Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Surprise Settlement In Sutter Health Antitrust Case
Sutter Health has reached a tentative settlement in an antitrust suit brought by the California Attorney General’s Office. Details have not been made public. (Jenny Gold, )
Good morning! Here are your top California health care stories for the day.
Sutter Health Settles Closely Watched Lawsuit With California Over Allegations Of Anti-Competitive Behavior: Sutter Health's tentative settlement in its class action lawsuit means the not-for-profit hospital giant will likely get to keep more details about its allegedly anticompetitive contracting practices hidden than if the case had gone to trial. The San Francisco Superior Court judge overseeing the case announced Wednesday morning, the day opening arguments were expected to begin, that the parties had reached a tentative agreement. The judge expects a final settlement to come down in February or March. The settlement would resolve a lawsuit filed in 2014 by a trust that pays health care costs on behalf of the United Food and Commercial Workers union and self-funded employers, as well as a separate suit filed in 2018 by Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
The case became a symbol of concern over big hospital chains that require insurers to access their networks on an all-or-nothing basis and make it harder for plans to steer patients to lower-cost competitors. Health care costs in Northern California, where Sutter is dominant, are 20% to 30% higher than in Southern California, even after adjusting for cost of living, according to a 2018 study from the Nicholas C. Petris Center at the University of California-Berkeley that was cited in the complaint.
Read more from Jenny Gold of California Healthline; Cathie Anderson of the Sacramento Bee; Tara Bannow of Modern Healthcare; Catherine Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle; and Victoria Colliver of Politico.
Kaiser Permanente Ratifies New Contract With Union Representing About 57,000 Of Its Health Care Workers: Roughly 57,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, all working in California, ratified a four-year labor contract agreement that protects certain jobs from outsourcing and creates a program that aims to diminish a national shortage of health care workers, union leaders announced Wednesday. “Our new contract recognizes the skill and dedication we bring to our work, and the guaranteed raises and protected benefits give us the peace of mind to focus on caring for our patients,” said Jessica Rodriguez, an emergency department technician at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. The contract agreement gives workers in California and the Northwest region an across-the-board wage increase of 3 percent a year. Management will also work with labor to set up a committee that will work to ensure that Kaiser’s caregivers can apply a patient-centered approach when integrating cutting-edge technology. Read more from Cathie Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
Two Visions For Fixing SF’s Devastating Mental Illness Crisis: Here’s How They Differ
Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors are desperately trying to reform San Francisco’s broken mental health care system — but the city’s elected officials cannot seem to agree on an approach. Now, voters may have to decide between two competing ballot measures in March. But San Francisco residents are sure to be confused: Both measures are similar, sound the same and share a goal. So why are there different measures? Politics. (Fracassa and Thadani, 10/17)
Fresno Bee:
Bad Teeth Cause Issues For Medi-Cal Recipients In Fresno, CA
Gina Diaz-Nino considers herself an extrovert. But since her mouth began deteriorating after years of methamphetamine use and two fights, she receded into the shadows. Her teeth are yellow, crooked and browning around the corners. Most of her top teeth are either chipped, missing or decaying. When they fell out, they crumbled like chalk. “I’ll open my mouth and oh — drug addict,” Diaz-Nino said. “It’s there. It’s like a past that you’re trying to erase and you can’t because you dug yourself that deep and you can’t get yourself out by yourself.” (Tobias, 10/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Juul Agrees To Stop Advertising To Youth In Settlement With Oakland Nonprofit
Juul has agreed to restrict advertising to youth as part of a settlement to resolve legal complaints brought by the Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland nonprofit that works to protect public health by testing consumer products for potentially harmful materials. (Ho, 10/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers Pressed To Take Action On E-Cigarettes
Some public-health experts urged lawmakers Wednesday to pass legislation aimed at curtailing the use of e-cigarettes, particularly in teenagers and young adults, while others cautioned that such steps could backfire. A House bill would ban flavors in all tobacco products and prohibit advertising e-cigarette use to youths, among other steps. It comes amid a wave of about 1,300 recent U.S. respiratory illnesses linked to vaping and after the Trump administration said it intends to ban flavored e-cigarettes. (Burton, 10/16)
The New York Times:
Joe Biden Ramps Up Attacks On Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Credibility’
