- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Trump's Work-For-Medicaid Rule Puts Work On States’ Shoulders
- Public Health and Education 2
- It's Like A Feeling Of 'Being In The Trenches': Calif. Hospitals Stretched Thin As They Battle Vicious Flu
- California Goes On Offense To Combat Maternal Deaths -- And Sees Success
- Around California 1
- 'We Are Slowly Being Killed': Porter Ranch Residents Beg Gubernatorial Candidates To Shut Down Gas Plant
- Hospital Roundup 1
- Patient In Wheelchair Shown Discharged From Hospital In Middle Of Night In Only A Gown
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Trump's Work-For-Medicaid Rule Puts Work On States’ Shoulders
States that opt to change their Medicaid program must figure out how to delineate who is covered by the new mandate, how to enforce the rules and how to handle the people seeking exemptions. In California, leaders say, it's a non-starter. (Phil Galewitz and Pauline Bartolone, )
More News From Across The State
Hospitals across the state are sending away ambulances, flying in nurses from out of state and not letting children visit their loved ones for fear they’ll spread the flu. Meanwhile, the death toll just keeps climbing.
Los Angeles Times:
California Hospitals Face A 'War Zone' Of Flu Patients — And Are Setting Up Tents To Treat Them
Hospitals across the state are sending away ambulances, flying in nurses from out of state and not letting children visit their loved ones for fear they’ll spread the flu. Others are canceling surgeries and erecting tents in their parking lots so they can triage the hordes of flu patients. (Karlamangla, 1/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Flu Death Toll Rises In California
The number of Californians under 65 who've died of the flu has jumped to 42, compared with nine at the same time last year, state officials said Friday. The flu season, which runs from October through May, typically peaks in February. Public health officials say they don't yet know whether the flu season is peaking earlier than normal, or if this year will be a particularly tough one for the flu. (Karlamangla, 1/12)
The Mercury News:
Flu Deaths Rise, Patients Pack Bay Area Emergency Rooms
At hospitals around the Bay Area and across the country, those on the front lines of what is shaping up to be the worst flu season in a decade are struggling to keep up — and wondering whether it will get worse. (Prodis Sulek, 1/14)
The Mercury News:
San Jose Mom Is Among 42 California Flu Deaths
Katie Denise Oxley Thomas was fun-loving, athletic — a marathon runner — and looking forward to starting a new job as an executive assistant at Applied Materials after the new year. But 48 hours after coming down with the flu on Jan. 2, the 40-year-old San Jose mother of three was dead. Thomas was one of 42 Californians under 65 who have died since the flu season began Oct. 1, according to California public health officials. The vicious outbreaks kicked in aggressively by early November, they say, and are now on track to being the worst in a decade. (Seipel, 1/12)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Is This Year's Flu Really Deadlier Than Past Years?
So far this year, there have been 91 flu-related deaths in San Diego County compared with 58 in 2009, the year of the global pandemic. The disparity in death rates might be surprising for those who recall there was initially no vaccination available for the dominant flu strain in 2009, H1N1, which allowed it to spread unchecked from coast to coast. By comparison, the flu types circulating this year are all contained in this year’s vaccine, according to the latest update from the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Sisson, 1/14)
Stat:
A Severe Flu Season Is Stretching Hospitals Thin. That Is A Very Bad Omen
A tsunami of sick people has swamped hospitals in many parts of the country in recent weeks as a severe flu season has taken hold. In Rhode Island, hospitals diverted ambulances for a period because they were overcome with patients. In San Diego, a hospital erected a tent outside its emergency room to manage an influx of people with flu symptoms. Wait times at scores of hospitals have gotten longer. But if something as foreseeable as a flu season — albeit one that is pretty severe — is stretching health care to its limits, what does that tell us about the ability of hospitals to handle the next flu pandemic? (Branswell, 1/15)
Stat:
Flu Season Is Shaping Up As One Of The Worst In Years, Officials Say
The entire continental United States is experiencing widespread flu right now, the first time in the 13 years of the current tracking system that that has happened, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials said that this flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in recent years. The rate of flu hospitalizations — the number of people hospitalized with flu per 100,000 — rose sharply last week compared with the previous week. Last week it was 22.7 per 100,000 people; the week before that rate was 13.7. (Branswell, 1/12)
California Goes On Offense To Combat Maternal Deaths -- And Sees Success
The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative provides doctors and nurses with recommendations and toolkits to help improve procedures and safety protocols for obstetric emergencies, including hemorrhage and preeclampsia, the most common causes of U.S. maternal mortality
The Mercury News:
California Leading Way To Addressing Rising U.S. Maternal Mortality
