The New York Times: Supreme Court Warily Eyes California Law Involving Abortion And Free Speech
A California law that requires “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide information about abortion met a skeptical reception at Supreme Court arguments on Tuesday. The centers, which are often affiliated with religious groups, seek to persuade women to carry their pregnancies to term or to offer their offspring for adoption. The law requires centers licensed by the state to post notices that free or low-cost abortion, contraception and prenatal care are available to low-income women through public programs, and to provide the phone number for more information. (Liptak, 3/20)

Politico: Supreme Court Hostile To Part Of California Law Aimed At 'Crisis Pregnancy Centers'
A surprisingly broad array of justices expressed serious concerns that the Reproductive FACT Act intrudes on First Amendment rights, by requiring such centers to include in their ads a state-provided notice in as many as 13 languages offering contact information about abortion services and other options. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a pivotal vote to uphold a constitutional right to abortion, was openly hostile to that provision. And even liberals like Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan raised doubts about that portion of the law. (Gerstein, 3/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Justices Press California Over Law Challenged By Antiabortion Groups
Justice Samuel Alito suggested the law may have been designed to blunt the antiabortion message that such centers seek to deliver. While ostensibly covering hundreds of facilities across the state, the law contains many “crazy exemptions” that all point the same way, he said. If “it turns out that just about the only clinics that are covered by this are pro-life clinics,” couldn’t the court “infer intentional discrimination?” he said. (Bravin, 3/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Supreme Court Questions Parts Of California Law Requiring Abortion Notification
Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Californian and moderate conservative who has cast the deciding vote in past abortion cases, criticized a provision of the law that requires clinics offering reproductive care, with no doctor on their staff, to inform clients they are unlicensed by the state. Noting that the disclosure provision applies to advertising, Kennedy said it would require a clinic that has paid for a billboard that simply said “Choose Life” to also include the notification. (Egelko, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: 2 Sacramento Hospital Groups Reach Settlements With Labor Unions
Both Dignity Health and Kaiser Permanente announced Monday that they had reached major contract agreements with labor unions representing thousands of employees at the two companies. The roughly 15,000 members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West concluded voting Friday, ratifying a five-year contract with Dignity that will increase pay by 13 percent over the term of the deal. (Anderson, 3/20)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Kaiser And Northern California Nurses Agree On 5-Year Labor Contract
The California Nurses Association and Kaiser Permanente have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year labor contract affecting more than 700 union nurses and nurse practitioners in Sonoma County. The nurses union said the agreement calls for wage increases, additional help for nurses and the elimination of a proposed wage scale that would have paid some nurses less than others depending on geographic region. ...CNA said Kaiser agreed to withdraw a four-tier proposal for wage reductions for newly hired registered nurses and nurse practitioners in some Northern California regions. The agreement affects 19,000 union nurses and nurse practitioners at 21 medical centers, clinics and medical offices in Northern and Central California. (Espinoza, 3/20)

In other hospital news —

Modern Healthcare: St. Joseph Health Creating Regional Board For Northern California Hospitals 
St. Joseph Health will soon institute a regional board to oversee key moves like capital planning, joint ventures and hiring and firing of chief executives for four Northern California hospitals that currently make such decisions in-house. The four hospitals—Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital, Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna—each will continue to operate community boards, but they will not have fiduciary oversight. St. Joseph Health teamed up with Providence Health & Services to form the 50-hospital Providence St. Joseph Health in 2016. (Bannow, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: Sutter And Insurance Giant Aetna Hire Industry Veteran To Lead Joint Venture
After a nationwide search, Sutter Health and Aetna announced Tuesday that they have selected health industry veteran Steve Wigginton to lead a health plan the two companies founded in June 2017. (Anderson, 3/20)

Stat: Theranos's Mystery Man Revealed: Footage Of Sunny Bawlani Was Hiding In Plain Sight
The day after the story came out, though, an eagle-eyed sleuth on Twitter pointed us to something better: Video footage of Balwani talking up Theranos in front of an Arizona legislative committee in March 2014. (That was around the time Theranos, then at its peak valuation of $9 billion, started opening testing centers in Walgreens pharmacies in Arizona.) Donning a dark suit and tie and a blandly corporate affect, Balwani gave an 11 1/2-minute pitch that is vintage pre-scandal Theranos: He talked about working on “something that we believe is magical.” He cited glowing testimonials from patients whose blood tests, we would later learn, were not being processed the way Theranos had promised. (Robbins, 3/20)

