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Not a subscriber? Sign up | | | | Daily Edition | | | More News From Across The State Los Angeles Times: Long Waits For Home Care Persist In California Despite Expansion
Lyla Abuebaid needs to check on her 5-year-old son through the night to make sure he keeps breathing. Sayfideen has a rare and serious syndrome that leaves him unable to walk. He relies on a ventilator and has to be monitored 24 hours a day, his mother said. Nurses once helped handle his care at home. But for months now, that work has instead fallen to his mother, who is also juggling her job as a project manager. (Alpert Reyes, 7/30) Sacramento Bee: Insurance Practice, High Medicine Prices Hurt CA Families
Seventeen-year-old Macy Coad earns straight As in her honors and AP classes. The high school swimmer is being recruited by colleges. But you wouldn't know she's been battling juvenile arthritis since she was a year and a half old. Coad has been on some form of medicine since she was three, going through as little as one steroid injection per month to as many as an injection per week to ease her symptoms. (Lemma, 7/31) Times of San Diego: San Diego American Indian Health Center Will Now Help Newly Arriving Refugees
The San Diego American Indian Health Center, through a partnership with the County of San Diego and funding from the State of California, will now be a medical service site for newly arriving refugees. The center was founded in 1979, and since its inception has provided community-based health care rooted in traditional cultural values for American Indians in San Diego. Now they will be extending their services through the Refugee Health Assessment Program. (Ramirez, 7/30) Becker's Hospital Review: 8 Hospitals Leading The Way In Antimicrobial Stewardship
The Infectious Diseases Society of America has recognized two California hospitals for excellence in antimicrobial stewardship. Only institutions that have developed a program advancing research in antimicrobial resistance are recognized with a center of excellence designation from the IDSA. (Hollowell, 7/30) Modern Healthcare: Hospice To See Medicare Pay Increase In 2025
Medicare reimbursements for hospice providers will increase 2.9% in fiscal 2025 under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Tuesday. That's higher than the 2.6% payment update CMS proposed in March and comprises a 3.4% increase in the market basket minus a 0.5 percentage point productivity adjustment. Hospice providers that do not report quality data will receive a 1.1% reimbursement cut. (Young, 7/30) Modern Healthcare: Health Rules 2024: What's Next For Medicare, Prior Authorization
President Joe Biden has some unfinished business on health policy, and the final months of his term in office will feature a flurry of regulations touching areas from Medicare payments to prior authorizations to cybersecurity. ... While Kamala Harris likely would continue along a similar trajectory as Biden, she would put her own stamp on policy from the White House as president, while Donald Trump's record and agenda indicate he would take health policy in a very different direction. (Early, 7/30) inewsource: A Death In March Triggers More Scrutiny Of Veterans Village Of San Diego
Admitted in January, Jeffrey Scott Connors Jr. lasted a month before being kicked out for a rules violation — but was encouraged to reapply. He did, getting readmitted on Feb. 21, court records show. But on the evening of March 18, Connors took fentanyl along with another resident. That resident survived but Connors did not, expiring on the ground of the village just after 9:30 p.m. (Moran, 7/30) The Washington Post: Suicide Rates In Children Have Continued To Climb Across 15 Years, Study Finds
The suicide rate for U.S. children 8 to 12 years old has steadily climbed in the past decade and a half, with a disproportionate rise among girls, data released Tuesday by the National Institute of Mental Health shows. The findings, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, highlight pervasive issues regarding mental health that affect U.S. children daily, the study authors said. (Malhi, 7/30) CNN: Most Young People Who Die By Suicide In The US Do Not Have Previous Mental Health Diagnoses, Study Suggests
Suicide is a leading cause of death among young people in the United States, and new research suggests that the majority of young people who have died by suicide did not have a documented mental health diagnosis in their medical history. (Howard, 7/30) CBS News: Nearly A Third Of Adolescents Getting Mental Health Treatment, Federal Survey Finds
Close to 1 in 3 adolescents in the U.S. received mental health treatment in 2023, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported Tuesday, which works out to around 8.3 million young people between the ages of 12 and 17 getting counseling, medication or another treatment. The result is among the findings now released from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2023. The federal agency's sweeping annual poll is closely tracked by mental health and addiction experts. (Tin, 7/30) WUFT: Study: PTSD Among College Students Jumps, Especially During COVID Shutdowns
College has always been a stressful time for some students, and mental health conditions have been on the rise at many campuses. But researchers said they had no idea it was this bad. Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, rising most sharply as the COVID-19 pandemic closed campuses, according to a recent study. (Anderson, 7/30) Voice of San Diego: San Diego County Still Has A Detox Shortage
