Daily Edition for Monday, December 16, 2024
2 More Californians Have Bird Flu: Two human cases of H5N1 avian flu have been confirmed in San Joaquin County, health officials reported Friday. The cases occurred in farmworkers with known exposure to infected animals. There are now 34 confirmed human cases in California. Read more from The Sacramento Bee. Scroll down for more bird flu news.
Helicopters Rescued Patients in ‘Apocalyptic’ Flood. Other Hospitals Are at Risk, Too.
By Lauren Sausser and Holly K. Hacker
The helicopter evacuation of 70 people from a Tennessee hospital during Hurricane Helene is considered a success story. The building was destroyed by floodwaters, but no one died. In hindsight, why was it built next to a river?
Native American Patients Are Sent to Collections for Debts the Government Owes
By Katheryn Houghton and Arielle Zionts
Federal law says Native Americans aren’t liable for medical bills the Indian Health Service promises to pay. Some are billed anyway as a result of backlogs or mistakes from the agency, financial middlemen, or health systems.
How Are States Spending Opioid Settlement Cash? We Built a Database of Answers
By Aneri Pattani
Data visualizations by Lydia Zuraw
From addiction treatment to toy robot ambulances, we uncovered how billions in opioid settlement funds were used by state and local governments in 2022 and 2023. Find out where the money went.
Trump Threat to Immigrant Health Care Tempered by Economic Hopes
By Vanessa G. Sánchez
Donald Trump’s second term is reigniting mistrust in health services among California immigrants, making it harder for community health workers to get people enrolled in Medi-Cal. Yet the president-elect is also seen as someone who could improve their lives with a better economy, even if that means forgoing health care.
Daily Edition for Friday, December 13, 2024
More Than A Dozen California Democrats Voted For Anti-Trans Provision: Thirteen California Democrats voted to pass legislation that included a GOP provision to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Many of them said the defense bill was too important to vote against but that they opposed the piece targeting care for transgender youth. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
California’s ‘Care Courts’ Are Falling Short
By Christine Mai-Duc
California’s controversial experiment to order mental illness and drug treatment for some of its sickest residents is rolling out statewide, but the latest data shows the new initiative is falling far short of early objectives. The Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act — known as Care — recently expanded from 11 pilot counties to all […]
Removing a Splinter? Treating a Wart? If a Doctor Does It, It Can Be Billed as Surgery
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Minor interventions are increasingly being rebranded and billed as surgery, for profit. This means a neurologist spending 40 minutes with a patient to tease out a diagnosis can be paid less for that time than a dermatologist spending a few seconds squirting a dollop of liquid nitrogen onto the skin.
Más californianos están muriendo por el frío. Gran parte son personas mayores sin techo
By Phillip Reese
La hipotermia causada por la exposición a bajas temperaturas fue la causa principal, o que contribuyó, a la muerte de 166 californianos el año pasado, más del doble que hace una década
