Sacramento Bee: CA Community Clinics Could Get $20 Million To Stay Open
[T]he midtown Sacramento clinic and more than 1,200 other health centers across California, many in isolated, rural communities, are at risk of closing or undergoing drastic changes if Congress enacts pending legislation to replace Obamacare, advocates say. ... On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the budget-related bill that included $20 million for 80 one-time emergency grants to help the clinics get by while they find long-term funding solutions so the more than 4 million Medi-Cal beneficiaries who get their care from community clinics still receive services. (Svirnovskiy, 7/12)

Los Angeles Times: With Diabetes Rising At Alarming Rate, California Puts Money Behind Prevention Campaign
California officials decided this week to dedicate $5 million to prevent people at high risk for diabetes from getting the disease, hoping to stem the huge numbers of Californians expected to be diagnosed in the coming years. Currently 9% of Californians have diabetes, but a study last year found that 46% of adults in California have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetic. (Karlamangla, 7/11)

In other news from Sacramento —

KPBS: Group Advocating For Creation Of "Trauma-Informed" Legislation In Sacramento 
The California Campaign to Combat Childhood Adversity wants lawmakers to learn about the effects of toxic stress resulting from childhood trauma, which they say can influence everything from health care to the economy. ... The campaign points to research that shows people who are exposed to trauma during childhood have poor health outcomes and shorter life expectancy. (Cavanaugh and Burke, 7/11)

The Mercury News: Stanford Hospital Workers Highlight Hospital-Acquired Illness
Citing detailed federal data, Stanford Hospital union workers on Tuesday said patient and worker safety at the hospital is in jeopardy due to the risk of acquiring infections on site. At a news conference in front of the hospital, union leaders said the hospital system has been losing money since 2016 after the federal government reduced Stanford’s Medicare reimbursements​ 1 percent​ through 2017 as a result of the high infection rate. (Lee, 7/11)

In other hospital related news —

Fresno Bee: Tulare Voters Oust Embattled Hospital Board Director 
Tulare County voters on Tuesday recalled Dr. Parmod Kumar as director on the Tulare Local Health Care District board. With all four precincts reporting, 81 percent voted to recall Kumar and 19 percent voted to retain him. Turnout for the special election was very low, with ballots cast from less than 18 percent of the district’s 4,941 voters. Voters chose Senovia Gutierrez to replace Kumar on the board. (7/11)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sonoma County Approves Sale Of Old Santa Rosa Hospital Site To Housing Developer 
Sonoma County supervisors signed off Tuesday on perhaps the largest sale of county land in a generation, unanimously approving an ambitious but controversial deal to transform the northeast Santa Rosa site of the former county hospital complex into a high-profile housing development. The 5-0 decision, the second of two formal votes to approve the real estate deal, clears the way for developer Bill Gallaher to pay as much as $11.5 million for the 82 acres off Chanate Road, where he proposes to build up to 800 rental units, plus housing for veterans, a grocery store, an amphitheater and other amenities. (Morris, 7/11)

San Diego Union-Times: Sharp Hospital Volunteer Gives Babies A Big Welcome
For new parents at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, a program offering non-denominational blessings for their recently arrived bundles of joy is a lovely addition to an already miraculous experience. For volunteer Dawn Christiansen, welcoming these new arrivals into the world has been a blessing unto itself. And a bit of a miracle, too. ... Every Friday for the last two years, the Poway resident has put on her maroon volunteer smock and made her ... rounds at the hospital’s women’s health center. If a family has requested a blessing, she slips quietly into the room, sets the parents at ease with a little baby-related small talk, then she places her hand gently on the boy or girl of the hour and reads the words she never gets tired of sharing. (Peterson, 7/11)

The Desert Sun: Raul Ruiz: GOP Health Plan More Stingy Than Evil
U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz had nothing nice to say about the Republican health-care proposal Monday but he stopped short of calling the plan evil. During a forum on health care in Indio, Ruiz responded to a question submitted in writing by an audience member asking why Republicans want to take away health care from the elderly. The La Quinta Democrat said he did not believe Republicans were orchestrating an "evil plot." (7/11)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sonoma County, Feds To Spend $17 Million On Care For Mentally Ill Homeless Residents 
Sonoma County wants to help thousands of mentally ill people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so by bolstering aid programs that serve them under a new initiative supported through $17 million in federal and local funds. The four-year effort is intended to address the outsize strain that a small number of people with complex medical problems place on public resources by providing them with more comprehensive care — treating their mental health problems in tandem with immediate physical health issues, for example. It’s one of 15 similar programs across California approved last month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Morris, 7/11)

