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Not a subscriber? Sign up | | | | Daily Edition | | | Latest From California Healthline: 'If They Cut Too Much, People Will Die': Health Coalition Pushes GOP on Medicaid Funding As House Republicans mull a massive $880 billion cut from federal programs likely including Medicaid, constituents, disability advocates, and health care providers are joining forces to lobby GOP members in California — including those who represent rural, deeply conservative pockets that stand to lose the most. (Christine Mai-Duc, 3/31) 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. On-Call Nurses Are Sleeping In Vans: TJ Carella, a nurse at Stanford Health, commutes from Pleasanton and sleeps in a van to be near the hospital during his shifts. He is part of a group of hospital staffers who regularly sleep in their cars, trailers, and RVs because they can't afford to live near their place of work. Carella says he knows of at least 15 other hospital staffers who sleep in their vehicles. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Keep scrolling for more on California's housing 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 The Desert Sun: California AIDS Groups Worried About Cuts To Prevention Programs
Thirteen LGBTQ+, HIV, and health organizations across the country, including several in California, have sounded the alarm regarding proposed cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention efforts. (Sasic, 3/28) San Diego Union-Tribune: In Research-Rich San Diego, Trump Cuts Hit Studies Of HIV, Domestic Violence And More
The Trump administration is pulling funding to San Diego researchers exploring issues from HIV prevention to violence against pregnant women, and local scientists warn the impacts will extend far beyond simply ending current projects. (Taketa, 3/30) San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Scientists 'Devastated' By Cuts For Vaccine Research
The National Institutes of Health immediately terminated projects investigating vaccine safety during pregnancy and the effectiveness of the shingles vaccine. (Lee, 3/29) The Wall Street Journal: FDA's Top Vaccine Official Forced Out
The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official has been pushed out, according to people familiar with the matter. Dr. Peter Marks, who played a key role in the first Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed to develop Covid-19 vaccines, stepped down Friday. He submitted his resignation after a Health and Human Services official earlier in the day gave him the choice to resign or be fired, people familiar with the matter said. "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies," Marks wrote in a resignation letter referring to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Whyte, 3/28) Los Angeles Times: Inside California's Legal Fight To Stop Trump
For months now, President Trump's pace of pronouncements, executive orders and dramatic policy shifts has been so swift, their reach so sweeping, that many Trump critics have felt overwhelmed and alarmed. They have also bemoaned the Democratic response as inept, haphazard and ineffective, particularly in Congress. But since Trump's January inauguration, attorneys in [Rob] Bonta's office — and in the offices of Democratic attorneys general nationwide — have been in an all-out sprint to keep up and push back. They've been carefully planning for even longer, including by reviewing litigation from Trump's first term; listening to Trump's promises on the campaign trail; assessing lawsuits against the Biden administration by conservative states; and culling through Project 2025, the controversial game plan for the president's second term. (Rector, 3/31) AP: Trump Actions Cast Shadow Over Transgender Day Of Visibility
The president's spotlight is giving Monday's Transgender Day of Visibility a different tenor this year. "What he wants is to scare us into being invisible again," said Rachel Crandall Crocker, the executive director of Transgender Michigan who organized the first Day of Visibility 16 years ago. "We have to show him we won't go back." So why has this small population found itself with such an outsized role in American politics? (Mulvihill and Bedayn, 3/30) CBS8.com: Controversial Health Care Ballot Initiative Named After Luigi Mangione
A newly proposed California ballot initiative, controversially named after an alleged murderer, aims to prevent health insurance companies from denying medical care to patients. Retired litigator Paul Eisner has submitted the "Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act" to the state Attorney General's office, sparking both attention and criticism for its provocative title. The proposed measure would make it illegal in California for anyone other than a licensed physician to deny, delay, or modify medical procedures or medications. Eisner, who still holds an active law license, says the initiative was inspired by his personal battle with cancer and subsequent disputes with his insurance company. (Allyn, 3/28) Times of San Diego: County To Host Online Sessions On Programs To Boost Jobs In Behavioral Healthcare
