Capital & Main: Financially Strapped Health Care Workers Wait For Promised Wage Increase
Cristina Cortez earns just $20.70 an hour running dialysis procedures for older patients suffering from kidney failure in Gilroy, California, a predominantly Latino community just south of San Jose. Because of her husband’s serious work injury in 2017 and their need to economize, her family of five moved an hour away to Merced County in the Central Valley, where rent is considerably lower. But Cortez, who works 12-hour shifts, said gas prices are high, and her days are long. “We’re living paycheck to paycheck,” Cortez said. “It’s a struggle.” (Nagano, 8/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Names 3 Hospital CEOs
Several hospitals that are part of Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health have added new CEOs to their executive teams. Shanthi Margoschis, MSN, was selected to lead Sutter Auburn (Calif.) Faith Hospital, effective Sept. 3, according to a news release shared with Becker's. ... Sutter Health also announced that Trevor Brand will be CEO of Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, Calif., and Bradley (Brad) Goodson will be CEO of Sutter's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland. (Gooch, 8/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: Dignity Health Names Hospital CEO
Betsy Hart, MSN, has been appointed president and CEO of Glendale (Calif.) Memorial Hospital and Health Center, effective Aug. 19. (Kuchno, 8/12)

Healthcare Dive: Nonprofits’ Cash On Hand Hit 10-Year Low In 2023: Report 
U.S. nonprofit hospitals and health systems’ median days of cash on hand hit a 10-year low in 2023, falling below 200 days for the first time in a decade, according to a report from S&P Global Ratings. Cash flow did not meaningfully improve from 2022 to 2023, the report said. However, operating expenses grew only modestly at 5%, following a steep 17% growth rate in 2022. (Vogel, 8/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: 1 In 5 Physicians Still Paying Off Student Debt
Twenty-one percent of physicians are still paying off student debt, according to Medscape's "Physician Wealth & Debt Report" published June 12.The report is based on survey responses from 7,000 U.S. physicians in more than 29 specialties collected between Oct. 2 and Jan. 16. (Gregerson, 8/12)

Modesto Bee: Could Brain Therapy Aid First Responders In Stanislaus County?
Magnetic wave stimulation targeting areas of the brain could be used to enhance the job performance of police and fire personnel in Turlock. The city is considering whether to spend federal funds to offer personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation, or PrTMS, to public safety personnel who may feel groggy from poor sleep or want to improve interactions with the public. (Carlson, 8/13)

Los Angeles Times: Thousands Are Housed As L.A. County Makes Progress On Skid Row
Mike Juma is among a wave of unhoused people who have moved from Skid Row into interim and permanent housing over the last year. It is all part of a $280-million county initiative to house more than 2,500 people, boosting health, drug treatment and related services in the 50-block neighborhood that has become synonymous with poverty and homelessness. The initiative, dubbed the Skid Row Action Plan, also is an effort to counter the systemic racism that has driven people to Skid Row — where an outsize number of Black people fill sidewalks and encampments — by trying to transform the neighborhood into a thriving community. (Vives, 8/13)

Voice of OC: OC Supervisors To Revisit Legal Settlements Limiting Anti-Camping Enforcement 
Orange County supervisors are set to speak with their lawyer behind closed doors today about two of the most controversial homelessness lawsuits in the county’s history as they chart a course for the future of how to address people sleeping in the streets. The discussion comes after the Supreme Court overturned a case requiring cities to offer shelter for homeless people before they were allowed to push them off the streets. (Biesiada, 8/13)

ABC 7: 4.4 earthquake hits LA County, shakes buildings and rattles nerves across SoCal
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck a heavily populated section of Los Angeles County on Monday, shaking buildings and leaving residents rattled throughout the region. There were no reports of major damage or injuries, but shaking was felt from San Diego County to Simi Valley and out to Victorville and Redlands, according to a U.S. Geological Survey map. "It was very, very scary," said Kyle Shearer of Highland Park. "It's not my first but it's probably the scariest I've had in a long time." (8/13)

