Los Angeles Daily News: Strike Averted At LA Hospitals As Supervisors Close Contract Loophole
In April, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors thought they had required all employers contracted by the county for non-medical hospital personnel to provide employer-paid, healthcare benefits. But as it turned out, due to a loophole, healthcare benefits were not added and in some cases, old contracts were extended without these benefits. (Scauzillo, 12/5)

Index-Tribune: Sonoma Valley Hospital, Anthem Blue Cross ‘Far Apart’ In Rate Negotiations 
Sonoma Valley Hospital and Anthem Blue Cross are “far apart” as they negotiate the rates the insurance company pays for services to members, and if an agreement is not reached by Feb. 1 the hospital would be considered out of network, possibly resulting in increased costs. (Johnson, 12/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Trial Begins Over Dr. Nick Yphantides' Disability Discrimination Claims
For the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego County Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nick Yphantides was one of the most visible medical figures representing the county’s response to the disease outbreak. But within about two months, Yphantides stopped appearing publicly, and about a year into the pandemic, he was fired from his position. On Tuesday, attorneys for Yphantides and the County of San Diego gave opening statements in a trial over the reasons for his termination. (Riggins, 12/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: McGrath's Holiday Generosity Continues With $25 Million Gift To UC San Diego Health 
The McGrath Family Foundation is once again helping to build local health care infrastructure with a $25 million contribution to UC San Diego Health. (Sisson, 12/5)

The Bakersfield Californian: U.S. News & World Report Names Bakersfield Memorial Among Best Hospitals For Maternity Care 
Nearly 300 hospitals across the country were rated "high performing" in a new list of the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care compiled by U.S. News & World Report. Sixty-three of the hospitals are in California, and one is in Bakersfield. (Mayer, 12/5)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley’s Mental Health Crisis Team Has Taken More Than 150 Calls Since Sept. 5
Berkeley’s new Specialized Care Unit, which is tasked with taking calls for mental health and substance abuse crises that might otherwise fall to city police and firefighters, has responded to more than 150 such calls since it first rolled out Sept. 5, according to city officials. (Gecan, 12/5)

Times Of San Diego: Supervisors OK Delay On State Law Expanding Mental Health Holds For One Year 
The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted 3-2 to delay for one year enactment of a state law that expands mental health holds, based in part on concerns over training and the additional strain on hospital emergency departments. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 43, which expands the definition of “gravely disabled” in terms of who can be involuntarily held in facilities and receive treatment. (Ireland, 12/5)

Los Angeles Times: Could A Monthly Treatment Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses? 
Scientists have developed an antibody treatment that shows promise in blocking the potentially deadly effects of fentanyl for nearly a month, raising hopes for a new tool to combat overdoses. Tests in animals found that the treatment could effectively block the effects of fentanyl, laying the groundwork for assessing whether the medication will prove effective in humans, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. (Alpert Reyes, 12/5)

NBC News: Doctors May Have Identified A Fetal Fentanyl Exposure Syndrome
At least 10 babies — possibly more than 12 — have been identified with what doctors believe to be a new syndrome related to exposure to fentanyl in the womb. All of the infants have distinctive physical birth defects, such as cleft palate and unusually small heads. ...All were born to mothers who said they'd used street drugs, particularly fentanyl, while they were pregnant. "This is concerning," said Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, the president of the March of Dimes. "As we see these shared characteristics identified, we may be unroofing a real syndrome." (Edwards, 12/5)

The Oaklandside: Oakland Homeless Housing Site Hasn't Had Working Heaters For Years
At a city-owned homeless shelter in downtown Oakland, some rooms haven’t had heat for over three years. The Henry Robinson Center, on 16th and Clay streets, houses up to 137 formerly homeless people at a time in transitional-housing and medical-respite programs. While some rooms have working heaters, others don’t, leaving those residents frigid when the weather gets cold. (Orenstein, 12/5)

CapRadio: Tiny Homes For Unhoused Residents Likely Won’t Be Placed At Cal Expo, After All
Shortly after Governor Gavin Newsom promised in March to deliver 350 tiny homes to Sacramento, local officials said the Cal Expo fairgrounds should house some of the cabin-sized shelters for unhoused residents. “We must use this available and underutilized state asset to house as many people as possible,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg urged in a news release following the governor’s announcement, which was made at Cal Expo. (Nichols, 12/5)

Fresno Bee: D.A. Thein Ho Accuses Sacramento Of Allowing Homeless To Pollute Waterways, Endangering Health
Three months after suing the city of Sacramento over its response to the homeless crisis, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho is accusing city officials of allowing homeless camps to pollute area waterways and endanger public health. (Stanton, 12/5)

Capitol Weekly: With CIRM Funds, UCD Stem Cell ‘Fairy Godmother’ Leads Fight Against Spina Bifida 
The California stem cell agency had a $9 million moment last week that involved a “stem cell fairy godmother,” two English bulldogs named Darla and Spanky, four lambs and a baby from Texas named Robbie. While it took the agency only moments to hand out the $9 million, it took the fairy godmother more than 25 years to make it happen. Meet Diana L. Farmer, the fairy godmother and the world’s first female fetal surgeon. “I take care of my patients in the womb,” she says. (Jensen, 12/5)

