San Francisco Chronicle: SF Drug Overdose Deaths So Far Already Exceed Totals From Last Year
San Francisco is on track to see the deadliest year on record for accidental drug overdose deaths in 2023, newly released preliminary data from the medical examiner's office shows. Between January and October, the city recorded 692 deaths — already higher than last year's total of 649, and 642 from the year before. (Leonard, 11/15)

Bay Area News Group: Social Workers Say County Lawyer Blocked Effort To Remove San Jose Baby Before Fentanyl Death
In an extraordinary rebuttal, a union representative for Santa Clara County social workers stepped forward Tuesday, directly refuting the account of the child welfare agency director who blamed a social worker and supervisor for decisions that kept a baby girl with her troubled father before she died of a fentanyl overdose. “I have to correct the record publicly that this is not true,” said Alex Lesniak, a union representative from SEIU. (Nickerson and Sulek, 11/15)

KVPR: A Biolab Was Operating In A California City. Here's What A Congressional Committee Found
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday issued a report about an illegal biolab that was discovered in Reedley and called for a more coordinated response from federal agencies on similar issues across the country. The committee’s report came after a subpoena was issued in September in relation to the lab found inside an old Reedley warehouse where multiple agencies investigated a number of infectious diseases and hazardous chemicals, including COVID-19, malaria, HIV and hepatitis. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 11/15)

Fresno Bee: Does Flu Vaccine Make You Sick? CA Doctors Debunk Flu Myths 
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu activity typically peaks between December and February, so California health officials are urging people 6 months and older to get vaccinated now. In a November statement, the California Department of Public Health said it’s the “best way to protect yourself and your family.” (Taylor, 11/16)

The Guardian: Getting Covid And Flu Vaccines Together Is Better, Study Suggests 
Getting a Covid booster and a flu shot together is better than getting them separately, a new study has found. The study, presented at an annual Vaccines Summit in Boston, involved two groups of Massachusetts healthcare workers. (Salam, 11/15)

EdSource: Boosting Student Success After Covid Is A Team Effort, Panel Says
Two years after California schools reopened their classrooms to in-person instruction following the Covid-19 pandemic, students continue to struggle – both academically and emotionally. Both of these factors are deeply connected and recovery requires a team effort, according to panelists at the EdSource round table Nov. 15 discussion, “Reenergizing learning: Strategies for getting beyond stagnant test scores.” (Sheshadri, 11/16)

Los Angeles Times: AIDS Healthcare Foundation Low-Income Tenants Live In Squalor, Face Eviction 
A Times investigation has found that many of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's more than 1,300 residents live in squalid conditions, with dozens under the threat of eviction. (Dillon, Smith and Oreskes, 11/16)

Sacramento Bee: D.A. Cites ‘Criminal Liability’ Over Sacramento Homeless Camp 
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho ratcheted up his fight with the city of Sacramento over the homeless crisis, issuing a letter suggesting officials may face “criminal liability” for allowing unhoused citizens to live at a toxic site dubbed Camp Resolution. (Stanton, 11/15)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego's Ambulance Takeover Is Improving Response Times - But A Possible Financial Windfall Is Still Unclear
San Diego’s takeover of city ambulance service this fall is improving emergency response times, but city officials said Wednesday they don’t have enough data to know if it will be as lucrative as expected. (Garrick, 11/16)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Nursing Home Ownership Disclosure Final Rule Issued
Nursing homes will be required to disclose their owners and other affiliated businesses to federal authorities under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Wednesday. The regulation seeks to shed light on an often opaque industry. Many skilled nursing facilities have complex corporate structures that make it difficult for government agencies to hold owners, operators and other parties accountable for violations of laws governing such matters as safety and quality. (Bennett, 11/15)

Modern Healthcare: 2025 Benefit And Payment Parameters Proposed Rule Issued
State-run health insurance exchanges would have to ensure that provider networks are at least as adequate as those required on the federal marketplaces under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Wednesday. Beginning in 2025, insurance policies sold through full-featured state-based exchanges and through state-operated marketplaces that use the federal HealthCare.gov enrollment platform would have to meet the time-and-distance measure of provider access that is applied to plans sold via fully federal exchanges. States can seek exemptions. (Young, 11/15)

US News & World Report: The Best Nursing Homes 
U.S. News evaluated more than 15,000 nursing homes throughout the country and rated most of them in two different areas: short-term rehabilitation and long-term care. (Adams and Wen, 11/14)

Reuters: Two Former NBA Players Are Convicted Over Roles In Health Care Fraud 
A federal jury in Manhattan on Wednesday convicted two former National Basketball Association players over their roles in a scheme to defraud a league healthcare plan into paying millions of dollars for bogus medical procedures. Glen Davis, 37, who played won a championship in 2008 with the Boston Celtics and also played with the Los Angeles Clippers, was convicted on four counts including wire fraud, health care fraud, conspiring to commit fraud, and conspiring to make false statements. Will Bynum, 40, who played for three teams including the Golden State Warriors, was found guilty of conspiring to make false statements, but acquitted on a fraud conspiracy charge. (Stempel, 11/15)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Coastal Commission To Ask Biden To Declare Border Sewage Crisis An Emergency
The binational agency that operates the aging federal wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border said declaring the sewage crisis an emergency to expedite the facility’s expansion may no longer be effective. But the California Coastal Commission said Wednesday that all steps are needed to remedy the uncontrolled discharge of raw sewage and other pollutants as soon as possible. (Murga, 11/15)

