VC Star: Pediatric Unit At Ventura's Community Memorial Will Close In October
Low patient numbers, staffing challenges and other barriers will close an inpatient pediatric care unit born more than 25 years ago at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura. (Kisken, 8/29)

inewsource: $56M In CA Loans Headed To Imperial County Hospitals
Imperial County’s two hospitals will receive a combined $56 million in state loans under funding announced last week. The El Centro Regional Medical Center and Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley each were granted $28 million under the recently created Distressed Hospital Loan Program. That’s the third-largest amount granted Thursday, behind the $33.2 million awarded to the Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside and $29 million given to the Dameron Hospital in Stockton. (Bowman, 8/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD Launches Gene Therapy Initiative With $5 Million Gift 
A newly announced $5 million donation to UC San Diego that will support a new gene therapy initiative illustrates the value of making good on big promises. (Sisson, 8/29)

Reuters: Exclusive: Walmart Cuts Pharmacist Pay, Hours While Workload Piles Up
Walmart is asking some of its 16,000 pharmacists across the U.S. to voluntarily take pay cuts by reducing their working hours in a bid to lower costs, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The cuts, which haven't been previously reported and are aimed at pharmacists in higher wage brackets, highlight the new pressures at Walmart pharmacies, where shoppers are lining up to buy weight-loss drugs that drag on profits, despite their high price. (Cavale, 8/29)

Modern Healthcare: Google Widens Access To Generative AI Model Med-PaLM 2
Google Cloud, the big tech’s company’s cloud arm, is adding more organizations to test its large language model for healthcare, the company said Tuesday. The model, named Med-PaLM 2, will be made available as a preview to an unspecified number of additional Google Cloud healthcare and life sciences customers. (Perna, 8/29)

Modern Healthcare: MOVEit Data Breach Hit John Hopkins, Other Providers In 2023: Emsisoft
A sweeping series of data breaches involving the file transfer software product MOVEit has affected at least 88 provider organizations. ... “This isn't simply people's logins, passwords or even social security numbers,” said Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft. “It’s a mix of health records, legal records stolen from law firms, information stolen from government, information stolen from banks, so it really is cross sector and a huge variety of data.” (Turner, 8/29)

Fresno Bee: State Knew Of Fresno Lab Issues Before It Moved To Reedley 
A collection of emails detailing Fresno city code enforcement concerns about a suspicious medical research lab indicates that state agencies had been alerted to the facility, and hazardous chemicals stored there, in the fall of 2022, even before the company closed and moved to Reedley in December. (Sheehan, 8/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Another COVID Wave Is Gripping California. Here's Next Booster Timing
The late summer COVID-19 wave is gaining momentum in California. Over the past month, hospitalizations jumped by nearly 81%, rising from a daily average of 186 admissions to 336, according to state health department data published Friday. The state’s test positivity rate is also up to 13.2% after falling as low as 3.4% at the beginning of the summer. (Vaziri, 8/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Why The New Covid Variant ‘Pirola’ Is Different 
BA.2.86—dubbed “pirola” by a group of scientists on social media who name notable variants—has been detected in only about a dozen people, but it has surfaced in all corners of the world. What’s troubling about this variant, scientists say, is that it contains more than 30 mutations on the spike protein, which is what helps the virus enter cells and cause an infection. This means it might be able to evade current vaccines and previous infections more easily, and it likely won’t be a great match with the fall booster expected to be approved soon.“It’s drastically different” than the dominant variants circulating now, says Katelyn Jetelina, a scientific adviser to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and author of the “Your Local Epidemiologist” newsletter. (Reddy, 8/28)

ABC News: Trump's Former Health Adviser Believes Current COVID Response Is Falling Behind
At least one expert is urging the country to take COVID more seriously – Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator under former President Donald Trump. Birx spoke to ABC News’ podcast “START HERE” about why she says the government is living in “a bit of a fantasy world" when it comes to the COVID-19 response. Birx also explains why she believes that the next month's vaccine booster is coming weeks too late and is arguing that seasonal booster shots should be made available more quickly. She also addressed criticism she didn’t combat misinformation from Trump during her time in the White House. (8/29)

U.S. News & World Report: These Are The Top 25 COVID Hot Spots In The U.S.
Here are the counties with the highest rates of COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people. (Wolf, 8/29)

