Becker's Hospital Review: CareTrust To Acquire 31 Skilled Nursing Facilities In $500M Purchase
San Clemente, Calif.-based CareTrust REIT will acquire 31 skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee and Alabama for approximately $500 million. The acquisition will be made through a joint venture arrangement with a large unnamed third-party healthcare real estate owner and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to an Oct. 29 news release from CareTrust. (Gregerson, 10/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Free Health Clinic Expands, Moves To Historic S.F. Hospital Building
San Francisco balloon artist Korene Tom had not been to the dentist in more than 20 years — a gap she made up for with vigorous brushing, which was all the dental care she could afford after she lost her job as an office administrator. But that changed this week when the free Clinic by the Bay moved into the historic Alemany Emergency Hospital building, newly renovated after sitting vacant for nearly half a century in the Excelsior District. The nonprofit clinic, which has served uninsured, low-income patients for 14 years in the city, now offers extended hours and expanded services — including dental care. (Whiting, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna To Cut Some Broker Commissions For Medicare Advantage Plans 
Aetna will no longer pay brokers for enrolling new members in some Medicare plans starting Friday. The CVS Health subsidiary notified third-party marketers on Tuesday that it will not compensate them for signing up customers for 25 Medicare Advantage products in California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia, or for any Medicare Part D plans, said Ronnell Nolan, president and CEO of the trade group Health Agents for America. (Tepper, 10/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: 400+ Healthcare Organizations Adopt Microsoft's DAX Copilot
Hundreds of healthcare institutions are using the DAX Copilot from Nuance to automate clinical documentation, Microsoft's chief executive said. ... The DAX Copilot is one of the most popular apps used by clinicians to ambiently record patient visits then draft notes for the EHR. Health system customers include Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care. (Bruce, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: Elevance, Cigna, CVS Health Speed Up Push Into Specialty Pharmacy
Specialty pharmacy has emerged as a promising line of business for health insurance companies confronting challenges in their traditional operations. Cigna subsidiary Evernorth Health Services, Elevance Health subsidiary Carelon and Aetna parent company CVS Health have made big plays into the $400 billion market for medications that are too costly or complex for traditional pharmacies. (Berryman, 10/30)

Los Angeles Times: Berkeley Startup Wins Award To Develop Radiation Treatment
HOPO Therapeutics won a nearly $10-million initial contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The research authority is tasked with developing defenses against major public health threats, such as a pandemic or a chemical weapons attack. (Haggerty, 10/31)

Becker's Hospital Review: 4 Hospitals Win $10M Amazon Innovation Award
Amazon Web Services picked the first recipients of children's health innovation grants totaling $10 million. ... The tech giant selected nine winners from across the globe Oct. 30, with U.S. health system awardee ... San Diego-based Rady Children's Hospital and Institute for Genomic Medicine. (Bruce, 10/30)

The New York Times: Heart-Valve Patients Should Have Earlier Surgery, Study Suggests
For decades, people with failing heart valves who nevertheless felt all right would walk out of the cardiologist’s office with the same “wait and see” treatment plan: Come back in six or 12 months. No reason to go under the knife just yet. A new clinical trial has overturned that thinking, suggesting that those patients would be much better off having their valves replaced right away with a minimally invasive procedure. (Mueller, 10/30)

Stat: Apple Claims AirPods Hearing Aid Feature Is 'Clinical Grade.' Is It?
Apple this week officially released a batch of new health features for AirPods Pro that allow users to test their hearing and use the popular wireless headphones as hearing aids for milder forms of hearing loss. (Aguilar, 10/31)

The New York Times: Ozempic And Wegovy Ease Knee Osteoarthritis Pain In Large Study 
The blockbuster drug semaglutide, sold as Ozempic for diabetes and as Wegovy for weight loss, now has a new proven benefit: It markedly soothed knee pain in people who are obese and have moderate to severe osteoarthritis, according to a large study. The effect was so pronounced that some arthritis experts not involved with the clinical trial were taken aback. (Kolata, 10/30)

