Becker's Hospital Review: Surgeries Resume At California Hospital After Sterilization Issues
Providence Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital has resumed all elective surgeries after sterilization issues caused the facility to halt some procedures. Issues began Oct. 17 when two machines in the hospital's Sterile Processing Department were not functioning properly. Since that time, the hospital relied on partnering with sister locations in the region to aid with the sterilization of tools. Testing of the hospital's equipment did not return abnormal results. As of Nov. 6, the facility was once again processing a limited number of surgical instruments on-site, a spokesperson confirmed to Becker's.  (Hollowell, 11/7)

ABC10.com: Manteca Mayor Calls For Expansion Of Kaiser Hospital Due To Waits 
Manteca Mayor Gary Singh voiced his concerns about the Emergency Room wait times at the Kaiser Permanente hospital. He joined concerned citizens at a news conference and protest over the weekend saying patients are being left in hospital beds and wheelchairs in the hallway of the emergency room when private rooms are no longer available.  (Thomas, 11/6)

KSBW: Physician Assistant Program Loses Accreditation At CSUMB, Students Left In Limbo
The physician assistant program at California State University, Monterey Bay, has lost its accreditation after being active for four years. The program will shut down in May of 2024, which means it affects all students for the class of 2024, 2025 and those admitted for the class of 2026. Currently, 56 students are enrolled in the program. (Copitch, 11/7)

The Press Democrat: Sonoma County Names Reno Physician Executive As New Health Officer
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday appointed an internal medicine physician and health care executive from Reno as the new health officer. Dr. Tanya Phares has served as chief medical officer for St. Mary’s Health Network, and previously as chief medical director of a health plan and medical director of a Nevada vaccine clinic. (Espinoza, 11/7)

The Bakersfield Californian: Three Boxes High And Rising: Opposition To New VA Clinic Submits Boxes Of Complaint Letters, Forcing Continuance 
A conclusion to a long-sought new veterans clinic was once again delayed after the city of Bakersfield agreed Wednesday to a three-week continuance before holding a public hearing on Nov. 29. (Donegan, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Amazon Links One Medical Primary Care To Prime Memberships
Amazon is making membership of One Medical, the boutique primary care clinic it purchased for $3.9 billion, cheaper for its Amazon Prime subscribers, a move that further merges the e-commerce behemoth’s health-care offerings with its core business. Previously, One Medical memberships — initially available largely via employer benefits — cost $199 annually. Starting Wednesday, Amazon Prime members can buy One Medical memberships for $99 a year, a price that signals the tech giant is eager to take the next step in its march into mainstream health care. (O'Donovan, 11/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Steps Up Efforts To Clear Homeless Hot Spots Ahead Of APEC
San Francisco officials have been working to clear some of the city’s hot spots for homeless tent camps ahead of world leaders, dignitaries, corporate executives and international journalists descending on the city for this month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. A high-ranking official in the city’s Public Works department listed seven intersections in the Tenderloin and South of Market to target in an email to other city officials on Sept. 25. (Morris and Fagan, 11/8)

Bay Area News Group: Another Bay Area Child Dead From Fentanyl, Another Parent Behind Bars. ‘They Don’t Mean For Their Kid To Die.’
Kristofer Ferreyra was 10 days shy of his second birthday when police say he somehow ingested fentanyl and became the Bay Area's latest child victim of the deadly opioid. Now his Fremont mom is charged in his death. (Sulek, Rodgers and Nickerson, 11/8)

Stat: To Fight Bias Against People With Addiction, White House Calls For ‘Recovery-Friendly’ Workplaces
The Biden administration on Thursday issued a call to action for the nation’s employers to hire, train, and retain people in recovery from addiction. Recovery-Ready Workplace, as the new program is known, includes a new toolkit for employers and promotes a model state law that would create incentives for businesses to hire people in recovery and become certified as “recovery-friendly” workplaces. (Facher, 11/9)

The Atlantic: What If Psychedelics' Hallucinations Are Just A Side Effect?
For several years, researchers have understood that the hallucinatory effects of psychedelics can, in theory, be separated from the other ways the drugs affect our mental state and brain structure. ... A new generation of nonhallucinogenic psychedelics, at least one of which is currently being tested in humans, aims to provide all of the mental-health benefits of LSD, psilocybin, or Ecstasy without the trip. ... They might also shed new light on how much psychedelics can alleviate psychic distress—and why they do so at all. (Friedman, 11/8)

CNN: Mark Zuckerberg Ignored Teen And User Safety Warnings From Meta Executives
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has personally and repeatedly thwarted initiatives meant to improve the well-being of teens on Facebook and Instagram, at times directly overruling some of his most senior lieutenants, according to internal communications made public as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the company. (Fung, 11/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Get COVID And Flu Shots Together Ahead Of Thanksgiving, CDC Urges
Getting COVID-19 and flu shots at the same time is not only safe but might also improve community uptake, according to a new study. The research, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, is the first to use real-world data to explore the impact of administering these vaccines concurrently. (Vaziri, 11/8)

