Daily Edition for Thursday, April 3, 2025
SF Makes Major Change To Drug Policy: San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday announced that the city would no longer give users free paraphernalia to consume drugs without providing treatment counseling. The move marks a shift away from the standing policy of providing supplies for people to use drugs in a safer manner, including clean foil and needles. Read more from CBS News San Francisco and The San Francisco Chronicle.
What’s Lost: Trump Whacks Tiny Agency That Works To Make the Nation’s Health Care Safer
By Arthur Allen
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has helped improve health care safety in a country where thousands die of medical errors each year. It was effectively dissolved Tuesday.
Trump’s DEI Undoing Undermines Accommodations for Disabled People
By Stephanie Armour
From halting diversity programs that benefit disabled workers to making federal staffing cuts, the Trump administration has taken a slew of actions that harm people with disabilities.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, April 2, 2025
California Misses Deadline For Doctor Rate Increases: Officials for Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration blew past a federal deadline Monday for doctors to get paid more to see low-income patients, effectively leaving millions of dollars unclaimed. Read more from CalMatters.
How Much Will That Surgery Cost? 🤷 Hospital Prices Remain Largely Unhelpful.
By Daniel Chang
Health care price transparency is one of the few bipartisan issues in Washington, D.C. But much of the information that hospitals and health plans have made available to the public is not helpful to patients, and there’s no conclusive evidence yet that it’s lowering costs or increasing competition.
Hit Hard by Opioid Crisis, Black Patients Further Hurt by Barriers to Care
By Melba Newsome
The rate of overdose deaths from opioids has grown significantly among Black people. Yet, even after a nonfatal overdose, this group is half as likely to be referred to or get treatment compared with white people. Advocates and researchers cite implicit bias, insurance denials, and other systemic issues.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, April 1, 2025
UC Health Workers On Strike Today: As many as thousands of unionized University of California health care and technical workers are poised to join in a one-day strike Tuesday across all UC campuses and medical centers, including UCSF Parnassus. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Public Health Risks of Urban Wildfire Smoke Prompt Push for More Monitoring
By Katharine Gammon
As the fires burned in Los Angeles, scientists and local air regulators deployed monitors to measure the levels of heavy metals, carcinogens, and other toxic substances released into the air when homes, buildings, and cars burned. They hope their efforts will inform ongoing cleanup efforts and protect the public in future fires.
Trump Says He’ll Stop Health Care Fraudsters. Last Time, He Let Them Walk.
By Brett Kelman
In his first term, President Donald Trump granted pardons or clemency to more than 60 convicted fraudsters, including health care executives who defrauded Medicare out of hundreds of millions of dollars, courts and juries found. Now, Trump says cracking down on fraud is a priority.
Daily Edition for Monday, March 31, 2025
Bill Would Create Emergency Minimum Nurse-To-Patient Ratios For Psychiatric Hospitals: Calling the dangerous conditions in for-profit psychiatric hospitals an emergency, California’s top lawmaker on the state Senate Health Committee has proposed legislation to quickly impose stricter staffing requirements in the facilities that treat tens of thousands of residents experiencing mental health crises every year. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
