CALmatters: California’s Thriving LGBT Caucus: Because Sometimes, Lawmaking Is Personal 
A quarter-century after Kuehl’s election made history, the caucus numbers seven and has chalked up hard-fought legislative victories—and a to-do list for the future. All its members are Democrats; no openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans Republican has ever won a seat in the Legislature. (Castillo, 1/20)

In other news —

Los Angeles Times: Newsom’s Struggles With Dyslexia Prompt A ‘Very Personal’ Quest To Fund Early Screening 
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lifelong struggle with dyslexia makes his proposal to screen little kids for developmental disorders a personal mission. California’s new governor wasn’t diagnosed with the reading disability until he was in the fifth grade. (Skelton, 1/21)

Los Angeles Times: KPC Group Bids To Buy Four Verity Health Hospitals
Corona-based KPC Group has bid $610 million to purchase four of the nonprofit Verity Health System hospitals, including two in Southern California. The KPC Group is the initial bidder for St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach. (Masunaga, 1/18)

San Jose Mercury News: Verity Health Gets $610 Million Offer For Four Hospitals
Verity Health bought the six hospitals in 2015 from financially strapped Daughters of Charity Health System, a Catholic nonprofit that operated safety net hospitals for low-income patients. But Verity Health filed for bankruptcy in August 2018 and has since been seeking buyers of its hospitals. “When we began this process, our goal was to ensure these important historic institutions continued to provide the high level of care local communities need and deserve. We have reached an exciting milestone as we get closer to this goal becoming a reality,” Rich Adcock, CEO of Verity Health, said in a written statement Friday. “Verity has remained committed to finding the right buyer to provide uninterrupted service and operations for all employees, physicians and patients, and we will continue that commitment as this process advances.” (Vo, 1/18)

Capital Public Radio: California Hospitals Strive To Comply With New Homeless Patient Laws, But Say Lack Of Resources Makes It Tough 
Physicians across the state are grappling with the new law, which requires hospitals to offer homeless patients a meal, clothing and other services before sending them to a residence or a social services provider that has agreed to take them. It was designed to address “patient dumping,” a phrase homeless advocates use to describe hospitals discharging patients to the streets without adequate planning. (Caiola, 1/21)

In other news —

San Francisco Chronicle: New Housing Complex For Older Adults Rises In SF’s Excelsior 
The Excelsior district has been largely left out of the wave of development that has transformed neighborhoods across San Francisco. No pricey condos, trendy apartment buildings or even affordable housing developments have sprouted in the unpretentious area that straddles Mission Street just south of Interstate 280. But now the biggest development in the neighborhood in decades is taking shape on the a hillside above the intersection of Silver Avenue and Mission Street, on the northern edge of the Excelsior. (Dineen, 1/18)

Modesto Bee: Volunteers Still Needed For Stanislaus CA Homeless Count
Scores of volunteers are set to go out Thursday to conduct this year’s annual count of homeless people in Stanislaus County, but there still is time to be part of this effort. A final training for those wishing to volunteer will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Health Plan of San Joaquin, 1025 J St., Modesto, said Maryn Pitt, one of the organizers of this year’s count and assistant to the Turlock city manager for housing and economic development. (Valine, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Hammers California Over Defunct Crisis Pregnancy Center Law Before March For Life Rally
As thousands of activists gathered for the country’s largest antiabortion rally on Friday, the Trump administration announced the first enforcement action by its year-old Conscience and Religious Freedom Division — a finding that the state of California violated federal conscience protections. The action appeared symbolic, since the state law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to provide women with information on how to access free and low-cost abortion services was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 ruling in June. Its announcement came as the administration made a series of overtures to antiabortion activists to promote its track record of advancing anti-abortion judges and regulations and expanding protections for doctors, nurses and others opposed to providing such services. (Johnson, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Trump Promises March For Life Crowd That He Stands With Them
President Donald Trump sought to assure opponents of abortion rights on Friday that he stands with them and would veto any legislation from a Democratic-controlled House that "weakens the protection of human life." Trump spoke via video to participants at this year's March for Life on the National Mall. Thousands of people across the country braved the cold to attend the event. "As president, I will always defend the first right in our Declaration of Independence, the right to life," Trump said. (1/18)

