San Francisco Chronicle: In Major Turnaround, California Will Have A Surplus, Newsom Says
California likely will not have a budget deficit next year, but incoming President Donald Trump’s agenda portends an uncertain road ahead for California’s budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday. The budget outlook Newsom describes is a major turnaround from the $47 billion deficit last year and the $32 billion shortfall the year before. Newsom and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which makes budget projections for the Legislature, both attribute the improvement to stock market gains by the state’s wealthiest taxpayers and cuts in previous years. But, Newsom cautioned, the steep cuts to federal government spending that Trump has promised could darken the bright picture he painted of California’s economy. (Bollag, 1/6)

Capital & Main: How Trump Administration Cuts Could Hurt Medi-Cal
Far from the noise of campaign season, research and interest groups have been quietly assessing the financial impact for California if President-elect Donald Trump and his administration follow through on their threats to reduce federal assistance to states. It is a more direct concern than it might appear. And it goes right to the heart of the state’s ability to care for its own. (Kreidler, 1/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F.'s Laguna Honda Hospital Evacuated After Gas Line Rupture
Employees were briefly evacuated at Laguna Honda hospital Monday after a gas line was struck by a contractor working near the facility, San Francisco Fire Department Officials said Monday. ... “The hospital building was not impacted. No residents/patients were evacuated and there were no impacts to resident/patient care. Operations have now returned to normal, and all staff are back in the building safely,” the public health department said. (DiFeliciantonio, 1/6)

Fresnoland: Clovis Hospital Lawsuit Paused As Debate Moves Behind The Scenes
Cultiva La Salud and Fresno Building Healthy Communities’ billion-dollar lawsuit against one of Fresno’s biggest hospital systems will be hashed out behind closed doors – for now. Attorneys for both parties asked the court to pause the case until June, while the two sides negotiate in private. (Morano, 1/6)

KQED: Bay Area Health Care Workers Protest Alleged Targeting Of Medical Facilities In Gaza
Dozens of Bay Area health care workers rallied at San Francisco General Hospital on Monday as part of a nationwide protest against the ongoing war in Gaza, accusing Israel of human rights violations and the deliberate targeting of medical workers and health care facilities. Organized by the global coalition Doctors Against Genocide, the #SickFromGenocide day of action was meant to be a collective period of mourning and rest for medical workers affected by the events of the Israel-Hamas war and the harm being done to health care facilities, workers and patients in the Gaza Strip. (Lim, 1/6)

Becker's Hospital Review: California Medical Network President Dies Unexpectedly
Robert Quinn, MD, president of the El Camino Health Medical Network, a network of community-based clinics that is part of Mountain View-based El Camino Health, died unexpectedly on Dec. 22 at age 63, according to a LinkedIn post from the health system. ... Before joining El Camino Health, Dr. Quinn was responsible for provider alignment, strategy and operations for 1,300 providers, 3,900 employees, and 2,500 contracted physicians at the Dignity Health Medical Foundation, according to a news release. (Gooch, 1/6)

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Selects States For Medicaid Maternal Health Model 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has named 14 states plus the District of Columbia to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health Model. First announced in December 2023, the 10-year model aims to help mothers and children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through physical, mental and social guidance during and after pregnancy. The participating states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Each state receives up to $17 million over 10 years to be used on hiring new staff, creating new partnerships and more. (Tong, 1/7)

Fierce Healthcare: CVS Officially Rolls Out CostVantage Model For Commercial Plans
All of the commercial prescriptions dispensed at CVS pharmacies will be processed through its CostVantage reimbursement model beginning this year, the healthcare giant announced Monday. Under the model, prescriptions are priced based on the underlying cost with a delineated markup and dispensing fee to cover the services provided by CVS in the transaction. The company says this model makes it less necessary to raise the cost for certain prescriptions to cover losses on other drugs. (Minemyer, 1/6)

inewsource: Courts, Science, New Leaders Could Shape Tijuana River Sewage Crisis In 2025
The Tijuana River sewage crisis is a decades old problem that’s only gotten worse. Over the last few years, unprecedented flows of untreated wastewater have inundated the Tijuana River estuary, flowing into and around border communities before heading out into the Pacific Ocean. The pollution has impacted residents’ health and quality of life, though doctors and scientists say the full extent of the problem is unknown. The problem has also attracted renewed attention. (Salata, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Prescription Drugs May Be Leaching PFAS, Toxic Chemicals Into Wastewater 
The widespread use of pharmaceuticals in America is introducing even more toxic “forever chemicals” into the environment through wastewater, according to a study released Monday, and large municipal wastewater treatment plants are not capable of fully filtering them out. ... Most of the compounds came from commonly prescribed medications including antidepressants and statins, the researchers found. (Ajasa, 1/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Bill Would Ban Trans Girls From High School Sports
A Republican lawmaker introduced legislation Monday that would ban trans students from participating on girls’ sports teams. ... The bill, which Assembly Member Kate Sanchez, R-Rancho Santa Margarita (Orange County), is dubbing the Protect Girls’ Sports Act, would require the California Interscholastic Federation and other organizations regulating high school sports to enact rules “ensuring that only individuals assigned female at birth are permitted to participate in female sports,” Sanchez’s office said in a statement. (Burke, 1/6)

NBC News: Less Than 0.1% Of U.S. Minors Take Gender-Affirming Medication, Study Finds
As policymakers around the world debate whether minors should have access to transition-related medications, a study published Monday in the nation’s premier pediatric medical journal found that the drugs are rarely prescribed to youths. Less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the United States are transgender or gender-diverse and are prescribed puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones, according to the findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.  (Lavietes, 1/6)

