CalMatters: Get Your Health Care Through Covered California? Beware Of This Tax Peril 
Every tax season hundreds of thousands of Californians are hit with an unexpected bill: They  owe hundreds of dollars or more to the IRS because they accepted more money in subsidies for health insurance than they were allowed. (Ibarra, 6/4)

Los Angeles Blade: HHS Plans To Expand Health Equity In Second Biden-Harris Admin
Speaking with the Washington Blade on Monday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Assistant Health Secretary Adm. Rachel Levine detailed plans to expand health equity initiatives under a second Biden-Harris administration. (Kane, 6/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: HIV Drugmaker Agrees To $40M Settlement Over Delayed Treatment Rollout
Pharmaceutical giant Gilead said Tuesday it has agreed to pay $40 million to as many as 2,625 AIDS patients nationwide who say the company padded its profits by marketing a drug for years without disclosing that it had harmful side effects, and that it was delaying release of a safer alternative. The proposed federal court settlement does not affect a similar suit by 24,000 patients in California state court. The company, based in Foster City, insisted in a statement that it had done nothing wrong and “has never stopped working to improve the lives of people with HIV.” But Gilead’s agreement to pay more than $15,000 to each of the patients was at least a concession that it was legally vulnerable. (Egelko, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: 340B Drug Discount Program Could See Congressional Reforms
Congress needs to fix the 340B drug discount program, health system leaders told members of a House subcommittee Tuesday. But lawmakers will have to tread carefully to avoid harming some of the organizations that depend on the program the most, the witnesses said. (McAuliff, 6/4)

AP: Need A Pharmacy? Finding Access Depends On The States And Neighborhoods You Live In 
Opening stores used to mean everything to pharmacy chains. CVS Health once boasted of opening or buying more than 2,900 locations in a five-year period. Now it’s shuttering hundreds, while Walgreens, Rite Aid and independent drugstores also pull back. An industry that saw waves of store growth before the COVID-19 pandemic faces headwinds like falling prescription reimbursement, persistent theft and changing shopping habits. But as drugstores right-size their physical footprint, experts say they can leave behind communities that have come to depend on them as trusted sources of care and advice — both of which can be hard to find in many urban and rural areas. (Murphy and Pananjady, 6/3)

AP: In Cities Across The US, Black And Latino Neighborhoods Have Less Access To Pharmacies
Closures create “a situation where there’s not just (a lack of) investment in terms of pharmacy development and expansion, but there’s no incentive to stay in those neighborhoods,” said Dima Qato, a professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California who has studied pharmacy access. (Hunter, 6/4)

AP: Rural Pharmacies Fill A Health Care Gap In The US. Owners Say It's Getting Harder To Stay Open 
Rural pharmacies’ business models face unrelenting pressures to the point that sometimes they have to close. Several largely rural states have some of the lowest number of pharmacies per ZIP code, according to an AP analysis of data from 49 states and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs. (Shastri, 6/4)

AP: Pharmacy Access Map
What does pharmacy access look like in your area? Try this interactive map. (6/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Exodus Recovery Likely To Run New Psychiatric Facility At Tri-City Medical Center 
San Diego County is considering a contract with Exodus Recovery Inc. to run its new 16-bed psychiatric hospital on the grounds of Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. (Sisson, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: Older Men Have High Rates Of Suicide. What Could Change That?
It was a Friday morning and George McCune had roused himself to make the 2.4-mile trip from his Northridge home to the Veterans Affairs campus in North Hills. The 77-year-old was greeted there that March day by the usual crew training for the Golden Age Games: There was Roger, 82, who had piled up medals in javelin, discus and shot put. Bob, who had just gotten his cochlear implant. Becky, 71, bent on defeating her “nemesis” — a guy just six days her junior — in pingpong. McCune can be reclusive, he said. He has grappled with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, although he was never able to get formally diagnosed. Silent meditation is more of his usual speed than socializing. (Alpert Reyes, 6/5)

KVPR: Horse Sports Are A Leading Cause Of Traumatic Brain Injuries. Can They Be Made Safer?
The risks of traumatic brain injuries in American football are well known, but some researchers have found that sports involving horses are also a leading cause. These injuries can be fatal and usually occur during falls of either the rider or both the horse and the rider. Last month, British event rider Georgie Campbell died after a fall while competing in the Bicton International Horse Trials in Devon, England. Her death has renewed focus on the perennial issue of safety in the sport. (Hampton, 6/5)

Military Times: With A Drop Of Blood, This New Device Will Test For TBIs In 15 Minutes
A new rapid test that checks for traumatic brain injuries using a single drop of blood is expected to make its debut in the military in the coming months. The product marks one of the most significant steps forward for TBI patients’ care in the past 20 years, Lt. Col. Bradley Dengler, an Army neuroscientist who directs the Military Traumatic Brain Initiative at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a recent release announcing the product’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration. (Jowers, 6/4)

