Los Angeles Times: Trump's Order To Cut Off Funding To Sanctuary Cities Could Threaten L.A. Fire Relief
As Los Angeles rebuilds from a devastating wildfire that destroyed swaths of Pacific Palisades, the city’s access to federal money could be imperiled by one of President Trump’s first-day immigration actions targeting “sanctuary cities.” An executive order that Trump signed Monday, shortly after he was sworn in, directs federal officials to take actions “to ensure that so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds.” (Barboza, 1/22)

Axios: LA Wildfires: What's Missing From AQI
The air quality index (AQI) in many LA regions looks good, but that doesn't mean the air is safe. The AQI in your weather app doesn't account for all pollutants caused by wildfires. AQI wasn't set up to monitor ash falling from the sky. (Mallenbaum, 1/21)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: The Ash Left Behind By The Los Angeles Wildfires Might Be Toxic, Experts Warn 
Toni Boucher threw up the first time she saw the charred remains of her home and neighborhood after this month’s deadly Los Angeles-area wildfires. Now she wonders if it’s worth it to go back to sift through the ashes and try to find her grandmother’s wedding ring. It’s not just that she’s worried about the trauma she experienced from seeing the destruction in Altadena, where Boucher, 70, has lived for decades. She is also concerned about possible health risks. (Walling, 1/21)

News-Medical.Net: Climate Change Is Fueling A Neurological Health Crisis, Experts Warn
In a recent perspective piece published in the journal Nature Reviews Neurology, a team of scientists explored the relationship between climate change and neurological health, focusing on how rising temperatures and environmental changes impact brain function, especially during sleep and in cases of stroke and epilepsy. (Sidharthan, 1/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Taps Regional Health Plan President
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has appointed Wendy Watson as president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of the Northwest, effective Feb. 16. Ms. Watson has been with Kaiser for more than three decades, most recently serving as COO of the system's Northwest region. Her previous leadership roles include vice president of ambulatory care and clinical services, and senior director of primary care and behavioral health. (Bean, 1/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: U Of California Health Saves $15M With Cardiac Surgery Consortium
The University of California's five medical centers have collected and pooled cardiac surgery data for more than a decade, allowing the system to streamline care and improve financial margins. Subsequent data analysis has resulted in 132 bed days saved and a financial margin improvement of about $15 million. The University of California Cardiac Surgery Consortium was founded by Richard Shemin, MD, in 2012. Each center in the consortium uploads clinical data every quarter, which Biome Analytics then analyzes for single-site and systemwide outcomes, according to a Jan. 17 news release from Los Angeles-based UCLA Health. (Gregerson, 1/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Why Valley Children's Posts Quality Data Outside Of Starbucks
At Valley Children's Hospital in Madera, Calif., quality metrics are on full display for everyone to see — even in front of the Starbucks within the hospital walls. This level of transparency is central to creating a culture of continuous quality improvement and shared accountability, according to David Christensen, MD, senior vice president, chief physician executive and president of Valley Children's Medical Group. (Carbajal, 1/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Hospitals Have Lost Nearly 30% Of Pediatric Units Since 2008
Between 2008 and 2022, U.S. hospitals closed nearly one-third of pediatric inpatient units, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. This shrinking availability of hospital beds could lead to longer wait times at emergency departments, delays in care and increased medical costs, the study's authors said. For example, during the 2022-2023 "tripledemic" — a surge in flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus cases increased — access to care was significantly impaired. (Twenter, 1/21)

MedPage Today: Physician Content Creators Weigh In On TikTok's Uncertain Future
Promises of a TikTok ban have loomed over the popular video app for months, and a brief pause in operations this weekend gave millions a taste of what a full ban would entail. Several popular physician content creators who post videos on multiple social media sites, including TikTok, told MedPage Today why they're staunchly opposed to a TikTok ban, noting that it would result in the loss of an outlet for sharing information and dispelling rampant misinformation. (Robertson, 1/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: ASRA Pain Medicine Releases New Guidelines To Curb SSIs
On Jan. 20, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine published updated recommendations aimed at reducing infectious complications associated with regional anesthesia and interventional pain procedures. The organization has been working on these new guidelines since 2020. (Twenter, 1/21)

Bay Area News Group: San Jose Is 5 Months Late Adopting State Auditor's Homelessness Recommendations
Last April, a scathing state audit found San Jose had failed to adequately track the more than $300 million it spent combatting homelessness over the previous three years as the number of unhoused residents grew. Now, the city is almost five months late in adopting auditors’ recommendations to ensure its spending is helping solve the crisis. (Varian, 1/22)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County Farmers Say $10 Million Government Bird Flu Compensation Is Inadequate 
Last winter’s bird flu outbreak forced Sonoma County poultry farmers to euthanize 1.2 million birds and destroy many millions of ready-for-market eggs. A year later, the industry is just beginning to steady itself. (Barber, 1/21)

The Washington Post: Trump Officials Pause Health Agencies’ Communications, Citing Review
The Trump administration has instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts, according to nearly a dozen current and former officials and other people familiar with the matter. The instructions were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the Department of Health and Human Services, including officials at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, one day after the new administration took office. (Sun, Diamond and Roubein, 1/22)

