Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Health Care ‘Game-Changer’? Feds Boost Care for Homeless Americans
This month, the federal government started paying for treatments delivered outside hospitals and clinics, expanding funding for “street medicine” teams that treat homeless patients. California led the way on the change, which could help sick and vulnerable patients get healthy, sober, and, in some cases, into housing. (Angela Hart, )
California’s Child Poverty Rate More Than Doubled Last Year: Poverty has increased dramatically in California and the nation, a surge that new studies attribute to the expiration of pandemic-era federal relief programs such as the expanded Child Tax Credit. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.
SF Mayor Wants Welfare Drug-Screening Mandate On March Ballot: Mayor London Breed said Tuesday that she will send a measure to the March ballot that would require adults struggling with addiction to enroll in treatment to get cash assistance from the city. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Scroll down for more on the opioid crisis.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KFF Health News’ Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
UC Health And Anthem Blue Cross Could Part Ways Next Year Amid Dispute
More than 600,000 Californians who get medical care at UC Health hospitals through Anthem Blue Cross — including 110,000 who go to UCSF and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals — may need to find a different health insurer or pay out-of-network rates for services at UC Health next year if the two parties cannot reach a new contract by February. UC Health and Anthem, two of California’s largest health industry players, are at odds over the terms of their future relationship. (Ho, 10/18)
The Desert Sun:
DAP Health To Receive $1M Calif. Budget Appropriation: What We Know
Palm Springs-based health care center DAP Health will be presented with a $1 million check by state Assemblymembers Greg Wallis (R-Bermuda Dunes) and Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) on Monday. (Sasic, 10/17)
VC Star:
State To Monitor Suspended Admissions At Private Ventura Psychiatric Hospital Vista Del Mar
Involuntary admissions of psychiatric patients at a Ventura hospital were suspended this week in the wake of repeated violations as state officials said they would monitor compliance and members of a community advisory board said they should have been told months ago of the potential shutdown. (Wilson, 10/17)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Houchin Community Blood Bank: We Need More Blood
Houchin Community Blood Bank announced its next community blood drive event, to be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 5500 Fruitvale Ave. on Nov. 2. (Donegan, 10/17)
CalMatters:
Kaiser Permanente Unions Went On Strike Twice In 12 Months. The Latest Walkout Led To A ‘Historic’ Deal
Health care workers fed up with low pay, burnout and understaffing walked out on Kaiser Permanente twice in 12 months, disrupting care and compelling the health giant to hire thousands of temporary workers. (Hwang, 10/17)
Axios:
NIH Nominee Gets Her Day Before Sanders' Panel
After five months of waiting, President Biden's pick for National Institutes of Health director, Monica Bertagnolli, today will get a confirmation hearing before the Senate health committee. And drug development and pricing is likely to loom large. (Sullivan and Bettelheim, 10/18)
Orange County Register:
31 Stores In California On Rite Aid Closure List
Rite Aid has marked 31 stores in California for closure in its restructuring plan, which was filed Monday, Oct. 16 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The chain, which previously said it might close 500 stores, wrote that at least 154 stores would close. (Gowen, 10/17)
Reuters:
Bankrupt Rite Aid Resolves Drug Supply Dispute With McKesson
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid has settled a critical dispute with drug supplier McKesson Corp to ensure that customers' prescriptions will continue to be filled during Rite Aid's bankruptcy, attorneys said on Tuesday. Rite Aid, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday night in New Jersey, sued McKesson the following morning, seeking to stop it from terminating a drug supply agreement that accounts for 98% of the pharmacy chain's prescription drug sales. (Knauth, 10/17)
AP:
Rite Aid's Bankruptcy Plan Stirs Worries Of New 'Pharmacy Deserts'
Rite Aid’s plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process could hurt access to medicine and care, particularly in some majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in rural areas, experts say. ... When drugstore chains shutter stores, they often target locations in lower-income, Black and Latino neighborhoods with people covered through government-funded insurance programs like Medicaid, said Dima Qato, a University of Southern California associate professor who studies pharmacy access. (Murphy, 10/17)
Roll Call:
CDC Sees Inconsistent Gains In HIV Prevention Prescriptions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published preliminary data Tuesday showing that more than one-third of individuals eligible for a commonly used HIV prevention drug received a prescription, as funding for a critical HIV program grew 16-fold between fiscal years 2019-2023. But the reach of this strategy is highly inconsistent among racial groups. (Raman, 10/17)