Orange County Register: Tustin Hangar To Be Demolished In Coming Days 
The burning blimp hangar at the shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station will be demolished in the coming days as the fire that’s burned for over a week nears its end, according to local officials. ... Testing of air quality samples taken over the weekend from four locations surrounding the hangar showed no asbestos, according to a news release Monday night from the city of Tustin. Asbestos cleanup continues around Tustin to remove hazardous debris from city streets and neighborhoods. (Slaten, 11/14)

CNN: Common Pesticides In Food Reducing Sperm Count Worldwide, Study Says
Pesticides used in our homes, gardens and lawns and sprayed on foods we eat are contributing to a dramatic decline in sperm count among men worldwide, according to a new analysis of studies over the last 50 years. “Over the course of 50 years, sperm concentration has fallen about 50% around the world,” said senior study author Melissa Perry, dean of the College of Public Health at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. (LaMotte, 11/15)

Reuters: Senators Demand Documents From Meta On Social Media Harm To Children 
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has written to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding documents about its research into the harm to children from its social media platforms. A whistleblower's release of documents in 2021 showed Meta knew Instagram, which began as a photo-sharing app, was addictive and worsened body image issues for some teen girls. (11/15)

The Washington Post: Meta Wants Apple, Google Responsible For Teens Downloading Unwanted Apps
Meta is pushing for rival tech giants such as Google and Apple to play a bigger role in keeping teens off potentially harmful sites, calling for the first time for legislation to require app stores to get parental approval when users age 13 to 15 download apps. The proposal, which the Facebook and Instagram parent company is set to announce Wednesday, counters mounting calls by state and federal policymakers for individual sites to proactively screen kids to limit their use of social media platforms over safety concerns. (Lima and Nix, 11/15)

NBC News: Influencers Warned By FTC Over ‘Inadequate’ Disclosures Of Artificial Sweetener Promotions
A dozen social media influencers and two trade associations received warnings from the Federal Trade Commission on Monday for endorsing the safety of aspartame, an artificial sweetener, or for promoting the consumption of products containing sugar. By using health and diet creators, many of whom have large platforms on Instagram and TikTok, to market these products without adequately disclosing their connection to the advertiser, the American Beverage Association and the Canadian Sugar Institute may have violated FTC rules, according to warning letters the commission sent the two groups. (Yang, 11/15)

KVPR: Should Medicaid Pay To Help Someone Find A Home? California Is Trying It
California is making the nation's most ambitious effort yet to cover non-traditional health care services like housing and food for some of the state's sickest and most vulnerable residents. (Levi and Gorenstein, 11/15)

Los Angeles Times: Babies Lose Their Lives To Syphilis. She's Trying To Stop It 
This L.A. County investigator is working to track down a crucial set of patients who have slipped away from the health system: Women of childbearing age who have tested positive for syphilis. (Reyes, 11/16)

Axios: Number Of People Walking Declines Steeply In The U.S.
There's been a staggering decline in the number of trips Americans take by putting one foot in front of the other, per a new report. The number of annual average daily walking trips dropped a whopping 36% in the contiguous U.S. between 2019 and 2022, per a new StreetLight Data report. (Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Senate Passes Bill To Avert Government Shutdown, Sending It To Biden To Sign 
The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to extend funding for federal agencies, sending the bill to avert a government shutdown to President Biden’s desk just days before the weekend deadline. The bill, which passed by an 87-11 vote, represents a marked de-escalation between congressional Democrats and new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Without the new spending measure, called a continuing resolution or CR, the government would have shut down just after midnight Saturday, forcing federal workers — including military members and airport security agents — to work without pay or go on furlough on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. (Bogage, 11/15)

Fierce Healthcare: House Passes Bipartisan Funding Stopgap, Punts DSH Cuts
Program extensions relevant to the healthcare industry largely fall under the former cutoff date. These include scheduled $8 billion-per-year cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital program payments as well as funding for community health centers, the National Health Service Corps and teaching health centers operating Graduate Medical Education programs. Additionally, scheduled multiyear pay cuts to the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule set to take effect Jan. 1, 2024, have been pushed back a full year. (Muoio, 11/15)

Stat: PBM Reforms Clear House Panel 
Panels in both the House and Senate have now passed restrictions to drug middlemen business practices, increasing the chances of those measures being included in future government spending bills. (Wilkerson, 11/15)

Stat: Gain Of Function Research Would Be Limited Under House Proposal
House lawmakers late Tuesday voted to attach a U.S. ban on controversial infectious disease research to legislation that could ultimately fund federal health agencies like the National Institutes of Health. The bill would bar any federal agencies from funding so-called gain-of-function research, which involves altering a pathogen to study its spread, potentially making it more transmissible or severe in the process. (Owermohle, 11/15)

Military.com: Veteran Psychedelic Therapy Gets Cautious Support At First House Hearing Of Its Kind Since 1960s
Lawmakers and Veterans Affairs officials on Tuesday touted the potential for psychedelic drugs to treat mental health conditions and prevent veteran suicide, but they said additional research and FDA-approval is needed before the therapies could be available. In one of the first hearings in Congress on psychedelics since 1966, when Dr. Timothy Leary testified on the therapeutic potential for LSD, a House Veterans Affairs panel drilled VA physicians and advocates on psychiatric treatments that use MDMA, known recreationally as molly or ecstasy, and psilocybin, or magic mushrooms. (Kime, 11/15)

Stat: At-Home Test For Chlamydia, Gonorrhea Cleared By FDA For 1st Time
The Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval to a home test for chlamydia and gonorrhea on Wednesday, the first such authorization of a home test to detect the two most common sexually transmitted infections in this country. (Branswell, 11/15)