The Mercury News: Santa Clara County Social Workers Publicly Rebuke County's Child Welfare Agency
In an extraordinary show of force, Santa Clara County social workers spoke out against their own agency Tuesday during a county Board of Supervisors meeting, criticizing leaders for “family preservation” practices that left Phoenix Castro in the care of her father despite drug problems and other red flags that led to the three-month-old San Jose baby’s death. More than two dozen social workers and their supervisors shared emotional accounts of being hamstrung in protecting children from drug-addicted parents by policies that emphasize keeping families together over removing abused or neglected children from their parents. Some broke down in tears. (Sulek and Nickerson, 12/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: City Attorney Sues Online E-Cigarette Retailers For Online Sales To SF
The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office has sued three California e-cigarette retailers for allegedly selling flavored vapes online to consumers in San Francisco, which violates a local law banning the sale of such products in the city. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday and announced Tuesday, seeks to stop the companies from selling the products, as well as civil penalties and attorneys’ fees. (Ho, 12/5)

Los Angeles Times: 2nd Student Brings Loaded Firearm Onto Redondo Beach Campus 
A 10th-grader was arrested Tuesday after bringing a loaded firearm onto the campus of a Redondo Beach high school, officials say. The same thing happened Monday. Classes at Redondo Union High School will be canceled Wednesday after the second incident in as many days in which a student brought a loaded weapon to school, officials said. Tuesday’s incident included a false report of a school shooting. (Childs, 12/5)

Military.com: Thousands Of Troops May Be Caught In Medical Debt. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Wants The Pentagon To Find Out How Many
The Pentagon isn't tracking medical debt among troops despite federal recommendations that it should, and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's personnel panel, wants to change that. Warren has been pressing the Pentagon for an update on medical debt and wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in March asking about recommendations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, that called for better collection of the data to safeguard service members' financial stability and credit ratings. (Kime, 12/4)

AP: The Air Force Is Expanding A Review Of Cancers For Service Members Who Worked With Nuclear Missiles
The Air Force is expanding its study of whether service members who worked with nuclear missiles have had unusually high rates of cancer after a preliminary review determined that a deeper examination is needed. The initial study was launched in response to reports that many who served are now ill. The Air Force isn’t making its initial findings of cancer numbers public for a month or so, but released its initial assessment Monday that more review is necessary. (Copp, 12/4)

The Spokesman-Review: Army Veteran Files Lawsuit Alleging VA Computer System Delayed Cancer Diagnosis 
An Eastern Washington veteran and his wife are suing the federal government and the companies behind a computer system the Department of Veterans Affairs has tested in Spokane, alleging that flaws in the system delayed the diagnosis of cancer that became terminal before it could be treated. Chewelah resident Charlie Bourg and his wife, Deborah Brinson, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington on Friday. They are seeking unspecified monetary damages from the government and the companies that have developed the electronic health record system — including Cerner, to which the VA awarded a $10 billion contract in 2018, and Oracle, which acquired Cerner for $28.3 billion in 2022. (Smith, 12/5)

The Washington Post: Mpox Surge In Congo Raises Fears World Will Ignore Warnings Again 
A surge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo has raised concerns of another global outbreak with more deaths than the one ignited last year, prompting scientists to worry the world will again fail to recognize warnings from Africa. For the first time, scientists have identified sexual transmission of a version of the mpox virus that is linked to more fatalities in a region where mpox is endemic and more typically transmitted through contact with infected animals. (Nirappil and Sun, 12/6)

USA Today: GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville Caves On Military Holds Over Abortion Policy
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade on military promotions that stretched over 10 months has come to an end. The Alabama lawmaker, who has been protesting a Pentagon policy on abortion since February, told reporters Tuesday he will be lifting holds on military promotions for nominees three-stars and below. The blockade has prevented more than 400 military jobs from being filled. "It's been a long fight. We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military," he said Tuesday. (Looker, 12/5)

Axios: Biden Pushed To Strengthen Free Birth Control Coverage Under ACA
Democrats and reproductive rights organizations are putting renewed pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that health insurers fully cover contraception, citing fresh evidence that companies are failing to meet the Affordable Care Act requirement. (Reed, 12/6)

Axios: CVS Drug Pricing Overhaul Signals Broader Industry Shift
CVS Health's new plan to make the way it prices prescription drugs more predictable is the latest shift by pharmacy giants to overhaul their business models amid increasing pressure from policymakers and industry upstarts. More transparent pricing that's more closely tied to the base cost of a drug could drive down how much consumers and insurers pay for some medicines. (Reed, 12/6)

Stat: CVS Drug Pricing Plan May Not Lower Costs For Consumers
CVS Health is promising to simplify how its pharmacies get paid for drugs. But that doesn’t mean the drugs will get cheaper. The country’s biggest pharmacy chain said it’s switching to a system where pharmacy benefit managers, employers, and other insurers pay for drugs based on the cost of the drug plus a set markup and dispensing fee. (Bannow, 12/5)

USA Today: Drug Coupons Targeted In Court Ruling, Leaving Patients In The Lurch
Millions of Americans with robust health insurance rely on drug company coupons or discount cards to fill expensive prescriptions for chronic health conditions. But those offerings may soon be limited in the wake of legal challenges and upcoming changes to federal regulations. ... These coupons and discount cards have effectively made prescription meds affordable for consumers with chronic medical conditions, according to patient advocacy groups. (Alltucker, 12/6)

Stat: Medicare's Role In Drug Shortages Gets A Closer Look In The Senate
Members of the Senate Finance Committee took their first steps today toward using Medicare payment policy to fix drug shortages. (Wilkerson, 12/5)