Stat: Biomedical Research Uses Race, Ethnicity In Harmful Ways
Race and ethnicity are applied in inappropriate and even harmful ways in biomedical research, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine said in a report issued Wednesday, calling on scientists, research funders, and publishers to transform the way they use — and don’t use — the categories in research. (Palmer and McFarling, 10/30)

USA Today: 'No Obamacare:' Mike Johnson Says Republicans Will Overhaul Health Care If Trump Wins
House Speaker Mike Johnson told a crowd of supporters Monday night that there will be "no Obamacare" if former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans win the upcoming election on Nov. 5. Republicans will propose “massive reform” to the Affordable Care Act if they win control of both chambers in Congress and the presidency, Johnson, R-La., said at a campaign event for Republican House candidate Ryan Mackenzie in  Pennsylvania on Monday evening.  “Health-care reform’s going to be a big part of the agenda,” Johnson said about Republicans' plans. He added that the GOP wants to take a “blowtorch to the regulatory state,” with healthcare among the key sectors they plan to focus on. (Waddick, 10/30)

The Hill: Mike Johnson Denies Accusation He Plans To Repeal ObamaCare
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is disputing Democrats’ assertion that he wants to repeal ObamaCare after Vice President Harris’s campaign seized on comments he made at a campaign stop this week. “Despite the dishonest characterizations from the Harris campaign, the audio and transcript make clear that I offered no such promise to end ObamaCare, and in fact acknowledged that the policy is ‘deeply ingrained’ in our health care system,” Johnson said in a statement to The Hill.  (Brooks and Weixel, 10/30)

ABC News: Trump Campaign Distances Itself From House Speaker's Plan For 'Massive Reform' To The ACA
Former President Donald Trump's campaign quickly tried to separate itself from the speaker's comments. A spokeswoman told the New York Times that they were “not President Trump’s policy position.” (Peller, 10/30)

Politico: California Medical Lobby Asks Voters To Guarantee Billions In Annual Funding 
California’s zealous commitment to direct democracy often enlists voters to weigh in on proposals that commit funding to certain priorities. But rarely have they been invited to do what this year’s Proposition 35 asks: decide some of the nitty-gritty line items in the state’s vast Medicaid budget, work that typically takes lawmakers months of tortuous negotiating and debating each year. If Prop 35 passes, voters will hand over the keys to billions of dollars locked into a spending plan first hashed out in private by the state’s most powerful health care interests. Elected officials would have a much harder time adjusting the formula, allowing for only narrow changes passed by a three-fourths majority. (Bluth, 10/31)

The New York Times: Does Kamala Harris Back Free Health Care For Illegal Immigrants? 
One of former president Donald J. Trump’s final television ads before Election Day reprises an old talking point. The segment, released Oct. 17, declares that Vice President Kamala Harris “wants struggling seniors to pay more Social Security taxes while she gives Medicare and Social Security to illegals.” The first half of the statement is inaccurate. Ms. Harris has not suggested raising Social Security taxes for seniors; instead, she has said she supports eliminating the $168,000 income cap on the taxes workers pay to fund Social Security, a threshold above which income becomes exempt. ... The latter half of the ad’s claim — that Ms. Harris supports giving taxpayer-funded health benefits to illegal immigrants — is a misrepresentation of Ms. Harris’s current proposals. (Baumgaertner and Sanger-Katz, 10/30)

The 19th: What We Know About Where Trump And Harris Stand On Paid Leave
In this election, presidential campaigns are offering proposals on home care and the child tax credit, speaking to parents and caregivers more directly than ever before. But there is one policy proposal that has been conspicuously absent: What would Kamala Harris or Donald Trump do about paid medical and family leave? (Carrazana, 10/30)

