Medi-Cal 2024 Contracts Awarded To 5 Plans: The California Department of Health Care Services announced that it has negotiated with five commercial health plans to provide Medi-Cal services in 2024, scratching a two-year-long bidding process for the state contracts. It means more Medi-Cal enrollees will likely get to keep their current insurer and doctors. It also means that the state will avoid a legal battle amid lawsuit threats from insurers previously left out. Read more from CalMatters.
State Looking For Sterilization Victims: About 600 people alive today can’t have children because California’s government sterilized them either against their will or without their knowledge, and now the state is trying to find them so it can pay them at least $15,000 each in reparations. Read more from AP.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
California Hospitals Still Stressed By Flu, RSV, COVID Levels
The start of the year is bringing with it a mild reprieve in the so-called tripledemic, but some Southern California hospitals remain stressed by the still-high circulation of flu, COVID-19 and RSV. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is still so busy that it cannot always accommodate transfers of patients from other hospitals, according to Dr. James Stein, the facility’s chief medical officer, in a statement. (Money, Lin II and Martinez, 1/3)
inewsource:
Number Of People Hospitalized With COVID In San Diego County Doubles Since Thanksgiving
The number of hospitalized COVID patients has climbed throughout the holiday season, and with end-of-year travel and new Omicron subvariants taking hold in San Diego County, experts worry the trend could continue. As of Dec. 28, nearly 480 confirmed and suspected COVID patients were hospitalized – more than double the count on Thanksgiving. Since October, the average daily rate of confirmed cases in San Diego County has nearly tripled, reaching 19.7 per 100,000 people as of Dec. 24, and the county reported 15 new deaths this week. Currently, the CDC places San Diego in the “medium” COVID community level. (Harper, 1/3)
The Hill:
Experts Urge Domestic Action Against Winter COVID Surge
Much of the U.S. is in the throes of a winter COVID-19 surge with cases poised to eclipse last year’s summer peak, driven by new variants, waning immunity and holiday gatherings. ... But public health experts are expressing frustration that instead of focusing on mitigation measures including masking and improved ventilation, U.S. officials have turned their attention towards China. (Weixel, 1/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California COVID Sick Pay Can Continue For 2022 Illness That Extended Into New Year
California’s COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave law expired Saturday, the end of 2022. But state officials say that people who got sick before the end of the year, with illness or recommended isolation that extended into this year, still are entitled to stay on leave and be paid for it this year under the law’s provisions. (Vaziri and Beamish, 1/3)
AP:
Move On From COVID? Child Care Disruptions Continue
This fall and winter have upended life for working parents of little children, who thought the worst of the pandemic was behind them. The arrival of vaccines for younger children and the end of quarantines for COVID exposure were supposed to bring relief. Instead, families were treated to what some called a “tripledemic.” (Hollingsworth and Savage, 1/3)
Los Angeles Times:
Why The CDC Is Inviting Travelers From China To Swab Their Noses At LAX
The arrivals area at Los Angeles’ Tom Bradley International Terminal is now filling with the sounds of Mandarin, Cantonese, Hunanese and other languages as travelers from China seize the chance to enter the United States for the first time in nearly three years. Under a new policy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that goes into effect Thursday, all will be required to produce a negative coronavirus test before boarding their flights to the United States. But that’s an imperfect means of protection, shown to miss anywhere from 30% to 70% of people who are in the early stages of an infection. (Healy, 1/3)
CIDRAP:
Global Health Officials Press China For COVID Details; US XBB.1.5 Levels Jump
As 2022 came to a close, the World Health Organization (WHO) met with Chinese officials to get more details about the country's COVID-19 outbreak as several more nations announced testing requirements for people arriving from China. (Schnirring, 1/3)
Bay Area News Group:
Demand Has Tripled, Quadrupled At California Abortion Clinics Since Roe Fell
One woman had never flown on a plane before and was petrified to make the journey from Texas to California. Another drove all night from El Paso to make her appointment because she couldn’t miss work. A third was so worried about getting in trouble that she asked the staff at Planned Parenthood if they could wipe her phone and destroy all evidence of her abortion. (Kendall, 1/3)
ABC News:
FDA Says It Will Greenlight Pharmacies To Fill Prescriptions For Abortion Pill
The abortion pill mifepristone is safe enough that retail pharmacies can begin dispensing it so long as a certified health care provider prescribes the drug and if that pharmacy meets certain requirements, according to new rules published Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If pharmacies jump on board, the FDA action could dramatically expand access to the drug in states where it's already legal. Doctors, for example, might be more willing to get certified to prescribe the drug because they would no longer have to stock it themselves and could write a prescription much as they would any other medication. (Flaherty, 1/3)
Reuters:
USPS Can Keep Delivering Prescription Abortion Drugs, DOJ Says
The U.S. Postal Service can continue to deliver prescription abortion medication despite a June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned a landmark abortion rights decision, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. (1/3)
California Healthline:
Public Health Agencies Try To Restore Trust As They Fight Misinformation
As public health departments work on improving their message, the skepticism and mistrust often reserved for covid-19 vaccines now threaten other public health priorities, including flu shots and childhood vaccines. (Sausser, 1/4)
The Washington Post:
NFL Player Hamlin's Collapse Sparks Rise In Covid Misinformation
The baseless tweets began to circulate within minutes of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s stunning collapse on the field during “Monday Night Football.” Anti-vaxxers and right-wing provocateurs sought to link the injury that left Hamlin in critical condition and the coronavirus vaccine, without any evidence. Their claims built on years of coronavirus vaccine misinformation that has been seeded across social media. (Zakrzewski and Weber, 1/3)