Times of San Diego: Study Reveals Economic Impact Of Domestic Violence In California
Domestic violence, beyond its numerous social impacts, costs the state of California $73.7 billion in health care, lost productivity and income and criminal justice and response program spending, according to a UC San Diego study released Tuesday. (Sklar, 6/4)

The Bakersfield Californian: Elder Abuse Persists As Hidden Plague In Kern County
Statistics compiled by the California Department of Aging say that more than 164,000 people in Kern — 18% of the county population — are over the age of 60. By 2030, that number is expected to grow, to account for a quarter of our population. (Donegan, 6/4)

Fresno Bee: Do Valley Children’s Tax Breaks Outweigh Community Benefit? 
Valley Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in Central California, reinvested the lowest amount of money into its region when compared to the nation’s other largest nonprofit children’s hospitals that have the same tax-exempt charitable status, a Fresno Bee analysis found. (Sheehan, 6/4)

CBS News: U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Far Exceeds Other High-Income Nations. Here's What's Different
Approximately 22 women died from childbirth-related causes for every 100,000 live births in the United States in 2022, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a private research foundation, making the U.S. the country with the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation analyzed. In comparison, the three countries with the lowest rates are Sweden, with nearly three deaths for every 100,000 births, Switzerland, with one, and Norway, with zero. (Moniuszko, 6/4)

Stat: Take Antibiotics After Sex, CDC Recommends For Certain Risk Groups
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finalized its guidelines for post-exposure prophylaxis against bacterial sexually transmitted infections on Tuesday. For groups at higher risk of contracting syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, the agency now recommends taking doxycycline, an antibiotic, within 72 hours of having sex. Doxycycline has been used to prevent malaria infection both before and after exposure, but this is the first time the antibiotic has been used prophylactically against STIs. (Merelli, 6/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Teens With Strong Family, Community Ties Less Likely To Have Sex Young
In one of the first studies to examine the link between children’s sexual behavior and their social connections at home, school and neighborhoods, a new study led by a UCSF pediatrician has found that teenagers who have closer relationships with their family and neighbors are less likely to start having sex at a young age. The findings could help public health officials, parents and communities tailor their conversations about sex to better reach young people than traditional sexual education at schools has been able to do — and potentially reduce the risks associated with having sex at a young age, such as sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancies and depression. (Ho, 6/4)

Stat: Senators Tussle Over Abortion Against The Backdrop Of A Presidential Campaign
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, U.S. senators on Tuesday tussled over how the end to national abortion protections has played out across the country. There was little mistaking the fact that the debate was occurring in an election year. (Owermohle, 6/4)

The Washington Post: Conservative Attacks On Birth Control Could Threaten Access 
Republican lawmakers in Missouri blocked a bill to widen access to birth-control pills by falsely claiming they induce abortions. An antiabortion group in Louisiana killed legislation to enshrine a right to birth control by inaccurately equating emergency contraception with abortion drugs. An Idaho think tank focused on “biblical activism” is pushing state legislators to ban access to emergency contraception and intrauterine devices (IUDs) by mislabeling them as “abortifacients.” Since the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion two years ago, far-right conservatives have been trying to curtail birth-control access by sowing misinformation about how various methods work to prevent pregnancy, even as Republican leaders scramble to reassure voters they have no intention of restricting the right to contraception, which polls show the vast majority of Americans favor. (Weber, 6/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Palomar Health To Pay $250,000 Settlement For Alleged Fentanyl 'Diversion' 
While not admitting guilt, Palomar Health in North County has agreed to a $250,000 settlement after disclosing to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that fentanyl, the powerful opioid often used to control surgical pain, was diverted from automatic-dispensing equipment at its cardiac catheterization lab in Escondido. (Sisson, 6/4)

Bay Area News Group: Contra Costa County's Homeless Population Jumps 19% Despite Hundreds Of New Homeless Housing Beds
Contra Costa County’s homeless population jumped 19% from last year, even as local officials added hundreds of homeless housing units and shelter beds. (Varian, 6/4)

Voice of San Diego: Number Of Shelter Beds Could Plunge As Golden Hall Closing Date Set
The city’s fire permit for its City Hall complex shelter where more than 250 homeless men sleep each night is set to expire in October. On the eve of Memorial Day weekend, the city abruptly announced the Golden Hall shelter would need to close by the end of the year and the facility would stop welcoming newcomers.  Keeping the shelter open beyond Oct. 6 – and closer to the end of 2024 – will require another fire permit the city’s fire marshal isn’t eager to issue. (Halverstadt, 6/4)

