HIV Infection Rate Tumbled by 20% In San Francisco Last Year: The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV in San Francisco dropped by 20% in 2023 to 133 — the lowest in decades and a significant decline compared to an adjusted total of 167 in 2022, according to an annual HIV epidemiology report released Monday from the Department of Public Health. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mpox Cases Jump In LA County: Cases of mpox have doubled in Los Angeles County over the past four weeks, rising from 24 cases to 52. The increase has prompted the county’s Department of Public Health to issue an alert urging residents to get vaccinated. Read more from the Los Angeles Blade.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today’s national health news, read KFF Health News’ Morning Briefing.
Los Angeles Times:
Pharmacy Workers At CVS In Redlands To Hold Union Election
Dozens of employees at a CVS specialty pharmacy in Redlands filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to hold a union election. The decision last week to organize by 135 workers at the pharmacy that provides medications to patients with complex and chronic conditions is the largest such move in a broader campaign to unionize pharmacy workers across the U.S. by the Pharmacy Guild, a labor group that was launched in March. The Redlands CVS is also the first workplace in California to join the campaign. (Hussain, 9/23)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
PG&E To Bury Power Lines Around Hospital Near Wildfire-Prone Area In Napa County
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews will continue burying power lines in northern Napa County through November to reduce fire risk and improve power reliability for a local hospital, the company said. (Smalstig, 9/23)
Becker’s Hospital Review:
California Hospital Names Acting CEO
Carly Loper has been named acting CEO of Brawley, Calif.-based Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District following the departure of Christopher Bjornberg. Ms. Loper has been with the hospital since 2013 and has served as its CFO since April 2020, according to her LinkedIn page. (Kuchno, 9/23)
Becker’s Hospital Review:
WVU Cancer Joins Cedars-Sinai In 1st-Of-Kind Outreach Program
Morgantown, W.Va.-based WVU Medicine Cancer Institute has joined Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Cancer’s Certificate in Community Outreach and Engagement program alongside select cancer centers across the U.S. The program, the first-of-its-kind, trains cancer center staff on community outreach and engagement, according to a Sept. 20 news release from WVU Medicine. (Gregerson, 9/23)
Stat:
Epic Systems Sued Over Dominance In EHR Software Market
The health data company Particle Health has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Epic Systems, alleging that the electronic health record vendor has used its control of patient data to thwart competition and undermine its business. (Ross, 9/23)
Fierce Healthcare:
HRSA Unveils Organ Transplant Network Overhaul Contracts
As promised, the Biden administration is moving on from the national organ transplant system’s nearly 40-year “contract monopoly” by awarding new modernization contracts to multiple vendors. The awards follow last year’s congressional mandate to shift the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) away from nonprofit contractor the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) amid allegations of inefficiencies and, as of recently, misconduct. … Though lawmakers criticized the administrator for slow progress, HRSA on Thursday announced five new organizations it tapped to work on the overhaul. (Muoio, 9/23)
Stat:
As Medicare Spending On Remote Patient Monitoring Jumps, HHS Watchdog Warns Of Fraud, Misuse
The federal watchdog at the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report on Tuesday calling for more oversight of remote patient monitoring in Medicare. The Office of Inspector General’s report called out the potential for fraud and misuse of tools like at-home blood pressure cuffs, connected scales, and continuous glucose monitors that can feed data directly to a patient’s doctor. (Palmer, 9/24)
Becker’s Hospital Review:
Smiths Medical Recalls Ventilators After Reported Death
Smiths Medical is recalling its paraPAC Plus ventilators because of the possibility that the patient outlet connector could loosen or detach, affecting active ventilation. There has been one reported death and injury with respect to recalled ventilators, the release said. (Murphy, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Virus That Can Cause Paralysis In Children On The Rise In California
A respiratory virus that in rare cases can cause polio-like paralysis in children is on the rise in California and across the nation, according to wastewater analyses. Enterovirus D68 was detected in 207 out of 268 samples taken from wastewater sites across the nation in the last 10 days, says the nonprofit WastewaterSCAN. In the same time period, EV-D68 was detected at a medium level at 17 wastewater sites in California, including facilities in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose. Because humans shed viruses in waste, wastewater sampling is used to measure the prevalence of infection in a community. (Harter, 9/24)
Los Angeles Times:
Bird Flu Outbreaks Increasing Among California Dairy Herds
Reports of H5N1 bird flu outbreaks at California dairy herds are continuing to rise as the nation’s largest milk producer scrambles to contain the spread. On Monday, officials reported that the number of infected dairy herds in the Central Valley had doubled over the weekend, rising from 17 to 34. A spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture said they expect more cases to be announced in the coming days and weeks, as testing continues. (Rust, 9/24)
Fresno Bee:
Thousands Of Turkeys Killed In Merced County As Officials Battle Avian Flu Outbreak
More than 64,000 turkeys at a Merced County poultry operation are being killed after agriculture officials recently discovered they were infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza. (Rodriguez, 9/23)
Becker’s Hospital Review:
COVID-19 Markers Continue To Fall: 4 Updates
Early and severity indicators of COVID-19 are continuing to wane across the nation, according to the latest CDC data. Compared to the previous week, test positivity fell 1.6%, emergency department visits declined 0.4% and hospitalizations decreased from 3.8 per 100,000 people to 2.8. COVID-19 deaths remained at 2.3%. Test positivity data is through Sept. 7, emergency department and death data is through Sept. 14 and hospitalization data is through Aug. 31. (Twenter, 9/23)