Years into an overdose crisis that's left thousands dead and months before the county implements a state law expected to put more pressure on the treatment system, the county still has just 78 detox beds at its disposal for San Diegans with Medi-Cal insurance. (Halverstadt, 7/31) Stat: 48 Million Americans Estimated To Have Substance Use Problem
Rates of mental illness and substance use remained largely stable in 2023, according to federal data, underscoring the severity of the long-running U.S. mental health crisis and worst-in-the-world rates of illicit drug use. (Facher, 7/30) Roll Call: SAMHSA Finds Increase In Nicotine Vaping, Treatment Uptake
Almost 23 percent of adults reported having any mental disorder last year, according to a report released Tuesday from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. That number, and several others included in the results of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2023, showed that incidence of mental health and substance use issues have largely remained stable since 2021. (Raman, 7/30) The Washington Post: Biden Urges Congress To Get Tougher On Fentanyl Traffickers
The White House on Wednesday backed proposals to permanently stiffen penalties on synthetic drug traffickers, monitor machines used to make fentanyl pills and close a loophole that allows criminal groups to easily ship drugs in packages. President Biden announced the initiatives as state and federal officials from both political parties grapple with how to curb a drug epidemic that has killed more than 300,000 people during his administration. (Ovalle, 7/31) Stat: Groups Urge Biden Administration To Push For Addiction Medication
The Biden administration isn't doing enough to ensure people living in recovery housing have access to gold-standard addiction medications like methadone and buprenorphine, according to a coalition of health care, harm reduction, and addiction recovery groups. (Facher, 7/31) The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive: Meta Has Run Hundreds Of Ads For Cocaine, Opioids And Other Drugs
Meta Platforms is running ads on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs, months after The Wall Street Journal first reported that the social-media giant was facing a federal investigation over the practice. The company has continued to collect revenue from ads that violate its policies, which ban promoting the sale of illicit or recreational drugs. A review by The Wall Street Journal in July found dozens of ads marketing illegal substances such as cocaine and prescription opioids, including as recently as Friday. A separate analysis over recent months by an industry watchdog group found hundreds of such ads. (Rodriguez, 7/31) The Washington Post: Senate Passes Landmark Bills To Protect Kids Online, Raising Pressure On House
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills to expand online privacy and safety protections for children on Tuesday, delivering a major win for parent and youth activists who have clamored for action against tech companies they say are endangering the well-being of kids. The legislation, approved 91-3, would force digital platforms to take "reasonable" steps to prevent harms to children such as bullying, drug addiction and sexual exploitation, and it would broaden existing federal privacy protections to include kids and teens 16 years old and younger. (Lima-Strong, 7/30) The Guardian: More US Women Have Tried To Induce Their Own Abortion Since Fall Of Roe: Report
Roughly 7% of women of reproductive age in the US have attempted to induce their own abortions outside the formal healthcare system, a new study has found, up from 5% before Roe v Wade fell in 2022. The study, published on Tuesday in the Jama medical journal, determined how many people reported ever "self-managing" their own abortion in 2021 and again in 2023 – a timeline that allowed researchers to examine how Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, the supreme court case that overturned Roe, has affected self-managed abortions. People of color and LGBTQ+ people were more likely to report having ever attempted to end their own pregnancies. (Sherman, 7/30) The Boston Globe: IVF, Backed By Biden, Is Still Not Covered For All Federal Workers
When Beth lost the pregnancy she had fought so hard for last year, the devastation was compounded by a thought she couldn't shake: There goes another $6,000. Despite Beth living in Massachusetts, a state that mandates insurance coverage for fertility treatments, the in vitro fertilization she had undertaken was not covered by her insurance because her employer — the US government — is exempt from the state law. (Kopan, 7/30) The Hill: Project 2025 Director Steps Down Amid Trump Campaign Criticism
The director of the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025, Paul Dans, is departing from the role, the conservative think tank's president, Kevin Roberts, said Tuesday. "When we began Project 2025 in April 2022, we set a timeline for the project to conclude its policy drafting after the two party conventions this year, and we are sticking to that timeline," Roberts said in a statement. ... The project, made up of a coalition of more conservative organizations and many Trump allies, includes a 900-page hard-right policy blueprint intended to guide the next conservative administration and a bank of individuals who could staff it. Trump and his campaign have distanced themselves from Project 2025, which takes a farther right stance on some issues than Trump does. (Brooks, 7/30) The Guardian: JD Vance Writes Glowing Foreword To Project 2025 Leader's Upcoming Book