In other news from across the state —

The Mercury News: Former Santa Cruz County Therapist Sentenced For Molesting Child Patients
A 70-year-old former Capitola child psychologist, who recorded himself molesting patients and had 1,200 files with child pornography, will serve 16 years in prison, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday. [Willian] Visher pleaded guilty to seven counts of child molestation and one count possession of child pornography to forgo trial. (Todd, 7/12)

The New York Times: Tobacco Gets More Screen Time In Blockbuster Movies, Study Shows
Tobacco is appearing more in blockbuster movies, raising public health concerns, a new study finds. Depictions or suggestions of tobacco use in top-grossing movies rose 72 percent from 2010 to 2016, according to the report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase was especially large among top-grossing movies with R ratings, which saw a 90 percent rise in tobacco-use imagery, though researchers noted with special concern that movies rated PG-13 also saw a sizable increase: 43 percent. (Chokshi, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: To Combat Teen Smoking, Health Experts Recommend R Ratings For Movies That Depict Tobacco Use
The study’s primary aim was to assess Hollywood’s progress in keeping “tobacco incidents” out of the movies most likely to be seen by America’s kids and teens. Researchers who focus on this area define such incidents as “the use or implied use of a tobacco product (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookah, smokeless tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes) by an actor.” If two characters are smoking during a conversation, that counts as two tobacco incidents. If one of those characters is holding a pack of cigarettes in another scene, that qualifies as another incident. (Kaplan, 7/11)

The New York Times: G.O.P. Senators Vow To Unveil Health Bill Thursday, Despite Deep Divisions
Senate Republican leaders, facing their restive colleagues after the Fourth of July recess, vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with their effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, with a new version of their bill on Thursday and a vote next week — regardless of the deep divisions in the party. (Kaplan and Pear, 7/11)

Politico: Reeling Republicans Take One Last Shot At Obamacare
New text of the proposal will be made public Thursday, and a Congressional Budget Office analysis is expected on Monday. “We’re in gridlock,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He added sarcastically: “Now we’re going to look at a new approach. And we’re going to get a CBO estimate on Monday. Yay!” Sen. Ron Johnson, a conservative holdout, called it a "political blunder" that McConnell started the health care debate as a partisan, all-Republican effort. (Everett and Haberkorn, 7/11)

USA Today: Senate Republicans Delay August Recess To Work On Health Care
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday the Senate will delay the start of its summer recess to finish action on repealing Obamacare and other priority items. “In order to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle, the Senate will delay the start of the August recess until the third week of August,” McConnell said in a statement. (Berry, 7/11)

The Associated Press: Senate Consumer Choice Idea Could Raise Premiums For Sick
A health care proposal from Senate conservatives would let insurers sell skimpy policies provided they also offer a comprehensive plan. It's being billed as pro-consumer, allowing freedom of choice and potential savings for many. But critics say it would split the sick and the healthy, leading to unsustainably high premiums for people with medical problems and pre-existing conditions, who may get priced out of the market unless taxpayers bail them out. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/11)

The Associated Press: New GOP Health Bill Likely Keeping Obama Tax Boosts On Rich
A revised Senate Republican health care bill will likely retain a pair of tax boosts President Barack Obama imposed on wealthier Americans that have helped finance his law's expansion of coverage, a leading Senate Republican said Tuesday. (7/11)

The Washington Post: The GOP Health Bill Would Cut Benefits For Very Poor Households By An Average Of $2,500 A Year, Economists Say
The typical household with more than $200,000 a year in income would pay $5,500 less annually in taxes under the recent plan put forward by GOP senators. By contrast, households earning less than $10,000 a year would lose out on an average of about $2,600 in federal benefits annually, according to the analysis published Tuesday by the nonpartisan Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. (Ehrenfreund, 7/11)

The Associated Press: GOP Health Bill: Benefit Cuts For Poor, Tax Cuts For Rich
America's poorest families would lose thousands of dollars in health benefits so that millionaires could get huge tax cuts under the Senate Republicans' health bill, according to an independent analysis released Tuesday. (7/11)

The New York Times: What’s Dividing Republican Senators On The Health Care Bill
As Republican leaders plan to release a revised health care bill on Thursday, at least a dozen senators have expressed concerns about several major issues in the current draft. (Singhvi and Parlapiano, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare 101: Is There A Smaller Fix For The Affordable Care Act?
With Senate Republicans struggling to find votes for sweeping legislation to roll back the Affordable Care Act, several GOP lawmakers have raised the prospect of a more limited bill — passed with help from Democrats — to stabilize health insurance markets around the country. That may be heresy for conservative Republicans who’ve spent seven years demanding the full repeal of Obamacare, as the law is often called. (Levey, 7/12)