Although the United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world, more than two women die every day during childbirth, making maternal mortality the highest in the U.S. compared with 49 other countries in the developed world. Studies show the U.S. maternal mortality increased more than 26 percent from 19 (per 100,000 births) in 2000 to 24 in 2014. Today, U.S. maternal mortality ratio is roughly 26 (per 100,000 births), with California continuing to show a declining trend, and Texas the highest number of pregnancy-related deaths (not only in the U.S., but the entire developed world). In California, where more babies are born than in any other state (approximately 500,000 a year — one-eighth of the U.S. total) — the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) is continuing to take a leading role in adopting new practices to reduce maternal mortality risks as well as life-threatening complications and racial disparities in obstetric care. (La Follette, 1/15)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
California's Lack Of Early Health Screening For Children Delays Proper Treatment
In 2016, less than 21 percent of California parents reported that their young children’s health care providers had them complete a standardized developmental screening tool, according to an analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health data, which was released recently by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ...Formal developmental screening questionnaires are critical for catching issues in children while they’re young enough that intensive interventions might alter the course of their lives. (Wiener, 1/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Even Without Nudging Blood Pressure Up, High-Salt Diet Hobbles The Brain
A high-salt diet may spell trouble for the brain — and for mental performance — even if it doesn't push blood pressure into dangerous territory, new research has found. A new study has shown that in mice fed a very high-salt diet, blood flow to the brain declined, the integrity of blood vessels in the brain suffered, and performance on tests of cognitive function plummeted. (Healy, 1/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Too Much Business Travel Can Lead To Depression, Anxiety And Trouble Sleeping, Study Says
If you are a business traveler who has to be away from home more than two weeks a month, no one has to tell you that this much travel can wear you down. But a study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health confirms that people who travel for business two weeks or more a month are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety, depression and trouble sleeping than those who travel less than one week a month. (Martin, 1/13)
Package Of New Bills Would Try To Better Battle Valley Fever
Part of the problem is that doctors don't know how to diagnose the sickness and often confuse it with the flu. The proposed legislation would change the way the state diagnoses and tracks Valley Fever, improve physician training and add safety requirements for at-risk construction workers.
Capital Public Radio:
New California Bills Address Growing Valley Fever Problem
A package of new bills from Assemblymember Rudy Salas — whose district stretches from south of Fresno down to Bakersfield — would change the way the state diagnoses and tracks Valley Fever, improve physician training and add safety requirements for at-risk construction workers. At the Merced County Department of Public Health, director Dr. David Canton said staff is trying to raise the alarm about Valley Fever. (Caiola, 1/15)
In other news from Sacramento —
KPBS Public Media:
Bill To Allow Abortion Pills On College Campuses Survives Crucial Vote
A bill, SB 320, that would require student health clinics at public colleges and universities to offer medication-assisted abortion passed the Senate Education committee by a 4-2 vote last week. Doctors say it is an option for women who are less than 10 weeks pregnant. (Goldberg, 1/15)
A leak at the Southern California Gas Co. storage facility has resulted in negative health consequences for the residents who live near the plant, advocates say.
Los Angeles Times:
Residents Call On Candidates For Governor To Shut Down Aliso Canyon Gas Facility
A mysterious disease is spreading through Kyoko Hibino's neighborhood, but you'd never know it by glancing at her sunny, tree-lined Southern California community, she says. The Porter Ranch resident has suffered bronchitis, heart palpitations, headaches and nosebleeds, none of which amount to a diagnosis by doctors. Hibino said her cat also started getting nosebleeds, and now has cancer. (Lau, 1/13)
In other news from across California —
Orange County Register:
Supporters Of Citywide Smoking Ban In Dana Point Hope 3,258 Cigarette Butts Prove Their Case
[Denise] Erkeneff, special events and youth program chairwoman with the South Orange County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, will be carrying in a jar filled with 3,258 cigarette butts that was collected in less than two hours on Saturday, she said, along Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point. She said she’s hoping the collection might be just enough to convince skeptical council members to give a final OK to an ordinance to ban smoking in all public places citywide. (Ritchie, 1/15)
KPBS:
The Shrinking Salton Sea Endangers Region's Health
The dust in those clouds contribute to the Imperial Valley’s highest in the state asthma rates, and most people who live here expect things to get worse. That is because the Salton Sea is shrinking, exposing thousands of acres of possibly toxic lakebed to the hot sun and the region’s powerful winds. (Anderson, 1/15)
Patient In Wheelchair Shown Discharged From Hospital In Middle Of Night In Only A Gown
The incident comes on the heels of a woman in Maryland being released onto the streets in an incoherent state dressed only in a gown, as well. The events highlight the practice of "patient dumping" something that California, with a high homeless population struggles with.
