San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Seeks To Lower Prescription Prices, Protect Abortion Access
Seeking to lower prescription drug prices and safeguard abortion access, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed new regulations on pharmaceutical middlemen and an expansion of state purchasing of abortion drugs. Newsom’s plan would require prescription drug intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed and regulated by the state and would expand CalRx, his low-cost drug purchasing program, to include name-brand abortion drugs like mifepristone. (Bollag, 5/13)

CalMatters: Newsom Proposes Rules On Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today that he will seek to regulate prescription drug managers that he blames for driving up costs for patients, less than a year after he vetoed similar oversight of these companies. The plan — part of a revised state budget proposal that Newsom will unveil in full on Wednesday — calls for licensing pharmacy benefit managers through California’s Department of Managed Health Care and requiring them to report their operational and financial details. (Koseff and Hwang, 5/13)

Becker's Hospital Review: Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill To Set Minimum Nurse-To-Patient Ratios
Two Democratic senators and a representative reintroduced a bill May 12 that would create minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios at hospitals across the country. ... The proposed legislation mirrors California's landmark staffing law enacted in 1999. California remains the only state with mandated nurse-to-patient ratios for acute care hospitals. (Carbajal, 5/13)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Hansels Donate $10 Million For Memorial Hospital's Women's Health, Cardiology And Imaging Centers
Henry and Marilyn Hansel, owners of Sonoma County’s largest network of auto dealerships, have donated $10 million to the foundation that supports Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to help fund construction of health care hub for cardiology, imaging and women’s health. The gift is the largest the foundation has received and the largest ever made by the Hansels. (Espinoza, 5/14)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Backs AI Supply Chain Startup In $27M Round
Kaiser Permanente Ventures was among the investors in a $27 million funding round for AI-powered supply chain startup Clarium. The series A round ... brought the company’s total funding to $43 million. Clarium predicts supply chain disruptions and offers a resiliency platform — spanning workflow operations, inventory and stock management, and disruption and substitution optimization — built in collaboration with health systems. (Bruce, 5/13)

Voice of OC: OC Health Care Chief Quietly Axes $3 Million Advertising Contract With Anaheim Ducks 
Orange County’s public health department – the OC Health Care Agency – won’t renew a multi-million dollar mental health advertising contract with the Anaheim Ducks after at least one county supervisor began questioning how effective the efforts are. County health care leaders have spent $14.5 million on advertising mental health in recent years with the Ducks and the Los Angeles Angels – a strategy that has been questioned since the start. (Biesiada, 5/14)

Stat: Scientists Call For 10-Year Ban On CRISPR For Germline Gene Editing
Leading trade organizations representing the makers of cell and gene therapies are calling for a 10-year international moratorium on the use of CRISPR and other DNA-editing tools to create genetically modified children, according to a draft of the declaration provided to STAT. (Molteni, 5/13)

Axios: UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty Leaves "For Personal Reasons"
The CEO of the health care giant whose insurance leader was killed in New York in December is abruptly leaving the company. (Bomey, 5/13)

Bay Area News Group: California OKs Millions For 19 Addiction, Mental Health Centers In Bay Area
A year after California voters approved a huge bond to build more treatment centers for people wracked by addiction and mental health conditions — including those living in tents and campers — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced $3.3 billion in grant funding for more than 120 projects statewide. (Stringer, 5/14)

Stat: Mental Health Care May Be Harder To Obtain After HHS Rule Reversal 
For a recent therapy session, Andria Donaghy’s insurance plan paid her psychiatric nurse practitioner only $11 on a $125 service. “To even put that on paper is insulting,” she said. “These people give their lives [to help others] and that’s what you pay them?” (Broderick, 5/13)

The Hill: House Democrats: HHS Funding Cuts To LGBTQ Suicide Hotline Will Have ‘Lethal Consequences’ 
More than 100 House Democrats urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to spare a crisis service for LGBTQ youth from federal funding cuts, calling the plan, part of a leaked budget proposal, “ill-advised” and dangerous in a letter addressed Tuesday to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. An internal budget document first reported last month by The Washington Post would eliminate specialized services for LGBTQ youth who contact 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as part of a broader Trump administration effort to slash funding and programs it says are bloating the federal government. (Migdon, 5/13)

The Hill: CBO: GOP Medicaid Plan Would Make 7.6 Million People Uninsured
The Medicaid portion of the House GOP’s massive domestic policy bill would result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage by 2034 and 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to a partial (CBO) Congressional Budget Office estimate. Republicans released the estimates just ahead of the start of Tuesday’s markup of the Energy and Commerce portion of the party-line legislation, which is key to enacting President Trump’s agenda. The uninsured numbers include 1.4 million people without verified citizenship who would be removed from the program and 4.8 million people who would lose coverage because of work requirements, the committee said. (Weixel, 5/13)

Stat: Wonky Piece Of GOP Medicaid Cuts Bill Has Mixed Impact On Hospitals
House Republicans plan to slash $715 billion from state Medicaid programs over the next decade, but their proposal spares special Medicaid payments hospitals increasingly use to pad their bottom lines. (Bannow and Herman, 5/13)