San Diego County will hold virtual meetings beginning Tuesday with the goal of increasing the number of regional behavioral health workers. Local organizations are invited to take part in the sessions to review contracting opportunities for programs that the county said "will help bolster the workforce." (Vigil, 3/29) Becker's Hospital Review: Risant Health Taps UnitedHealthcare Exec As CMIO
Risant Health, the nonprofit formed by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, has named Jessica Bartell, MD, as its new chief medical information officer. As CMIO, Dr. Bartell will oversee strategic direction and support for clinical informatics and information systems, implement best practices and core services, and act as a liaison between IT, medical and executive departments. (Diaz, 3/28) The Intersection: Uninsured In The Valley Have Limited Options For Medical Attention
In a region where more than half of the population is on Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for low-income people, there remain more than 308,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley who have no insurance coverage whatsoever – no Medi-Cal, no Medicare for seniors, no VA benefits for military veterans. (Sheehan, 3/29) San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Laguna Honda Senior Housing Project Resumes After Delays
An affordable housing project at the Laguna Honda Hospital site that would provide units for low-income seniors in San Francisco is on track again after being delayed by the hospital's federal certification problems. Still, construction likely won't begin on the proposed 215 units for at least another two years — spring 2027 at the earliest — according to a presentation made to the San Francisco Health Commission this month. (Allday, 3/29) The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Social Security Changes Raise North Bay Senior Concerns
Diane Austin, 72, of Clearlake has spent the past decade helping seniors like herself navigate the bureaucratic complexities and quagmires of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. As a volunteer with the North Bay nonprofit Senior Advocacy Services, Austin, a retired clerical worker, counsels clients over the phone, helping them enroll in benefits, fielding questions about eligibility and going over health care plan options. (Espinoza, 3/28) San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Lawmaker Blasts Mayor Lurie Over Bayview Homeless Shelter Plans
San Francisco's plans to expand homeless services in the Bayview district are drawing increasingly severe criticism from the neighborhood's elected representative, who says his constituents have been betrayed by Mayor Daniel Lurie. Lurie's administration intends to open 60 cabins for unhoused people at 2177 Jerrold Ave. on Tuesday. But Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the area, is incensed because he said the mayor is also pressing ahead with plans to add many more shelter beds at the site — instead of the 20 safe parking spots for people living in RVs that were originally promised by the city. (Morris, 3/28) Voice of San Diego: Balboa Park Is Ground Zero For Homeless Camping Ban
Since the city's homeless camping ban took effect in 2023, camps in Balboa Park and other city parks have been the focal point of police crackdowns using the new city law. From August 2023 through this February, a Voice of San Diego analysis of police data shows two-thirds of the 260 camping ban citations and arrests happened in city parks – and 40 percent were in Balboa Park. (Halverstadt, 3/28) Bay Area News Group: Belongings Lost To Trash Compactors As Oakland, San Jose Sweep More Homeless Camps
When cities sweep homeless camps, the personal belongings of displaced unhoused people — Bibles and medications, tools and tax forms — are supposed to go into storage. But as Oakland and San Jose crack down on encampments following a consequential U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer, cities are storing few items, according to records obtained by Bay Area News Group. (Stringer and Varian, 3/31) San Francisco Chronicle: Despite Push, S.F. Has Opened No Addiction Treatment Beds In A Year
More than a year ago, San Francisco passed a law designed to boost the number of beds for those in the throes of mental illness and addiction, with then-Mayor London Breed saying at the time that the city "can't allow delays and bureaucracy to get in the way of getting people help." But despite changes to streamline the system, the city has not added any treatment beds. (Angst, 3/31) Los Angeles Times: L.A. Programs That Help Drug Users Await Fate During Trump Era
Samson Tafolo's final count read 119. For 45 minutes, he had tugged a wagon packed with mini water bottles, hemp cigarettes and miscellaneous hygiene products around Skid Row, handing out the supplies and keeping a tally of everyone he served on his usual route. Tafolo and other leaders at the Sidewalk Project, a harm reduction nonprofit headquartered a few blocks down, make their rounds several times a week. The counting, he said, has become a high-stakes part of the job, since the numbers are reported in grant applications. (Mendez, 3/31) Stat: Trump Taps Sara Carter Of Fox News To Be Next National Drug Czar
