- California Healthline Original Stories 2
- 'Boot Camp' Helps Alzheimer’s, Dementia Caregivers Take Care Of Themselves, Too
- Medicare Failed To Investigate Suspicious Infection Cases From 96 Hospitals
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Democrats See Opportunity In Orange County Republicans' Health Care Votes
- Sacramento Watch 1
- Lawmakers Introduce Bills Regulating Marijuana To Offer More Protections To Children
- Quality 1
- Deficiencies In Detention Centers' Medical Care Contributed To Immigrants' Deaths, Report Finds
- Public Health and Education 2
- Enormous Disparity In Longevity Rates Between Counties Is Only Getting Worse
- Preventing Suicides A Continuous Effort For Schools
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
'Boot Camp' Helps Alzheimer’s, Dementia Caregivers Take Care Of Themselves, Too
Free, daylong sessions run by UCLA teach caregivers how to keep their loved ones safe and engaged, while minimizing the stress in their own lives. Similar programs exist in other states. (Anna Gorman, )
Medicare Failed To Investigate Suspicious Infection Cases From 96 Hospitals
The HHS inspector general’s office found that Medicare should have done an in-depth review of suspicious or aberrant infection reports from scores of hospitals. (Christina Jewett, )
More News From Across The State
Covered California & The Health Law
Democrats See Opportunity In Orange County Republicans' Health Care Votes
Nationwide, there are 14 Republican House districts that voted for Clinton and have Congress members who voted for the American Health Care Act. Four of those districts are in Orange County.
Orange County Register:
Will Vote To Repeal Obamacare Work For Or Against Orange County Republican Congress Members In 2018?
The House vote to replace Obamacare has buoyed Democrats’ hopes of taking out Orange County’s four Republican Congress members, triggering a fresh wave of Democratic fundraising and rallies — and prompting a major political odds maker to revise its tote board. The effect the vote will have on the 2018 elections is hotly debated, but it has delivered immediate fuel to the momentum of the anti-Donald Trump movement much as Obamacare helped motivate the Tea Party leading up to the 2010 midterm races. (Wisckol, 5/8)
KPCC:
Protesters Stage 'Die-In' At Rep. Knight's Office Over Health Bill Vote
More than 100 demonstrators turned up to stage a "die-in" outside of Rep. Steve Knight's (R-Palmdale) Santa Clarita office Monday to protest his vote for the Republican health care bill. Some protestors dressed as symbols of death and disease, and about 20 laid on the ground with makeshift tombstones bearing inscriptions such as "pre-existing now non-existing" and "choked on Republican hypocrisy." (Faust, 5/9)
Lawmakers Introduce Bills Regulating Marijuana To Offer More Protections To Children
One of the added regulations would prohibit the sale of products in the “shape of a person, animal, insect, fruit, or in another shape normally associated with candy.”
Sacramento Bee:
CA Bills Limit Design And Packaging For Marijuana Products
Much of the campaign last year to legalize recreational marijuana in California was spent trying to reassure skeptical parents that it would stay out of the hands of minors. Proposition 64 included provisions to block sales and advertising near schools and youth centers, mandate child-proof packaging, and strip licenses from businesses that sold to anyone under the age of 21. That wasn’t enough for some lawmakers, who have introduced legislation this session to expand the safeguards in the initiative, such as a requirement that marijuana products not be designed “to be appealing to children or easily confused with commercially sold candy or foods that do not contain marijuana.” (Koseff, 5/9)
In other news —
Capital Public Radio:
Sacramento’s Cannabis Chief Starts New Job
Joe Devlin is Sacramento's first pot boss. He was hired to lead the three-person Cannabis Office of Policy and Enforcement that is tasked with overseeing the recreational marijuana industry. (Moffitt, 5/8)
Los Angeles Times:
California Proposes New Rules And Standards For Marijuana Testing Laboratories
Laboratories that test marijuana for medical use in California will have to be licensed and show their employees are properly trained, and will face strict guidelines for how to conduct examinations of samples, according to rules proposed Friday by the state Bureau of Marijuana Control. The bureau hopes to begin issuing licenses for the cultivation, transportation, testing and sale of medical marijuana in January and has been rolling out proposed regulations for public input. (McGreevy, 5/5)
Deficiencies In Detention Centers' Medical Care Contributed To Immigrants' Deaths, Report Finds
“There is significant evidence that ICE does know about many of the deficiencies in its medical care system, but that it has failed to take swift and appropriate action,” the Human Rights Watch says in the report.