Los Angeles Blade:
FBI Reports Rise In Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes
The FBI’s annual Crime in the Nation report, released on Monday, shows a significant increase in hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community in 2023. More than 2,402 incidents related to sexual orientation were reported, up by more than 500 cases from the previous year. The gender identity category included over 400 anti-transgender incidents and 146 targeting gender non-conforming individuals. (Palomera, 9/23)
Stat:
Lawmakers Move To Preserve Telehealth Addiction Treatment Options
Two Democratic lawmakers are working to preserve health providers’ right to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth, including stimulants for ADHD and buprenorphine for opioid addiction. (Facher and Aguilar, 9/23)
Bloomberg:
Purdue Settlement Talks With Sacklers Extended To November
Purdue Pharma LP said its making progress in settlement talks with members of the Sackler family who own the company and won another extension of a breathing spell that’s shielded the family from civil lawsuits for years. Judge Sean Lane said Monday he’d extend through Nov. 1 an injunction that has paused suits against the Sacklers in order to continue facilitating talks with states, opioid victims and other creditors. (Randles, 9/23)
Axios:
Scoop: Senate Democrats To Dare GOP To Block Emergency Abortion Care Measure
Top Senate Democrats will force Republicans to vote on access to emergency abortion care this week, in one of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)’s final pre-election messaging pushes, Axios has learned. … Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), will seek unanimous consent Tuesday to pass a resolution she introduced last week affirming that every person has a right to emergency health care, including abortion care. (Neukam, 9/23)
The Hill:
Sen. Ron Wyden Presses Hospitals About Delayed, Denied Emergency Abortion Care
A top Senate Democrat is pressing hospitals in states with abortion bans about how they are complying with a federal emergency care law, following reports about women who need emergency reproductive care being turned away. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent letters Monday to eight hospitals in Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina asking about specific policies and procedures to enforce the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). (Weixel, 9/23)
The New York Times:
Trump Tells Women That They Won’t ‘Be Thinking About Abortion’
Former President Donald J. Trump claimed at a rally on Monday that he would protect women voters by making their communities safer and that they won’t “be thinking about abortion.” “You will be protected, and I will be your protector,” said Mr. Trump, who polls have shown is struggling to cultivate support among women, for whom abortion rights remain a top issue. (Vigdor and Levien, 9/23)
The War Horse:
Amputee Veterans Hope Bill Paves Way For Prosthetics
It took nearly two years of badgering for the Department of Veterans Affairs to approve amputee veteran Matt Brown’s prosthetic leg socket specialized for jiujitsu. It took only three months of practicing his cherished martial art for Brown to lose 18 pounds and regain a sense of himself. Now, a key lawmaker on the House Veterans Affairs Committee has introduced a bill to make sure amputee veterans like Brown won’t face so many barriers to getting prosthetics for activities—from running and swimming to yard work—that most people take for granted. (Hodge Seck, 9/24)
Military.com:
Military Medical Commands Developing Plans To Put Freeze-Dried Plasma In Hands Of Medics, Corpsmen
Combat medics and corpsmen may soon carry a lifesaving blood product that their counterparts in the special operations community have had for more than a decade. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization in late August for a freeze-dried plasma powder made by Octapharma USA that can sustain injured personnel who are internally hemorrhaging or bleeding out from a wound. (Kime, 9/23)
AP:
Severe Obesity Is On The Rise In The US
Obesity is high and holding steady in the U.S., but the proportion of those with severe obesity — especially women — has climbed since a decade ago, according to new government research. The U.S. obesity rate is about 40%, according to a 2021-2023 survey of about 6,000 people. Nearly 1 in 10 of those surveyed reported severe obesity, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Women were nearly twice as likely as men to report severe obesity. (Aleccia, 9/24)
Roll Call:
Analysts Say Market Forces Will Lower Cost Of Obesity Drugs
The CEO of Novo Nordisk is set to appear before a Senate panel Tuesday to be grilled on the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy, the popular drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity. But health economists say it’s unlikely that congressional pressure will be the driving force to get the prices down. (DeGroot, 9/23)
Reuters:
Novo Says Ozempic To Be Eligible For US Price Negotiations In Less Than A Year
Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic will be eligible for U.S. government’s price negotiations in less than a year based on current criteria, the Danish drugmaker’s CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said in his written testimony on Monday. Jorgensen is set to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday in a hearing focused on U.S. prices for its widely popular Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy. (9/23)
The Washington Post:
Weight-Loss Drugs Are Supposed To Be Forever. Until They Run Out.
Recurrent shortages, shifting insurance coverage, patient whims and a lack of longer-term guidance about side effects and dosing have forced doctors and patients to make up as they go what quantity of drugs to take and when. It amounts to a human experiment of trial and error. (Cha, 9/24)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Patients Are Turning To Med Spas To Address ‘Ozempic Face’
Those who use drugs like Ozempic — either for medical reasons or aesthetic ones — often find the weight loss leads to something now called “Ozempic face.” The result: medical spas are seeing an uptick in requests from clients using medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound. (Wellington, 9/23)
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Publish date : 2024-09-24 02:46:00
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