East Bay Times:
Late-Night Santa Cruz Hospital Discharge Of Nearly-Naked Homeless Man Riles Community
Reports of a man discharged from a Santa Cruz hospital wearing only a hospital gown and using a wheelchair late Wednesday night have stirred fresh debate about local homeless care. Brent Adams, a local homelessness issues advocate and program director of the volunteer-based Santa Cruz Warming Center Program, took to his Facebook page, “Homeless Outside in Santa Cruz” at about 1 a.m. Thursday to tell the story of a homeless man he referred to as “G.” His video had received more than 8,000 views and 206 shares by Friday night. (York, 1/15)
African-American Women Struggle To Break Into Profession Dominated By White Men
Three Bay area physicians tell their stories about being apart of the small minority of female African-American doctors in the country.
San Jose Mercury News:
Three Bay Area Black Female Doctors Share Insights, Journeys
Stanford surgeon Dr. Leah Backhus is an esteemed member of a relatively tiny club in U.S. medicine she sometimes refers to as “two-fers:” female African-American doctors. They represent about 2 percent of the nation’s 877,616 active physicians but are among a growing trend in the country: A report last year from the Association of American Medical Colleges indicated that by 2013, black women 49 and younger made up a greater percentage of the U.S. physician workforce than black men in the same age group ....Backhus points to a recent report from the Oakland-based Greenlining Institute and the Artemis Medical Society, of which she is a co-founder, that included in-depth interviews with 20 female physicians of color from California and around the U.S.Among other revelations, 40 percent of the interviewees — most of them African-American — said they recalled a high school or college counselor attempting to discourage them from pursuing a medical career, while over half had questioned their prospects of succeeding as a physician because they had never met a doctor who shared their racial identity. (Seipel, 1/15)
With Individual Mandate Scrapped, Employers Say 'It's Our Turn'
Employers have long-chafed at what they see as the onerous rules that came with the Affordable Care Act. But now that Congress has killed the individual mandate, employers say that their requirements should be the next to go. Meanwhile, becomes the first state to get approval to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries.
The New York Times:
Individual Mandate Now Gone, G.O.P. Targets The One For Employers
Having wiped out the requirement for people to have health insurance, Republicans in Congress are taking aim at a new target: the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers offer coverage to employees. And many employers are cheering the effort. (Pear, 1/14)
The New York Times:
To Get Medicaid In Kentucky, Many Will Have To Work. Advocates For The Poor Say They Will Sue.
