KP Health Workers Plan Large Strike Next Week: More than 31,000 union nurses and hospital staff across several states, including California, have sent a strike notice to Kaiser Permanente indicating their intent to walk off their jobs with the Oakland-based health care system on Oct. 14. Read more from The Mercury News and Becker’s Hospital Review.
Nobel Prize In Physics Awarded To Trio With Ties To UC Berkeley: John Clarke, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on quantum tunneling. Clarke shared the prize with two other physicists, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, who at the time of their prize-winning research were at UC Berkeley. Devoret is now at Yale University and UC Santa Barbara, while Martinis is at UC Santa Barbara. Clarke's related work has been applied in some biomedical uses. Read more from UC Berkeley News and AP.
Plus: The San Francisco scientist who won the Nobel Prize in medicine had to be tracked down off-grid.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KFF Health News’ Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Becker's Hospital Review:
Corona Regional To Close Labor And Delivery
Southwest Healthcare Corona (Calif.) Regional Medical Center is set to close maternity services (labor and delivery) effective Jan. 30, according to a hospital statement shared with Becker’s. The final day of patient care will be Jan. 23. The hospital, which is part of King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, attributed the decision to “the declining birth rate in the county over the past few years, a trend which is expected to continue.” (Gooch, 10/6)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Issues Masking Order For Some Health Care Workers
Sonoma County’s top health official on Monday issued a mandatory masking requirement for certain health care facilities, a move aimed at curbing the spread of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses during the fall and winter months. (Espinoza, 10/6)
The Modesto Bee:
UnitedHealthcare Ends Medicare Plans In Stanislaus County
UnitedHealthcare will discontinue its Medicare managed-care plans in Stanislaus County, effective Jan. 1.A few thousand Medicare recipients covered by UnitedHealthcare will need to sign up with another insurer to continue Medicare Advantage benefits. (Carlson, 10/6)
Modern Healthcare:
Physician Pay Trends: On-Call Requirements Becoming Nonnegotiable
Physician pay is increasing, largely through sign-on bonuses, but higher salaries alone often aren’t enough to retain physicians or attract top-tier talent. Advanced technology, paid time off and compensation for on-call requirements are just a few of the demands incoming physicians have for potential employers, according to respondents to Modern Healthcare’s 2025 Physician Compensation Survey. This year’s results reflect data from nine staffing and consulting firms, indicating that the trend of rising physician compensation isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. (DeSilva, 10/6)
MedPage Today:
These Physicians Are More Likely To Leave Clinical Practice
Physician attrition increased across the board from 2013 to 2019, but some physician and patient characteristics were linked to higher rates, a longitudinal study found. The unadjusted rate of clinical practice attrition increased from 3.5% in 2013 to 4.9% in 2019 (rate difference 1.4 percentage points, 95% CI 1.3-1.4 percentage points), reported Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA, MSc, of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues. (Robertson, 10/6)
Phys.org:
Health Care Workers Turn To AI To Reduce Electronic Paperwork Burnout
A Yale School of Medicine-led research group, working with six US health systems, reports an association between a single ambient AI scribe platform and lower short-term burnout among ambulatory clinicians. ... Among 186 participants included in the burnout models, the proportion meeting the burnout threshold fell from 51.9% to 38.8% after 30 days. ... A sensitivity analysis using a severe burnout cutoff of four showed a reduction from 18.4% to 12.2%. (Jackson, 10/6)
Becker's Hospital Review:
The Future-Proof Approach To AI For Health Systems
Hospitals are grappling with how to integrate artificial intelligence in a way that drives value without overwhelming clinicians or creating new risks. At Stanford Medicine, CIO Dr. Michael Pfeffer has taken a deliberate approach to democratizing AI and transforming the workforce. ... The health system developed a course called AI Foundations – AI 101 – to teach non-IT experts about AI in a sandbox environment and generate ideas to automate at scale. One of the organization’s recent developments, ChatEHR, came from the course. (Dyrda, 10/6)
CalMatters:
California Braces For ‘Devastating’ Federal Homeless Housing Cuts
The latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness looms: President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to deeply cut federal funding for permanent housing. (Kendall, 10/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fight Over Sober Homeless Housing In SF Isn’t Over. Here’s What's Next
After Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill meant to expand drug-free housing for homeless people across California, San Francisco politicians and activists criticized the move, saying it would set back their efforts to push sobriety amid a devastating fentanyl epidemic. Now, a supervisor is pressing ahead with his yearslong push to make it happen in San Francisco in the wake of Newsom’s veto. (Angst, 10/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Change In COVID-19 And Chickenpox Vaccine Recommendations
The new acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced changes to the recommended vaccination schedule for adults against COVID-19 and for kids against chickenpox. The changes were expected and were already previewed by recommendations made two weeks ago by the CDC’s powerful Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. All members of the committee were recently replaced after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired everyone on the previous panel earlier this year. (Lin II, 10/6)