AP: Abortion-Rights Groups Raising More Than Opponents On Ballot Measures 
The groups promoting ballot measures to add amendments to the constitutions in nine states that would enshrine a right to abortion have raised more than $160 million. That’s nearly six times what their opponents have brought in, The Associated Press found in an analysis of campaign finance data compiled by the watchdog group Open Secrets and state governments. The campaign spending reports are a snapshot in time, especially this late in the campaigns, when contributions are rolling in for many. (Mulvihill, 10/30)

KVPR: Why Abortion Referendums Are Also About The Economy
Abortion rights and our bank accounts are inextricably tied, as those who study economics will tell you. ... The link between reproductive choice and personal finances is clear for people like Janet Yellen, who is the United States' first female Treasury secretary and is considered to be one of the world's premier economists. At a Senate hearing shortly before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Yellen testified that access to reproductive health care, including abortion, over the previous five decades had enabled many women to finish school and advance in the workplace. (Gogoi, 10/31)

The New York Times: Republicans Shift Message on Abortion, Sounding More Like Democrats
Across the country’s most competitive House races, Republicans have spent months trying to redefine themselves on abortion, going so far as to borrow language that would not feel out of place at a rally of Vice President Kamala Harris. Many Republicans who until recently backed federal abortion restrictions are now saying the issue should be left to the states. (McCann and Li, 10/30)

The Washington Post: These Women Are All In For Abortion Rights — And For Donald Trump
Kamala Harris is making abortion part of her closing argument. But some voters say they aren’t worried about what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for abortion. (Kitchener, 10/30)

The New York Times: Late Abortions Rarely Happen, but They Still Dominate Politics
More than 80 percent of abortions in the United States happen before 10 weeks, in the embryonic stage of pregnancy. But in the politics of abortion, the arguments and almost all of the ads focus on the other end, on the much rarer abortions later in pregnancy. This has never been more evident, or consequential, than this year. It’s the first presidential election year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Ten states are voting on abortion rights ballot measures, including states that are battlegrounds for the presidency and control of Congress, and polls show that abortion has newly energized Democrats and women. (Zernike, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: Joining Beverly Hills And Coronado In Rebelling Against State Housing Rules: This Blue Collar City
Along the concrete bed of the San Gabriel River in southeastern Los Angeles, Sean Diaz recalled one of his worst nights in his many years of homelessness. He’d found an abandoned building to sleep in and didn’t realize another person had already claimed the spot. Diaz said he awoke to a baseball bat bashing his head, causing wounds that required 10 stitches to heal. Had there been space in a shelter that night, Diaz said, he might not have gotten hurt. (Dillon, 10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Gets $28 Million In California Funding To Combat Homelessness
The city of Oakland has received more than $28 million in state funding to address homelessness as the city continues grappling with the crisis. The funding, awarded through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program, will be put toward building permanent housing and providing assistance with rent and moving costs and case management services. The funding will also be used for rental subsidies and other services. (Ravani, 10/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Approves $700-A-Month Sleeping Pods In Former Downtown Bank
A housing startup has won approval for 30 sleeping pods in a former downtown San Francisco bank building. Now it’s aiming for a similar project that’s five times as big as a way to relieve pressure on the city’s pricey housing market. Brownstone Shared Housing had advertised the pods — small cubic spaces with mattresses stacked across two levels — for $700 per month. The pods were pitched as a relatively inexpensive housing option in a central location at 12 Mint Plaza. (Li, 10/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Has Spent Millions On A Parking Site For The Homeless
San Francisco’s only city-run parking site for homeless people living in vehicles has struggled with a litany of problems since opening nearly three years ago. It has sparked a lawsuit from neighboring residents and broad criticisms from those living at the site. ... But this week, the vehicle triage center received a long-awaited win, with permanent electrical power connected reliably on Monday for the first time in the site’s history. (Angst and Barned-Smith, 10/31)