Fresno Bee: Indigenous Farmworkers In Central California Have Little Safety Net When It's Too Hot
When the weather heats up, so do concerns from Indigenous farmworkers who suffer from the high heat and sometimes lose work when shifts are canceled because of triple-digit temperatures in the fields. (Ortiz-Briones, 8/12)

Fresno Bee: Extreme Heat Straining Water Wells In Fresno, Madera Counties. 'Not A Typical Summer'
Despite back-to-back good water years, domestic wells are still drying up all across the valley as record breaking heat waves pummel the region. (Vad, 8/12)

San Diego Union-Tribune: County's Crisis Teams Are Expanding Their Reach, Planning Improved Service In East County
San Diego County’s Mobile Crisis Response Teams are expanding service to more college campuses and planning improved operations in East County with the coming of the region’s first stand-alone crisis stabilization unit. (Murga, 8/12)

CNN: New Study Links Early Childhood Tablet Use To Anger Outbursts 
Virtually every parent of young children has experienced outbursts of anger and frustration from their toddlers, whether it’s time to get up, go to bed or eat a sandwich without the crusts cut off. According to a new study, there’s another possible reason for the frequency of their outbursts: tablet use. The new study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, shows that child tablet use at 3.5 years old was associated with a higher number of expressions of anger and frustration a year later. (Hetter, 8/12)

KVPR: Her Son Died Of An Overdose In His Dorm Room. Where Was The Narcan?
In the summer of 2020, Monica Vera-Schubert talked to NPR about her long struggle to get insurance coverage for her son Bobby’s addiction treatment. They’d recently prevailed, he was getting sober, and Vera-Schubert, a single mom, expressed immense gratitude. “My son is alive; I appreciate every moment I have with him,” she said. ... That was four years ago. This spring, Vera-Schubert reached out again, saying Bobby had relapsed. On April 12, a roommate found him slumped over his desk in his dorm, apparently overdosed from fake Xanax pills laced with fentanyl. Bobby Schubert was 29. (Noguchi, 8/13)

San Diego Union-Tribune: It’s Back To School Time In San Diego. Here Are Some Key Issues To Watch This Year. 
The new school year began Monday for San Diego Unified, with district leaders focusing on long-standing issues ranging from absenteeism to test score achievement. (Taketa, 8/12)

Berkeleyside: How New Laws Will Affect Schools In Berkeley And Across California
California students, including those in elementary school, will have better access to mental health care, free menstrual products and information about climate change this school year. The expansion of transitional kindergarten also means there will be more 4-year-old students on elementary school campuses. ... Here are a few new laws that may impact students in the 2024-25 school year, which starts Wednesday in Berkeley. (Lambert, Stavely, Gallegos, Seshadri and DiPierro, 8/12)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: New School Year Brings Changes In Sonoma, Napa Counties 
Most students in Sonoma and Napa counties will head into their first day of school this week. Some will walk into newly built buildings, take new courses and meet new principals for the first time. Many of these changes occurred while students were away for the summer. Here’s a list of changes coming to some of the biggest districts in Sonoma and Napa counties. (Gutierrez and Windsor, 8/12)

Axios: Lab Tests Can't Help Diagnose Long COVID, Study Shows
More than two dozen commonly available lab tests couldn't help diagnose long COVID in a study of more than 10,000 adults, leaving doctors still having to rule out other health conditions to confirm whether someone has the condition. (Bettelheim, 8/13)

CIDRAP: New Studies Estimate Long-COVID Rates, Identify Risk Factors 
New survey data from the landmark Women's Health Initiative (WHI) reveal that 34% of postmenopausal women [ages 50 to 79] infected with COVID-19 had symptoms lasting at least 8 weeks, while a separate 2-year telemedicine study shows that 84% and 61% of all infected patients still had symptoms 1 and 2 years later, respectively. (Van Beusekom, 8/12)

ABC News: More Than Half Of US States Reporting 'Very High' COVID Activity Levels: CDC 
More than half of U.S. states are reporting "very high" levels of COVID activity as the virus continues to spread and increase in many parts of the country, according to the latest wastewater data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 27 states are reporting "very high" levels and 17 states are reporting "high" levels of wastewater viral activity. The western region continues to see the highest levels followed by the South, Midwest and Northeast, respectively. (Benadjaoud, 8/12)

