Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Los Angeles Times:
Appeals Court Rules Lawsuit By Family Of San Quentin Guard Who Died Of COVID-19 Can Proceed 

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected California’s bid to toss out a lawsuit filed by the family of a corrections officer who died three years ago from COVID-19 after state officials ordered the transfer of infected inmates into his prison from another facility. Sgt. Gilbert Polanco died in August 2020, less than three months after buses carrying more than 120 inmates from an outbreak-ridden prison in Chino arrived at the gates of San Quentin. (Blakinger, 8/7)

Fresno Bee:
Will Reedley Illegal Covid Lab Return To Fresno? 

The Chinese-owned medical lab in Reedley that inspectors shut down after finding COVID-19 and more than 20 other deadly viruses stored in refrigerators once operated legally in Fresno and recently has been planning to move back into a building near the airport. (Sheehan, 8/7)

The Washington Post:
Latinos Underrepresented Among Physicians, Overrepresented As Aides 

Latinos — especially Mexican Americans — remain underrepresented in the U.S. medical workforce, according to a recent analysis. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, found that Latino and Hispanic groups are underrepresented in medical professions that require advanced degrees and overrepresented in similar professions that don’t require a bachelor’s or higher degree. (Blakemore, 8/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Construction Underway For New General Hospital In Eastern Tijuana 

Tijuana is closer to having a second General Hospital. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila last week toured the site where the much-needed hospital is being built. Operations are expected to begin in December. (Mendoza, 8/7)

Axios:
Why Insurers Are Paying Double For The Same Procedure In The Same Hospital

Hospitals charge commercial health plans two to three times more than what they charge the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans for the same procedure, a new study in Health Affairs found. While it’s well established that private plans are typically charged more than Medicare, this study leverages the latest available pricing data to shed light on differing dynamics between the commercial and Medicare Advantage markets. (Dreher, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare:
No Surprises Act Ruling Halts Billing Arbitration Process

The federal government stopped processing payment disputes between providers and insurers regarding out-of-network bills following last week’s court ruling that vacated parts of the surprise billing law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Health and Human Services Department paused the independent dispute resolution process Thursday as the agencies adapt to a court ruling earlier Thursday that invalidated the federal government’s fee increases for filing disputes and batching requirements that would bundle multiple claims in a single dispute. (Kacik, 8/7)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Living Near Wildfire Poses Higher Death Risk For Lung Cancer Patients

People exposed to wildfire within a year after lung cancer surgery have significantly lower chances of survival than people who were not, new research shows — highlighting a grave consequence of climate change on medically vulnerable people with one of the most common types of cancer in the United States. Lung cancer patients who were exposed to wildfire within three months after surgery were 48% less likely to survive compared to patients who were not exposed to a wildfire event, according to a recent study in JAMA Oncology led by researchers at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. (Ho, 8/8)

The Mercury News:
Air Pollution May Increase Risk For Prostate, Breast Cancers, Study Says

Outdoor air pollution may raise the risk for non-lung cancer in older adults, with even low levels of air pollution exposure increasing the chances for prostate, colorectal, breast, and endometrial cancers. That’s according to a new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study of millions of Medicare beneficiaries. The researchers found that chronic exposures to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over a 10-year period increased the risk of developing cancer. (Sobey, 8/7)

Reuters:
Women Over 70 Risk Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis With Screening, US Study Finds

A new study is raising fresh questions about the value of breast cancer screening in older women, finding that those 70 and older who underwent mammograms were more apt to be diagnosed with tumors posing no threat to their health than those who did not screen. The study by researchers at Yale Medical School, published on Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, tracked 54,635 U.S. women 70 and older who received a mammogram – an X-ray of the breast – in 2002. Women who opted for continued screening were compared to those who chose not to be screened. (Welle, 8/7)

CBS News:
Black Men Have Lowest Melanoma Survival Rate Compared To Other Races, Study Finds

Men with melanoma, particularly Black men, are more likely to die than women with melanoma, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. The study also showed that men of color were more likely to have melanoma diagnosed at an advanced stage, making it more difficult to treat. Even when adjusted for factors like income level and insurance coverage, Black race alone increased mortality risk compared to the White population, the study found. (Moniuszko, 8/7)

Fierce Biotech:
Dana-Farber AI Traces Unknown Cancers Back To Their Source: Study

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed an artificial intelligence tool that could help trace a cancer back to its site of origin in particularly tricky cases. (Hale, 8/7)

KQED:
College-Bound Californians Navigate Abortion Bans Away From Home

When I’laysia Vital got accepted to Texas Southern University, a historically Black university, she immediately began daydreaming about the sense of freedom that would come with living on her own, and the sense of belonging she would feel studying in a thriving Black community. But when a nurse at her high school health clinic in California explained the legal landscape of her new four-year home in Texas – where abortion is now banned completely – and Vital started watching videos on TikTok of protestors harassing women outside clinics in the South, she realized her newfound freedoms would come at the expense of another. That’s when she added one more task to her back-to-school checklist: get a long-acting, reliable birth control before leaving California. (Dembosky, 8/8)

The Hill:
DeSantis Says He Does Not Support Punishments For Women Who Violate Abortion Bans 

GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said that he would not support punishments for women who violate abortion bans.  “Not at all,” DeSantis responded when NBC’s Dasha Burns asked whether he supported punishments for those who violate an abortion ban. “No, I don’t think this is an issue about the woman. I think a lot of these women, you know, are in very difficult circumstances. They don’t get any support from a lot of the fathers.” (Sforza, 8/7)

Reuters:
New Pregnancy Bias Law Broadly Protects Workers, US Agency Says

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday proposed a rule endorsing a broad application of a new federal law extending stronger legal protections to pregnant workers. The EEOC proposal is designed to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which took effect last month after President Joe Biden signed it into law late last year. The commission is tasked with enforcing the law. … The commission in Monday’s proposal listed a slew of accommodations that workers may seek under the law, including part-time or modified work schedules, more frequent breaks, modified equipment and uniforms, seating, remote work, and paid or unpaid leave. (Wiessner, 8/7)

The Boston Globe:
Drug Makers Postpone Pricing Of New Postpartum Depression Pill

A pair of Cambridge drug makers Monday postponed setting a price for their newly approved pill to treat postpartum depression as they weighed the financial impact of a US regulatory decision to reject the pill’s use for the more widespread condition of major depressive disorder. (Weisman, 8/7)

NBC News:
FDA Policy Allowing More Gay And Bisexual Men To Donate Blood Goes Into Effect

David Stacy, vice president of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, called the new policy “a long-awaited step forward” that “marks the end to a decades-old ban rooted in discrimination and bias.” (Ryan, 8/7)

Los Angeles Blade:
HIV-Positive Soldier Commissioned With U.S. Army National Guard

Gay D.C. attorney Nicholas Harrison, a longtime member of the U.S. Army National Guard, was officially commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the D.C. Army National Guard at an Aug. 5 ceremony. The ceremony at the D.C. National Guard Armory located next to RFK Stadium took place a little over a year after Harrison, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2012, successfully challenged the military’s longstanding policy of banning soldiers with HIV from becoming commissioned officers in a lawsuit initially filed in 2018. (Chibbaro, Jr., 8/7)

CNN:
Only 1 In 5 Adults With An Opioid Use Disorder Received Medication To Treat It In 2021 

As drug overdose deaths reached record levels in the United States, evidence-based treatments for substance use remained significantly underutilized, a new study found. The vast majority of drug overdose deaths involve opioids, and rates have surged in recent years. In 2021, more than 80,000 people died from a drug overdose involving opioids, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But only about a third of adults with opioid use disorder received any type of treatment for substance use, and only about 1 in 5 received medication to treat opioid use disorder, according to the new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Center for Injury Prevention. (McPhillips, 8/7)

Bloomberg:
Opioid-Treatment Access Is Tougher For Black Adults, Women In US

Black patients and women in the US are far less likely to receive medication to manage opioid abuse, according to research that shows how unequal access is to the life-saving treatments. White adults were 14 times more likely to receive medicine to combat opioid use disorder than Black adults, according to research released Monday in the JAMA Network Open medical journal. Meanwhile, men had six times the likelihood as women of getting access to drugs such as buprenorphine. (Jones and Griffin, 8/7)

Reuters:
Purdue Asks Supreme Court Not To Block Opioid Settlement During US Appeal 

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to delay its multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits against it over the opioid epidemic. (Knauth, 8/7)

The Bakersfield Californian:
‘He Who Has Hope, Has Everything’: Clinica Sierra Vista Hosts Health Care Fair For Homeless 

The basics — clean clothing, shoes, a haircut, a hot meal and food for your pet — can make all the difference. All of that was delivered Monday, when in the spirit of National Health Center Week, Clinica Sierra Vista and various partners held a Healthcare for the Homeless Fair at The Mission at Kern County in Old Town Kern. (Donegan, 8/7)

MediaNews, Vallejo Times-Herald:
Study Shows Drop In Homelessness In Santa Cruz County In Past Year

Coming out of a punishing winter and the end of the coronavirus pandemic’s state of emergency, Santa Cruz County’s homeless population has remained highly visible and yet significantly dwindled, according to results of a recent study. (York, 8/7)

SFGate:
After 2 Die Of Legionnaires’ Disease, Contra Costa Officials Test Richmond Day Spa

An investigation has been launched after two people in the Bay Area died after contracting Legionnaires’ disease, Contra Costa Health officials announced Saturday. (Dowd, 8/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
‘You Feel The Presence Of Who’s Alive’: How 15 San Diegans Who Survived The Holocaust Are Sharing Their Stories

On June 7, 1941 — his 13th birthday — Ben Midler watched as Nazis occupied his hometown of Bialystok, Poland, fill the synagogue with people and set it ablaze. In the years to come, Midler would survive six concentration camps, including Auschwitz. He would be the only member of his family left after the war ended. What have helped him survive, he says, have been hope and a mantra: “Yesterday is gone, today is today and tomorrow will be a better day.” (Alvarenga, 8/7)

The Oaklandside:
What Violence Prevention In Oakland Looks Like

The city is cutting the Department of Violence Prevention’s budget by $4.4 million to help address a historic deficit. We followed a violence interrupter to see what could be lost. (Middleton, 8/7)