San Francisco Chronicle: Future Of ACA Subsidies Is In Limbo, Awaiting Trump Decision
The federal government spends $7 billion a year on these subsidies nationwide, and about $750 million of it goes to help low-income residents of California, like [Adeeba] Deterville. The future of the subsidies is in limbo: A lawsuit challenging the legality of the payments is on hold before a federal appeals court. The outcome is largely in the hands of the Trump administration, which has the power to continue or halt the stream of money. (Ho, 4/11)

Sacramento Bee: California Bill Creates ‘Safe’ Places To Shoot Heroin, Take Opioids 
Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman’s AB 186 would authorize governments in eight counties to test “safe injection sites” in areas with heavy opioid consumption. Adults could bring drugs they had already obtained and use them with clean needles and emergency care available. (Koseff, 4/11)

Reuters: Zenefits Fined By NY Regulator For Unlicensed Insurance Sales
Health benefits broker Zenefits was fined $1.2 million ... for letting unlicensed employees solicit, negotiate and sell insurance policies, the latest regulatory blow for the software startup. Zenefits in 2014 and 2015 engaged in "repeated" violations of the state's insurance law, including failures to maintain adequate compliance controls and train employees, said the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). (Stempel, 4/11)

Fresno Bee: How Safe Is Your Hospital? Only 1 Valley Hospital Earns ‘A’ In National Report Card
Only one Valley hospital earned a top grade for patient safety in a nationwide report card released Wednesday. Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia was one of 823 hospitals nationwide to earn an “A” from the Leapfrog Group, which gave grades to 2,639 hospitals nationwide. The group gives report-card grades to hospitals twice a year, in spring and fall. Kaweah has earned an “A” grade since spring 2015. (Anderson, 4/11)

The Bakersfield Californian: Coming To A Billboard Near You: Valley Fever Awareness Campaign Starts Wednesday
For the first time in decades, the Kern County Department of Public Health will plaster billboards around town and along major highways warning residents of the danger of valley fever, a respiratory disease endemic to the region. The announcement of the billboards – which could begin popping up around town as soon as Wednesday – will come during a press conference Wednesday, when county Public Health officials will also release the final number of valley fever cases in Kern County in 2016. (Pierce, 4/11)

California Healthline: State Lawmakers Seek $2M To Boost Valley Fever Research, Monitoring
New state legislation that would allocate $2 million to support valley fever research and monitoring is the most recent effort to increase awareness of the fungal disease, which is typically mild but can be very dangerous in some cases. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), would take the money from the state’s General Fund and allot it to an already existing valley fever fund operated by the state’s Department of Public Health. The fund supports research for a vaccine to protect against valley fever. The new money would be used to buy research equipment, develop a tracking method and conduct community outreach, according to the text of the legislation. (Ibarra, 4/12)

KPCC: LA County Seeks To Narrow HIV Disparities
On Tuesday the board directed the L.A. County Department of Public Health to report back in 90 days on, among other things, the county's efforts to increase HIV awareness and access to a daily HIV-prevention pill among young black and Latino gay men, American Indians and transgender females. The board also asked for information about the county's strategies to increase viral suppression among those populations. (Plevin, 4/11)

In other public health news —

Modesto Bee: Too Sick For Surgery? Memorial Introduces An Easier Way To Replace A Heart Valve
The newer procedure, called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, was introduced at Memorial last month as an option for older patients who suffer from a common heart condition. Aortic valve stenosis occurs when one of the four valves in the heart becomes calcified with age and narrows. (Carlson, 4/11)

Capital Public Radio: States And Cities Are Fighting Climate Change, With Or Without Nations 
California has long had its own array of ambitious climate change policies. In addition, the state is also one of hundreds of regional and local governments around the world who are collaborating in both formal and informal alliances to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists who study climate change say their efforts could match or exceed those of nations. (Bradford, 4/11)

Ventura County Star: Ventura Forum To Explore Link Between Stress, Illness
The connection between stress and illness will be explored in a free seminar on Wednesday in Ventura. Dr. Lewis Kanter, an allergy and immune system specialist, will talk about the impact of stress on the body's immunities, also exploring whether chronic stress can cause asthma. Board-certified in pediatrics, he will discuss the impact of stress on developing children. (Kisken, 4/11)