Reveal:
Poor Medical Care In Immigrant Detention Had Deadly Consequences, Report Finds
Poor medical care, including underqualified staff and systemic neglect, has contributed to the deaths at immigrant detention facilities around the country, according to a report released Monday by two advocacy groups. The report is based on doctors’ evaluations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement death reports from 2012 to 2015, and on interviews with people who are or recently were detained in facilities overseen by ICE. (Michels, 5/8)
KPCC:
Report Charges 'Systemic' Problems In Immigrant Detainee Medical Care
A new report from human rights advocates criticizes the quality of medical care in the nation's immigrant detention centers, saying the system is plagued with inexperienced staff, delayed treatment and other problems. Human Rights Watch and Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, or CIVIC, issued the report Monday. (Berenstein Rojas, 5/8)
Enormous Disparity In Longevity Rates Between Counties Is Only Getting Worse
There are pockets in the country where people can expect to live 20 years less than residents in other areas. The research echoes other findings in recent years that show that the United States is failing to keep up with improvements in longevity seen in other affluent nations.
Los Angeles Times:
To Live A Long Life In America, It Helps To Be Born In The Right County
A child born in the United States in 2014 can expect to live 79.1 years, on average. But that figure doesn’t apply equally to all kids across the country. For example, a baby boy born in South Dakota’s Oglala Lakota County that year has a life expectancy of just under 62.8 years. Meanwhile, a baby girl lucky enough to be born in Summit County, Colo., can plan to live to the ripe old age of 88.5. That’s a difference of more than 25 years. Put another way, the girl in Colorado can expect to live 41% longer than the boy in South Dakota. (Kaplan, 5/8)
Preventing Suicides A Continuous Effort For Schools
"I don’t think any school in the country can say, ‘We are doing everything, we’re doing enough,’ because it’s not something that will ever be finished with,” San Diego County Office of Education interim Director Bob Mueller said. “The work on school climate is something we’ll always be working to improve.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Schools Try But Can't Always Prevent Suicide
Teachers look for warning signs, classmates keep an eye on their friends and counselors have meetings with parents, but all the efforts still are not enough at times. “I think the natural reaction for people is to consider, ‘Is there more we could have done, and are there things we should have seen?’” San Diego County Office of Education interim Director Bob Mueller said about the shooting early Saturday morning at Torrey Pines High School...A state law that went into effect Jan. 1 requires the California Department of Education to create a model suicide prevention plan and calls for school districts to adopt the plan or create one of their own. (Warth and Sisson, 5/8)
Kaiser's New Residency Program Aims To Help Alleviate Doctor Shortages
The Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program is sponsored by Sutter Health and affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. Those residents also do “rotation” at Kaiser, which also provides faculty for the program.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Kaiser Launches Residency Program To Train New Doctors In Sonoma County
The three-year program, which was approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in February, is scheduled to host its first group of six residents in July 2018. By 2020, the program will have 18 residents in the “pipeline,” said [Dr. Tricia] Hiserote, who has been named the residency’s program director. Those primary care doctors, she said, will become increasingly in demand in Sonoma County and the rest of the nation as the baby boom generation continues to age...The cause of the shortage is simple, she said. Medical students, who often face student loans the size of a home mortgage, are entering medical specialties that fetch more generous paychecks than family medicine, she said. (Espinoza, 5/8)
Alameda Firefighters Frustrated With Possible Extension Of Paramedics Plus' Ambulance Contract
“Service delivery of ambulances has been chaotic the last two to three years. We’re waiting an exorbitant amount of time with firefighter paramedics on scene and no ambulance,” said Sean Burrows, Alameda County Firefighters union president.
