KPCC: LA County Supes Set Aside Drug Take-Back Proposal, For Now
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday not to force the pharmaceutical industry to design and pay for a comprehensive drug and "sharps" take-back plan — at least until November. Instead, the supervisors agreed to let the industry carry out a public education campaign about existing disposal options, in concert with the county. The board also voted to hold quarterly take-back events for the time being to supplement voluntary efforts by some pharmacies and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. (O'Neill and Glickman, 6/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Zenefits Lays Off Another 9% of Staff
Zenefits on Tuesday said it is laying off another 9% of its staff, the latest restructuring by the once highflying health-benefits broker that is reeling from regulatory issues and missed sales targets. In an email to staff Tuesday morning, Chief Executive David Sacks said Zenefits would let go 106 employees. That figure includes 61 people in the company’s Arizona sales office, which is being shut down, and 45 others, mostly from the company’s operations team. (Winkler, 6/14)

The Modesto Bee: She Lost Her House, Her Money – And Finally – Her Life
The nurse found (Mary) Wiemiller covered in bed sores – some the size of fists. She was lying in her own feces and urine in a bed infested with bed bugs, according to court documents. The feces were in one of the wounds, which led to an infection that spread to her blood, according to court documents. ...This is one of 30 elder abuse cases being investigated by Modesto Police detective Steve Anderson this year, with dozens more throughout Stanislaus County. (Tracy, 6/14)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Palomar, Kindred To Build Rehab Hospital
Escondido will be the home of San Diego County’s first stand-alone rehabilitation hospital. Palomar Health and Kindred Healthcare announced Tuesday afternoon that they will collaborate to create a 52-bed acute rehabilitation facility on two acres of land near Palomar Medical Center. (Sisson, 6/14)

Ventura County Star: Orlando Attack Motivates Ventura County Residents To Give Blood
The Pulse club, where the massacre happened, is more than 2,200 miles away. And while United Blood Services officials cited a local shortage in issuing an urgent appeal for donations, it's unlikely blood given here will be part of the front-line response to those wounded in the Orlando incident. Still, people across Ventura County rolled up their sleeves and gave. (Kisken, 6/14)

The Hill: Dems Consider More FDA Funding To End Ban On Gay Blood Donors
Top House Democrats are eying more funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help speed up the agency’s effort to eliminate the decades-old policy preventing many gay men from donating blood. (Ferris, 6/14)

In other news, the Delta Blood Bank is facing a critically low supply —

Capital Public Radio: Delta Blood Bank Blood Supply Dropped To Critical Level
The Delta Blood Bank in Stockton is putting out a call for donations as their blood supply has dipped to a critical level. Daily donations have dropped by 50 percent. Delta Blood Bank serves 11 hospitals in El Dorado, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and San Joaquin County. Normally it sees 200 to 250 donations per day, but donations always start dropping as summer approaches. (Ibarra, 6/14)

LA Times: Experts Rated Weight-Loss Drugs And Qsymia Came Out On Top
Over the past four years, the FDA has, with great deliberation, approved four new drugs for weight loss. While some Americans are using the new medications — which go by the commercial names Belviq, Qsymia, Contrave and Saxenda — many patients continue to use Orlistat, now an over-the-counter weight-loss drug first approved by the FDA in 1999 and known commercially as Alli. ...Qsymia, the first of the four new weight-loss drugs to be approved, fared best in promoting the loss of 5% of body weight in patients taking it. (Healy, 6/14)

The Modesto Bee: 'Biggest Loser' Researcher Explains Why Weight Loss Won't Stick
(Armando) Gonzalez, who offers weight-loss counseling under the name Dr. Mondo, spoke just weeks after the release of new research about NBC reality show "The Biggest Loser" revealing that the majority of contestants who shed serious pounds during the program gained most or all of it back after returning home. A New York Times article on the finding has caused outcry among viewers, leaving many weight loss hopefuls to wonder if they're fighting a losing battle. Gonzalez was not part of the recent study, but he conducted his own research on "Biggest Loser" contestants while writing his graduate dissertation in 2009. He conducted interviews with "Biggest Loser" participants and found that about 50 percent of people kept the weight off, while the other 50 percent gain it back. (Caiola, 6/15)

