Becker's Hospital Review: California Hospital To Lay Off 191 Workers As It Faces Loss Of Medicare Contract
Stanislaus Surgical Hospital in Modesto, Calif., which is facing a decision from CMS to end its Medicare contract, is laying off 191 employees, according to regulatory documents filed with the state April 15.The layoffs are effective April 30, the same day CMS said it will terminate the Medicare Provider Agreement with the hospital. (Gooch, 4/23)

Becker's Hospital Review: 25 States At Most Risk Of Rural Hospital Closures
Rural hospital closures picked up in 2023 and nearly 700 rural hospitals face continued risk of closing due to serious financial challenges, with some states facing critical conditions in the short term. The finding comes from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform's latest report, "Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing." In California, 18% of rural hospitals — 10 — are at immediate risk of closure in the next 2-3 years; 32% of rural hospitals — 18 — are at risk of closure in the next 6-7 years. (Gamble, 4/23)

The Desert Sun: DAP Health Celebrates 40 Years With The Chase 2024
The Chase celebrates DAP Health's role in protecting and expanding health care with, as CEO David Brinkman emphasized, an unwavering commitment to "health care as a human right." (Kerr, 4/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Study Finds Male And Female Patients Fare Better With Female Doctors
Patients who have a female doctor are less likely to die in the days after being admitted to the hospital and less likely to be readmitted to the hospital than patients who have a male doctor — and the benefit is especially noticeable for female patients, according to a UCLA study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Female patients treated by female doctors had a lower mortality rate than female patients treated by male doctors, 8.15% compared with 8.38% — a clinically significant difference that, when taking into account the millions of Americans hospitalized each year, amounts to one death averted for each 420 patients. (Ho, 4/22)

McKnight's Long-Term Care News: Providers: Staffing Rule A CMS ‘Fairy Tale’ That Will ‘Exacerbate’ Nursing Home Access Issue
Despite minor concessions in a nursing home staffing mandate issued Monday, many providers were stunned by federal regulators’ intractable stance on minimums at a time when nearly all US facilities are confronting labor shortages. ... “RNs are leaving the workforce, leaving the profession and those who are working typically choose to work in environments that are not long-term care,” LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said in a statement late Monday. “The final rule does not include additional funds to pay RNs comparable or higher wages to work in long-term care.” She noted that this element alone will require an additional 3,267 additional nursing home RNs. “How can providers hire more RNs when they do not exist?” (Marselas, 4/23)

Stat: Accreditation Agencies Launch New Telehealth Care Standards 
In the early days of the pandemic, as social distancing forced patients out of doctors’ offices, health care organizations scrambled to offer care online. In turn, health care accreditation organizations rushed to tweak their standards, filling a void in best practices for virtual visits. (Palmer, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: FDA Approves Bladder Cancer Treatment By Culver City Company
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a new treatment for a type of bladder cancer. The treatment, which will be sold under the brand name Anktiva, is intended for some patients suffering from certain types of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, according to an FDA statement announcing the approval. (4/22)

CNBC: UnitedHealth Paid Ransom To Bad Actors, Says Patient Data Compromised
UnitedHealth Group on Monday said it paid ransom to cyberthreat actors to try and protect patient data, following the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. The company also confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised in the breach. (Capoot, 4/22)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Managed Care Rules Aim To Increase Transparency
Regulators enacted a pair of wide-reaching rules on Monday intended to increase transparency and improve the patient experience for the more than 80 million enrollees in Medicaid managed care plans. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will require states and Medicaid insurers to annually report how carriers spend state-directed payments to providers, how their rates compare to Medicare, and survey managed care enrollees about their experience with insurance companies. (Tepper, 4/22)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Plans Must Adjust 340B Drug Pay: Hospitals
Hospitals’ fight to boost Medicare Advantage reimbursement has extended to plans' pay for 340B drugs. The hospitals’ plea to adjust Medicare Advantage pay stems from regulation aimed at making providers that participate in the drug discount program whole after the Supreme Court reversed 340B rate cuts that were in place from 2018 to 2022. (Kacik, 4/22)

KQED: ‘Sweeps Kill’: Bay Area Homeless Advocates Weigh In On Pivotal US Supreme Court Case
Around 100 people marched from San Francisco’s federal building to City Hall on Monday, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold lower court rulings on how cities can respond to homelessness. The action came as SCOTUS heard oral arguments in the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson. The decision — which is expected by the end of June — is likely to impact whether cities around the country can issue fines and jail people for camping on public property if there isn’t a viable shelter alternative available. (Johnson and Rancaño, 4/22)

Military Times: Vets Advocates Push Supreme Court To Dump Laws Punishing Homelessness
Veterans advocates are warning that arguments presented to the Supreme Court on Monday regarding laws criminalizing homelessness could have a troubling impact on efforts to help former troops struggling to find stable housing. The case — Johnson v. City of Grants Pass — centers on an Oregon town where officials approved regulations fining people $295 for sleeping outside in public areas, part of an effort to manage homeless encampments in the city’s parks. Offenders can face jail time for multiple violations. (Shane III, 4/22)

LAist: Supreme Court Case Reminds LA Of Hard Lessons On Homelessness
Shawn Morrissey, the vice president of advocacy and community engagement for Union Station Homeless Services, told LAist that punishing people for basically trying to live is harmful and creates even more homelessness. (Sievertson, 4/22)

