Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Diabetic Amputations A ‘Shameful Metric’ Of Inadequate Care
In California, people who are black or Latino are more than twice as likely as whites to undergo amputations related to diabetes, a Kaiser Health News analysis found. The pattern is not unique to California. (Anna Gorman, )
Good morning! Here is some of your top California health care news for the day.
Union Comes To Agreement With Stanford Health Care, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital To End Contract Impasse: The agreements include increased pay opportunities, the maintenance of part-time nursing positions, protection of vacation and attendance policies, and the establishment of workplace-violence prevention provisions to ensure nurses have a role in ensuring safe working conditions. “We feel that we have been able to get good working conditions that protect our nurses at work, allows for work life balance with the part-time positions, and financially, the hospitals are showing nurses that what we do is important,” said Colleen Borges, a pediatric oncology nurse and the union’s president. Tuesday’s announcement marks the third time in recent years that the union has authorized a strike but managed to reach an agreement with hospital representatives before walking out. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and the East Bay Times.
Advocates Say California’s Mental Health System Is ‘Broken.’ What Does That Actually Look Like?: A renewed focus on mental health care in the state has shined a light on rampant problems in the system. “We fall short because we lack the bold leadership and strategic vision necessary to bring the most advanced forms of care to scale across the state. We lack the political will necessary to elevate brain illness as a top-tier priority,” said now Gov. Gavin Newsom a year before he was elected. The Legislature has also tried to take steps to address the issues, but the cracks are still there. The data show that nearly one in six Californians experience some mental illness, suicide rates are climbing, substance abuse rates are spiking, and through it all people are struggling to get help. CALmatters offers a thorough look at the problems with the system, how the state got to where it is, and what is being done about it.
Drug-Resistant Hospital-Acquired Infections Are Becoming More Widespread, Harder To Treat: Candida auris is not only hard to treat because it is resistant to drugs, it’s hard to identify, as well. This can lead to a misdiagnosis, which complicates public health officials’ jobs in identifying where there might be outbreaks. So, how widespread is the problem? Read more from Capital Public Radio.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern County Schools Staying Proactive To Prevent Measles
Kern County schools are taking proactive steps to ensure their students are safe from measles as neighboring communities’ outbreak numbers continue to rise. Measles is a contagious respiratory disease that causes a rash and fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been no cases reported in Kern County as of Tuesday, said Michelle Corson, public relations officer for Kern County Public Health. As of April 24, the most recent numbers from the California Department of Public Health show 38 confirmed measles cases, including 28 outbreak-associated cases, have been reported in California. (Sasic, 4/30)
Orange County Register:
Orange County Confirms 1st Measles Case Of 2019; Possible Exposure Site Includes ‘Avengers’ Screening At AMC Theatres In Fullerton
A Placentia woman in her 20s who went to see “Avengers: Endgame” during the opening weekend is the first confirmed case of measles in Orange County in 2019, health officials announced Tuesday, April 30. The Orange County Health Care agency advised people of potential exposure locations, including the AMC Theater on Lemon Street in Fullerton, between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. April 25, at a showing of “Avengers.” However, spokeswoman Jessica Good said “the exposure risk applies to anyone who was at the theater during that time period.” (Bharath and Smith, 4/30)
San Jose Mercury News:
County, San Jose Officials Grapple With Rising Homelessness
The number of homeless people in Santa Clara County is increasing faster than the new county resources allocated to help them, a reality that frustrated county and San Jose elected officials at a joint meeting Monday afternoon. ...The county has tried to respond — adding 1,372 permanent homeless housing units — some still under construction — and 1,034 temporary shelter beds since 2015. And county voters in 2016 passed a nearly $1 billion affordable housing bond, Measure A, a quarter of which has been allocated for so far. (Vo, 4/30)