Orange County Register: Dental Clinic Claims Filed Against Anaheim, Orange County After Children Fell Ill 
Attorneys representing children who contracted serious mycobacterial infections last year at Children’s Dental Group have filed 58 claims against Anaheim, alleging the city provided contaminated water to the clinic. The claims are a legally required precursor to suing a government agency and must be filed within six months of a person’s injury. (Perkes, 4/11)

In other news from across the state —

East Bay Times: Bay Area Doctor Sentenced To Prison For Tax Evasion
A Bay Area physician’s guilty plea Tuesday means he will serve more than three years in prison and pay more than $5.4 million in restitution over income tax evasion, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said. Napa resident John Compagno, 70, admitted to making a tax preparer turn in corporate and personal returns for the 2005-11 tax years that got what he owed wrong. Because his corporate returns overstated expenses by including $10,679,080 in non-deductible expenses, the taxes due were unfairly lowered by $3,859,060. (Kelly, 4/11)

San Jose Mercury News: Fake Doctor Who Sexually Assaulted Women At Redwood City Hospital Sentenced
The former head of security at Sequoia Hospital was sentenced Tuesday to one year in county jail for sexually assaulting two women he lured to his workplace under the guise of providing physical exams so they could work as models, prosecutors said. (Green, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Says Health-Care Revamp Still Priority Ahead Of Tax Overhaul
President Donald Trump said he would keep pressing to enact a health-care overhaul even if it means delaying another one of his policy goals: revamping the tax code. Last month, House Republicans conceded they didn’t have enough votes to pass their health-care bill, despite an aggressive lobbying effort by the White House. Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans say they haven’t given up and are still working to assemble the votes needed to overturn major pieces of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. (Nicholas and Rubin, 4/11)

The New York Times: What Trump Can Do Without Congress To Dismantle Obamacare
House Republicans left for spring break last week, without reaching a deal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Their bill to overhaul the health care system collapsed on the House floor last month, amid divisions in the caucus. Even without Congress, however, President Trump has the authority to modify important provisions of the health law, including many that House Republicans sought to change or repeal. Here are some examples of actions he could take (or has already taken). (Park and Sanger-Katz, 4/12)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Now, Democrats Attack Republicans For Failing To Protect Obamacare
Seven vulnerable Republican lawmakers are being targeted with $1 million in television spots by a liberal group backed by labor and progressive interests. The ads generally focus on the lawmakers’ apparent support for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the failed House bill that was designed to replace the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. The ad tries to capitalize on the interesting shift in public sentiment about Obamacare, suddenly more popular as it has come under legislative assault by the Trump administration. Let’s walk through the claims in the ad aimed at Issa. (Kessler, 4/12)

In other national health news —

The Associated Press: Pennsylvania Congressman Seen As Likely Pick To Be Drug Czar
The next national drug czar is likely to be a congressman who was an early supporter of President Donald Trump, the head of the Pennsylvania Republican Party said Tuesday. Party chairman Val DiGiorgio said "any day now" he expects an announcement from the White House that four-term U.S. Rep. Tom Marino has been nominated to be the next director of national drug control policy. (4/11)

USA Today: New VA Chief On Public Scrutiny: Bring It
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a new message on public scrutiny: Bring it on. President Trump’s pick to lead the agency, VA Secretary David Shulkin, is unveiling a new web site that will reveal for the first time exactly how care at every VA hospital and clinic across the country compares with nearby private-sector hospitals and national averages. The site set to go live Wednesday, accesstocare.va.gov, also shows if veterans are satisfied with wait times at each facility and how long they are actually waiting on average. (Slack, 4/12)

Stat: Companies And Communities Face Diversity Gap In Clinical Trials
Faced with an urgent need to recruit more patients of color into clinical trials, researchers are trying a flurry of new ideas — including training black pastors in Chicago to serve as recruiters and sending a bus outfitted with exam rooms throughout rural Georgia. The outreach comes from medical schools, pharma companies, tech entrepreneurs, and even the federal government, which aims to recruit a million volunteers willing to share their genetic and health data with the Precision Medicine Initiative. (Blau, 4/11)