The Modesto Bee: Yes, You Can Be Obese And Undernourished, Too
Obesity and overweight are “a staggering global burden” that should be classified as malnutrition, according to a new study. The 2016 Global Nutrition Report found that 2 billion of the world’s 7 million people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition, which means they regularly don’t get enough essential vitamins and minerals in their diets. This includes people who are underweight because they don’t have access to enough food, but also includes people who are obese and just not eating the right foods. (Welsh, 6/14)

The Associated Press: FDA Approves Stomach Draining Obesity Treatment
A new weight loss device offers a novel approach to cutting calories: draining them from the stomach before they are fully digested. The AspireAssist system consists of a thin tube implanted in the stomach, connecting to an outside port on the skin of the belly. (Perrone, 6/14)

The Bakersfield Californian: Local First Responders With PTSD Symptoms Now Have Both Help And Hope
In recent years, Kern County has lost many first responders to the adverse effects of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. These losses come in many forms including loss of careers, relationships and positive life functioning. The most tragic loss, however, is suicide. (Buck and Mueller, 6/14)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Study Links Alcohol Bans, Heart Attacks
Rates of heart attacks and congestive heart failure are significantly higher where alcohol is banned according to a study of "dry" and "wet" counties in Texas. However, the observational study led by UC San Francisco researchers found higher rates of atrial fibrillation, alcoholic liver disease and alcohol misuse in "wet" counties. (Fikes, 6/14)

Capital Public Radio: Summer Lunch Programs Could Serve More Children
California could be serving more of its low-income children during summer vacation, according to a new report. Roughly 20 percent of students who qualify for free or reduced school lunch took advantage of summer nutrition programs last year, according to an analysis by the Food Research and Action Center. Crystal Fitzsimons, who oversees the organization's work on child nutrition programs, said while 8,000 fewer students received meals at designated schools, about 10,000 more students received a free lunch through community based organizations. (Johnson, 6/14)

The Fresno Bee: Medical Students Return To Valley To Shadow Doctors Working With Underserved Communities
While some students choose to relax during summer vacation, six medical students decided to spend the early part of their break working alongside Valley doctors to help the area’s underserved communities. (Montañez, 6/14)

In other health care news from across the state —

The Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County Health Services Center Closed By Flooding
In late August, it was a power outage. Monday, a Stanislaus County Health Services Agency building on Scenic Drive in Modesto was closed by a severe water leak that damaged offices and clinics. Officials said one-fourth of the former Stanislaus Medical Center building suffered water damage. The agency was working to reschedule appointments for patients and move clinical services and 90 to 100 staff members to other locations. (Carlson, 6/14)

NBC News: American Medical Association Votes to Lobby Congress Over Gun Research
Uncontrolled gun ownership is a serious threat to public health — and Congress needs to pay for research on the hot-button issue, the American Medical Association said Tuesday. Two days after 49 people were shot to death at an Orlando nightclub, the influential doctors' body voted to declare gun violence a public health issue and pledged to start lobbying Washington lawmakers. (Fox, 6/14)

Meanwhile, Democrats consider adding gun amendments to a long-stalled mental health bill, and doctors talk about their experiences after the massacre —

The Hill: Dems Plan Gun Amendments On Mental Health Bill
Democratic lawmakers are planning to offer gun-related amendments to a major mental health bill being considered in committee days after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, according to Democratic aides. (Sullivan,6/14)

The New York Times: Orlando Injuries Were Severe, But Trauma Care Was Nearby
In a scene more like a battlefield than an emergency room in a large American city, dozens of people hit by gunfire poured into the Orlando Regional Medical Center in the dark predawn hours of Sunday morning, lining the hallways and filling the operating rooms. The largest mass shooting in American history happened just a few blocks from the region’s only major trauma care hospital — an event that illuminates the new challenges facing emergency medicine. The gunman fired on his victims in a packed gay nightclub with an assault rifle that caused deep, gaping wounds. He also shot at them with a handgun whose smaller-caliber rounds, in some cases, bounced around inside their bodies, inflicting internal injuries. “If they had not been three blocks from the hospital, they might not have made it to the hospital,” said Dr. William S. Havron, a trauma surgeon at the center. (Grady, 6/14)

The Associated Press: Doctors: Orlando Shooting Victims Arrived By 'Truckloads'
The first victim of the nightclub shooting arrived shortly after 2 a.m. and was relatively stable, giving doctors working the overnight shift hope that any others would arrive in a similar condition.Then five more came, in much worse shape, and then more, and more still, until so many bleeding people were lining up in the emergency room that even hardened trauma surgeons and nurses were brought to tears."They were dropped off in truckloads, in ambulance-loads," said Dr. Kathryn Bondani. (6/14)