CIDRAP: Long-COVID Patients With Severe Fatigue Report Little Relief By 20 Months
Patients diagnosed as having long COVID and myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) reported that most symptoms remained severe up to 20 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, while those with long COVID alone reported improvement, according to a recent observational study in eClinicalMedicine. (Van Beusekom, 8/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Marc Benioff: Dreamforce Could Leave S.F. If Affected By Homelessness
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said that the future of his company’s huge Dreamforce conference in San Francisco could be jeopardized if it’s affected by the city’s homelessness and drug use challenges next month. Dreamforce is the city’s biggest convention and will bring 40,000 people to Moscone Center from Sept. 12 to 14. (Li and Fagan, 8/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Eyes Mid-Market For Mental Health Center
San Francisco is contemplating buying a mostly vacant building in the city’s Mid-Market neighborhood and converting it into a mental health center for homeless and uninsured residents. Previously, the century-old building, at 1019 Market St., had for eight years housed the headquarters of tech company Zendesk, which abandoned the seven-story building two years ago. (Barned-Smith, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. City Council Backs Effort To Regulate 'Vanlords' Who Rent RVs To Homeless People 
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday backed an effort to regulate the leasing of RVs and crack down on so-called vanlords who rent them to homeless people. The council voted 12 to 0 in favor of directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would amend city code to include RVs among the types of vehicles that people are prohibited from leasing and renting while parked on public streets and other public spaces. (Esquivel, 8/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Study On SF Tenderloin Center Shows How To Prevent Drug Overdoses
On Tuesday, the International Journal of Drug Policy published a new study on San Francisco’s controversial Tenderloin Center, a drop-in hub for social services that included a place for people to use drugs. During the 46 weeks it was open last year, 333 overdoses were reversed, and no one died on site. (Bishari, 8/29)

NPR: As Teen Fentanyl Deaths Rise, Schools Grapple With Their Role
"[Fentanyl's] infiltration into schools is certainly something that cannot be ignored," says Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. LAUSD is one of the largest districts to stock naloxone, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses, throughout its schools. "We cannot close our eyes. We cannot look the other way," he says. (Nadworny and Gaines, 8/30)

The Mercury News: 3-Month-Old Infant And Two San Jose Teenagers Dead From Fentanyl Poisoning
In less than 30 days, two teenage girls and a three-month old infant were declared dead from acute fentanyl poisoning in San Jose this spring, among the youngest deaths attributed to the powerful opioid in Santa Clara County as officials in several Bay Area counties deal with alarming death counts. (Nickerson, 8/29)

Axios: Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiations May Have A Limited Impact At First
Depending on who you ask, the first-ever Medicare drug negotiations announced yesterday will either mean huge pocketbook relief for seniors or the demise of America's pharmaceutical industry — but the immediate impact will likely be relatively small, experts told Axios. (Owens, 8/30)

Axios: What Medicare Spends On Drugs It Will Soon Negotiate
The Biden administration says the 10 medicines selected for the first round of negotiations cost Medicare $50 billion in the last year. The blood thinner Eliquis, made by Bristol Myers Squibb and taken by 3.7 million Medicare enrollees, cost the federal government more than $16 billion between June 2022 and May 2023. (Goldman, 8/30)

The Washington Post: Pharma Companies Say Medicare Drug Negotiations Cost Them, But Stocks Rose 
Drugmakers unleashed a broadside at the Inflation Reduction Act as Medicare on Tuesday unveiled the first 10 drugs to face price caps under the law, but most affected companies won’t feel the sting for years. In one measure of the law’s projected impact, seven companies that each own at least one of the selected drugs saw their stock prices jump as trading began on Wall Street, and most ended the day in positive territory. Most of the drugs are already expected to face competition from cheaper generic versions within two years of the price caps taking effect in 2026, meaning the law will only slightly quicken the decline of their earnings. (Gilbert, 8/29)

The Hill: Unexpected Drugs Make First Round Of Medicare Negotiations 
A few of the choices announced Tuesday were not foreseen by the projections. Entresto, a heart failure medication made by Novartis that was named by CMS on Tuesday for negotiation, had not shown up in projections. Up until recently, Medicare claims data had not indicated Entresto as being among the highest cost drugs covered by Part D, but use of the drug has risen substantially in recent years according to the company, which allowed it to anticipate CMS’s ultimate decision. (Choi, 8/29)

CNBC: Medicare Pricing Deal To Play Key Role In Biden 2024 Campaign Pitch
President Joe Biden is placing a priority on reducing individual health-care costs as he seeks reelection in a country where medical spending accounts for 18.3% of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Kinery, 8/29)