San Francisco:
Catholic Charities’ Plan To Open Oakland Safe House For Trafficked Teens Hits Snags
The social services arm of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is seeking to open a home for teenage victims of sexual trafficking, but the church’s plan to help girls who have been abused is facing opposition on multiple fronts. (Wu, 4/30)
Capital Public Radio:
Diocese Of Sacramento Releases List Of Clergy Accused Of Sexual Abuse
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on Tuesday released the names of 46 clergy credibly accused of abusing more than 130 minors and young adults since 1950. ...The clergy were in churches not only in Sacramento, but also from Redding and Vacaville to Angels Camp and several local schools, including St. Francis and Jesuit high schools. The earliest report of abuse dates back to 1955, with the most recent in 2014. (Moffitt and Hagan, 4/30)
Reuters:
U.S. Environment Agency Says Glyphosate Weed Killer Is Not A Carcinogen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that glyphosate, a chemical in many popular weed killers, is not a carcinogen, contradicting decisions by U.S. juries that found it caused cancer in people. The EPA's announcement reaffirms its earlier findings about the safety of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Bayer's Roundup. The company faces thousands of lawsuits from Roundup users who allege it caused their cancer. (5/1)
Stat:
Facebook Announces New Steps In Effort To Bolster Privacy Of Health Data
Millions of Facebook users have joined groups to talk about health care issues ranging from rare disease diagnoses to chemotherapy side effects. Now, the technology giant is taking steps it hopes will encourage those conversations while affording users more privacy. ...The company announced Tuesday that it will create a new type of community: health support groups. Once groups are designated as health support communities, users will be able to easily ask the administrators to post questions on their behalf. (Thielking, 4/30)
Stat:
5 Names To Know: The Team Leading Microsoft Into Health Care
Microsoft is quickly expanding its footprint in medicine. The company has filed dozens of patents in recent years related to health care innovations. It is working in medical imaging, cloud storage, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring — and applying artificial intelligence to all of the above. Just in the past few months, the company has announced a national digital health partnership with Walgreens; a new health care bot to help screen and address patients’ health problems; and a cloud-based tool to spur data sharing between hospitals. (Ross, 5/1)
The New York Times:
Gingerly, Democrats Give ‘Medicare For All’ An Official Moment
It was a big political discussion in a very small room. “Medicare for all” got its first congressional hearing on Tuesday, albeit in one of the House’s tightest meeting rooms, in an area of the Capitol off limits to the scores of people who assembled in Washington to show support. The idea of a single government health care system for all Americans has been treated with extreme caution by the Democratic leadership, which has stressed more modest improvements to the current health law. On Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office was pointing to the bills moving through the House Judiciary Committee that could lower the prices of prescription drugs. (Sanger-Katz, 4/30)
Politico:
Democrats Paper Over Rifts At 'Medicare For All' Hearing
Democrats who've spent much of this year mired by infighting closed ranks to amplify the party’s broader ambitions on a critical political issue ahead of the 2020 elections — and blunt GOP attacks over Medicare for All’s cost and government expansion. “We’re spending an awful lot on health care right now, and we’re not getting the services and the effectiveness that we’re all demanding,” Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern said at the outset of the hearing, which was briefly attended by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I’d like to think we all believe we can do better.” (Cancryn and Ollstein, 4/30)
The Hill:
'Medicare For All' Gets Boost From First Congressional Hearing
GOP panel members repeatedly pressed McGovern on why the Rules Committee, which is often controlled by the Speaker, was the one holding a Medicare for All hearing.