Los Angeles Times:
COVID-19 Vaccines Didn't Cause Damar Hamlin's Cardiac Arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest can be the result of trauma, a side effect of medication or a repercussion of heart muscle damage incurred by a viral infection. It can be the predictable outcome of a chronic disease or the first indication of a disease written into a patient’s genes at conception. Sometimes more than one of these contributors is present, muddying the picture. (Healy, 1/3)
NPR:
What Is Commotio Cordis? It Could Have Caused Damar Hamlin To Collapse
While Hamlin's team and family have yet to confirm exactly what happened, many of the doctors following his case online have narrowed it down to one likely cause: commotio cordis (kuh-MOH-dee-oh KOR-dis). (Treisman, 1/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Damar Hamlin’s Injury A New Example Of Players Telling NFL The Right Thing To Do
Bryant Young remembers the moment with chilling clarity. Young, the San Francisco 49ers ’ Hall of Fame defensive tackle, was down on his knee in the visitors’ locker room shortly after a 2005 preseason game in Denver when he and his teammates experienced a football player’s greatest fear. (Silver, 1/3)
Los Angeles Times:
California To Receive $470 Million From CVS In Opioid Settlement
California is expected to receive about $470 million from a multistate settlement with CVS over allegations that the pharmacy chain contributed to the country’s opioid crisis, the state attorney general’s office said Tuesday. (Martinez, 1/3)
KQED:
Oakland School's Peer-To-Peer Counseling Program Helps Students Cope With Trauma
A week after a student discharged a gun on campus at Madison Park Academy in Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood on Aug. 29, 2022, it wasn’t just the adults who were on edge. “It was fifth period at the time, and I just started about 10 minutes in and we heard over the intercom the principal, ‘It's on lockdown! The school's on lockdown,’” senior Habeeb Tiamiyu recalled. “You could really tell it's serious because of the tone of her voice.” (McEvoy, 1/3)
The New York Times:
Social Media Use Is Linked To Brain Changes In Teens, Research Finds
The researchers found that children who habitually checked their social media feeds at around age 12 showed a distinct trajectory, with their sensitivity to social rewards from peers heightening over time. Teenagers with less engagement in social media followed the opposite path, with a declining interest in social rewards. (Barry, 1/3)
CIDRAP:
College Students' Mental Distress Still High 15 Months After COVID Pandemic Began
A survey of nearly 45,000 college students in France reveals a high prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 15 months after the COVID-19 pandemic began. (Van Beusekom, 1/3)
Fresno Bee:
Hospital Closure Impact Continues As Madera County Extends State Of Emergency
Madera County Supervisors on Tuesday extended a state of emergency declared Friday by Sheriff Tyson Pogue after Madera Community Hospital shut its doors. (Guy, 1/3)
The San Diego Union-Times:
Tri-City Medical Center's CEO Retires
Tri-City Medical Center announced that Steve Dietlin, its chief executive officer since 2016, will retire in March. The executive joined the organization in 2013 as its chief financial officer, taking over after the Tri-City board executed a “termination at will” clause in the contract of his predecessor, Tim Moran. (Sisson, 1/3)
CIDRAP:
Study Finds Antibiotic Resistance Rates In US Hospitals Vary By Age, Care Setting
An analysis of electronic health record and antimicrobial susceptibility data at US hospitals found that resistance patterns for some bug-drug combinations vary by care setting and patient ages, researchers reported yesterday in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance. (Dall, 1/3)
KCRA:
California Lawmakers Return To Sacramento Wednesday To Discuss 2023 Policy
This week kicks off a new year of policy making and discussions on the state's spending plan. It also gives lawmakers the opportunity to file new proposed laws for next year and beyond. Here is a look at what we can expect this week. (Zavala, 1/3)
CalMatters:
How Much Does The Legislature Look Like California?
The new Legislature is the most diverse ever, but still isn’t fully representative of California. See details in our interactive tool. (D'Agostino, Kamal and Gans, 1/4)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Medical Board Files Accusation Against EuroPhoria Owner, Alleging Improper Keeping Of Medical Records
The California Medical Board accused the owner of EuroPhoria Medical & Personal Spa of improperly keeping medical records for five patients and having no documentation to perform a cosmetic procedure. (Desai, 1/3)
Bloomberg:
Medical Credit Cards Cause Financial Pain For Struggling Patients, Senators Say
Credit cards offered by banks including Wells Fargo & Co. and Synchrony Financial intended to cover expensive health-care services may be causing unnecessary financial pain for consumers, said a group of US senators, who cited potentially deceptive promotions. (Smith, 1/3)
Modern Healthcare:
A Tough Year For Insurtechs Raises Questions About The Future
Startup health insurers spent 2022 scaling back their businesses as investors are no longer willing to contribute the billions of dollars necessary for subsidizing them. Insurtechs Oscar Health, Clover Health and Bright Health Group’s failure to thrive at a time when most health insurers are making more money than ever has left some wondering what their future holds. (Tepper, 1/4)
California Healthline:
Watch: Patient Sent To Collections For Surgery She Never Had
Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss how difficult a clerical error can be to fix and how patients can respond if it happens to them. (1/4)
CNN:
Sesame Joins The Major Food Allergens List, FDA Says
Sesame has joined the list of major food allergens defined by law, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The change, which went into effect on January 1, comes as a result of the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research Act, or FASTER Act, which was signed into law in April 2021. (Rogers, 1/2)
Politico:
EPA Clampdown On Soot Pollution Imminent
With high stakes for both public health and industry, EPA is set to reveal at least the broad contours of its plans for tightening air quality standards for a particularly pernicious pollutant. Following a review that took much longer than first expected, the White House regulations office last week sent the proposed soot standards rule back to EPA, clearing the way for its public release. (Reilly, 1/3)