Politico: ‘Go After It’: GOP Strategists Say Republicans Need To Hit Biden On Drug Pricing
As President Joe Biden touts the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price talks, Republicans are searching for their own message that would resonate with voters on the downsides of his signature domestic achievement. Piggybacking on the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy, Republicans are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, several strategists say. (King, 8/29)

KVPR: Kern County Maternal Mortality At The Center Of A State Medical Board Meeting
Kern County’s pregnancy-related mortality rate is one of the highest in the state. After years of working to raise awareness about the issue, family members of local mothers and babies who died during childbirth have caught the attention of the state medical board. The Medical Board of California is the licensing body for the state’s doctors. The agency also investigates malpractice and takes positions for or against legislation. Its board meets every quarter, virtually or sometimes in person in Sacramento, Los Angeles or San Francisco. (Klein, 8/29)

The New York Times: Republican Women, Fearing Backlash On Abortion, Pivot To Birth Control 
She had barely opened her town hall to questions when Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from a competitive district in Iowa, was pressed to defend her opposition to abortion rights. “One of the main functions of the federal government is to protect life,” Ms. Miller-Meeks, who won election in 2020 by just six votes, told a sparse crowd this month in Iowa City, a younger, more progressive part of her district where she rarely campaigns. (Karni, 8/30)

CalMatters: California Could Decriminalize Psychedelics, Mushrooms
Psychedelics are having a moment. A nationwide push to bring magic mushrooms and other psychedelics into the mainstream is gaining traction, and some Californians want in. While hallucinogens are often associated with the drug culture of the 1960s, today’s movement on psychedelics is largely about using them to help treat the nations’ ballooning mental health crisis. Growing research portrays the drugs as a promising tool in helping people heal from various mental illnesses, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. (Ibarra, 8/30)

CalMatters: Psychedelics Have 3 Paths To Going Mainstream In California. Here’s What You Need To Know
Psychedelics are having a moment. A nationwide push to bring magic mushrooms and other psychedelics into the mainstream is gaining traction, and some Californians want in. (Ibarra, 8/30)

The New York Times: Cannabis Use Disorder ‘Common’ Among Marijuana Users, Study Finds 
More than one-fifth of people who use cannabis struggle with dependency or problematic use, according to a study published on Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open. The research found that 21 percent of people in the study had some degree of cannabis use disorder, which clinicians characterize broadly as problematic use of cannabis that leads to a variety of symptoms, such as recurrent social and occupational problems, indicating impairment and distress. In the study, 6.5 percent of users suffered moderate to severe disorder. (Richtel, 8/29)

The Washington Post: Canada Travel Advisory Warns LGBTQ People Of U.S. State Laws 
Canada has updated its travel advisory for the United States to warn LGBTQ travelers that they are at risk of being affected by state and local laws, amid a recent surge in state-level legislation targeting the community. (Li, 8/30)

Bay Area Reporter: LGBTQ Agenda: Lara Responds To Report Finding Insurers Making PrEP Access More Difficult 
Gay California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's office is responding to a report showing how insurers prevent patients from using preventative care mandated under federal law, including PrEP. The report, issued August 4 from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, also outlines six ways government regulators can improve access to preventative services. (Ferrannini, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: Dementia Risk Grows With Increased Exposure To Air Pollution 
Long-term exposure to one of the most prevalent types of air pollution may increase the risk of developing dementia, a debilitating neurological disease associated with memory loss and reduced cognitive function, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that people living with higher levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, could face a greater risk of being stricken with dementia, according to a study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. (Briscoe, 8/29)

CBS News: Dirty Air Is Biggest External Threat To Human Health, Worse Than Tobacco Or Alcohol, Major Study Finds
Air pollution is more dangerous to the health of the average person on planet Earth than smoking or alcohol, with the threat worsening in its global epicenter South Asia even as China quickly improves, a benchmark study showed Tuesday. Yet the level of funding set aside to confront the challenge is a fraction of the amount earmarked for fighting infectious diseases, said the research from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, known as EPIC. (8/29)

CalMatters: As California Closes Prisons, Correctional Officers Land A $1 Billion Contract With Raises And More
Thousands of California correctional officers are in line to get $10,000 bonuses through a new contract their union negotiated with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration as the state prepares to close several prisons. (Lyons, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: For California's Dwarf Community, The Fight Over Wrestling Is Bigger Than A Word 
The Bay Area is the birthplace of the disability rights movement and home to one of the largest dwarf populations in the country. (Sharp, 8/29)