Kentucky will be the first state to require many of its Medicaid recipients to work or face losing their benefits after the Trump administration approved its plan on Friday. Advocates for the poor threatened lawsuits, while Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, celebrated the approval as “the most transformational entitlement reform that has been seen in a quarter of a century.” (Goodnough, 1/12)
The Associated Press:
Medicaid Work Mandate Will Create Uncertainty In Some States
Republicans this past week began to realize their long-held goal of requiring certain adults to work, get job training or perform community service in exchange for getting health coverage through Medicaid. Whether that's a commonsense approach or an added burden that will end up costing many Americans their health insurance will now be debated in states across the country considering the landmark change to the nation's largest health insurance program. (1/14)
The Hill:
Court Battle Brewing Over Work Rules For Medicaid
A battle is brewing in the courts over the Trump administration's move to let states impose work requirements for recipients of Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. Advocacy groups are gearing up to sue the administration, arguing that it doesn’t have the power to allow work requirements and other rules for Medicaid without action from Congress. (Roubein and Sullivan, 1/15)
The Hill:
Five Things To Know About Medicaid Work Requirements
The Trump administration released landmark guidance this week aimed at allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, a major shift in the design of the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Here are five things to know about work requirements. (Weixel, 1/15)
NPR:
Medicaid Restrictions That Require Recipients To Work Miss The Point, Critics Say
Medicaid's chief federal officer is Seema Verma; her home state of Indiana submitted plans for a work requirement last year, and the approval letter could come any day now. Under the proposal, people would have to average 20 hours a week of work or another qualifying activity — such as volunteering or getting an education — to get Medicaid. The goal is to increase employment among Medicaid recipients. But Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, says there's a problem with that — most people on Medicaid are already working, or looking for work. Or they're caring for a child or family member, or they're sick or disabled. (Harper, 1/12)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Trump Is In ‘Excellent Health,’ Doctor Says After Exam
President Trump is in excellent health, his doctor said on Friday after his first comprehensive physical exam since he was elected. “The president’s physical exam today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center went exceptionally well,” Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and the White House physician, said in a statement. “The president is in excellent health.” (Shear and Altman, 1/12)
The New York Times:
C.D.C. Postpones Session Preparing U.S. For Nuclear War
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to postpone its session on nuclear attack preparedness next week. Much attention had been drawn to the timing of the agency’s session, which was publicized just days after President Trump touted the size of his nuclear button compared with North Korea’s. Late Friday afternoon, the C.D.C. announced that it had changed its mind about next Tuesday’s topic, making a last-minute revision to reflect concerns about cases of severe flu. (Kaplan, 1/12)
The Washington Post:
CDC Postpones Session On 'Preparing For The Unthinkable': A Nuclear Blast
The session was to feature presentations from U.S. experts on public health preparedness and response and radiation, including one titled “Preparing for the Unthinkable.” It was planned months ago as part of a regular series of monthly webinars the CDC called Public Health Grand Rounds, officials said. But media interest in the topic was unusually strong, given the escalating tensions between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and their most recent war of words over which leader has the larger nuclear arsenal and bigger “nuclear button.” About three dozen media outlets had expressed interest in attending the session, which is broadcast from CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. The initial CDC announcement featured a photograph of the distinctive mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast. (Sun, 1/12)
The New York Times:
He Helped Ex-Players Get Benefits. His Family Is Still Waiting.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers begin their march to a potential seventh Super Bowl championship on Sunday afternoon, Garrett Webster will be delivering pizza from his 14-year-old Honda Pilot. This might surprise fans and his customers, but Mr. Webster, the 33-year-old son of Mike Webster, the stalwart center of the Steelers’ dynasty of the 1970s, has to make ends meet. Playoff game days are especially busy. (Belson, 1/13)
Kaiser Health News:
In Wisconsin, Hopes Rise For Production Of A Lifesaving Radioactive Isotope
In a cornfield here, past the shuttered General Motors plant and the Janesville Terrace trailer home park, a facility not seen in the United States in three decades could soon rise: a manufacturing plant that will make a vital radioactive isotope used to detect cancer and other potentially fatal maladies in millions of people every year. (Varney, 1/16)
The Washington Post:
Tide Pod Challenge: What Is It, And Why Is The Viral Video Dare Dangerous?
First, it was the “gallon challenge” and the “cinnamon challenge.” Then some teenagers started playing the “bath-salt challenge.” They have dared each other to pour salt in their hands and hold ice till it burns, douse themselves in rubbing alcohol and set themselves ablaze, and throw boiling water on unsuspecting peers. Now videos circulating on social media are showing kids biting into brightly colored liquid laundry detergent packets. Or cooking them in frying pans, then chewing them up before spewing the soap from their mouths. (Bever, 1/13)
Stat:
A Health Advocate's Crusade Brings Skin Lightening Out Of The Dark
[Amira Adawe's] visits are more than social, however. The public health advocate scans market shelves for skin lightening creams that may contain harmful toxins — tubes and jars sold under names such as Fair & Lovely, Prime White, and Miss Beauty 7 Days White. Some women use the creams in hopes of erasing dark spots, but many rub them over their entire bodies multiple times a day in hopes of whitening their brown skin. The practice pervades many cultures in Africa, Asia, the Middle East — and many immigrant communities in the U.S. — and Adawe has made it her mission to end it. (Eldred, 1/16)