Modern Healthcare: AHA Submits Over 100 Healthcare Regulations It Wants CMS To Cut
The American Hospital Association recommends that the Health and Human Services Department eliminate or ease a slew of regulations on billing, quality reporting, the workforce and other areas in a letter sent to regulators. President Donald Trump has made deregulation a centerpiece of his expansive overhaul of the federal government, including at HHS. The AHA wrote the department Monday offering more than 100 suggestions for policies to scrap in response to an April solicitation from the White House Office of Management and Budget, which also generated responses from other healthcare interests. (Early, 5/13)

Modern Healthcare: CMMI Strategy To Revise Medicare Advantage Ratings Measurements
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is rolling out a broad new agenda for its innovation center that could lead to requirements that participants in value-based care programs to take on downside risk, the agency announced Tuesday. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation plan prioritizes shared risk and prospective payments, streamlined quality measurement, artificial intelligence and other technologies, and Medicare Advantage payment models, Director Abe Sutton said in an interview Friday. (Early, 5/13)

MedPage Today: Expect More Downside Risk In Medicare's Payment Models, CMS Official Says
Physicians should expect to see more Medicare alternative payment models that involve downside risk, Abe Sutton, JD, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), said Tuesday. "We've found at the innovation center that when we have 'upside-only' payment models, there's not necessarily an incentive ... for participants to change how they engage in care delivery," Sutton said at a conference in Washington sponsored by the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy. (Frieden, 5/13)

NPR: FDA Moves To Ban Fluoride Supplements For Kids, Removing A Key Tool For Dentists
Under the leadership of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Food and Drug Administration is seeking to remove prescription fluoride supplements for kids from the market. These are fluoride tablets, drops or lozenges that are recommended for kids who don't get fluoridated water to help prevent cavities. (Huang, 5/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: California, 19 States Sue Trump Administration Over Withheld Funds
The battle over immigration and federal power escalated Tuesday as California and 19 other states accused President Donald Trump of illegally withholding tens of billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds from states that refuse to cooperate with the administration’s policies. “This is our money and the money of other states that he’s holding hostage for his own unlawful gain,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference announcing two lawsuits against the funding cutoffs. “This is not how a democracy works.” (Egelko, 5/13)

The Bay Area Reporter: White House Proposed Cuts Alarm HIV Groups
San Francisco HIV organizations and national advocates are sounding the alarm about massive cuts presented in the White House’s proposed budget. The White House announced President Donald Trump’s so-called skinny budget proposal May 2. Initial cuts proposed in a leaked U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget draft would have eliminated funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which was started during Trump’s first term as president. The status of that funding is now unclear. Trump touted the initiative in his 2020 State of the Union address. (Ferrannini, 5/13)

CBS News: Head Of Worker Safety Agency NIOSH Restored, Ahead Of RFK Jr. Hearing
The head of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and a handful of teams at the agency had their layoff notices rescinded Tuesday, multiple officials say, and several worker safety programs that had been eliminated by layoffs last month are being restored. Letters reversing the layoffs arrived in the inboxes of some NIOSH staff a day ahead of House and Senate hearings Wednesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. where he was expected to face questions about the layoffs. (Tin, 5/13)

Stat: RFK Jr. Faces Senate, House Questions On HHS Overhaul, Vaccines 
The Republican leader of the Senate’s health panel plans to ask Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explain the sweeping changes across the federal health agencies he oversees, in a long-awaited hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. (Payne, 5/14)

The Washington Post: EPA Plans To Roll Back Biden PFAS Drinking Water Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to rescind and reconsider limits on four different “forever chemicals” under a landmark drinking water standard implemented last year by President Joe Biden, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The drinking water rules were adopted as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit public exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), hazardous chemicals linked to range of serious illnesses. The original rule covered six common PFAS contaminants, including PFOA, a known human carcinogen, and PFOS, a likely carcinogen. (Ajasa, 5/13)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Moves To Weaken FEMA As Climate Hazards Worsen
Experts say the turmoil at FEMA will leave millions of American vulnerable as climate-change-fueled disasters get worse in the months and years ahead — particularly as [President Donald] Trump seeks to shift more of the burden of disaster response away from the federal government and onto the states. In the wake of January’s destructive firestorm in Los Angeles, FEMA notably opted to break from its decades-long tradition of testing soil for contaminants, as The Times first reported. (Smith, 5/14)

The Washington Post: The Most Promising Ways To Destroy ‘Forever Chemicals’ 
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin recently announced somewhat vague actions to combat contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been found in drinking water, food packaging and soil. The agency on Monday asked for more time to consider whether it would defend a drinking water rule introduced by the Biden administration. In the meantime, researchers are seeking a breakthrough in technologies to tackle PFAS contamination. Some methods that appear promising involve heating and pressurizing water. Other approaches in development include experiments with ultraviolet light, plasma and sound waves. (Chiu, 5/13)

ABC News: Extreme Heat Could Make Pregnancy Riskier For Millions Of Women: Report
As human-induced climate change continues warming the planet, pregnancy risks are increasing, according to a new analysis by Climate Central. Climate Central, a nonprofit science and communications organization, analyzed daily temperature data from 2020 to 2024 in 940 cities across 247 counties and territories. Researchers looked for "extreme heat days," which are defined by temperatures that go beyond what's normal in the area 95% of the time. (Glasser, 5/14)

Argus-Courier: Petaluma City Schools Nurses Discuss Importance, Diversity Of Their Roles 
Coming as she does from a long line of nurses, Monika Carvalho was inspired to become a fourth-generation nurse herself, and began her career in 2007 working as an RN at UCSF, where she stayed for 16 years. (Richardson, 5/13)