President Trump has selected Sara Carter, a conservative journalist and Fox News contributor, as the nation's next drug czar. Carter's selection comes as a surprise: Her background is not in drug policy, public health, or law enforcement, and she has never served in government. Her journalism in the past decade, however, has been staunchly pro-Trump, with a particular emphasis on border issues and former President Biden's perceived failure to stem illegal immigration and the trafficking of illicit drugs. (Facher, 3/28) Los Angeles Times: Elderly, Disabled Were Left Stranded During L.A. Fires As Evacuation Plans Broke Down
When flames erupted above Pacific Palisades on the morning of Jan. 7, Ben Kahn instructed staff to begin calling disabled Angelenos, even before official evacuation orders came." Go ask your neighbor for a ride," was the advice the Disability Community Resource Center gave to people on their registry. They knew people with mobility challenges would need more time to flee. What followed was a frantic DIY rescue effort. (Jarvie, Castleman and Lin, 3/29) Los Angeles Times: Post-L.A. Fire Ocean Tests Find Contaminants High Enough To Sicken Sea Life
Levels of lead and other heavy metals spiked in the coastal waters off Los Angeles after January's fires, raising serious concerns for the long-term health of fish, marine mammals and the marine food chain, according to test results released Thursday by the nonprofit environmental group Heal the Bay. For human surfers and swimmers, the results were somewhat encouraging. Contaminant levels from sampled water weren't high enough to pose likely health risks to recreational beachgoers. (Purtill, 3/28) KVPR: California Launches 'Spray Days,' Nation's First Pesticide Alert System
California's nation-leading agriculture industry pumps more than 180 million pounds of pesticides into fields each year. Now, a notification system will alert residents when some of those pesticides are applied near homes and schools. (Yeager, 3/27) NBC News: Scientists Warn Of Severe Honeybee Losses In 2025
Honeybee colonies in the United States are projected to decline by up to 70% in 2025, entomologists at Washington State University said Tuesday. The university said in a news release that in the past decade, honeybee colony losses have averaged 40% to 50% annually. But this year, a combination of nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, viral diseases and possible pesticide exposure during the previous pollinating season led to higher losses, the release said. The implications could be huge. About 35% of the world's food depends on pollinators, according to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. (Lavietes, 3/26) The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Contact Dispute With Sonoma County Fire District Delays Release Of Key Ambulance Performance Data
It's been a year since Sonoma County Fire District took over the exclusive contract to provide ambulance service in the county's central core. Those exclusive rights — worth $30 million annually for at least five years — come with response time standards and data reporting requirements. (Murphy and Espinoza, 3/29) The Oaklandside: Santa Rita Jail Health Care Provider Should Be Dumped, Activists Urge
Several groups advocating on behalf of people incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail are calling on the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to end its contract with Wellpath, the private company that provides health care services in the jail. In October 2022, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office entered into a $252 million, five-year contract with Wellpath, one of the nation's largest for-profit healthcare providers for incarcerated people. (Romero, 3/28) Voice of OC: Casting A Light On The Hidden Inequities In OC's Middle Eastern Community
Middle Eastern and North African community leaders in Orange County are once again taking their advocacy for greater visibility to the state level – fresh off the heels of getting OC's largest city to recognize the state's first Arab American cultural district after decades. This time, they're rallying local officials to support a new state bill proponents say will cast a light on inequities in health care, education and civil rights protections for hundreds of thousands Middle Easterners and North Africans in California. (Elattar, 3/31) ProPublica: The CDC Buried A Measles Forecast That Stressed The Need For Vaccinations Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff [last] week not to release their experts' assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica. In an aborted plan to roll out the news, the agency would have emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show. (Callahan, 3/28) CIDRAP: FDA Approves At-Home Test For Sexually Transmitted Infections
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the first at-home, over-the-counter test for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. The Visby Medical Women's Sexual Health Test is a single-use test intended for women with or without symptoms. The test, which includes a sample collection kit and a powered testing device that communicates testing results to an app, can be bought without a prescription and deliver results within 30 minutes. (Dall, 3/28) | | | | | |
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