California’s Top Hospital Lobbyist Cements Influence in Covid Crisis
Carmela Coyle, who represents California’s hospitals in the state Capitol, is a power player whose clout has grown during the pandemic. Though she hasn’t won every battle, she has helped shape the state’s response to the crisis.
Vaccine Ramp-Up Squeezes Covid Testing and Tracing
The ability of California health officials to multitask in a pandemic will be severely tested as they scramble to find staff for vaccination sites while maintaining testing and contact tracing.
CVS and Walgreens Under Fire for Slow Pace of Vaccination in Nursing Homes
A federal program that sends retail pharmacists into nursing homes to vaccinate residents and workers has been hindered by bureaucratic hurdles and scheduling woes.
In Search of a Baby, I Got Covid Instead
As the pandemic raged, I made dozens of visits to a fertility clinic. Did I catch covid on one of those visits? I’ll never know, but the guilt is still there.
In Los Angeles and Beyond, Oxygen Is the Latest Covid Bottleneck
The oxygen delivery infrastructure is crumbling under pressure in Los Angeles and other covid hot spots, jeopardizing patients’ access to precious air and limiting hospital turnover.
Many Health Plans Now Must Cover Full Cost of Expensive HIV Prevention Drugs
Most private insurance will be required to cover drugs, like Truvada, that offer protection against HIV infection, without making plan members share the cost.
‘Nine Months Into It, the Adrenaline Is Gone and It’s Just Exhausting’
A UCSF emergency room physician reflects on California’s response to COVID-19 and on lessons learned — or not — as the coronavirus makes its second devastating surge.
Alzheimer’s Inc.: Colleagues Question Scientist’s Pricey Recipe Against Memory Loss
Dr. Dale Bredesen is a well-known, well-respected neurologist. But his colleagues think the comprehensive Alzheimer’s program he’s marketing through a private company is a mixture of free-for-the-asking common sense and unproven interventions.
Farmworkers, Firefighters and Flight Attendants Jockey for Vaccine Priority
Everyone — from toilet paper manufacturers to patient advocates — is lobbying state advisory boards, arguing their members are essential, vulnerable or both — and, thus, most deserving of an early vaccine.
With Becerra as HHS Pick, California Plots More Progressive Health Care Agenda
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has already begun discussing California health care priorities with Xavier Becerra, tapped this week by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary.
Dialysis Industry Spends Millions, Emerges as Power Player in California Politics
Over the past four years, the dialysis industry has spent $233 million on both political offense and defense in California. Most of it went toward protecting its revenues against ballot initiatives, but the industry also strategically worked the corridors of the state Capitol.
Xavier Becerra in His Own Words: ‘Health Care Is a Right’
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. As attorney general and during his 24 years in Congress, he has staked progressive positions on health care issues, fighting the Trump administration on contraception, suing a major California health system for monopolistic behavior and calling himself a supporter of single-payer health care.
Fear and Loathing as Colleges Face Another Season of Red Ink
When campuses stay open, COVID infections spread widely, and sometimes kill. But by closing dorms and dining halls, scores of smaller schools face finances so ruinous they could be fatal for their institutions.
California Lawmakers to Newsom: Give All Immigrants Health Coverage
Given the pandemic’s disproportionate hit on minority communities, two Democratic lawmakers are pushing Newsom to agree to offer health care to all unauthorized immigrants. They planned to unveil legislation Monday — and a new strategy to make it happen.
As LA County Sets New Infection Record, State Leaders’ Behavior Sends Mixed Messages
Even as L.A.’s stay-at-home restrictions began, leaders across California took heat for their do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do pandemic behavior.
Come for Your Eye Exam, Leave With a Band-Aid on Your Arm
Dentists and optometrists across the country are trying to join in the fight to get everyone vaccinated against COVID-19, the flu and other diseases.
Where COVID Is on the Menu: Failed Contact Tracing Leaves Diners in the Dark
State and local public health officials are sure that bars and restaurants are spreading COVID. But they don’t always have much concrete evidence to support their convictions.
California Businesses Go From Simmer to Boil Over Newsom’s Fine Dining
Small-business owners struggling to remain afloat are increasingly defying new shutdown orders, in some cases pointing to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry dinner as a reason not to comply.
As Broad Shutdowns Return, Weary Californians Ask ‘Is This the Best We Can Do?’
California’s ping-ponging approach to managing the pandemic — twice reopening large portions of the service sector economy only to shut them again — has residents and business owners on edge. But experts say the push and pull on businesses may be what success looks like in much of the U.S. for months to come, given COVID-19’s pervasive spread.
Stanford vs. Harvard: Two Famous Biz Schools’ Opposing Tactics on COVID
While the Harvard Business School gently chided returnees to be on their best behavior, Stanford deployed green-vested enforcers and campus police who sometimes threatened students if they violated the rules. Both, apparently, succeeded.