Bloomberg:
US Health Insurance Premiums Now Cost $24,000 A Year, Survey Says
Health insurance premiums jumped this year amid a post-pandemic spike in costs of care, adding to the burden on employers and workers as inflation erodes broader buying power. The average employer-sponsored health insurance premium for US families rose 7% to almost $24,000 this year, according to an annual KFF survey of more than 2,000 US companies, compared with a 1% increase last year. Premiums for individual employer coverage rose at the same rate. (LaPara, 10/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Inflation’s Big Hike This Year, In Charts
Inflation came for your healthcare this year. Next year is looking to be just as bad. The cost of employer health insurance rose this year at the fastest clip since 2011, according to an annual survey from KFF, a healthcare research nonprofit. The 7% jump in the cost of a family plan brought the average tab to nearly $24,000—more than the price for some small cars. Workers’ average payment of $6,575 for those plans was nearly $500 more than last year. (Mathews and Ulick, 10/18)
The Washington Post:
Primary Care Saves Lives. Here’s Why It’s Failing Americans
When it comes to saving American lives, don’t look to cardiologists, oncologists or even the made-for-TV heroes in the ER. It’s primary-care providers who offer the best hope of reversing the devastating decline in U.S. life expectancy. That’s the conclusion reached by experts who study America’s fractured health-care system. A 2019 study based on U.S. population data and published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that every 10 additional primary-care physicians per 100,000 people was associated with a 51.5-day increase in life expectancy. (Sellers, 10/17)
Stat:
Medicare Reduced Heart Disease By Changing How It Pays Doctors
Doctors lowered the incidence of heart disease and strokes among their patients when Medicare rewarded them for focusing on sicker patients, according to research of a pilot program released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The pilot program didn’t increase overall costs at all. (Wilkerson, 10/17)
CalMatters:
California Mental Health Agency On The Hot Seat As Lawmakers Review ‘Groundbreaking’ Law
Three years ago, California leaders passed legislation that promised the most dramatic expansion of mental health and addiction care coverage in decades. As the state’s residents struggled with the stress and trauma of a raging pandemic and a record wildfire season, mental health advocates used words like “groundbreaking” to describe the new law. Finally, they said, California was poised to become a national leader on mental health. (Wiener, 10/17)
Vox:
The Mental Health Crisis Among Doctors Is A Problem For Patients
Twice a week, Boston-area psychiatrist Elissa Ely volunteers at a US anonymous help line for physicians in crisis. The calls she takes are often from people in deep distress — physicians having panic attacks, abusing substances or alcohol, facing divorce or alienation from family and friends. A typical call, she said, could be from “an ER doctor who vomits before she goes in for her shifts; despair and depression; suicidality.” But despite her callers’ high levels of mental distress, they’re often very resistant to her suggestions that they seek mental health care, said Ely. When she suggests doctors consider even just a “tincture” of an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication, or find a therapist, she inevitably gets the same response, a long pause followed by a question: “Is this call really anonymous?” (Landman, 10/18)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Transcendental Meditation Can Reduce Nurse Burnout, Study Says
According to a recent study published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, transcendental meditation is/ effective at reducing burnout and enhancing the overall well-being of nurses. The study is a response to increasing levels of burnout within the heath care industry, largely exacerbated by the pandemic. According to another recent study, by market research and consulting company PRC, 15.6% of U.S. nurses surveyed reported feeling burnout. (Boyce, 10/17)
Axios:
Insurers Bash Biden's Mental Health Parity Proposal
Insurers and some employers contend the Biden administration's recent proposal to bolster coverage of mental and behavioral care could actually backfire and make it more difficult for patients to access quality care. The health care payers are urging the administration to drop major features of its plan, including a new formula to determine whether insurers are improperly limiting patient access to mental health care. And a leading health insurer trade group called on the administration to scrap the whole thing. (Goldman, 10/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Drug Overdose Deaths Drop In September, But Worst Year Still Likely