Reuters: Lack Of School Nurses Puts Los Angeles Students At Risk, Striking Teachers Say
Los Angeles teacher Natali Escobedo says she will never forget the image of a diabetic fourth-grader “wilting” at her school because there was no nurse on hand to administer his insulin. The episode, which followed years of tight budgets that left little money for medical staff, highlights the potential impact of a lack of nurses throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the key reasons Escobedo and her colleagues are on strike. (1/19)

In other news from across the state —

San Francisco Chronicle: Supervisor Matt Haney Wants SF To Help Out Federal Workers Who Aren’t Getting Paid
Supervisor Matt Haney is calling on San Francisco to help federal workers affected by the government shutdown by offering free public transportation, deferred payments on utilities and parking tickets, and emergency loan assistance. It’s a long shot for Haney, though, because as a district supervisor, his authority to force largely autonomous city agencies like the Municipal Transportation Agency and the Public Utilities Commission to offer such assistance is limited. (Thadani and Fracassa, 1/21)

The Bakersfield Californian: Ken Keller Named President, CEO Of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital
There’s a new man leading the charge at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. Ken Keller was named the new president and chief executive officer Dec. 19, 2018. Keller has served as the vice president/chief operating officer for the hospital since 2015. He began his relationship with Memorial Hospital in 2003 as vice president of physician and business development. He held that role for five years before being recruited by Providence Health and Services of Southern California to lead their physician group in Los Angeles. Keller then served as vice president for the Advisory Board Company, where he successfully led numerous organizations across the country into today’s “accountable care era.” (Carroll, 1/21)

KQED: The Curious Second Life Of A Prather Ranch Cow: Biomedical Research 
Aside from food sales, Prather Ranch will also sell parts of these animals to companies in the biomedical field. The hides, for example, go to make a purified collagen solution used in cell research. And bones? Some have been made into screws for things like knee surgery. (Morehouse, 1/18)

The Hill: FDA Threatens To Pull E-Cigarettes Off The Market
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that e-cigarettes face an uncertain future in U.S. markets unless youth smoking rates drop over the next year. Speaking at a public hearing Friday in Silver Spring, Md., FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he could see the entire category of e-cigarette and vaping products removed from store shelves if companies don’t stop marketing such products to youth. (Bowden, 1/19)

The Hill: FDA: Level Of Young People Addicted To Vaping May Require Drug Therapies
The Trump administration's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner says levels of e-cigarette use among young people are reaching new heights even as traditional cigarette use drops to historic lows. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb remarked at a public hearing Friday in Silver Spring, Md., that it was shocking to him that the rate of young people addicted to e-cigarettes use, commonly referred to as "vaping," had reached levels where FDA-approved methods for quitting e-cigarettes could be necessary. (Bowden, 1/18)

The California Health Report (healthycal.org): National Cancer Rates Saw Huge Drop In Last Quarter Century, But Less So For People Who Are Poor Or Of Color 
New initiatives have been launched in the state in the last few years to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in cancer. For example, Roshan Bastani said UCLA has moved from taking an individual patient approach to taking a community approach when it comes to cancer prevention. “We are focusing on the environment people are in and working to change it as needed so that the healthy option is the default option.” Projects include working with community centers to ask all women patients whether they’ve had, if age appropriate, an HPV vaccine. They also ask about pap smears, which can detect cervical cancer before symptoms appear. (Kritz, 1/18)

In other public health news —

KALW: Add Benzene In The Water To The List Of Post-Wildfire Concerns In Paradise
Officials in Paradise are trying to understand how much of the city's water supply has been contaminated with a carcinogenic chemical as a result of last November's deadly Camp Fire. The Paradise Irrigation District announced earlier this month that tests had come back positive for benzene — a flammable chemical used in the production of gasoline and plastic — but the extent of the contamination is still unclear. (Cotsirilos, 1/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Chico’s Mass Overdose Highlights Severe New Phase Of Opioid Epidemic
The incident is among the worst mass overdose events in Northern California since the opioid epidemic hit the state a decade or so ago. It offers a window into a still-new phase of that epidemic, as the ultra-potent drug fentanyl snakes into the supply of not just heroin and other opiates, but recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. (Allday, 1/21)