California Healthline: Reporter’s Notebook: The Tale Of Theranos And The Mysterious Fire Alarm
It was November 2014, and I was working on a feature story about a buzzed-about blood-testing company in Silicon Valley that promised to “disrupt” the lab industry with new technology. The company, Theranos, claimed its revolutionary finger-prick test would be a cheap and less painful way to screen for hundreds of diseases with just a few drops of blood. Old-fashioned venous blood draws, where the patient watches as vial after vial of blood is collected, would quickly become obsolete, Theranos promised. (Gold, 3/21)

KPCC: Is Orange County Leaving Mental Health Dollars On The Table? 
A recent state audit found that California counties were collectively sitting on an unused stash of $2.5 billion in funds from the Mental Health Services Act. The issue has taken front stage in Orange County, where officials are scrambling to provide housing and services to homeless people, some with mental illness, as part of a federal court settlement. (Replogle, 3/20)

In other public health news —

KPBS: Number Of Americans With Alzheimer's Expected To More Than Double By 2050
More and more families across America are seeing their loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease — 5.7 million Americans are currently living with the disease and that number is expected to increase to 14 million by 2050. It’s an increase that health officials have expected for years, as the population continues to age. (Cabrera and Cavanaugh, 3/20)

KPBS: San Diego's Medical Community Pushes Colorectal Cancer Screening 
According to the Cancer Registry of California, the incidence of colorectal cancer in San Diego County declined by 10 percent between 2010 and 2014, while the mortality rate declined by 14 percent. However, the colorectal cancer screening rate among San Diegans who get their care in community clinics is only 46 percent. (Goldberg, 3/21)

Modesto Bee: Second Wave Of The Seasonal Flu Crashes Into Stanislaus County 
In general, the county Health Services Agency has noticed a decrease in flu activity, but another strain of virus is causing outbreaks and it’s more dangerous for young children. The county’s contagious disease unit is primarily seeing cases of influenza B, Anuj Bhatia, a county health services spokesman, said Tuesday. (Carlson, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: Homeless Patients Bused From Las Vegas Hospital Now Part Of Lawsuit
Mentally ill people who were cast out of a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital and issued Greyhound bus tickets to cities across the country without proper consent, care or planning soon will have their day in court. A Nevada court has ruled that James Flavy Coy Brown, whose 2013 bus trip took him to Sacramento, and potentially hundreds of others who had similar experiences, may as a group pursue damages against Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, which oversees the hospital, and various treatment professionals. (Hubert, 3/21)

In other news —

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Misses Deadline On Goal Set By Late Mayor Of Bringing 1,000 People Into Housing 
Just weeks before his death late last year, Mayor Ed Lee pledged to get 1,000 homeless people off of San Francisco’s streets by the end of winter. Tuesday was the first day of spring, and despite creating a pipeline of shelter spaces expected to open in the coming months, it appears the city has fallen well short of Lee’s ambitious goal — 689 people short, to be exact. (Fracassa and Fagan, 3/20)

Orange County Register: Irvine Could Blow A Gaping Hole In O.C.’s Emergency Response System 
Irvine soon might pull out of the Orange County Fire Authority, a move that could force an expensive and litigious reworking of the county’s emergency response network, according to a grand jury report issued Tuesday. At its heart, the issue is this: Because of rapid growth, increasing property values, and a locked-in property tax formula, Irvine pays far more to the OCFA — which provides fire and emergency services to 22 other cities and the county — than it gets back in services (Sforza and Shimura, 3/20)

In other news from across the state —

East Bay Times: Fremont: Sexual Education Stirs Debate At Board Meeting
A sex education course that touches on such personal matters as wet dreams is too explicit for children in grades 4-8, some angry parents told the Fremont school board last week. But many other of the 60-plus speakers at the March 14 meeting supported the new health, puberty and sexuality curriculum, saying its focus on inclusiveness of different genders and sexual orientations is critical to developing empathetic, well-informed adults. They also pointed out there’s no need to scrap or modify the lessons because parents who are concerned about the material can opt out of having their kids taught it. A note or an email to the student’s teacher suffices for opting out. (Geha, 3/20)

Los Banos Enterprise: Delhi Unified School District Offers Free Health Care Services To Students 
One local school district in Merced County has started offering in-school healthcare services free of charge to students and parents who opt-in, according to school officials. The new service is costing the Delhi Unified School District nothing for its 2,600 students this year, Superintendent Adolfo Melara said. (Shanker, 3/20)

