Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
LA County Offers Isolated California Hospital A $3M Lifeline
Becker's Hospital Review: California Hospital Gets $3M Lifeline To Stave Off Closure
Avalon, Calif.-based Catalina Island Health received $3 million in one-time funding to help keep its doors open. Catalina Island Health is the island’s only source of emergency medical care for residents, workers and more than 1 million annual visitors, according to an April 8 news release from Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. The hospital faces serious financial challenges with insolvency predicted as early as July, according to the release. (Cass, 4/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: UC Health Workers To Strike At UCSF, Other Campuses Statewide
Up to 20,000 unionized health care workers are poised to strike at all UC campuses and medical centers Thursday, the third such strike this year over what the unions say are unfair labor practices by UC. Locally, the strike, led by UPTE-CWA Local 9119 and AFSCME Local 3299, is slated to take place 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UCSF Mission Bay campus, and will include workers from Parnassus, St. Francis and St. Mary’s hospitals. Picketing is also planned at the UC Berkeley entrance at Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way. (Ho, 4/30)
More health news from California —
Newsweek: California Faces Probe After Sharing People's Health Data With LinkedIn
California Representative Kevin Kiley has called for an investigation after the state's handling of sensitive health information came under scrutiny following a report that data entered by residents on the state's health insurance marketplace was shared with LinkedIn. In a letter exclusively shared with Newsweek, the Republican asked the Department of Health and Human Services to launch an investigation into the issue "due to Covered California's blatant disregard for privacy and the law." "This is incredibly disturbing," Kiley also wrote on X, formerly Twitter. (Laws, 4/30)
CalMatters: California Sent Investigators To ICE Facilities. They Found More Detainees, And Health Care Gaps
A new report from the California Department of Justice finds that immigration detention facilities across the state continue to fall short in providing basic mental health care, with gaps in suicide prevention and treatment, recordkeeping, and use of force incidents against mentally ill detainees. (Fry, 4/29)
CBS News: Santa Clara County Confirms First Carfentanil Overdose Death
Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed a 39-year-old man has died from a carfentanil overdose. County health officials said he was found with counterfeit pills that were made to look like prescription oxycodone. "Using drugs alone increases the risk of death. We urge people to avoid the dangers of opioids, especially fake pills that may contain carfentanil or fentanyl," said Dr. Michelle Jorden, Chief Medical Examiner and Neuropathologist in the Office of the Medical Examiner. "Fake pills look real, but they can be deadly. People should not take any pill that they did not buy from the pharmacy." (Corry, 4/30)
AP: Northern California Town's Sugary Soda Tax Is First To Defy State Ban
A tax on sugary drinks takes effect Thursday in the beachside community of Santa Cruz, seven years after California banned its cities and counties from implementing local grocery taxes as part of a reluctant deal with the powerful beverage industry. The 2-cent-per-ounce tax, approved by voters in November, is the first in the state since lawmakers approved the 2018 deal. The American Beverage Association spent heavily to campaign against the ballot measure in the small city of 60,000, and in court called the tax illegal and likely to strain city resources. (Har, 5/1)
San Francisco Chronicle: Study: At-Home Testing Program Slashes Colorectal Cancer Rates, Deaths
An innovative colorectal cancer screening program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California has significantly reduced cancer rates and deaths, according to a new study by Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Northern California. The program mails at-home fecal tests to patients yearly — a convenient, noninvasive part of a screening protocol that also includes other, less frequent routine tests like colonoscopies. (Ho, 4/30)
KFF Health News: California’s Primary Care Shortage Persists Despite Ambitious Moves To Close Gap
Sumana Reddy, a primary care physician, struggles on thin financial margins to run Acacia Family Medical Group, the small independent practice she founded 27 years ago in Salinas, a predominantly Latino city in an agricultural valley often called “the salad bowl of the world.” Reddy can’t match the salaries offered by larger health systems — a difficulty compounded by a widespread shortage of primary care doctors. (Wolfson and Sánchez, 5/1)