NBC News:
Acting CDC Director Calls To 'Break Up' The Measles, Mumps And Rubella Vaccine Into Three Shots
Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill on Monday called on vaccine manufacturers to develop separate shots for measles, mumps and rubella instead of the current vaccine, which combines the three. O’Neill wrote in a post on X that manufacturers should replace the MMR vaccine with “safe monovalent vaccines,” which only target one virus. His statement referenced a recent comment from President Donald Trump, who advised people last month on Truth Social to “break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.” (Bendix, 10/6)
NPR:
Psychiatrists Call For RFK Jr. To Be Replaced As Health Secretary
Psychiatrists have joined other public health groups in calling for the removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. Two psychiatry organizations — the Southern California Psychiatry Society and the recently formed grassroots Committee to Protect Public Mental Health — have released statements saying that the actions of the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services have increased stigma, instilled fear and hurt access to mental health and addiction care. (Chatterjee, 10/6)
The Sacramento Bee:
Roseville Man First West Nile Death In Placer County Of 2025
Placer County health officials announced Monday that a Roseville man has died of West Nile virus, the first death in that area from the mosquito-borne disease and the fifth in California. (Anderson, 10/6)
Voice of San Diego:
Farmers Say Supervisor’s Sewage Efforts Cost Them Their Livelihood
For more than two decades, small-scale farmers and community gardeners have grown fresh fruits and vegetables, native plants, flowers and other produce at the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden, a 20-acre complex of publicly owned farmland adjacent to the Tijuana River near the U.S.-Mexico border. The complex of quarter-acre farms and 30-foot-by-30-foot garden plots supports more than 200 local families and a handful of small farm businesses. Aspiring gardeners wait years for a spot. Members describe the garden as a lifeline of beauty, community and healthy food. (Hinch, 10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Fire After Fire, L.A. County Keeps Promising But Fails To Fix Failures
Agencies across Los Angeles County were “overwhelmed.” The Emergency Operations Center was “largely ineffective” in maintaining situational awareness. ... These were the troubling findings of a sweeping report that examined the performance of L.A. County fire, sheriff, and emergency management agencies in the wake of the 2018 Woolsey fire, which burned 1,100 structures across L.A. and killed three people. (Jarvie, 10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Signs Of Reading Troubles, Dyslexia Can Be Spotted As Early As Kindergarten
This year, for the first time, California schools will be screening kindergarteners, first- and second-graders for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, under a state mandate signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023. Such early identification of reading struggles is key to getting young children the needed interventions before they fall too far behind. California — with reading scores below the national average — is the 40th state to mandate such a screening. (Gold, 10/7)
KQED:
New California Law Gives Early Educators A Seat On Teacher Standards Board
For the first time ever, early childhood educators will have a seat on the influential board that sets standards for public school teachers across California. Under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, Oct. 1, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s 15 voting members will include two who have experience and expertise in the early years. (Nguyen, 10/6)
The Sacramento Bee:
When Will California Start To Really Feel The Pain From The Federal Shutdown?
When will Californians, in and out of government, really start to feel the pain from the federal shutdown? It’s coming, if the shutdown persists more than another week or two. (Lightman, 10/6)
AP:
Trump Says He's Open To Shutdown Deal With Democrats
President Donald Trump cracked the door slightly to negotiations with Democrats on the health care subsidies they’ve made central to the shutdown fight, then abruptly closed it Monday, leaving the two sides once again at a seemingly intractable impasse. ... But Trump later followed up those comments on his social media site to reinforce what GOP leaders in Congress have been saying: The shutdown must end. And work on extending the enhanced tax credits for health insurance would take place separately. (Freking and Min Kim, 10/7)
The Hill:
Mike Johnson Says House Has Time To Negotiate Affordable Care Act Subsidies
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued Monday the end-of-year deadline to extend subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is an “eternity” away.“ We have effectively three months to negotiate. In the White House and in the halls of Congress, that’s like an eternity,” Johnson told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali. The subsidies ... expire at the end of December. But open enrollment in most states begins Nov. 1, and insurers could increase premiums if they anticipate the subsidies will expire. (Rego, 10/6)
Fierce Healthcare:
CMS Could Ease Rising ACA Premiums, But Only If Gov Reopens
The looming expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies is at the center of the ongoing government shutdown, with Republicans now pushing to reopen and negotiate a potential extension afterward. Mehmet Oz, M.D., administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, echoed that sentiment in an appearance at the Aspen Institute on Monday afternoon, calling the government shutdown a "public health emergency." (Minemyer, 10/6)