JD Vance endorses the ideas of Kevin Roberts, leader of Project 2025, as a "fundamentally Christian view of culture and economics" and a "surprising – even jarring" path forward for conservatives, the Republican vice-presidential nominee writes in the foreword of Roberts' upcoming book. The foreword was obtained and published in full by the New Republic on Tuesday. Roberts' book is out in September. Its title was watered down recently to remove references to "burning down" Washington. (Leingang, 7/30) Forbes: What Is Project 2025? Trump's Potential Policy Agenda Explained As Its Director Steps Down
While Project 2025 doesn't explicitly call for an abortion ban, it would take many steps to restrict the procedure, including directing the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of abortion drug mifepristone, using the Comstock Act to block any abortion equipment or medication from being mailed—which abortion rights advocates have said would be a "backdoor" way to ban abortion—barring federal funds being used to provide healthcare coverage for abortion and requiring states to report all abortions that take place there to the federal government. (Durkee, 7/30) USA Today: Project 2025 Decried As Racist. Some Contributors Have Trail Of Racist Writings, Activity
Billed as a vision built by conservatives for conservatives, the effort "dismantles the unaccountable Deep State, taking power away from Leftist elites and giving it back to the American people and duly-elected President," according to its website. But for months commentators and academics have been sounding the alarm on Project 2025. The effort, they say, is a deeply racist endeavor that actually is aimed at dismantling many protections and aid programs for Americans of color. (Carless, 7/29) Mother Jones: Here's How The GOP Platform Could Lead To A Nationwide Abortion Ban
In drafting their platform, the GOP claimed the party does not plan to ban abortion nationwide (maybe because they know it is extremely politically unpopular). But the latest person to say that position is not, exactly, true is Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, an influential anti-abortion advocacy group. In an interview published Monday, Hawkins told the New York Times that, contrary to some mainstream headlines, the latest GOP platform does not represent a "softening" on abortion. (McShane, 7/30) The Washington Post: Harris, Trump Lob Social Security And Medicare Claims
In every presidential election, Democrats and Republicans lob charges and claims about the venerable old-age programs Social Security and Medicare. Older Americans are more reliable voters, and these types of attacks — which at The Fact Checker we call "Mediscare" — appear to have resonance. But caveat emptor — the claims are often misleading. (Kessler, 7/30) Stat: Predicting The Key Players In Shaping Health Policy Under Trump
A second Trump administration would bring a new wave of health policy officials into power in Washington. But many of those faces may be familiar. (Owermohle and Zhang, 7/31) Politico: Harris To Hold First Rally With Running Mate Tuesday In Philadelphia
Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate by Tuesday, when she will hold her first rally with her pick in Philadelphia. The two will barnstorm cities in seven swing states in four days. In addition to Philadelphia, they'll hit western Wisconsin, Detroit, Raleigh, Savannah, Phoenix and Las Vegas. (Otterbein and Daniels, 7/30) Politico: Will Harris Move Faster Than Biden On Supreme Court Reform?
Vice President Kamala Harris is embracing President Joe Biden's call to revamp the Supreme Court. Like her boss, it's the first time she has ever endorsed structural changes to the court. But there are small signs that, if elected president, Harris would prioritize the issue more forcefully than Biden ever has. Unlike Biden, who flatly rejected term limits for the justices when he was a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris said at the time that she was open to the idea. She even professed openness to a more radical proposal: expanding the size of the court. (Gerstein and Latson, 7/31) Bay Area News Group: California's Covid Positivity Rate Is Still Growing, Approaching Record High For A Summer Surge
California's COVID positivity has continued to leap forward with each weekly update from the state's health department. Now, the state has reached the second highest positivity rate of any summer surge, approaching a record high for this time of year. (Rowan, 7/31) Los Angeles Times: Why California's COVID Spike Isn't Expected To Ease Anytime Soon
With COVID-19 numbers in California spiking this summer, experts are warning the new strains driving the spread could be around for some time. The latest COVID summertime surge is being fueled by what have collectively been dubbed the FLiRT subvariants — a collection of highly transmissible sibling strains that have muscled their way to prominence both in California and nationwide. In doing so, they've supplanted last winter's dominant strain, JN.1, and are presenting new challenges to immune systems not yet primed to keep them at bay. (Lin II, 7/31) Los Angeles Times: More People Contract Bird Flu. Feds Urge Flu Shot To Cut Pandemic Risk
Although health officials say the risk of H5N1 bird flu infection is still low for the general population, they announced on Monday a $5-million plan to offer seasonal flu vaccine to livestock workers. Nine poultry workers in Colorado are reported to have been infected; the symptoms were described as "mild," with conjunctivitis, or pink eye, as the predominant symptom. The official case total across the U.S. since April now stands at 13. (Rust, 7/31) | | | | | |
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