KQED: ‘Health Care For Health Care Workers’: Hundreds Stage 2-Day Strike At Daly City Hospital
Hundreds of workers at AHMC Seton Medical Center in Daly City walked off the job on Monday as part of a two-day strike to demand the hospital reverse changes it recently made to their health care plans. “We’re striking for better medical benefits, something that actually covers our families, that pays the bills,” said Christina Caridis, an X-ray technician, who was among the throng of hospital staff on the picket line hoisting signs that said “Health Care for Health Care Workers.” (Altenberg, 3/25)

VC Star: Proposed Cancer Center In Thousand Oaks Heads To City Council
A state-of-the-art cancer center proposed in Thousand Oaks — a project that has drawn both support and criticism — will head to the City Council Tuesday night. (Mason, 3/25)

Fresno Bee: Does Valley Children’s Hospital Pay Its CEO Too Much?
The CEO of the nonprofit Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County was compensated more during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, than all but two of the head executives at the nation’s larger children’s hospitals, according to The Fresno Bee’s review of nonprofit federal tax filings. (Galicia, 3/25)

Los Angeles Times: Adults With Autism Faced 'Torture' At This L.A. Group Home
The two caregivers edged toward the staff bathroom as the sounds of slaps and screams ricocheted across the ranch-style home. The evening of Aug. 25, 2023, had already been an exceptionally trying one for staff at Elwyn-Mayall, a four-person home in Northridge for adults with developmental disabilities. Jude Cabanete, one of the home’s residents with autism, had spread feces across his mattress and vomited on the floor, according to staff reports from that night. The caregivers had hosed down the sheets. Cabanete seemed to want to get clean, too. (Ellis, 3/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Are Adding Billions In ‘Facility’ Fees For Routine Care 
Hospitals are adding billions of dollars in facility fees to medical bills for routine care in outpatient centers they own. Once an annoyance, the fees are now pervasive, and in some places they are becoming nearly impossible to avoid, data compiled for The Wall Street Journal show. The fees are spreading as hospitals press on with acquisitions, snapping up medical groups and tacking on the additional charges. (Evans, 3/25)

Modern Healthcare: Facility Fees Face State Limits As Federal Site-Neutral Push Lags
“The failure to include it in current legislation is more reflective of Congress running out of time as opposed to a lack of interest in doing it. I’m pretty confident it will come back,” said Paul Ginsburg, health policy professor at the University of Southern California and senior fellow at USC's Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. “States that are taking a different approach to site-neutral policy moves the federal discussion forward.” (Kacik, 3/25)

Los Angeles Times: Abortion Pills, Mifepristone Saw Surge After Supreme Court Ruling
Less than a quarter of a century ago, abortion pills could not be legally obtained from a U.S.-based medical provider. Now, they are the most common method of terminating a pregnancy — used by 3 out of 5 abortion patients in the U.S. Americans’ use of medication abortion has rapidly expanded since 2000, when the FDA approved the use of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in the most common medication abortion regimen. (Jarvie, 3/26)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court’s Anti-Abortion Conservatives Could Restrict Abortion Pills Sent By Mail, Even In Blue States 
The Supreme Court’s anti-abortion majority is set to consider whether to order a reversal in U.S. drug laws and restrict women from obtaining abortion medication at pharmacies or through the mail. A ruling to restrict the most common method of abortion would limit the rights of women in California and other states where abortion remains legal. (Savage, 3/25)

Reuters: US Supreme Court Abortion Pill Fight Brings Claims Of Distorted Science
The abortion opponents who are seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone point to three studies by Gynuity Health Projects, a New York-based women's health research group, to back up their arguments that it is unsafe despite its regulatory approval decades ago. But the way the research has been prominently cited by the plaintiffs in their bid to limit how the pill is prescribed and distributed is bewildering to Dr. Beverly Winikoff, Gynuity's president, given that the conclusions broadly support easier access to the medication. (Chung, 3/25)

California Healthline: Overdosing On Chemo: A Common Gene Test Could Save Hundreds Of Lives Each Year
The FDA and some oncologists have resisted efforts to require a quick, cheap gene test that could prevent thousands of deaths from a bad reaction to a common cancer drug. (Allen, 3/26)

Axios: Insulin Caps Lowered Costs But Didn't Improve Access, Study Finds
State caps on insulin costs lowered privately insured patients' out-of-pocket spending, but they didn't appear to increase insulin use, according to a new Annals of Internal Medicine study. The research suggests increasingly popular insulin caps alone aren't enough to improve insulin uptake among patients with diabetes in commercial insurance. (Reed, 3/26)

The Seattle Times: Researchers Unveil New Blood Test That Detects Colon Cancer 
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have unveiled a new type of blood test used to detect colorectal cancer, with high hopes not only in its ability to reduce barriers to testing for this particular disease, but also potentially pave the way for many other types of cancer screenings. (Takahama, 3/25)