Overdose deaths in San Francisco dropped to 54 in September from a high of 84 in August, a 36% decrease, according to the public health department. ... At the current pace, San Francisco is on track to see more than 800 overdose fatalities this year, topping 2020’s 725. “While we are thankful that those numbers are down compared to last year, that still represents more than two people a day in San Francisco dying largely from fentanyl overdose-related deaths,” Colfax said. (Toledo, 10/17)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area Drug Traffickers Voice Concern Over 'Contributing To Addictions' While Selling Thousands Of Meth-Laced Adderall Pills, Feds Say
As they were allegedly running an illicit drug business with the structure, efficiency and punctuality normally associated with legitimate corporations, a group of Bay Area residents voiced concerns about spreading addiction by selling pills to the wrong people, prosecutors say. (Gartrell, 10/17)
NPR:
As Teen Fentanyl Deaths Rise, Colleges Grapple With Their Role
Test strips and naloxone are becoming more and more common on college campuses, and at least one health department has recommended they be added to school packing lists. For students who didn't bring their own, many campuses are handing them out at welcome fairs, orientation events or campus health centers. ... "If you are in the position where you have had to give someone naloxone, they've almost died." "Naloxone is what I call an anti-funeral drug," explains Nabarun Dasgupta, a research scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill's school of public health. ( Nadworny and Schlemmer, 10/18)
Los Angeles Daily News:
California Cracks Down On ‘Forever Chemicals,’ Or PFAS, Found In Food Packaging
California Attorney General Rob Bonta hosted a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Los Angeles State Historic Park, to warn companies of their responsibility to disclose the presence of dangerous PFAS under Assembly Bill 1200. (10/17)
CalMatters:
New CA Law Allows Bans On Synthetic Turf As PFAS Worries Grow
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week passed on a chance to limit the use of the so-called “forever chemicals” in legions of plastic products when he vetoed a bill that would have banned them in synthetic lawns. His veto of an environmental bill that overwhelmingly passed the Legislature underscores California’s convoluted guidance on the plastic turf that some homeowners, schools and businesses use in place of grass in a state accustomed to drought. (Agrawal, 10/18)
Fresno Bee:
Operators Of Illicit Lab Seek $50M From Fresno County, Reedly Over Seizure, Cleanup
The company behind a clandestine biological lab in Reedley has lodged multimillion-dollar claims against the city of Reedley and the county of Fresno over the destruction of materials and mice that were allegedly being stored illegally inside a warehouse. (Sheehan, 10/17)
Nature:
Smell Loss From COVID Fades Quickly With Help Of New Pill
New clinical-trial data suggest that an antiviral pill called ensitrelvir shortens the duration of two unpleasant symptoms of COVID-19: loss of smell and taste. The medication is among the first to alleviate these effects and, unlike other COVID-19 treatments, is not reserved only for people at high risk of severe illness. (Lenharo, 10/17)
CIDRAP:
COVID MRNA Vaccines Offer Strong Protection For Young Kids, Data Reveal
A study yesterday in JAMA Network Open based on outcomes seen among Singaporean children ages 4 years and younger showed good protection for two doses of monovalent mRNA COVID vaccines during an Omicron surge. The authors said the findings support vaccinating this age-group, despite low incidence of severe disease or hospitalization. (Soucheray, 10/17)
Forbes:
Pathize App Uses Biometrics To Help Long Covid Patients Manage Their Fatigue
Earlier this week, Chicago-based Pathize Health launched its brand-new app which helps patients living with long Covid to better manage their fatigue by collecting real-time data. This is achieved through connectivity with the Apple Watch enabling patients to develop important insights into key areas such as energy management, activity logging and medication adherence. (Alexiou, 10/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Elected Leaders, Community Members Call For Stronger Enforcement Of Ban On Flavored Tobacco Sales
San Diego elected officials and community members say retailers continue to flout state and local bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, and that stronger enforcement of the laws is necessary. (Hernandez, 10/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Stanford Scientist Robert Sapolsky Says Humans Have No Free Will
You may think you chose to read this, but Stanford scientist Robert Sapolsky would disagree. He says virtually all human behavior is beyond our conscious control. (Purtill, 10/17)
Military.com:
Pregnant Soldiers Across US Get Expanded Access To Free Maternity Uniforms As Part Of Army Pilot Program
Pregnant soldiers based in the U.S. may have easier access to maternity uniforms after a recent expansion of a program offering to lend out the garments for free, according to the Army. The Maternity Uniform Pilot Program now allows soldiers to coordinate directly with program representatives to obtain the free uniforms and other Army maternity attire such as nursing T-shirts, instead of relying only on maternity-wear availability at base exchange stores, the service said in a recent update. Garments are then returned after use. (Baker, 10/17)