The Washington Post: Consumers Could Be Facing Sticker Shock With ACA Health Premiums Next Year
Premiums for health plans sold through the federal insurance exchange could jump substantially next year, perhaps more than at any point since the Affordable Care Act marketplaces began in 2013. An early analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that proposed rates for benchmark silver plans — the plans in that popular tier of coverage that determine enrollees’ tax subsidies — are projected to go up an average of 10 percent across 14 major metropolitan areas. The analysis, released Wednesday, is based on insurers’ initial filings in 13 states and the District of Columbia. As in previous years, it shows how differently the health-care law is playing out across the country depending on regions and insurers. (Levine and Sun, 6/15)

Meanwhile, in California retirees may get a break on premiums this year —

California Healthline: CalPERS Proposes More Modest Health Insurance Rate Hikes Than Last Year
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, one of the biggest health insurance buyers in the country, is proposing substantially lower premium hikes for its members in 2017 than they saw this year, the agency announced Tuesday. CalPERS has recommended a 4.1 percent average hike in HMO premiums, a 3.7 percent raise in PPO premiums and a 1 percent increase in premiums for commercially administered Medicare plans. The agency’s Board of Administration is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the proposed rates. (Ibarra, 6/15)

And in other national health care news —

The New York Times: W.H.O. Says Olympics Should Go Ahead In Brazil Despite Zika Virus
The Olympic Games should go on as planned, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, and athletes and spectators, except for pregnant women, should not hesitate to attend so long as they take precautions against infection with the Zika virus. Pregnant women were advised not to go to Brazil for the event or the Paralympics. The W.H.O. previously told them to avoid any area where Zika is circulating. Some attendees may contract the mosquito-borne infection and even bring it back home, but the risk in August — midwinter in Rio de Janeiro — is relatively low, W.H.O. officials said. (McNeil and Tavernise, 6/14)

The New York Times: Facebook Offers Tools For Those Who Fear A Friend May Be Suicidal
With more than 1.65 billion members worldwide posting regularly about their behavior, Facebook is planning to take a more direct role in stopping suicide. On Tuesday, in the biggest step by a major technology company to incorporate suicide prevention tools into its platform, the social network introduced mechanisms and processes to make it easier for people to help friends who post messages about suicide or self-harm. With the new features, people can flag friends’ posts that they deem suicidal; the posts will be reviewed by a team at the social network that will then provide language to communicate with the person who is at risk, as well as information on suicide prevention. (Isaac, 6/14)

The Washington Post: How Drug Companies Use Gifts And Internships To Buddy Up To Their Most Valuable Patients
When Philip Kucab was a boy at a summer camp for kids with hemophilia in 1990, a staff member casually sat down next to him on the last day and asked where Kucab's family got their medication. After the boy explained it came from the hospital pharmacy, the camp staffer, who worked for a specialty pharmacy, explained that he could save them a trip and send the drugs in the mail. "At the time, we actually liked it. This nice man came to our house, had dinner with us," Kucab said. "It was kind of a nice relationship in a way because it was very personal. So when we used to order medication, we'd call up this nice person on the phone — 'How are the boys doing?' It was like a friend, almost." Kucab, today a physician starting residency at Detroit Medical Center, remembers big baskets of cheese and crackers arriving at Christmas — a thank-you for their business. He remembers thinking it was kind of cool. (Johnson, 6/14)

The Associated Press: Opioids Linked With Deaths Other Than Overdoses, Study Says
Accidental overdoses aren't the only deadly risk from using powerful prescription painkillers — the drugs may also contribute to heart-related deaths and other fatalities, new research suggests. Among more than 45,000 patients in the study, those using opioid painkillers had a 64 percent higher risk of dying within six months of starting treatment compared to patients taking other prescription pain medicine. Unintentional overdoses accounted for about 18 percent of the deaths among opioid users, versus 8 percent of the other patients. (6/14)

The Associated Press: UN: Coffee No Longer Deemed Possible Carcinogen
The World Health Organization's research arm has downgraded its classification of coffee as a possible carcinogen, declaring there isn't enough proof to show a link to cancer. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, also announced in a report published on Wednesday that drinking "very hot" beverages of any kind could potentially raise the cancer risk, and it classified them as "probably carcinogenic" to humans. (6/15)