ‘Darwinian Paradox’ Of Same-Sex Attraction
Men carrying genetic factors linked to bisexual attraction tend to have more children, a new study has found. The paper published Wednesday in Science Advances found evidence for genetic variations that contribute to both bisexual attraction in men and a heightened appetite for risk. Those findings help resolve a paradox at the heart of evolutionary theory — while also raising difficult new questions about the genetic roots of same-sex attraction. (Elbein, 1/3)

Los Angeles Times: New Type Of Antibiotic Targets Drug-Resistant Bugs, Study Says 
Under a microscope, this drug-resistant superbug looks as benign as a handful of pebbles. Yet carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, or CRAB, is a nightmare for hospitals worldwide, as it kills roughly half of all patients who acquire it. Identified as a top-priority pathogen by both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CRAB is the most common form of a group of bacteria that are resistant to nearly all available antibiotics. Victims are typically hospitalized patients who are already sick with blood infections or pneumonia. In the U.S. alone, the bug sickens thousands and kills hundreds every year. But 2024 is starting with some encouraging news on the global health front: For the first time in half a century, researchers have identified a new antibiotic that appears to effectively kill A. baumannii. (Purtill, 1/3)

CBS News: Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy Linked With Language Delays, University Of Illinois Study Finds 
A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign linked acetaminophen with language delays in children. Susan Schantz, professor emerita of comparative biosciences and one of the authors of the study, spoke to CBS 2 about the findings. Schantz said the study looked at language development among children ages 2 and 3, and found that those whose mothers took acetaminophen, especially during the third trimester of their pregnancy, had smaller vocabularies and shorter sentence lengths. (1/3)

AP: Alzheimer's Drugs Might Get Into The Brain Faster With New Ultrasound Tool, Study Shows
Scientists have found a way to help Alzheimer’s drugs seep inside the brain faster — by temporarily breaching its protective shield. The novel experiment was a first attempt in just three patients. But in spots in the brain where the new technology took aim, it enhanced removal of Alzheimer’s trademark brain-clogging plaque, researchers reported Wednesday. “Our goal is to give patients a head start,” by boosting some new Alzheimer’s treatments that take a long time to work, said Dr. Ali Rezai of West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, who led the study. (Neergaard, 1/3)

Bloomberg: Smokers Taking Old Generic Drug Cytisine Are Twice As Likely To Quit
Smokers taking a course of cytisine are twice as likely to kick the habit, researchers found as the UK prepares to introduce the plant-based drug this month. Scientists found that the treatment was twice as effective as a placebo — and marginally better than nicotine substitutes — in research published earlier this week in the medical journal Addiction. (Ganatra, 1/3)

The Washington Post: Wearing Hearing Aids Could Reduce Your Risk Of Dying Earlier
For those with hearing loss, simply putting on hearing aids could be a lifesaver. New research, published Wednesday in The Lancet Healthy Longevity journal, showed that people with hearing loss who regularly wore hearing aids had a 24-percent lower mortality risk than those who never wore them, regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, race, type of insurance, severity of hearing loss and other medical conditions. And the worse someone’s hearing loss was, the greater was their risk of an earlier death. (Morris, 1/3)

Military Times: Abortion Access Policy Could Be Dumped, Former Pentagon Leader Warns
The Pentagon’s former personnel head warned that the Defense Department’s abortion access policies could be rescinded as early as next year if critics win key seats in the upcoming November elections. “The Department of Defense’s abortion travel policy was a necessary, though incomplete, step to remedying the Supreme Court’s error. It also could be reversed on the very first day of a new administration,” wrote Gil Cisneros, the former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, in an op-ed published by The Hill on Tuesday. (Shane III, 1/3)

Roll Call: Latina Candidates Plan Abortion Rights Push 
While Republicans have made inroads with Latino voters in recent years, Democrats say the GOP’s support for strict limits on abortion threatens to undercut those gains. A majority of Hispanics, 57 percent, say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in 2022. Among young Latinos, one of the nation’s fastest-growing demographic groups, that figure climbs to 72 percent. Support for reproductive rights remains strong even among Catholic Latinos. Polling data from eight key states compiled by UnidosUS, a Hispanic civil rights organization, found that 71 percent of Latinos opposed efforts to make abortion illegal or “take that choice away from everyone else,” regardless of their personal beliefs. (Altimari, 1/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive: Cigna Nears Deal To Offload Medicare Business
Cigna is in advanced talks to sell its Medicare business in an about-face for the health-insurance giant, which had been expanding its footprint in the fast-growing sector. Cigna, which has been running an auction for the business, known as Medicare Advantage, is now in exclusive talks to sell it to Health Care Service Corp. for between $3 billion and $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. (Cooper, Mathews and Thomas, 1/3)

Modern Healthcare: PBMs, Medicare Pay, Telehealth Lead Congress’s 2024 To-Do List
Presidential election years tend to be poor times to attempt major healthcare legislation, but Congress' failure to cope with its 2023 responsibilities has raised the prospects that significant bills could pass in 2024. Lawmakers left town before Christmas having failed to complete much-delayed fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation—the prior fiscal year ended Sept. 30—and leaving in place temporary spending bills that last until Jan. 19 and Feb. 3, depending on the part of government. (McAuliff, 1/3)

The Hill: Inflation Threatens Health Care Access As Medicare Gap Widens: GOP Rep
Inflation is threatening health care access across the country as the gap widens between the cost of medical services and the coverage rates paid out by Medicare, Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) warned last month. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle joined The Hill’s “Medicare Drug Price Negotiation: How to Ensure Access and Equity” event, sponsored by the Alliance for Aging Research, to discuss the effects of the first 10 drugs chosen for Medicare price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act. (Irwin, 1/3)

Forbes: Medicaid Rebate Rule Causes Problems For Asthma Patients On Flovent
Medicaid has a new rebate rule for prescription drugs which underwent substantial price increases in the past. In response, the pharmaceutical firm GSK is withdrawing branded Flovent, an asthma medication, and replacing it with an "authorized generic" at a modestly lower price than the branded product. But because it will have no price history it will not be subject to the Medicaid rule. However, owing to the convoluted drug pricing and reimbursement system in the U.S., the authorized generic Flovent won’t be as broadly covered by pharmacy benefit managers as the branded product was, leaving some patients with an access problem. (Cohen, 1/3)

The Bakersfield Californian: Houchin Issues Type O Blood Shortage Alert, Offers $10 Gift Cards 
Houchin Community Blood Bank put out an urgent plea Wednesday for Type O blood — positive or negative — to help end a shortage it said impedes lifesaving measures and could delay local medical procedures that require blood transfusions. (1/3)

Los Angeles Times: Court-Ordered Parenting Classes Largely Unregulated In CA 
Before they were charged with torturing and murdering their 4-year-old son, Ursula Juarez and Jose Cuatro were ordered by a court to complete classes meant to teach them how to be better parents. For 12 weeks in 2017, court records show, they each attended parenting classes as part of their case plan with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services in an effort to regain custody of their toddler, Noah Cuatro, who was taken by the state after allegations that another child in the home had been abused. (Mays, 1/4)