CALIFORNIA WATCH FEBRUARY 26, 2018 Ventura County Star
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
CALIFORNIA WATCH FEBRUARY 26, 2018 Ventura County Star: Ventura County HIV Increase Triggers Concerns about Hookup Apps The front lines of the increase in Ventura County HIV diagnoses include Grindr and other apps men use to hook up with other men, said health officials and advocates. Provisional data shows 70 new local cases of HIV were diagnosed in 2017, public health officials said at a Thursday meeting of an HIV/AIDS Coalition of Ventura County. In 14 additional cases, the condition had progressed to AIDS by the time the HIV was diagnosed. While the numbers could change when a final report is released in March, the tentative figures suggest a twofold leap. (Kisken, 2/25) KPCC: Critically Ill Medi-Cal Patients Just Got an Important New Benefit About 300 health care providers from around the Los Angeles region gathered for a day-long conference Saturday to learn more about palliative care and end-of-life planning. L.A.'s largest Medi-Cal plan brought them together to learn more about a new state regulation that took effect in early 2018. In 2014, California passed a law requiring Medi-Cal Managed Care patients get access to palliative care. Now, patients with congestive heart failure, advanced cancer, liver disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can get more services to address suffering associated with their illness. (Faust, 2/24) KQED: California Nurses Warn That Losing Supreme Court Case Could Gut Unions Nurses protested outside San Mateo Medical Center in front of a sign that read “Patient safety comes from union strength” last week. They wore the characteristic bright red shirts of their own union: the California Nurses Association (CNA). They were calling attention to the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus vs. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The outcome of the case could dramatically weaken public sector unions if the court overturns a rule that requires non-union employees at union-affiliated workplaces to pay “fair share” fees. (Klivans, 2/23) Capital Public Radio: Only 7 Percent of Californians Lack Health Insurance, National Study Says A new study indicates that almost 29 million Americans lack health insurance — a big improvement compared to nearly 49 million in 2010. Californians are better covered than most of the nation. Texas comes in last, with 20 percent having no health insurance, according to the latest findings by the National Center for Health Statistics. In California, that number is 7 percent. (Ibarra, 2/23) CAPITOL HILL WATCH The New York Times: Is This the Moment for Gun Control? A Gridlocked Congress is Under Pressure Lawmakers will return to Washington on Monday facing intense public pressure to break their decades- long gridlock on gun control, a demand fortified by a bipartisan group of governors calling for Congress to take action to protect against mass shootings. But even as members of both parties said it might be difficult for Congress to remain on the sidelines after the school massacre this month in Parkland, Fla., lawmakers have no clear consensus on even incremental changes to gun restrictions, let alone more sweeping legislation. (Gay Stolberg, Martin and Kaplan, 2/25) Modern Healthcare: Week Ahead: House Launching 'Aggressive' Legislative Agenda on Opioids Months after President Donald Trump first designated the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency and weeks after Congress announced $6 billion in new funding for states to battle the problem, the House of Representatives will kick off its first big policy effort to manage the crisis. On Wednesday in the first of three scheduled hearings, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee will examine a packet of bills that focus more on enforcement than treatment. The legislation emerging from these hearings will likely be this Congress' final substantive health policy push before the 2018 midterm elections. (Luthi, 2/24) The Associated Press: Governors Push Bipartisan National Health Care Compromise A bipartisan group of governors working to strike compromise on hot-button policy issues took on the question of health care on Friday. Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in presenting the group's blueprint for policy changes at the National Press Club, lamented that one of the country's largest challenges seems to have been set aside by policymakers. "It's like health care doesn't even matter anymore down here," he said. (2/23) ADMINISTRATION NEWS The Hill: Planned Parenthood Won't be Barred from Applying for Family Planning Funds Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers will not be barred from applying for funding under a federal family planning grant program, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Friday. The HHS Office of Population Affairs released a long-awaited funding announcement Friday for $260 million in funding for Title X grants. (Hellmann, 2/23) Stat: CDC Requests Funds to Build New Maximum-Security Laboratory The request, which is currently in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, is for $350 million. But more will be needed later; the new high containment continuity laboratory, as it is called, would be built on the site of one of only a few parking facilities on the CDC’s main campus. (Branswell, 2/23) HEALTH LAW The Hill: Trump: ObamaCare Being Wiped Out 'Piece by Piece' President Trump argued Friday that ObamaCare is being “wiped out” in a “piece-by-piece” way despite the failure of the GOP Congress to repeal the law. Trump, speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, pointed to a number of actions that Republicans have taken against the law, including repealing the individual mandate to buy health insurance as part of the tax-cut bill. (Sullivan, 2/23) California Healthline: Ding Dong! The Obamacare Tax Penalty Is(n’t) Dead Rick, Patrick and Michael recently commented on Covered California’s Facebook page, urging others to ditch health insurance because: “No more fines or penalties!!! Trump took care of that!! Saved me 700 bucks this year!!!” “Trump removed the penalty for not having insurance.” “I’m pretty sure Trump abolished the illegal penalty.” They’re right — and wrong. (Bazar, 2/23) PUBLIC HEALTH AND EDUCATION NPR: Kids Still Plagued by Obesity in U.S., Report Finds Hopes were dashed this week that the United States was finally making progress in the fight against childhood obesity. Contrary to previous reports, the epidemic of fat has not abated. In fact, there's been a big jump in obesity among the nation's youngest children, according to the latest analysis of federal data, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. (Stein, 2/26) NPR: Screen All Teens for Depression, Pediatricians Urge Only about 50 percent of adolescents with depression get diagnosed before reaching adulthood. And as many as 2 in 3 depressed teens don't get the care that could help them. "It's a huge problem," says Dr. Rachel Zuckerbrot, a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and associate professor at Columbia University. (Aubrey, 2/26) The New York Times: F.D.A. to Expand Medication-Assisted Therapy for Opioid Addicts In an effort to encourage new treatments for opioid addiction, the Food and Drug Administration plans to begin permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medications that help temper cravings, even if they don’t fully stop addiction. The change is part of a wider effort to expand access to so-called medication- assisted treatment, or MAT. The agency will issue draft guidelines in the next few weeks. A senior agency official provided details of the proposal to The New York Times. (Kaplan, 2/25) The Washington Post: Flu Cases Fall for the First Time This Awful Influenza Season Flu activity is on the decrease for the first time in this fierce flu season, suggesting that the worst may be over, according to a federal health report released Friday. But the intensity of illness caused by the respiratory virus, the worst since the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010, continues to take its toll. Another 13 child deaths were reported for the week ending last Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That brings the total to at least 97 pediatric deaths since October. (Sun, 2/23) EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS The New York Times: Guns and Opioids are American Scourges Fueled by Availability The United States is in the midst of at least two plagues with much in common. One is gun-fueled mass murder; the other is addiction to opioids — pain pills, heroin, fentanyl. Both are uniquely American afflictions, killing in alarming numbers. Both are revved in part by commercial interests and in part by the collapse of community in American culture. Both persist because of the erroneous belief that there’s an easy answer to these complicated problems. (Sam Guinone, 2/24) DHNR is a daily compilation of news stories from GCHP’s Communications Department. Certain news organizations are protected via a paywall requiring the purchase of a subscription to view their content. CALIFORNIA WATCH FEBRUARY 27, 2018 California Healthline: At Some California Hospitals, Fewer Than Half of Workers Get the Flu Shot How well are doctors, nurses and other workers at your local hospital vaccinated against the flu? That depends on the hospital. According to data from the California Department of Public Health, flu vaccination rates among health care staffers at the state’s acute care hospitals range from a low of 37 percent to 100 percent. (Wiener, 2/27) Ventura County Star: Gold Coast Health Plan: Organ Donor Awareness: Registration is Vital In the 25-year period from 1991 to 2015, the number of organ donors in the United States more than doubled, from 6,953 to 15,947.