CalMatters: How Shots Instead Of Pills Could Change California’s Homeless Crisis 
As Dr. Rishi Patel’s street medicine van bounces over dirt roads and empty fields in rural Kern County, he’s looking for a particular patient he knows is overdue for her shot. The woman, who has schizophrenia and has been living outside for five years, has several goals for herself: Start thinking more clearly, stop using meth and get an ID so she can visit her son in jail. Patel hopes the shot — a long-acting antipsychotic — will help her meet all of them. (Kendall, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: In Skid Row, A 19-Story Residential Tower Is Opening, With Gym, Cafe
From the courtyard balcony on the 19th story of the new residential tower, Skid Row seems small and distant below. Its barely visible tents and shanties melt into vistas of the downtown skyline and San Gabriel Mountains to the north and the flat expanse of city south to the sea. Even the row of buildings on San Pedro Street that form the core of Skid Row’s service institutions — the Midnight Mission, Union Rescue Mission, LAMP Community, JWCH Institute, the Cobb residences and the 11-story Weingart Center — are reduced to rooftop outlines. And that’s the idea. The 278-unit tower, due to open this month, is meant to be a self-contained environment that will insulate its formerly homeless residents from the squalor and hopelessness around them and, at the same time, elevate the neighborhood. (Smith, 6/5)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County Supervisors End Avian Flu Emergency Order 
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to terminate the emergency proclamation it had enacted last December in response to an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu at local poultry and egg farms — a viral contagion the county now says resulted in a $20 million loss to businesses. (Barber, 6/4)

The Hill: Birx Says US Making ‘Same Mistakes’ With Bird Flu As COVID-19
Deborah Birx, a physician who served as former President Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, warned that the United States is making the “same mistakes” with the bird flu as it did with COVID-19. “This is why I’m really concerned because we’re making the same mistakes today that we made with COVID. And what do I mean by that? We’re not testing to really see how many people have been exposed and got asymptomatically infected,” Birx told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Tuesday. (Sforza, 6/4)

Stat: The Most Pressing Bird Flu Mysteries Scientists Want Answered
Ten weeks after government scientists discovered that H5N1 bird flu was sickening dairy cattle in the United States, many of the mysteries surrounding what is happening on affected farms remain just that. Widespread reluctance on the part of farmers to allow scientists — government or otherwise — onto their premises to study spread of the virus among infected cows has created a frustrating lack of understanding of the dynamics of this outbreak. U.S. Department of Agriculture incentives aimed at getting farmers to test their cows and take preventive measures to protect both animals and farmworkers do not seem to have solved the impasse, even as the outbreak has affected 82 herds in nine states. (Branswell, 6/5)

Stateline: As Mpox Cases Rise, Experts Urge Complete, 2-Part Vaccinations
The number of U.S. mpox cases has more than doubled compared with last year, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been urging clinicians across states to encourage vaccinations for those at risk. As of May 25, the nation had seen a roughly 150% increase in cases of the disease formerly known as monkeypox — from 434 at that time last year to 1,089 this year, according to the CDC. About a third of the cases are in New York state, New York City (which the CDC reports separately), New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (Hassanein, 6/4)

Medscape: The Push to Get More People Into Long COVID Studies
When Ezra Spier was diagnosed with long COVID in late 2022, his main symptom, postexertional malaise, caused fatigue so severe that it forced him to quit his job as a technology entrepreneur. Since then, it's been a tough road for Spier, 37, who said he wouldn't wish his hellish condition on anyone. Last spring, he enrolled in a clinical trial of a new long COVID therapy at Stanford University, and he's about to start another at the University of California, San Francisco. (Novak, 6/4)

CIDRAP: Placing COVID Patients In Skilled Nursing Facilities Led To Increased Cases, Deaths, Study Finds
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some states allowed COVID-19 patients to be discharged from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and even offered financial incentives to SNFs to take in patients to deal with hospital bed shortages. ... Now a study in JAMA Internal Medicine shows this practice led to preventable COVID-19 cases in the SNFs and increased death rates. Furthermore, SNFs that reported staff and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages saw bigger increases in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. (Soucheray, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: Berkeley's Radioactive-Waste-Testing Plan Is Rejected 
Months after discovering that radioactive waste and toxic pesticides may be buried under two popular Bay Area parks, state regulators have rejected Berkeley’s plan to test for contaminants as insufficient. In January, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board informed the cities of Albany and Berkeley that a former chemical plant had disposed of 11,100 tons of industrial waste at their municipal landfills decades ago. The revelation came after the Department of Toxic Substance Control shared a 1980 document detailing the disposal records of Stauffer Chemical Co.’s Richmond plant. (Briscoe, 6/4)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Napa County Divvies Up $5 Million In Tobacco Settlement Funding To Support Community Health 
The Napa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an award of about $5 million, split between 16 different nonprofit organizations, in an effort to support health across housing, senior transportation and food insecurity, among other areas. (Booth, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: California Heat Wave Likely A Preview Of What's To Come This Summer
After months of below-average temperatures and weeks of unseasonably wet weather, California’s first heat wave of the year is marking an abrupt transition into summery heat, with record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures expected this week. The next few days — particularly Wednesday and Thursday — could offer a preview for the summer season, which is expected to bring higher temperatures than typical across the state’s interior — creating potentially dangerous conditions for both human health and wildfire management. (Toohey, 6/5)