CIDRAP: Long COVID Linked To Allergies In New Study
In an analysis of 13 published prospective studies of people of all ages with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who were followed up for at least 12 months, pre-existing allergic conditions were linked to higher risks of experiencing long COVID, according to a study today in Clinical & Experimental Allergy. This is one of the first studies to assess the relationship between long COVID and allergies. (Soucheray, 11/8)

Fox News: COVID Lockdowns Increased ADHD Risk Among 10-Year-Old Children, New Study Finds
The COVID-19 lockdowns had a widespread impact on children's mental health, many studies have shown — and now new research highlights how those lockdowns impacted ADHD diagnoses in 10-year-old children. A study by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark determined that kids in this age group who already had a genetic risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder saw a "significant increase" in diagnoses after the pandemic. (Rudy, 11/9)

CIDRAP: Many Mpox Patients Have Other Sexually Transmitted Infections, Study Shows 
A large proportion of mpox patients in Chicago last year and early this year also had other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV, predisposing them to severe mpox and potentially contributing to spread of the virus, finds a study led by Chicago Department of Public Health researchers. (Van Beusekom, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: California Banned The Sales Of Flavored Tobacco Products, But Researchers Say Online Sales Have Boomed
Despite California’s efforts to stop the sale of flavored tobacco products, University of San Diego researchers say consumers have discovered a loophole: online shopping. In 2022, Senate Bill 793 went into effect, prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products — making California the second state in the U.S. after Massachusetts to pass the broad law. (Garcia, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: A Father And Son Shot, Dismembered And Burned. This Is The Dark Side Of California Cannabis
The murdered pair were among 44 cannabis farm-related deaths identified by a Times investigation. All but five of the deceased were immigrants. (St. John, 11/9)

Bloomberg: FDA Approves Lilly’s Zepbound. A Weight Loss Drug Similar To Ozempic, Wegovy
Eli Lilly & Co. won US approval for its diabetes drug to treat obesity, unlocking blockbuster sales potential and sparking a battle for dominance of a market that’s expected to hit $100 billion by 2030. The weight-loss drug, branded Zepbound, contains exactly the same active ingredient as the company’s diabetes drug Mounjaro, and will cost $1,059.87 for a month’s supply. That’s cheaper than Wegovy, a similar weight-loss drug made by Novo Nordisk A/S, which is $1,349 for a month’s supply. (Muller, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Approves Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro For Weight Loss In The U.S. Under The Name Zepbound
The FDA’s green light will probably increase the already strong demand for the drug. It will also add to pressure on commercial health plans to cover the weight-loss use, despite the costs. Plans had been holding out, noting the FDA hadn’t granted approval, though some covered its use in people with diabetes. Lilly said it expects Zepbound to become available by the end of the year at a list price of $1,060 a month, or about 20% lower than the list price for Wegovy. (Loftus, 11/8)

Stat: Weight Loss Drug Costs May Need More Research, Senator Suggests
With Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic hitting blockbuster sales and a new rival approved this week, everyone in Washington is thinking about how to manage the crashing wave of weight loss drug costs. (Owermohle, 11/9)

USA Today: What Is Addiction Transfer After Weight Loss? It Happened To Josh Peck.
In a recent podcast episode, actor Josh Peck, most known for his role in Nickelodeon’s "Drake & Josh," discussed the pressure of growing up with fame as a “morbidly obese” teenager and the role that played in his past drug and alcohol addiction. Losing weight, Peck assumed, would fix his problems. The realization that it didn’t tipped him over the edge. Drugs and alcohol helped cushion his fall when food no longer could. (Camero, 11/8)

Stat: Senate Panel Clears PBM, Hospital Reforms 
A prominent Senate panel on Wednesday passed a new package of health policy reforms that would rein in certain pharmacy middlemen practices and ensure Medicare patients aren’t paying more than insurers do for medications. The package passed the committee 26-0 with no amendments added. (Cohrs, 11/8)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Moves To Delay $16B Hospital Cut, Trim Doctor Pay Hit
The Senate Finance Committee approved the Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act of 2023, which would delay pending reductions in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital funding for safety-net facilities, scale back a Medicare pay cut for physicians that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized last week, extend expiring healthcare programs, expand Medicare coverage of mental healthcare and impose new limits on pharmacy benefit managers. (McAuliff, 11/8)

Stat: Medicare Solvency Divides Republicans At The Presidential Debate
Republicans angling for the party’s presidential nomination on Wednesday grappled with the reality that the Medicare program could start running out of money within the next president’s eight-year term. (Cohrs and Owermohle, 11/8)

KFF Health News & Politifact: Another GOP Primary Debate … Another Night Of Verbal Clashes
In a faceoff that took some strange turns, five presidential hopefuls focused on foreign affairs and inflation but still revealed the party’s political struggles over its abortion position. Once again, former President Donald Trump did not appear on the debate stage. (11/9)