Los Angeles Times: Bass Budget Would Reduce Homelessness Spending, Cut Vacant Jobs
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposed a $12.8 billion budget on Monday that would reduce spending on homelessness initiatives, scale back an effort to hire more police officers and eliminate more than 2,100 vacant positions. The mayor’s team said her proposed budget for 2024-25 would provide about $950 million to address homelessness, down from the nearly $1.3 billion approved for the current fiscal year. Her spending plan includes $185 million for Inside Safe, Bass’ signature program to move unhoused Angelenos into hotels, motels and permanent housing, down from the $250 million approved for this year. (Zahniser and Smith, 4/22)

The Bakersfield Californian: Homeless Collaborative Requests Volunteers, Donations 
The Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative announced Monday it is seeking volunteers and donations for its nonprofit. The nonprofit, which provides goods and services to the county’s homeless through a union of city and county agencies, relies on volunteer work and donations that translate to food, clothing and continued sheltering. (4/22)

Los Angeles Times: How Homeless People Built Their Own House In L.A.'s Highland Park 
Along the 110 Freeway, a set of encampments built from repurposed housing materials epitomize the L.A. homelessness crisis. (Solis, 4/22)

Stat: Biden Administration Strengthens HIPAA To Protect Abortion Privacy 
Biden officials are still pressing to shore up abortion protections amid an onslaught of legal challenges, one of which is slated for Supreme Court arguments this week. The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday released a final rule that would put abortion services under the same federal privacy protections as other health care data covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. The rule effectively allows providers to deny access to health care data that could be used to prosecute people in abortion-restrictive states. (Owermohle, 4/22)

NBC News: As Trump Mulls His VP Pick, An Abortion-Rights Group Warns About 'Extremist' Candidates
As former President Donald Trump moves closer to selecting his running mate, a major Democratic abortion-rights advocacy group is taking his pool of vice presidential contenders to task over their records on reproductive rights. EMILY’s List, a group dedicated to electing Democratic candidates who back abortion rights, is focusing its annual “On Notice” list on Trump’s ever-evolving list of running mate contenders to highlight what it calls their “extreme anti-abortion agenda.” (Hernandez, 4/23)

Stat: Trump Surrogates Hint At How He Could Reshape U.S. Health Care Policy 
Seven months before the presidential election, Donald Trump’s health care priorities remain fuzzy at best. But one thing is certain: A second Trump administration would put its own stamp on a host of critical issues that are top of mind for voters. (Owermohle, 4/23)

Military.com: Vandenberg Space Force Base Deemed Contaminant-Free Amid Rising Cancer Concerns Among Missile Personnel 
The Air Force has deemed Vandenberg Space Force Base in California free of certain potentially dangerous contaminants following a study prompted by concerns over rising cancer rates and exposure to carcinogens among service members who work with America's nuclear missiles. The findings, released publicly Monday, "found no instances of contamination above regulatory action levels" after testing for polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and volatile organic compounds that are believed to have negative health effects, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement. The Space Force base conducted surface testing and air sampling as part of the study. (Novelly, 4/22)

CalMatters: Judge Rejects Changing The Name Of California’s Trans Youth Ballot Measure
A group working on a fall ballot initiative that would limit the rights of transgender students lost a round in court Monday when a judge sided with the state in its description of the measure. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto ruled that Attorney General Rob Bonta’s title, “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth,” is a fair description of the initiative, which would require schools to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender, ban gender-affirming care for those under 18 and place other limits on students who identify as a gender other than what they were assigned at birth. (Jones, 4/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F.'s War On Drugs And Stolen Goods In The Tenderloin Opens New Front: Corner Stores
Mayor London Breed on Tuesday will introduce legislation that targets corner stores like Plaza Snacks and Deli for “perhaps unintentionally, contributing to the drug market” and late-night crowds that instill “feelings of fear” in residents, according to her office. The proposed regulation — backed by some residents and community leaders — would prohibit certain Tenderloin corner stores from operating between midnight to 5 a.m. The premise of the legislation is that closing the stores early would reduce late-night crowds, which officials say often engage in illicit activities, leading to criminal behavior and increasing trash and needles discarded on sidewalks. (Angst, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: How L.A. County Is Trying To Change Addiction Treatment
Gary Horejsi wrestled with the decision before him, knowing a life could be in his hands. It was the third time that the woman had used drugs or alcohol since coming to CRI-Help, which runs a 135-bed residential facility in North Hollywood where people are treated for substance use disorder. CRI-Help needed to be a safe place for people grappling with their addictions. In the past, others had been removed for less. Horejsi, the clinical director, had the final say on whether she should be discharged. (Reyes, 4/23)

Southern California News Group: Disneyland Excludes Disabled People With Discriminatory Policy, Group Says
A group representing the disabled community is urging Disneyland and Disney World to reconsider recent “discriminatory” changes to the Disability Access Service program that exclude people with a wide array of disabilities. (MacDonald, 4/23)

NPR: New U.S. Heat Forecast Tool Predicts Health-Damaging Heat Risks
This summer, people across the U.S. will have a new way to keep track of dangerous heat headed their way through a new heat warning system called HeatRisk. The tool, developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will be used by National Weather Service offices across the country to give people an understanding of when heat goes from uncomfortable to dangerous. (Borunda, 4/22)