Axios: Charted: COVID Surges In 32 States
Connecticut, Hawaii and Nevada were the only states with rates declining or likely declining. Southern states — including Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina — had some of the highest probabilities that the outbreak is spreading, the CDC estimated. (Bettelheim, 8/13)

CIDRAP: Study Identifies Risk Groups For Severe COVID-19 By Patient Age
A new study in Open Forum Infectious Diseases analyzed the clinical features of and outcomes of pediatric and adult hospitalized COVID patients at five US sites, and found that teens were at greatest risk for severe disease among all children, and those 50 to 64 years old were at greatest risk among all adults. (Soucheray, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Dozens Of Pregnant Patients Turned Away From ERs Despite Federal Law
Bleeding and in pain, Kyleigh Thurman didn’t know her doomed pregnancy could kill her. Emergency room doctors at Ascension Seton Williamson in Texas handed her a pamphlet on miscarriage and told her to “let nature take its course” before discharging her without treatment for her ectopic pregnancy. When the 25-year-old returned three days later, still bleeding, doctors finally agreed to give her an injection to end the pregnancy. It was too late. The fertilized egg growing on Thurman’s fallopian tube ruptured it, destroying part of her reproductive system. (Seitz, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: The Parties Where Volunteers Pack Abortion Pills For Red-State Women 
The women huddling around the conference table shuttled the small cardboard boxes along, assembly-line style. Into each went medical-information paperwork and a handwritten note proclaiming, “We wish you the best!” Then came the critical addition, a two-drug regimen that ends a pregnancy. This tiny Boston-area office represents a new bulwark in America’s abortion battle. Volunteers are mobilizing with growing frequency for pill-packing parties to help strangers in faraway states circumvent strict laws. On a recent Monday evening, the group filled 350 boxes—in-home abortion kits ready for mailing to women in states such as Texas and Florida with near-total or six-week abortion bans. (Calvert, 8/12)

The New York Times: Older Adults Do Not Benefit From Moderate Drinking, Large Study Finds 
Even light drinking was associated with an increase in cancer deaths among older adults in Britain, researchers reported on Monday in a large study. But the risk was accentuated primarily in those who had existing health problems or who lived in low-income areas. The study, which tracked 135,103 adults aged 60 and older for 12 years, also punctures the long-held belief that light or moderate alcohol consumption is good for the heart. The researchers found no reduction in heart disease deaths among light or moderate drinkers, regardless of this health or socioeconomic status, when compared with occasional drinkers. (Rabin, 8/12)

CNN: Global Cancer Deaths Among Men Projected To Increase By 93% By 2050, Study Finds
Cancer cases and deaths among men are expected to surge by 2050, according to a study published Monday, with large increases among men 65 and older. For the study, published in the journal Cancer, researchers from Australia analyzed cases and deaths from 30 types of cancer in 185 countries and territories in 2022 to make projections for 2050. (Gumbrecht, 8/12)

Bloomberg: CVS, Walmart, Walgreens Brand Mucinex May Contain Cancer-Causing Benzene 
While it may seem like the only difference between extended-release Mucinex and its generic store-brand counterpart is the price tag, the latter potentially exposes users to a deadly cancer-causing chemical. Millions of Americans who buy the store-brand option at various major US chains are unknowingly choosing a drug that risks containing a potent carcinogen called benzene, according to a Bloomberg analysis of government data. Benzene can cause blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. And while the inactive ingredients differ, benzene isn’t listed among them. It instead lurks in an inactive ingredient, a white powder called a carbomer. (Edney, 8/12)

The Hill: Biden To Announce Funding For Research On Cancer Surgeries As Part Of Moonshot Effort
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Louisiana on Tuesday to announce up to $150 million in federal awards for research projects focused on improving cancer surgeries. The president and first lady will participate in a tour at Tulane University and deliver remarks on how funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is being used to treat and detect cancer as part of the White House’s Cancer Moonshot effort. (Samuels, 8/13)