The New York Times: Pentagon Reaches Settlement With Veterans Dismissed Over Sexuality 
The Defense Department has reached a sweeping settlement with tens of thousands of people who were dismissed from military service because of their sexual identity, potentially paving the way for veterans to upgrade their discharge status and receive a range of benefits they had been denied. The settlement, which the Pentagon agreed to late last week and was filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Northern California, must still be approved by a judge. It applies to a group of more than 30,000 veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges or whose discharge status lists their sexuality. Advocacy groups had filed a class-action civil rights lawsuit in 2023 alleging that the Pentagon had failed to remedy “ongoing discrimination” after the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy more than a decade earlier. (Kavi, 1/6)

Military Times: VA To Waive Co-Pays For Whole Health Medical Services
Veterans Affairs officials plan to waive co-pays for certain “well-being” health care appointments in an effort to encourage more veterans to look into services like yoga, meditation and wellness counseling. The move could potentially save patients several hundred dollars a year in medical fees, but is less focused on financial relief than emphasizing “the overall well-being of the veteran,” according to a department release. (Shane III, 1/6)

KFF Health News: Biden Administration Bars Medical Debt From Credit Scores 
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday issued new regulations barring medical debts from American credit reports, enacting a major new consumer protection just days before President Joe Biden is set to leave office. The rules ban credit agencies from including medical debts on consumers’ credit reports and prohibit lenders from considering medical information in assessing borrowers. (Levey, 1/7)

CNN: FDA Sets New Lower Levels For Lead In Baby Food — Critics Say That’s Not Enough
For the first time in history, the US Food and Drug Administration has established guidance for levels of lead in processed baby foods that are sold on supermarket shelves and online. The agency’s action, announced Monday, only provides guidance to industry and is not enforceable. (LaMotte, 1/6)

Axios: Late Rule To Lower Nicotine In Cigarettes Clears Hurdle
The Biden administration is a step closer to lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes after an 11th-hour proposal cleared a key White House review. The Food and Drug Administration rule, whose precise language hasn't been made public, offers the administration one more chance to address the harms of smoking after it punted on banning menthol in tobacco products. (Reed, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: How California Schools Are Moving To Protect Undocumented Students
California is moving quickly to protect undocumented immigrant students — attending elementary schools through university campuses — as top officials Monday outlined steps to guide school leaders, inform parents and provide mental health support to anxious families. This deployment of reassurance and resources at public schools, where every child has a right to an education regardless of immigration status, is designed to counter President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. Trump has repeatedly vowed to order mass deportations to address what he characterizes as the harms of illegal immigration. (Blume and Sanchez, 1/7)

The Hill: Key Senator Says Trump Pick RFK Jr. ‘Wrong’ On Vaccines 
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Sunday that President-elect Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary is ‘wrong’ when it comes to vaccinations. Discussing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination on Fox News, Cassidy, a physician, said, “Vaccinations, he’s wrong on, and so I just look forward to having a good dialogue with him on that.” (Choi, Weixel and O'Connell-Domenech, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: What A New Study Does — And Doesn't — Say About Fluoride And IQ
A new report linking fluoridated drinking water to lower IQ scores in children is sure to ratchet up the debate over a practice that’s considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. The report published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics synthesizes the results of dozens of research studies that have been released since 1989. Its overall conclusion is that the more fluoride a child is exposed to, the lower he or she tends to score on intelligence tests. (Kaplan, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: First U.S. Fatality From Bird Flu Reported In Louisiana
A Louisiana resident infected by H5N1 bird flu has died, state authorities there reported Monday, marking the first U.S. death from the disease. The patient, a person older than 65 years with preexisting conditions, is believed to have handled infected noncommercial and wild birds with the virus, according to the Louisiana Department of Public Health. ... The news has confirmed what many experts fear: That if left to spread unabated, the disease has the potential to cause severe illness and death. (Rust, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Overblown Fears Of HMPV Cases In China Reflect Pandemic Scars
An uptick of a routine virus in China ignited dire headlines and social media posts, but public health experts caution that the human metapneumovirus cases are part of the typical ebb and flow of respiratory virus seasons and are no reason to be alarmed. Chinese authorities in late December reported a rising rate of children ages 14 and under testing positive for human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, as part of a broader update on the respiratory virus season. Videos posted on social media of crowded hospitals prompted speculation about the start of another global outbreak. But respiratory diseases in China this season appear less severe and are spreading at a smaller scale compared with last year, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday. (Nirappil, 1/6)

The New York Times: Paxlovid Improved Long Covid Symptoms In Some Patients, Researchers Report 
Can Paxlovid treat long Covid? A new report suggests it might help some patients, but which patients might benefit remains unclear. The report, published Monday in the journal Communications Medicine, describes the cases of 13 long Covid patients who took extended courses of the antiviral drug. Results were decidedly mixed: Nine patients reported some improvement, but only five said it lasted. Four reported no improvement at all. Perhaps more than anything, the report underscores that nearly five years after the pandemic began, there is still little known about what can help the millions of people with long Covid. (Belluck, 1/6)

The Guardian: Permanent Contraception Among Young Adults Surged After Roe V Wade Overturned, Study Finds 
In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, permanent contraception in the form of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies surged among young adults living in states likely to ban abortion, new research released on Monday found. Compared to May 2022, when the opinion overturning Roe leaked, August 2022 saw 95% more vasectomies and 70% more tubal sterilizations performed on people between the ages of 19 and 26, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan. (Sherman, 1/6)

MedPage Today: DoxyPEP Rollout Tied To Dent In STI Epidemic In The Real World 
A decrease in California's sexually transmitted infections (STIs) followed early real-world adoption of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP), suggesting real population-level benefits to this public health strategy. (Lou, 1/6)