Central Valley Journalism Collaborative: Black Women Are At Highest Risk For Pregnancy Deaths. How A New California Law Addresses The Problem
For Black women in San Joaquin Valley, doulas are another form of protection in medical spaces. (Aguilar, 3/25)

Reuters: US Detects Avian Flu In Milk, Says Dairy Supplies Are Safe
The government said milk from sick cows is being diverted or destroyed so it does not enter the food supply. Pasteurization is required for milk entering interstate commerce, a process that kills bacteria and viruses such as flu, the USDA said. ... It added there should be no impact on prices for milk or other dairy products. U.S. dairy industry groups urged importers not to ban or restrict shipments of U.S. dairy products because of the detections. (Polansek, 3/25)

CIDRAP: Study: Long COVID Affects 8% Of Those With COVID-19, Is More Common In Women
New national data in France reveals that, by the World Health Organization (WHO) definition, the prevalence of long COVID is 4.0% in the French population overall and 8.0% among people who had COVID-19. Among the 8.0%, the prevalence varied from 5.3% in men who had COVID-19, to 14.9% among the unemployed, and 18.6% of those with a history of hospitalization for COVID-19. The study is published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. (Soucheray, 3/25)

Axios: FDA Authorizes Drug To Boost COVID Protection For Immunocompromised Patients
A new monoclonal antibody is available to help protect immunocompromised patients against COVID-19, filling a gap for a group that remains vulnerable to the coronavirus. (Millman, 3/25)

Mashable: California Paid 7 Cups Millions For A Mental Health App. It Wasn't Safe.
7 Cups, which operates as both a website and app, invites teens and adults to talk to someone online for free. Users give and receive emotional support, but they are discouraged from acting like a therapist. The year prior, the county had agreed to provide 7 Cups access to residents as part of a five-year, $101 million initiative known as Tech Suite that was designed to use innovative technology to connect California residents to mental health help. (Ruiz, 3/26)

Fox News: California Community Demands End To Police Calls For Mental Health Emergencies After Death Of 15-Year-Old Boy
A 15-year-old autistic boy was shot and killed in a confrontation with police in Southern California, according to a recent report. San Bernardino sheriff deputies shot and killed Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old boy, on March 9," ABC7 reported. "He had been acting out that afternoon and a family member called 911," according to the outlet. (Clark, 3/26)

Bay Area News Group: Tightened Wastewater Regulations Could Cost Bay Area Cities Billions 
At least $11 billion would be needed to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities across the Bay Area if regulators impose anticipated stricter environmental rules, according to a regional water board that seeks to protect the San Francisco Bay. (Macasero, 3/26)

CalMatters: The Feds Want To Study Giving Cash To Renters. Will Californians Be Included?
Guaranteed income has become a buzzword in California, as the state struggles to stop people from getting priced out of their homes and landing on the streets. The latest entity pushing to give cash directly to people in need isn’t a nonprofit or an uber-progressive politician — it’s a massive federal agency not typically known for its innovation. (Kendall, 3/25)

Axios: San Diego Is Healthier Than Most Counties, Study Finds
San Diego County is healthier than most counties across the country, a new report suggests. Why it matters: San Diego residents have a longer life expectancy and lower rate of premature death than the rest of California and the U.S. That's according to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a program of the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute. (Murphy, 3/26)

Los Angeles Times: Boy Was Told To Run In P.E. Class As Temperatures Soared. Heart Defect, Heat Cited In His Death
There was an excessive heat warning in Lake Elsinore on the August day when 12-year-old Yahushua Robinson — who had been instructed to run — died during P.E. class. Now, a coroner’s report has reportedly found that the boy died of a heart defect, with heat and physical exertion as contributing factors. (Garcia and Lin, 3/25)

Stat: Chick-Fil-A Drops A 'No Antibiotic Ever' Pledge On Chicken Over Supply Issues
Chick-fil-A, one of the largest fast-food restaurants in the U.S., is easing its commitment to using chickens raised without any antibiotics, a step that was criticized over concerns it could increase the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance among humans. (Silverman, 3/25)

Los Angeles Times: Once A Darling Of Cannabis Investors, MedMed Has Collapsed. What Happened?
In the summer of 2018, MedMen opened a boutique cannabis dispensary on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice — “the coolest block in America,” as the company hyped in a press release at the time. With natural light pouring through floor-to-ceiling windows and spacious display tables dotted with sleek tablets, company executives weren’t shy about where they’d drawn design inspiration for their high-rent storefront: They saw themselves as the Apple store of weed. (Gerber, 3/26)

Los Angeles Times: Biden Is Racing To Shift Marijuana Policy Ahead Of Election
Vice President Kamala Harris looked up from prepared remarks in the White House’s ornate Roosevelt Room this month to make sure the reporters in the room could hear her clearly: “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” Harris’ “marijuana reform roundtable” was a striking reminder of how the politics have shifted for a onetime prosecutor raised in the “Just Say No” era of zero-tolerance drug enforcement. As President Biden seeks badly needed support from young people, his administration is banking on cannabis policy as a potential draw. (Bierman, 3/26)