Daily Edition: Oct. 31, 2023

Latest From California Healthline:

Start Shopping: Enrollment Begins Nov. 1 for Most Obamacare Insurance Plans

More than 16 million Americans who buy their own health insurance through state and federal marketplaces have until Jan. 15 to compare prices, change their coverage, or enroll for the first time. (Julie Appleby, 10/31 )

Big Gender Pay Gap Among High-Paid UC Medical Professors: The University of California's health system paid 113 medical professors at least $1 million in total pay last year. But an analysis found that only 12 of those high-earning health professionals were women. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.

Halloween Or Not, California Kids Get A Lot Of Cavities: A national survey from 2020-21 found that 14.8% of the state's children ages 1 to 17 had decayed teeth or cavities in the past 12 months studied — ranking 47th out of 51 among all the states and the District of Columbia. Read more from the Los Angeles Times. Plus, tips for keeping your children cavity-free.

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

The Mercury News: Biden's New Executive Order On AI Expected To Boost Silicon Valley
A lengthy executive order on artificial intelligence signed Monday by President Joe Biden is expected to give a big boost to AI development in Silicon Valley. Bay Area experts say the guidelines and government oversight promised in the order, a whopping 20,000-word document, will lend confidence to significant numbers of potential business customers who have not yet embraced the technology, which Silicon Valley companies have been furiously developing. (Baron, 10/30)

Stat: Biden's Order Seeks To Regulate AI Risk Without Stifling Innovation
President Biden ordered the nation's leading health agencies on Monday to develop a plan for regulating artificial intelligence tools already widely in use within hospitals, insurance companies, and other health-related businesses. (Ross, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: How Biden's AI Executive Order Applies To Healthcare
President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order and invoked the Defense Production Act on Monday to establish the first set of standards on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare and other industries. As the hype, promise and usage of AI has grown in healthcare, health system leaders and developers have sought more concrete guardrails on its usage, particularly for clinical purposes. Biden signed the order at an afternoon AI-focused event at the White House. (Perna and Turner, 10/30)

The New York Times: Doctors Wrestle With A.I. in Patient Care, Citing Lax Oversight
In medicine, the cautionary tales about the unintended effects of artificial intelligence are already legendary. There was the program meant to predict when patients would develop sepsis, a deadly bloodstream infection, that triggered a litany of false alarms. Another, intended to improve follow-up care for the sickest patients, appeared to deepen troubling health disparities. (Jewett, 10/30)

USA Today: Pharmageddon Walkout Hits As Workers Protest At Some Chain Pharmacies
Pharmacists protesting deteriorating working conditions inside the nation's largest retail chains launched their third and largest walkout of the season on Monday with a three-day movement they've dubbed "Pharmageddon." Organizers estimated the effort has drawn as many as 4,500 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from multiple chains, including CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. It also drew support from the American Pharmacists Association, the industry's largest professional organization, which said in a statement it stands with every participant of the movement. (Le Coz, 10/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: American Pharmacists Association CEO Calls For Change Amid Walgreens, CVS Walkouts
Michael Hogue, PharmD, CEO and executive vice president of the American Pharmacists Association, has issued a statement of support for the planned walkouts by Walgreens and CVS pharmacy employees that began Oct. 30. The walkouts are expected to last three days over growing concerns about working conditions and staff shortages, according to CNN, but it is unclear at this time how large of a scale they will reach since most of these workers are not unionized. (Hollowell, 10/30)

NPR: A Landmark Gene-Editing Treatment For Sickle Cell Disease Moves Closer To Reality
The Food and Drug Administration may soon approve a therapy that uses the gene-editing technique called CRISPR to treat sickle cell disease. It would mark the first time gene editing moves from the lab into clinical use. A committee of advisers to the FDA meets Tuesday to review the scientific evidence for the treatment, including whether sufficient research has been done to assess its long-term safety. The agency has until Dec. 8 to make a decision about the therapy, known as "exa-cel." (Stein, 10/31)

Axios: U.S. Health Plan Rates Can Vary Sharply By County, Study Shows
One of the first studies of publicly available insurer price data found generally higher rates for office visits and medical procedures in the Upper Midwest and Southeast, and the lowest costs in the Central U.S. and Florida. The findings published in JAMA Health Forum could help shine a light on regional price variations and whether higher costs translate to more value in markets. (Goldman, 10/30)