McGovern, who took over as head of the panel in January, responded by saying: “There’s a new sheriff in town. That’s why we’re doing the hearing.” The location underscored the divisions the Democratic Party faces in how it plans to improve a system where 29 million Americans are uninsured, and millions more can’t afford their premiums, deductibles and prescription drugs. (Hellmann, 4/30)
The Washington Post:
Medicare-For-All Advocates Get Their First Hearing On Capitol Hill
In the opening moments of Congress’s first-ever hearing on Medicare-for-all, House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) hit on a theme that already has begun to dominate the 2020 Democratic primary season: “Health care is a right for all,” he said, “not a privilege for the lucky few.” That mantra, which he and others invoked on Tuesday, is political ammunition for liberals’ crusade to convert the U.S. health-care system into a single-payer model. The language casts a redesign, intended to guarantee all Americans access to care by enlarging the government’s role, as a moral imperative. (Goldstein, 4/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Aide Criticizes Medicare For All Proposal
Seema Verma, a top White House health administrator, on Tuesday criticized the Medicare for All health proposal, saying it poses a threat to patient choice and would limit competition. “We have got to support a free market where patients are making decisions, not the government,” said Ms. Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and has led many of the White House’s initiatives on giving patients more cost data. (Armour and Burton, 4/30)
Stat:
Progressives Warn Democratic Leaders They Must Be Bolder On Drug Pricing
Progressive lawmakers are increasingly warning that they would forcefully oppose any effort to set up a system of arbitration to help lower drug prices, a model that would fall short of their demands to allow the federal government to negotiate with drug companies. It’s an idea that has the implicit backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose top health policy aide has been focused on the proposal in talks with other experts. The speaker’s backing of any eventually legislation could put it on the fast track for congressional action, though no bill on the issue has yet been introduced in Congress. (Florko, 4/30)
The Hill:
Trump Urges Dem Senator To Revive Bipartisan ObamaCare Talks
President Trump encouraged Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) to resume efforts to find a bipartisan deal to shore up ObamaCare at a White House meeting on Tuesday. Trump said that he did not understand why the bipartisan proposal that Murray worked on in 2017 and 2018 with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) had been dropped, according to a Democratic source. (Sullivan, 4/30)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Permits The Sale Of IQOS, A New Tobacco Device
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it would permit the sale of IQOS, a “heat not burn” tobacco device made by Philip Morris International, in the United States. While the agency stopped short of declaring that the device was safer than traditional cigarettes, the F.D.A. did say the heated tobacco-stick system could help people to quit smoking. (Kaplan, 4/30)
The New York Times:
Should Adults Get A Measles Booster Shot?
Because of this year’s sharp increase in measles cases — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has blamed a deliberate misinformation campaign by anti-vaccine activists for — many Americans are wondering whether they need to be vaccinated. The C.D.C. emphasizes that children are the most important group to reach. Outbreaks spread rapidly in preschools and kindergartens, and young children often have infant siblings too young to get the vaccine. But some adults, too, should consult with their doctors and consider getting the shot. (McNeil, 4/30)
The Washington Post:
Suicide Attempts Using Poison Have Surged Among Young People, Particularly Girls
More young people than ever are trying to kill themselves using poison. The rate of attempted suicide by poison has more than doubled among people under 19 in the past decade in the United States and more than tripled for girls and young women 10 to 24. The new numbers, published Wednesday in the Journal of Pediatrics, come amid an overall rise in suicides nationwide across age groups and gender. But the sudden and sharp rise in poison-related suicide attempts by children and teens has left researchers and health advocates searching for answers. (Wan, 5/1)
The Associated Press:
Democrats Using Veterans Bill To Try To Block Border Wall
Democrats controlling the House are trying to use a popular veterans measure to block President Donald Trump from transferring $3.6 billion from military base construction to build his long-sought wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Tuesday's move faces certain opposition from Trump and a potential veto threat. Lawmakers often try to use essentail spending bills to reverse presidential moves, but they are often unsuccessful. Republicans tried in futility on numerous occasions to advance conservative policy "riders" on topics such as the Affordable Care Act, financial regulations and the environment. (4/30)
The Associated Press:
It Seems Like Alzheimer's But Peek Into Brain Shows A Mimic
Some people told they have Alzheimer's may instead have a newly identified mimic of the disease — and scientists say even though neither is yet curable, it's critical to get better at telling different kinds of dementia apart. Too often, the word dementia is used interchangeably with Alzheimer's when there are multiple types of brain degeneration that can harm people's memory and thinking skills. (4/30)