The Mercury News: Would Another Brain Death Test Harm Jahi McMath?
As the Jahi McMath lawsuit inches closer to a hearing on whether she is dead or alive, attorneys for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland want to perform another brain death test on the Oakland teenager. But her family’s attorney thinks it would damage her heath because it requires her breathing machine be turned off for 10 minutes. ...Jahi was 13 in late 2013 when she began bleeding profusely and went into cardiac arrest following nose, mouth and throat surgery at the Oakland hospital. She was later declared brain dead. Three tests that are considered the national standard have shown Jahi has irreversible brain death. The last test was performed in September 2014. In October 2014, her family released an MRI they say shows she has brain function, even if very limited, and is alive. They also played videos of her moving specific fingers when commanded to do so. (Debolt, 3/20)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Report Says Insurers Doing Well, Increasing ACA Subsidy Doubts
Health insurers have largely adjusted to the impact of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the White House will say in an economic report Wednesday, a finding that will likely undercut lawmakers’ efforts to secure federal funds to blunt potential premium increases for the coming year. Republicans, Democrats and the White House are negotiating the provisions of a major spending bill that must pass by Saturday or risk a government shutdown. The insurance payments are part of those discussions. (Radnofsky, 3/21)

The Hill: Dems Aim To Turn ObamaCare Hikes Into Election Weapon
Democrats are gearing up to blame Republicans for ObamaCare premium increases after the likely failure of an effort to stabilize the law in this month’s government funding package. The premium hikes for ObamaCare will likely be announced in October, just a month before a midterm election where Democrats are hoping to win back the House and Senate. (Sullivan, 3/21)

In other national health care news —

Politico: Trump Can Execute Drug Dealers Already
The state execution of drug smugglers that President Donald Trump has pushed for as part of his plan to combat the opioid crisis is already legal under a 1994 law passed at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. But in 24 years, federal prosecutors have never once used it. They hardly need to, considering the draconian penalties already available for punishing convicted drug smugglers. (Allen, 3/20)

The New York Times: N.I.H. To Investigate Outreach To Alcohol Companies
The National Institutes of Health will examine whether health officials violated federal policy against soliciting donations when they met with alcohol companies to discuss funding a study of the benefits of moderate drinking, Dr. Francis Collins, the institutes’ director, said on Tuesday. Dr. Collins also will ask outside experts who are part of a standing advisory committee to review the design and scientific methodology of the 10-year government trial, which is already underway, an N.I.H. spokeswoman said. (Rabin, 3/20)

Kaiser Health News: Research Misconduct Allegations Shadow Likely CDC Appointee
President Donald Trump’s likely pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is facing significant criticism because of a 20-year-old controversy over shoddy HIV research. The Army in 1994 acknowledged accuracy issues with HIV vaccine research led by Dr. Robert Redfield, who is expected to head the CDC, but concluded at the time that the data errors did not constitute misconduct. (Taylor, 3/20)

The Hill: Political Appointees Led Cancelation Of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
Internal emails and memos reveal that political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) went against career officials' objections by deciding to cut short grants aimed at preventing teen pregnancy. Documents released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request indicate that three political appointees directed the changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program: Valerie Huber, who prior to joining HHS headed a national abstinence education advocacy group; Teresa Manning, a former anti-abortion rights lobbyist who has since left HHS; and Steven Valentine, who previously worked for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.  (Hellmann, 3/20)

NPR: Religious Freedom Counts First In This HHS Civil Rights Division
When Roger Severino tells his story, discrimination is at its heart. "I did experience discrimination as a child. And that leaves a lasting impression," he tells me. Severino directs the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. When I meet with him at his office in the shadow of the Capitol, he talks about his childhood as the son of Colombian immigrants growing up in Los Angeles. (Kodjak, 3/20)

Kaiser Health News: Clash Over Abortion Hobbles A Health Bill. Again. Here’s How.
The Affordable Care Act very nearly failed to become law due to an intraparty dispute among Democrats over how to handle the abortion issue. Now a similar argument between Democrats and Republicans is slowing progress on a bill that could help cut soaring premiums and shore up the ACA. At issue is the extent to which the Hyde Amendment — language commonly used by Congress to prohibit most federal abortion funding — should be incorporated into any new legislation affecting the health law. (Rovner, 3/21)

Los Angeles Times: Congressional Leaders Feud Over Abortion Rights And Healthcare, Putting Spending Bill At Risk
Congressional negotiators laboring to write a trillion-dollar plan to fund the federal government are caught up in last-minute partisan disputes over abortion rights, healthcare costs and the fate of a Northeastern railway tunnel that President Trump has sought to derail. House and Senate leaders must agree on a package before Friday's deadline to avert another government shutdown, which would be the third this year. (Decker, 3/20)