CalMatters: Why California Homeless Residents Have A Hard Time Voting
Ciara Lambright has a lot to worry about: Staying safe while living on the streets of San Francisco, trying to prevent people from stealing her belongings, and packing up her small cardboard bed before it gets swept away by police. The thought of voting this election is just too overwhelming. “It’s just not top on my list right now,” said 33-year-old Lambright. Homelessness is arguably the biggest problem facing California today, it’s a top concern for voters and it’s on the ballot, either directly or indirectly, in nearly every city. (Kendall and Yu, 10/31)

Times of San Diego: Seniors Risk Homelessness As Social Security Falls Short In High-Cost San Diego
We all understand San Diego is an expensive place to live. Since 2019, San Diego rent has increased 41%, or $658 a month, for a one-bedroom apartment according to an August 2024 LendingTree study. Residents are feeling the economic heat. Thousands of older adults already struggling financially are experiencing severe consequences, including the increasing threat of homelessness. At Serving Seniors we see this daily as low-income and homeless adults over age 55 take part in our meal programs and other services. (Paul Downey, 10/29)

CBS News: 11 Residents Infected With Dengue After Los Angeles County Detects Two More Cases
Public health officials have reported two more locally acquired cases of the mosquito borne illness dengue in Los Angeles County, bringing the total to 11 cases in recent weeks. One of the cases was reported in Baldwin Park, where health officials are currently investigating a cluster of cases. It's now the seventh discovered in the area. (Fioresi, 10/30)

NBC News: H5N1 Bird Flu Found In A Pig In The U.S. For The First Time
A pig in Oregon has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday. It's the first time the virus has been detected in swine in the United States. Test results are pending for two other pigs found on the farm in Crook County, Oregon, the USDA said, while two others tested negative. ... The case is concerning as pigs can become infected with both bird and human viruses at the same time, which can give rise to mutated strains that can more easily infect humans. (Lovelace Jr. and Edwards, 10/30)

Reuters: Exclusive-US To Begin Bulk Milk Testing For Bird Flu After Push From Industry
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin testing bulk raw milk across the country for bird flu, a significant expansion of the agency's efforts to stifle the rapid spread of the virus, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters. The move comes after livestock and veterinary groups pushed the USDA to strengthen its current surveillance approach, calling it inadequate to contain the virus, according to state records and industry documents reviewed by Reuters. (Douglas, 10/30)

VC Star: A Fungus Has Killed Millions Of Bats Nationwide. Now, It's Been Found In California
A fungus that has killed millions of bats in the eastern United States had been found in California, state wildlife officials recently reported. (Ward, 10/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Santa Cruz County To Ban Sale Of Filtered Cigarettes And Cigars
Santa Cruz County will prohibit the sale of filtered cigars and cigarettes, an effort to slash waste from cigarette butts which proponents said litter the coastal county’s beaches and harm marine life. The ordinance, passed by the county’s board of supervisors Tuesday, is the first county-level filtered cigarette ban in the country, according to Supervisor Justin Cummings, who introduced the measure. The ban will apply to the county’s unincorporated areas, where more than half of the county’s roughly 270,000 residents live, according to the county’s website. (Ellis, 10/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Feds Say Sewage Treatment Plant Fixes Are In Play. But It Will Be Years Before Benefits Are Felt. 
Imperial Beach resident Matt Henry, his wife and their six children no longer live in their home that is about a six-minute bike ride from the beach. The family instead sleeps in their RV in their driveway so they can run air purifiers that allow them to be free of the noxious odors created by the sewage-tainted pollution that flows across the U.S.-Mexico border. (Murga, 10/30)

USA Today: Autism Becoming More Prevalent In Young Adults
Four times as many children have been diagnosed with autism in the past two decades amid improved awareness and screening and evolving definitions. A new study suggests diagnoses have increased at a faster clip among younger adults over the past decade. Autism spectrum disorder spiked 175% among people in the U.S. from 2.3 per 1,000 in 2011 to 6.3 per 1,000 in 2022, researchers found. Diagnosis rates climbed at a faster rate among adults in their mid-20s to mid-30s in that period, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. (Alltucker, 10/30)