A day after their fiercest debate-stage confrontation to date, Joseph R. Biden Jr. escalated his criticism of his most formidable rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, suggesting that she was not being forthright about the costs of her far-reaching policy proposals and questioning her “credibility.” Mr. Biden zeroed in on Ms. Warren’s refusal to say if she would raise taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for “Medicare for all,” a single-payer health care system that would all but eliminate private health insurance. (Glueck, 10/16)
The New York Times:
Republicans, Defiant After Debate, Throw Punches On Impeachment And Economy
President Trump and his allies sought to turn the Democratic debate on Tuesday night into a referendum on the congressional impeachment inquiry, accusing the party’s presidential candidates and its leaders in Washington of pursuing a vendetta against Mr. Trump while ignoring more pressing pocketbook issues. But Republicans also saw an opportunity to seize on debate moments over middle-class tax increases, health care reform and economic inequality to portray the Democrats as tax-and-spend liberals — in hopes of redirecting the national conversation at a time when public opinion is moving against the president. (Peters, 10/16)
The New York Times:
Democrats Fear Impeachment Is Blurring Their ‘Kitchen Table’ Focus
The impeachment inquiry that has imperiled President Trump and captured the attention of a divided nation is now threatening to overshadow House Democrats’ attempts to show that they can govern, posing a political dilemma that deepens as the investigation marches on. Democrats returned to Washington this week determined to spotlight the popular domestic initiatives, like lowering the cost of prescription drugs and education, that helped to sweep them into the majority last year. (Stolberg, 10/16)
Politico:
Buttigieg Backed Medicare For All In 2018 Tweet
Pete Buttigieg has spent recent Democratic presidential debates sparring with Medicare for All proponents, but the South Bend, Ind., mayor backed the concept in a 2018 tweet that resurfaced Wednesday. The February 18, 2018 message came as part of an exchange with other Twitter users pushing Democratic politicians to support the sweeping health care plan. (Strauss, 10/16)
The New York Times:
Drug Giants Close In On A $50 Billion Settlement Of Opioid Cases
The nation’s three largest drug distributors and two manufacturers have agreed with multiple states on a framework to resolve thousands of opioid cases with a settlement worth nearly $50 billion in cash and addiction treatments, according to three people familiar with the negotiations. The agreement would release AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation, which together distribute about 90 percent of the country’s medicines, along with Johnson & Johnson and Teva, the Israel-based manufacturer of generic drugs, from a rapidly growing list of more than 2,300 lawsuits that they face in federal and state courts. (Hoffman, 10/16)
The Associated Press:
US Rep. Elijah Cummings Has Died
Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. He was 68. A sharecropper’s son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that investigated President Donald Trump, and was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his district that encompassed a large portion of Baltimore. ... Throughout his career, Cummings used his fiery voice to highlight the struggles and needs of inner-city residents. He was a firm believer in some much-debated approaches to help the poor and addicted, such as needle exchange programs as a way to reduce the spread of AIDS. (10/17)
The Hill:
House Democrats Change Drug Pricing Bill In Bid To Address Progressive Concerns
House Democratic leaders are adjusting their signature bill to lower drug prices in an effort to address progressive concerns that a previous version of it was not strong enough. The underlying bill will allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices for up to 250 drugs per year, and the savings will apply to people in private insurance plans as well as Medicare. (Sullivan, 10/16)
The Associated Press:
Book: Trump Mulled Order To Close Parts Of VA Health System
Eager for changes at the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Donald Trump toyed early on with issuing an executive order to close parts of the VA health system without consulting Congress, according to an upcoming book by his former VA secretary. In the book, obtained by The Associated Press, David Shulkin describes a March 6, 2017, conversation in the Oval Office where Trump explored ways his administration could act quickly to shutter government-run VA medical centers that he viewed as poorly performing. (10/16)
The Associated Press:
Trump Rule May Mean 1 Million Kids Lose Automatic Free Lunch
Nearly a million children could lose their automatic eligibility for free school lunches under a Trump administration proposal that would reduce the number of people who get food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an analysis that says as many as 982,000 children could be affected by the change. About half would have to pay a reduced price of 40 cents for school lunch and 30 cents for breakfast. Around 40,000 would need to pay the full price, which varies depending on the district. (10/16)
Stat:
These Four Companies Are Betting Big On CBD-Based Prescription Drugs
Americans are already spending millions on CBD gummies and CBD lotions — but that’s chump change, at least if you ask the pharmaceutical companies betting that a CBD-based prescription medicine will ultimately be far more lucrative. A number of pharmaceutical companies are shepherding their CBD-based products through the lengthy and expensive FDA approval process on exactly that bet — and some are further along than others. (Florko, 10/17)