Becker's Hospital Review: Joint Commission Honors 2 Systems, Physician For Safety Initiatives
The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum have recognized two health systems and one physician for standout patient safety efforts. ... Elliott Main, MD, a clinical professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, received the award for Individual Achievement. (Taylor, 5/13)

North Bay Business Journal: National Watchdog Group Gives Top Safety Marks To 8 North Bay Hospitals 
Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health hospitals in the North Bay account for six of eight medical centers to score top marks in patient safety, according to a new report. (Sarfaty, 5/12)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Leaders Join Nationwide Lobbying Push To Save Medicaid 
San Diego County, which has about one-third of its 3 million residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, has seen its medical experts head east in recent weeks, joining their peers from every state in sitting down with as many decision-makers as possible to discuss how cuts would affect the real people their organizations serve daily. (Sisson, 5/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Cuts Of This Magnitude Cannot Be Absorbed': Hospitals Slam Republicans' Medicaid Proposal
House Republicans on May 11 floated a bill that would impose up to $715 billion in Medicaid and ACA cuts over the next decade — reductions that hospital leaders warn would leave millions without coverage and put essential hospitals at risk of closure. The 160-page bill outlines several Medicaid provisions aimed at curbing federal spending, including: Implementing stricter eligibility requirements. (Condon, 5/12)

The Hill: Congressional Budget Office Says House GOP Plan Exceeds $880 Billion Savings Target
The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, surpassed its target of finding $880 billion in savings to help pay for legislation to extend President Trump’s tax cuts and other priorities, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In a brief letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), the CBO said the committee’s reconciliation recommendations would reduce deficits by more than $880 billion by 2034 and “would not increase on-budget deficits in any year after 2034.” (Weixel, 5/12)

The New York Times: In Trump Tax Package, Republicans Target SNAP Food Program
House Republicans on Monday proposed a series of sharp restrictions on the federal anti-hunger program known as food stamps, seeking to limit its funding and benefits as part of a sprawling package to advance President Trump’s tax cuts. The proposal, included in a draft measure to be considered by the House Agriculture Committee this week, would require states to supply some of the funding for food stamps while forcing more of its beneficiaries to obtain employment in exchange for federal aid. (Romm, 5/12)

Bloomberg: Drug Middlemen Reforms Revived By Republicans In Budget Bill
House Republicans revived a set of policies that would change how prescription drug middlemen do business, as President Donald Trump again denounced the industry, sending shares of some of the companies down Monday. The budget proposal from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce includes a set of reforms that Congress considered last year but ultimately didn’t pass. It would remove one method that the companies, which negotiate with drugmakers and pharmacies on behalf of employers, health insurers and government programs, use to boost profits. (Tozzi, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Medicaid Cuts May Threaten Care For Nursing Home And Elder-Care Residents
Traversing the halls of his nursing home in a wheelchair, Owen Allen listened to a visiting guitarist play “Sweet Caroline,” then chipped away at a thousand-piece puzzle in the sunroom. Since muscular dystrophy struck and his legs started giving out, the 64-year-old Atlanta native relies on Medicaid to keep him in the 130-bed home where staff help him pull weights to regain his strength. As a House Republican committee examines steep cuts to Medicaid at a pivotal hearing Tuesday, nursing home residents like Allen are among the less well-known recipients who could be affected. (Nirappil, 5/12)

NPR: Medicaid Cuts Could Mean More Drug Overdose Deaths
A coalition of addiction experts said more than 300 physicians, harm reduction workers and researchers signed a letter delivered to Congress late on Monday warning of "dire consequences" if the U.S. cuts funding for programs that help communities battle the drug overdose epidemic. "[W]e are seeing drastic cuts to key agencies," the letter said, pointing to proposals in the White House budget for 2026 that would slash billions of dollars from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and other programs. (Mann, 5/13)

Modern Healthcare: Exchange Enrollment Hits New High For 2025
A record 24.3 million people signed up for health insurance on federal and state-based marketplaces during the exchange open enrollment period for 2025. Fueled by enhanced subsidies enacted in 2021 and extended in 2022, the number blew past the record set a year ago by nearly 2.9 million — a 13% increase, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported Monday. The more sizable tax credits will expire at the end of this year, barring a congressional renewal. (Tepper, 5/12)

AP: Trump Executive Order Gives Drugmakers 30-Day Deadline To Lower Drug Costs
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits down the road over what the government will pay. The order calls on the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to broker new price tags for drugs over the next month. If deals are not reached, Kennedy will be tasked with developing a new rule that ties the price the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries. (Seitz and Min Kim, 5/12)

Axios: Trump's Drug Price Plan: Why It May Not Amount To Much Change
The White House's executive order to lower drug prices is largely an exercise in applying leverage, rather than actual policymaking — and it may not amount to much, experts said. (Reed and Goldman, 5/12)

Bay Area News Group: If Gov. Newsom Doesn’t Solve California Homeless Crisis, Can He Be President? 
Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot riding on the success of his plan to rid the state of homeless encampments. With little tangible progress from his efforts to tackle chronic homelessness in his six years as governor, time is running out to solve the enduring crisis. And if he runs for president in 2028, as many assume he will, the intractable issue that has bedeviled California politicians for decades and aggravated everyday Californians will surely become one of his greatest political vulnerabilities. (Sulek, 5/13)

