The HIPAA Journal: Settlement Resolves Adventist Health’s Unlawful Disclosures Of PHI To Law Enforcement
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced a settlement with Adventist Health Hanford to resolve alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), unfair competition law, and the California Constitution. Adventist Health was investigated over disclosures of the protected health information (PHI) of two female patients to law enforcement after they suffered stillbirths at the hospital. Staff at the hospital disclosed patient information – including PHI – to law enforcement without a warrant and both women were later charged with murder. Both women spent time in jail before their convictions were overturned. (Alder, 6/20)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Biotech Making Melanoma Skin Patch Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
San Diego-based DermTech, a company that developed a noninvasive sticker to detect skin cancer, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday to restructure its debt and sell its assets. (Rocha, 6/18)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s Public Health Officer, Retires Thursday 
Less than two years after she was named San Diego County’s public health officer in 2007, the H1N1 pandemic hit, filling emergency departments nationwide and giving Dr. Wilma Wooten her first taste of what it takes to manage a large-scale public health threat. (Sisson, 6/18)

The Hill: Amazon Pharmacy Expands RxPass Subscriptions To Medicare Enrollees
Amazon Pharmacy will expand its subscription service to enrollees of Medicare insurance plans, the company announced Tuesday. The expansion will be available to more than 50 million Medicare beneficiaries, who will have access to RxPass, Amazon Pharmacy’s subscription prescription service, the company said. (Nazzaro, 6/18)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Star Rating Changes Could Cut $19.5B In Bonuses
Medicare Advantage insurers that have earned high quality scores in the past stand to lose up to $19.5 billion over 10 years in bonus payments under a policy proposal on the books at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS first floated this change two years ago and has not issued a regulation to carry it out. But as the agency reacts to court rulings that spurred it to roll back another methodological change to the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings program, health insurance industry experts think the time may be ripe for CMS to revisit its plans. (Tepper, 6/19)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Pay To Blame For Dropped Contracts: Scripps
Last year, Scripps Health declared it would pull two medical practices from Medicare Advantage networks, risking losing patients in exchange for ridding itself of insurers tying it up in red tape and paying less than it considered adequate. So far, so good, according to Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “We don't regret making the decision, that's for sure,” he said. (Berryman, 6/18)

Modern Healthcare: CBO: Uninsured Rate Projected To Hit 8.9% By 2034
The uninsured rate is poised to climb over the coming decade, the Congressional Budget Office predicts in an article published in the journal Health Affairs Tuesday. The uninsured rate is 7.7% this year with 26 million people lacking health coverage, up from an all-time low of 7.2% in 2023, according to the CBO. The nonpartisan legislative branch agency projects the share will rise to 8.9% in 2034. (Early, 6/18)

NPR: Prevention Task Force Recommends Intensive Counseling For Kids With Obesity
A panel of experts has updated their recommendations for doctors screening children for obesity. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends intensive behavioral interventions for kids aged 6 and older with a high body mass index. These recommendations were published Tuesday in JAMA. The new advice replaces the task force’s 2017 guidance which recommended that primary care providers should simply screen children for obesity. (Noguchi and Wroth, 6/18)

The New York Times: Doctors Test The Limits Of What Obesity Drugs Can Fix 
Lesa Walton suffered for years with rheumatoid arthritis. “It was awful,” said Ms. Walton, 57, who lives in Wenatchee, Wash. “I kept getting sicker and sicker.” She also had high blood pressure, and she was obese. Doctors told her to diet and exercise, which she did, to no avail. Then she found a doctor who prescribed Wegovy, one of the new obesity drugs. Not only did she lose more than 50 pounds, she said; her arthritis cleared up, and she no longer needed pills to lower her blood pressure. (Kolata, 6/18)

Bloomberg: Eli Lilly Broadens Crackdown on Fake and Compounded Zepbound
Eli Lilly & Co. broadened its effort to crack down on fake and off-brand versions of hit obesity drug Zepbound, saying it has filed more lawsuits against companies selling compounded versions of the treatment. The drugmaker filed a handful of new lawsuits on Thursday against medical spas, wellness centers and other businesses, claiming they had referred to their products using Lilly’s brand names of Mounjaro and Zepbound. Lilly doesn’t provide its drug ingredients to compounders, the company said in a letter to patients. (Kresge and Muller, 6/20)

Nature: Cheaper Versions Of Blockbuster Obesity Drugs Are Being Created In India And China
Blockbuster weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy could soon become a lot cheaper — and reach more people — thanks to Chinese and Indian pharmaceutical companies. A long queue of companies is developing copies of the complex biological drugs, and some are racing to create modified or improved versions to compete in the global market. “There is huge potential for companies from India, China, that can help create access to these drugs,” says Abhijit Zutshi, chief commercial officer of the pharmaceutical giant Biocon, headquartered in Bengaluru, India, who oversees its generics business and is based in Woodbridge, New Jersey. (Mallapaty, 6/19)

Axios: Sanders Hopes Pressure Will Lower Ozempic Price
Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to use the bully pulpit to lower the price of wildly popular anti-obesity drugs the same way he helped push drugmakers to limit inhaler and insulin costs. But this bid could be much more of an uphill climb. (Sullivan, 6/20)

Bay Area News Group: Will California Remember The Lessons Of The Covid Health Emergency? 
Inside secret warehouses strategically placed around the state, California is storing a massive cache of vital medical supplies, including masks, gloves and life-saving medicines, seeking to be better-equipped than it was during the COVID crisis. Four years after our lives were upended by the coronavirus, with a new viral threat looming, public health experts are asking: What else have we learned from the pandemic? (Krieger, 6/19)