The Mercury News:
Alameda County Supervisors To Vote On No-Bid Ambulance Pact
In a deal upsetting East Bay firefighters, Alameda County supervisors are set Tuesday to vote on a three-year contract extension for ambulance provider Paramedics Plus that lessens fines for response delays and includes other givebacks. The vote comes days after a judge dropped Alameda County from a federal lawsuit alleging it accepted illegal kickbacks from Paramedics Plus. (Gafni, 5/8)
In other news from across the state —
Capital Public Radio:
Small Card Designed By UC Davis Scientists Can Reduce Big Food Safety Risks
In California, we take it for granted that beans, lentils and nuts in the bulk aisle of the grocery store are dried properly to avoid being exposed to toxins from mold. That's thanks to food safety technology and consumer safeguards that are largely absent in developing nations, according to Beth Mitcham, Director of the UC Davis Horticulture Innovation Lab, which works on improving people's livelihoods and nutritional health through horticulture. (Mitric, 5/8)
Capital Public Radio:
Few Dozen Water Faucets To Be Replaced On Sac State Campus Due To High Lead Levels
A few dozen drinking water faucets on the Sacramento State campus will be replaced because of high lead levels. The university released test results Monday that show 43 outlets show lead concentrations above the Federal standards. (White, 5/8)
KQED:
The SF Giants Are Zapping Their Brains With Electricity. Will It Help?
The San Francisco Giants, with the worst record in the National League, could probably use a shot of electricity about now... About a third of the major league roster, including “some big-name players,” are working out while using high-tech headgear that sends a weak electrical current to the brain, says Geoff Head, the team’s official sports scientist. (McClurg, 5/8)
Strategy To Exclude Moderates, Women From 13-Man Working Group May Come Back To Bite McConnell
The more moderate senators now have no obligation to fall in line behind the group’s final health law draft and will almost surely continue to work on their own ideas. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump plans to take a hands-off approach to the upper chamber's negotiations and let Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrangle the votes he needs.
The New York Times:
Divided Senate Republicans Turn To Health Care With A Rough Road Ahead
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has a reputation as a shrewd tactician and a wily strategist — far more than his younger counterpart in the House, Speaker Paul D. Ryan. So the Senate majority leader’s decision to create a 13-man working group on health care, including staunch conservatives and ardent foes of the Affordable Care Act — but no women — has been widely seen on Capitol Hill as a move to placate the right as Congress decides the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. (Pear, 5/8)
The Associated Press:
Health Care Fight Shifts To Senate, Where GOP Wants A Reboot
It took blood, sweat and tears for Republican leaders to finally push their health care bill through the House last week. Don't expect the process to be less arduous in the Senate, though more of the angst in that more decorous chamber will likely be behind closed doors. (Fram, 5/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Confront Health-Bill Backlash
House Republicans may have won the battle to pass a health-care overhaul, but the fight over public messaging that is now ramping up could be critical to the shape of the bill that emerges from the Senate and to any final compromise. GOP leaders and the Trump administration are urgently trying to tamp down a backlash from Democrats and some Republicans who say the House legislation rolling back and replacing much of the Affordable Care Act would imperil coverage for millions of Americans. (Armour and Peterson, 5/8)
Politico:
White House To Let McConnell Do His Thing On Health Care
The White House is indicating it will take a hands-off approach to the Senate's healthcare work, entrusting Mitch McConnell and his team to come up with the 50 votes needed to replace Obamacare, according to GOP officials and lawmakers. (Everett and Dawsey, 5/8)
And in other news —
Politico:
Left Adopts Shock Tactics In Obamacare Repeal Fight
One newly formed progressive super PAC is planning to cart caskets to Republican lawmakers' districts and hold mock funerals for their constituents. Another activist is encouraging protesters to ship their own ashes — should they die without health care —to GOP lawmakers. And other progressive groups are planning graphic "die-in" protests as they work to derail GOP plans to repeal Obamacare. Democrats, already frothing with anger over losing the White House to Donald Trump, are seething anew over the advancing Republican plan to gut Obamacare. (Vogel and Cheney, 5/9)
Stateline:
Scrapping ‘Essential Benefits’ May Be Biggest Health Care Change
Critics of the Republican health care plan the House passed last week mostly have focused on how it might harm Americans with pre-existing health conditions and poor and disabled people who rely on Medicaid — two vulnerable, but limited, populations. But another change might have more far-reaching effects: eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s “essential health benefits,” or EHBs. That shift could affect almost everybody, including the 156 million Americans who receive health coverage through their employers. (Ollove, 5/9)
The New York Times:
G.O.P. Bill Could Affect Employer Health Coverage, Too
If it becomes law, the American Health Care Act will have the biggest effects on people who buy their own insurance or get coverage through Medicaid. But it also means changes for the far larger employer health system. About half of all Americans get health coverage through work. The bill would make it easier for employers to increase the amount that employees could be asked to pay in premiums, or to stop offering coverage entirely. (Sanger-Katz, 5/9)