The Washington Post: 60,000 People Set To Prematurely Lose Federal Housing Assistance 
Nearly 60,000 people in the United States will lose their federal housing assistance years before they anticipated, placing them at imminent risk of eviction and potential homelessness. A sweeping effort launched in 2021 allocated $5 billion to rapidly house the most vulnerable people at the height of the coronavirus pandemic: those living on the streets, facing domestic violence or experiencing human trafficking. The emergency housing vouchers initiative — a beefed-up version of the longtime Section 8 program — was slated to last through 2030, granting recipients housing security through the decade with the expectation that they would have the time and resources to wean off the assistance. (Kaur, 5/13)

LAist: How A New Real-Time Database Plans To Match LA's Unhoused People With Shelter Beds
The Los Angeles area’s largest homeless services system is using a new, real-time digital database to track shelter bed availability in an effort to reduce wait times for thousands of unhoused residents. Starting July 1, the tool will be used to automatically match unsheltered people with beds, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Previously, the agency known as LAHSA, used a patchwork of spreadsheets to monitor when beds became available, a process that was often slow and inefficient. (Schrank, 5/12)

Voice of OC: Seniors To Get Affordable Housing In Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa seniors will soon have a new affordable housing complex next to the city’s senior center, an effort that’s been in the works for nearly two decades. For 17 years, Costa Mesa has recognized the potential to build affordable housing in the parking lot of the Costa Mesa Senior Center, which is owned and operated by the city. In a mid-March meeting, the city council unanimously approved plans to move forward on a 70-unit, fully affordable housing development in this spot for residents 55 and older. (Kavros, 5/12)

Berkeleyside: Ohlone Park Is Latest Stop For Itinerant Berkeley Unhoused
[Jeremy] Wren’s itinerant life is typical of many of Berkeley’s unhoused residents. They go where they can, for as long as they can. Over the past month, that has been Ohlone Park for many, particularly after the city fenced off the few remaining open areas at Civic Center Park, the site of a previous encampment, for renovations. Now, Ohlone Park is the site of roughly two dozen tents, with the highest concentration forming a horseshoe near the fenced-in dog park at Hearst Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The tents hug the fenceline at the edge of the park. (Gecan, 5/12)

SF Gate: California Governor Says His Controversial Hemp THC Ban Is 99.7% Effective 
Gov. Gavin Newsom's office says the state has essentially eradicated hemp-derived THC products from alcohol sellers after it instituted an emergency ban in September. In a Thursday news release, Newsom announced that state officers have found almost 100% of businesses visited by inspectors were in compliance. (Black, 5/12)

Voice of OC: Irvine Looks To Crack Down On Sober Living Homes
Irvine city officials are set to consider increasing enforcement measures for problematic sober living homes as a growing number of Orange County cities look to add regulations for drug and alcohol treatment facilities. Councilmember Melinda Liu placed an item on Tuesday night’s agenda requesting that staff draft up an ordinance to give the city more power over the application, requirements and permitting for group homes and sober living homes. (Hicks, 5/13)

Los Angeles Times: A Push To Bring Rehab Into State's 'Housing First' Homeless Model
After a long journey of personal recovery and years volunteering as a substance abuse peer counselor, Thea Golden launched her own recovery home. She and her husband, Tyler, bought a house in the Jefferson Park neighborhood west of USC, turned an illegally converted garage into a permitted ADU, formed a nonprofit and put out word through their unofficial social services network that they had two beds for women seeking a sober environment. (Smith, 5/13)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Names New Public Health Officer
Nearly one year after Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego’s previous public health officer, retired, the county appointed her replacement, naming Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan to the post Monday afternoon. (Sisson, 5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: California County Has Highest Death Rate In U.S. For This Climate Stat
Climate change fueled devastating California wildfires between 2006 and 2020, contributing more than 5,200 deaths statewide from harmful wildfire smoke particles, according to a new study. The tally is greater than any other state over the 15-year study period. A rural Northern California county — Trinity County — had the country’s highest rate of deaths from climate change-driven wildfires and microscopic smoke and soot particles, also known as PM2.5. (Lee, 5/13)

Merced Sun-Star: Whooping Cough Cases Are Surging In California 
Whooping cough cases are surging in California with rates returning to pre-pandemic levels, medical experts said. (Poukish, 5/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: AI Flags 90% Of Missed, Misinterpreted Breast Cancers
Incorporating AI into mammography analysis could reduce the number of breast cancers developed between screenings by 30%, according to a study published April 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles analyzed 185,000 mammograms performed between 2010 and 2019 for the study. (Gregerson, 5/12)

AP: US Health Officials Advise Older Travelers Not To Get A Chikungunya Vaccine
The U.S. government advised American travelers age 60 and older not get a chikungunya vaccine as it investigates possible side effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration posted notices late last week on the vaccine, Valneva’s Ixchiq. Chikungunya, spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes, is a debilitating tropical illness marked by fever and joint pain. About 100 to 200 cases are reported annually among U.S. travelers. (Stobbe, 5/12)

CIDRAP: Data Suggest COVID-19 Reinfections Less Likely To Cause Long COVID
A new preprint study on the preprint server medRxiv involving healthcare workers in Quebec shows that the risk of long COVID following any initial COVID-19 infection was similar among participants, cumulative risk increased with the number of infections, but reinfections were associated with a much lower risk of long COVID than a person's first infection. (Soucheray, 5/12)