Axios: More Employers Try To Shield Low-Wage Workers From Health Costs
More workplaces are offering at least one health plan that is free to employees or offers no-deductible coverage for certain services as many workers struggle to afford care. The number of large employers offering at least one free medical plan to employees increased from 11% this year to 15% in 2024 coverage, according to a new Mercer survey. (Reed, 10/30)

Bay Area Reporter: Queer Latino Youth Have Heightened Risk Of Suicidality, Study Finds
A study of LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino young people found that they were more likely to report depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts than young people of other ethnicities — and struggled with accessing mental health care. The report — "The Mental Health and Well-Being of Latinx LGBTQ Young People" published by West Hollywood-based The Trevor Project — also found that those who reported supportive environments and stronger connections to their cultures had lowered risks. (Ferrannini, 10/31)

Los Angeles Daily News: Mired In Overdose Crisis, MacArthur Park Struggles To Revive Neighborhood Council
The working-class neighborhood of MacArthur Park, which sits at the epicenter of Los Angeles' overdose crisis, has a pressing need to be heard in City Hall. But the city's traditional strategy for involving residents in governing, the neighborhood council system, is failing. (Harter, 10/30)

Bay Area News Group: In California, Students With Unstable Home Environments Most Likely To Be Sent Home From School, New Study Shows
Across California, the two groups of children living in more tenuous home environments — foster youth and those experiencing homelessness — are also the most likely to be sent home through punitive, out-of-school suspensions, new research shows. (Miolene, 10/30)

Axios: Trump Calls For The Return Of Mental Institutions
Former President Trump has called for the return of "mental institutions" as part of his plan "to get the homeless off our streets" should he be elected to a second term in office. The state-run psychiatric hospitals that largely disappeared in the mid-1900s are often associated with inhumane mistreatment. (Owens, 10/31)

ABC7 Los Angeles: California Health Officials Urge Proactive Measures Ahead Of Winter's Expected Viral Onslaught
Winter is coming -- that's the warning coming from California health officials about the seasonal viruses that commonly strike our communities. But this year is different because we have new weapons against these illnesses. Doctors want to make sure you take advantage of them. Flu, RSV and our newest winter enemy: the viral descendants of the original COVID-19. "We anticipate that it's going to go up again in the winter like it has every other winter," said California Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon. (Dador, 10/29)

The Hill: Biden Administration Looks To Avoid Vaccine Hiccups As COVID-19 Treatment Coverage Goes Commercial
Administration officials have acknowledged the problems when the vaccines moved to commercial payers but said ample supply plus a relatively long transition period for antivirals should make it so those same issues — delayed insurance coverage and lack of supply — don't happen again. "The federal product will continue to be available for days to weeks. And that gives a chance for the insurers, the [pharmacy benefit managers], the pharmacies, providers, all to work through the system changes needed to distribute the product commercially and effectively," a senior Health and Human Services (HHS) official told reporters during a recent briefing. (Weixel, 10/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Fingers Crossed: Flu Season Might Not Be So Bad This Year
There's some good news about flu season this year. Doctors and scientists don't expect the worst. The flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, where the cold-weather illness period wraps up as we head into ours, often serves as a harbinger of what's to come for us. There, cases picked up a little earlier than usual in some countries but didn't result in an especially large number of hospitalizations and deaths, say public health experts and doctors. Also encouraging: The components in this year's flu vaccine are a good match to the predominant strain so far. (Reddy, 10/30)

KQED: Forced Sterilization Survivors of California Prisons Face Reparations Deadline
Leesha Gooseberry experienced many ups and downs before being incarcerated at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, a city 40 miles northwest of Fresno. It was in prison that a routine gynecological check-up wound up changing her life irreparably. She was 38 when a doctor at the facility told her that she would need a partial hysterectomy to remove fibroid tumors. (Johnson, 10/30)

Bay Area News Group: 'It's Competitive': Cal State East Bay Offers Online Courses In Cannabis Education
Cal State East Bay is offering a new educational program to train people to be leaders in the cannabis industry. The university is the first school in the California State University system to offer the strictly online cannabis certificate program. (Byik, 10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Crackdown On Unlicensed Hot Dog Vendors Sparks Controversy
The tantalizing aroma of grilled onions and bacon-wrapped hot dogs is an integral part of San Francisco city life, courtesy of street vendors lining the sidewalks near bustling tourist spots, bars, baseball games and music festivals. But authorities are again sounding alarms about these food cart operators, most of whom are unlicensed, citing concerns about public health and safety. (Vaziri, 10/30)

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