CBS News: Dr. Anthony Fauci Says Keeping Schools Shut Down For So Long Amid COVID "Was Not A Good Idea" 
The initial closure of schools was not a mistake, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday on "CBS Mornings," but he questioned the length schools were kept shut. "Shutting down everything immediately — and we didn't shut it down completely — but essentially major social distancing and even schools was the right thing," Fauci said. "How long you kept it was the problem, because there was a disparity throughout the country. If you go back and look at the YouTube, I kept on saying, 'Close the bars, open the schools. Open the schools as quickly and as safely as you possibly can.' But initially to close it down was correct. Keeping it for a year was not a good idea." (Moniuszko, 6/18)

The Guardian: Covid Immune Response Study Could Explain Why Some Escape Infection 
Scientists have discovered differences in the immune response that could explain why some people seem to reliably escape Covid infection. The study, in which healthy adults were intentionally given a small nasal dose of Covid virus, suggested that specialized immune cells in the nose could see off the virus at the earliest stage before full infection takes hold. Those who did not succumb to infection also had high levels of activity in a gene that is thought to help flag the presence of viruses to the immune system. (Devlin, 6/19)

CIDRAP: Lab Study: Sterilized Reused Respirators Not Effective Enough Against Aerosolized Particles 
Less than 20% of reused filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) collected from nurses amid the COVID-19 pandemic were in good enough condition to undergo sterilization, after which none retained at least 94% filtration of aerosol particles, finds a laboratory study comparing two sterilization methods after up to 15 to 30 days of use. (Van Beusekom, 6/18)

WUFT: Americans Spend More Than Two Weeks A Year Working While Sick
Life as an American worker is challenging. Many of us work too hard and don't get enough time off. Some employees don't get sick time at all and lose pay if they skip a shift. Even those with successful, lucrative careers see the work pile up when they take a day off. That work doesn't get done if someone's home in bed. (Levesque, 6/18)

Los Angeles Daily News: Half-Cent Sales Tax To Tackle Homelessness In LA County Qualifies For Ballot 
A proposed measure to establish a permanent half-cent sales tax in Los Angeles County to fund affordable housing and homeless services has qualified for the November ballot, campaign organizers announced on Tuesday, June 18. (Tat, 6/19)

CalMatters: Some California State Workers Return To Offices With Tainted Water
Bacteria known to cause sometimes-deadly respiratory infections have been found in a midtown Sacramento state office complex, as more than 200,000 state workers started returning to their offices at least twice a week. Legionella, which could lead to a serious pneumonia named Legionnaires’ disease, have been detected in the water system of the five-building East End Complex, which houses three major state departments.  (Yu, 6/18)

Los Angeles Blade: Trump Announces Day 1 Funding Ban For Trans Supportive Schools
On Wednesday, former Republican President Donald Trump turned his aim towards transgender people near the end of a speech in Racine, Wisconsin, which was mostly focused on immigration and crime. "On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut Federal funding of any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children, and I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask,” he said. (6/19)

Los Angeles Times: Thousands Of Seniors Face Hunger As L.A. Ends A Free Meal Program 
Tim Icely did everything he was supposed to do to save up for retirement. He worked 27 years in hospitality and hotel management before he was furloughed during the pandemic and forced to retire at 74. Icely is now 76, single with no dependents and no spouse, living on his own in Van Nuys. Half of his Social Security check goes toward rent, and sometimes it feels as though he’s tiptoeing on the edge of disaster. (Deng, 6/19)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Funding Boosts Mental Health Resources At Napa Middle Schools 
Napa County Health and Human Services, which allocates the funds from the local share of the statewide taxes, awarded $210,000 to Mentis to help fund three programs that target suicide prevention, youth wellness and aging adults. (Zaro, 6/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Man Who Survived 11-Story Fall In S.F. Gives First Interview
A San Francisco window washer who survived a fall from an 11-story building said the support of his family helped him during an arduous recovery. (Fagan, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: Dollar Tree Left Applesauce On Shelves After Recall, FDA Says
Dollar Tree failed to effectively recall lead-tainted applesauce pouches linked to reports of illness in more than 500 children, leaving the products on some store shelves for two months, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. The FDA sent a warning letter to Dollar Tree this month and placed Negasmart, the Ecuadorean distributor of WanaBana apple cinnamon pouches, under import alerts after the October recall of the products found to be contaminated with “extremely high” levels of lead and chromium. (Aleccia, 6/19)

Stat: New Study Bolsters Evidence Rare Genetic Mutation Can Delay Early Alzheimer’s
For members of a large extended Colombian family, an early Alzheimer’s diagnosis is practically a grim guarantee. But new research further supports the idea that a rare genetic mutation can delay the devastating disease’s onset. (Wosen, 6/19)

The New York Times: How Heat Affects The Brain 
High temperatures can make us miserable. Research shows they also make us aggressive, impulsive and dull. (Smith, 6/19)

Stat: Substance Abuse Experts Have A New Worry: Gambling Addiction
Downstairs was a sensory overload: Roulette wheels spun, slot-machine chimes rang, and dealers hurried to scoop up stacks of casino chips resting in front of busted blackjack hands. Many gamblers held a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. It was perhaps a strange setting for a conference about substance use treatment. But there may have been no better venue than the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino for the stark warning being offered in a ballroom upstairs: America’s addiction professionals are ignoring gambling. (Facher, 6/19)