The New York Times: U.S. Orders Federal D.E.I. Efforts To Shut Down By Wednesday Night
The Trump administration on Tuesday ordered that officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies be placed on leave and to take steps to close their offices by Wednesday evening. In a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the heads of departments and agencies were ordered to purge such officials by placing all D.E.I. staff on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, by 5 p.m. Wednesday, and to make plans for staff reductions by the end of the day on Jan. 31. (Green, 1/22)

Bay Area News Group: Trump's Gender Executive Order A "Full Erasure" On Transgender Rights, California Advocates Say
With California’s arsenal of legal protections, transgender high schooler Benny Ouros is hoping the Golden State can fend off the impacts of President Trump’s first day executive order that leans into the country’s culture wars, dismantling gender identity policies and recognizing only two sexes. But he’s worried nonetheless. (Sulek and Gibbs, 1/22)

The Guardian: Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht, Founder Of Silk Road Drug Marketplace 
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the illegal online drug marketplace the Silk Road. Ulbricht has been incarcerated since 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the underground market where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200m in illicit trade using bitcoin. ... “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous,” the president said in a Truth Social post. (1/21)

Politico: AI Order Fizzles
The health tech industry is breathing a little sigh of relief after President Donald Trump revoked former President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence Monday. The repeal isn’t likely to have a big impact. But some in the health industry had been worried about future implications of Biden’s 2023 executive order, which, among other things, required companies with models trained using enormous computing power to regularly send detailed reports to federal regulators, regardless of the company’s size. (Reader, Paun, Payne and Schumaker, 1/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: California, S.F. Sue Over Trump Order Ending Birthright Citizenship
President Donald Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship — the right of U.S.-born children of immigrants to be U.S. citizens, work, vote and avoid deportation — was immediately challenged Tuesday by California, 17 other states and the city of San Francisco, saying it has been guaranteed in the Constitution since 1868. (Egelko, 1/21)

The New York Times: Undocumented Women Fear For Unborn Children After Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
Andrea Chavez, who arrived in the United States illegally almost two decades ago, gave birth to a baby girl last year in Maryland. Within days, the child had a Social Security number. Ms. Chavez’s cousin Maria Calderas, who is undocumented and just a few months into her own pregnancy, faces the prospect that her child will not be able to secure the same citizenship rights that her niece now has. (Jordan, 1/21)

The New York Times: Change To Birthright Citizenship Would Affect Visa Holders, Too 
President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to many temporary residents of the United States — not just those in the country illegally — must be denied automatic citizenship, a dramatic rejection of rights that have been part of the Constitution for more than 150 years.If the courts do not block the order, babies born to women living legally, but temporarily, in the United States — such as people studying on a student visa or workers hired by high-tech companies — will not automatically be recognized by the federal government as U.S. citizens if the father is also not a permanent resident. (Shear, 1/21)

The 19th: What Trump's Immigration Executive Orders Could Mean For Domestic Violence Victims
Just a day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders aimed at restricting immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones” where undocumented immigrants were protected from deportation. Some immigrant rights advocates are particularly worried that this could deter women experiencing domestic abuse from going to women’s shelters, which will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement (ICE). (Kutz, 1/21)

Politico: Democrats Press VA Secretary Nominee On Abortion, Project 2025 
Abortion politics took center stage at the Tuesday morning confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, was asked more than once by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Democrats whether he would roll back a Biden administration rule allowing the agency to provide abortion counseling and, in some cases, the procedure itself. (Leonard, 1/21)

Military Times: VA Secretary Nominee Promises More Medical Care Options And Upgrades
Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Doug Collins on Tuesday pledged to be a fierce defender of the department’s workforce and operations if confirmed to the department leadership role, but also said health care delivery must evolve for the agency to stay relevant for veterans in the future. “Veterans will always be able to use the health care system, the issue is how we make it better,” he said. “We don’t do the same things 40 years ago that we do today. Our newer veterans deserve every access to finding care where they can.” (Shane III, 1/21)

The Washington Post: Democrats Move To Protect Medicaid, Wary Of Trump’s Looming Changes
Liberal lawmakers and advocates are moving to shield the Medicaid program from potential cuts under the Trump administration, pledging to resist major changes to the safety-net health program that more than 70 million Americans depend on for coverage. Protect Our Care, an advocacy group aligned with Democrats, on Tuesday will launch a $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign that highlights how the program helps protect Americans who are older, disabled or low-income, among other vulnerable populations. (Diamond and Stein, 1/21)

Axios: GOP Lawmakers Coy On Medicaid Cuts For Tax Extension
Republicans from swing states and districts are ducking questions about their openness to cutting Medicaid in order to help pay for an extension of President Trump's tax cuts. Why it matters: Republican leadership can lose only a handful of votes, making cuts to the safety net program a high-stakes loyalty test that could deliver an early legislative win but result in millions of people losing their health coverage. (Sullivan, 1/22)

Disability Scoop: Trump's Return Sparks Worry About Cuts To Medicaid, Disability Services 
Disability advocates who have been pushing for years to see greater investment in Medicaid home and community-based services, the nation’s primary system of supports for people with developmental disabilities. “It would be hard to overstate how serious these threats are,” said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “Medicaid is a lifeline program for our community — we need to make it clear that it should be expanded, not looted to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.” (Diament, 1/21)