Politico: Democrats’ Plan To Neuter Medicare For All Irks Liberals
Medicare for All may be progressives' rallying cry. But it’s Medicare for More that’s likely to wind up becoming reality. Several likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are pushing plans for something short of universal health care, a move already creating friction within the party's empowered left wing, which has panned any attempt to water down the progressive dream of a single-payer system. (Ollstein and Cancryn, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Pelosi 'Playing Chess On 3 Boards' With Health Care
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is laying out her strategy on health care and first up is improvements to "Obamacare" and legislation to lower prescription drug costs. "Medicare for all" will get hearings. Pelosi and President Donald Trump have been sounding similar themes about the need to address the high drug costs. But her plans to broaden financial help for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are unlikely to find takers among Republicans. (1/22)

The Associated Press: Democrats Lurch Left On Top Policies As 2020 Primary Begins
Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro launched his campaign by pledging support for "Medicare for All," free universal preschool, a large public investment in renewable energy and two years of free college for all Americans. That wasn't enough for some of his party's most liberal members. (1/22)

The Washington Post: Sen. Kamala Harris’s 2020 Policy Agenda: $3 Trillion Tax Plan, Tax Credits For Renters, Bail Reform, Medicare For All
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) will run for president proposing a nearly $3 trillion tax plan, billions in tax credits to low-income renters, a Medicare-for-all health-care system, and a reduction in cash bail for inmates charged with criminal offenses, her aides said. Harris announced her candidacy Monday. (Stein, 1/21)

The New York Times: Trump Proposals Could Increase Health Costs For Consumers
Consumers who use expensive brand-name prescription drugs when cheaper alternatives are available could face higher costs under a new policy being proposed by the Trump administration. The proposal, to be published this week in the Federal Register, would apply to health insurance plans sold under the Affordable Care Act. Health plans have annual limits on consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. Under the proposal, insurers would not have to count the full amount of a consumer’s co-payment for a brand-name drug toward the annual limit on cost-sharing. Insurers would have to count only the smaller amount that would be charged for a generic version of the drug. (Pear, 1/21)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: For Trump Administration, It Has Been Hard To Follow The Rules On Rules
Ever since President Trump took office, his appointees have directed federal agencies to draft regulations meant to delay or reverse policies of the Obama administration. Nearly all the proposals have been tripped up by the same arcane 1946 law governing administrative policies. Just last week, two signature administration actions — to add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 census, and to allow employers to avoid covering birth control for their workers if they object to it — have been stymied by rulings under the law. (Sanger-Katz, 1/22)

The New York Times: Shutdown’s Pain Cuts Deep For The Homeless And Other Vulnerable Americans
Ramona Wormley-Mitsis got welcome news in December: After years of waiting, the federal government had approved a subsidy that allowed her to rent a three-bedroom house, bracketed by a white picket fence to keep her two autistic sons from bolting into traffic. A few days later, the dream was deferred. The Department of Housing and Urban Development — one of the federal agencies hit hardest by the shutdown — would not be able to pay her new landlord until the government reopened. (Thrush, 1/21)

Reuters: CVS, Walmart Resolve Pharmacy Contract Impasse
Walmart Inc, the world's largest retailer, will remain part of CVS Health Corp's network for commercial and Medicaid pharmacy customers, the companies said on Friday, breaking a contract impasse disclosed earlier this week. The companies did not provide financial terms of the new contract.

The New York Times: Study Links Drug Maker Gifts For Doctors To More Overdose Deaths
A new study offers some of the strongest evidence yet of the connection between the marketing of opioids to doctors and the nation’s addiction epidemic. It found that counties where opioid manufacturers offered a large number of gifts and payments to doctors had more overdose deaths involving the drugs than counties where direct-to-physician marketing was less aggressive. The study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, said the industry spent about $40 million promoting opioid medications to nearly 68,000 doctors from 2013 through 2015, including by paying for meals, trips and consulting fees. (Goodnough, 1/18)

Politico: ‘I’m Trying Not To Die Right Now’: Why Opioid-Addicted Patients Are Still Searching For Help
The Trump administration, Congress and states are pouring billions of dollars into addiction treatment to fight the opioid crisis, but accountability for the burgeoning industry hasn’t kept pace with those efforts — leaving patients vulnerable to ineffective care, fraud and abuse. Interviews with patients in recovery and nearly two dozen advocates, officials and public health and addiction experts in and out of government reveal a fragmented addiction care industry, with a patchwork of state regulations and spotty oversight. (Ehley and Roubein, 1/20)