Becker's Hospital Review: Nurses At Prime Hospital Approve Labor Deal
Members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have approved a new labor contract with Prime Healthcare's St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Calif. The contract, approved by 81% of voting union members, covers 600 registered nurses at the medical center, according to a Dec. 13 UNAC/UHCP news release.  (Gooch, 12/13)

Becker's Hospital Review: Scripps Raises Minimum Wage For Employees
San Diego-based Scripps Health is increasing its hourly minimum wage from $21 to $23. The adjustment in June 2024 will affect an estimated 8,000 employees, according to the health system. This includes employees whose pay is below $23 an hour and those affected by compression.  (Gooch, 12/13)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Santa Rosa CEO On The Hospital's Relentless Pursuit Of Better Care Access
Megan Gillespie, DNP, RN, began serving as CEO of Sutter Santa Rosa (Calif.) Regional Hospital in October, and she entered the role already aware of work being done at the hospital's parent organization, Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health, to make it easier for patients and communities to access care. (Gooch, 12/13)

Los Angeles Times: Meet Shohei Ohtani’s Surgeon, Who Fixes Sports’ Biggest Stars And Saved His $700-Million Arm
The Dodgers will unwrap their spectacular holiday prize Thursday with the introductory news conference of Shohei Ohtani, the two-way superstar and two-time American League most valuable player. There’s global appeal with the event scheduled for Thursday afternoon because that’s Friday morning for the audience in Japan. Missing from the festivities will be Dodgers team physician Neal ElAttrache, who has a full slate of NFL surgeries to perform. For him, it’s a routine Thursday. (Farmer, 12/14)

Stat: New Federal Rules Demand Transparency Into AI Models Used In Health Decisions
Federal health technology regulators on Wednesday finalized new rules to force software vendors to disclose how artificial intelligence tools are trained, developed, and tested — a move to protect patients against biased and harmful decisions about their care. (Ross, 12/13)

The Bakersfield Californian: Rep. Valadao Reintroduces Legislation To Combat Valley Fever 
Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, joined Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, Wednesday to reintroduce the Finding Orphan-disease Remedies with Antifungal Research and Development Act, also known as the FORWARD Act. The legislation, Valadao said in an emailed news release, supports various research and development programs with the goal of developing new drugs, treatments, and vaccines to combat valley fever. (12/13)

Los Angeles Times: California Is Losing Clout In The U.S. Capitol
The nation’s most populous state enjoyed years of strength in Washington, where long-serving Californians held plum committee assignments, wielded vast influence and dispensed sage advice to less-experienced lawmakers. But a slew of House retirements in recent years and the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein have chipped away at California’s Capitol Hill clout. Amid a wider exodus from a Republican-controlled House paralyzed by partisanship, seven of California’s 52 members of Congress announced they would give up their seats. Senior or high-profile members including McCarthy, Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk), Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park), Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and Katie Porter (D-Irvine) all plan to leave the House. (Wick, 12/14)

CalMatters: California's Food Insecurity Rises As Pandemic Aid Ends
Food insecurity in California ticked upward over the past year, bringing the share of hardship back up to levels early in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by the California Association of Food Banks on Tuesday. “Families are buying less food,” said May Lynn Tan, the association’s director of research and strategic initiatives, who conducted a survey of food aid recipients this summer. “They’re running out of food, not being able to afford nutritious meals, and worrying more about food.” (Kuang, 12/13)

Los Angeles Times: Holiday Joy Meets Panic And Food Insecurity As Parents Brace For Long Winter Break
Just looking at the winter calendar sends Michelle Homme into a panic. Monday marks the start of 2½ weeks with no child care, when her 3-year-old son’s Pacific Palisades preschool shuts down for the holidays. For Homme, a single mother and self-employed interior designer, that means 18 days of almost no time to earn the money she needs to support her family. “You cannot work with a preschooler at home. It doesn’t matter if there is one parents or two parents,” said Homme, who has neither help from extended family nor an employer that provides her with vacation days. Work has been slow this year and money tight. She looked for temporary care, but cannot afford the $100 a day it would cost. (Gold, 12/14)

Axios: Supreme Court Abortion Pill Case Puts FDA Drug Review Power At Risk
The Supreme Court's decision to review the availability of a commonly used abortion pill doesn't just open another chapter in the nation's abortion wars — it's also a direct challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's power to regulate drugs. (Bettelheim, 12/14)

The Hill: Ramaswamy: Supreme Court Should Rule Against FDA Approval Of Abortion Pill
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that he believes the Supreme Court should overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Ramaswamy said at a CNN town hall in Iowa on Wednesday that the case, which the court agreed earlier on Wednesday to hear, is about the authority that regulatory agencies have without direct authorization from Congress. He argued that the FDA exceeded its authority in approving the pill in 2000. (Gans, 12/13)

CNN: Poison Centers See Nearly 1,500% Increase In Calls Related To Injected Weight-Loss Drugs As People Accidentally Overdose
Poison control centers across the US say they are seeing a steep increase in calls related to semaglutide, an injected medication used for diabetes and weight loss, with some people reporting symptoms related to accidental overdoses. (Goodman, 12/13)

Reuters: US Employers Hire Virtual Providers As Weight-Loss Drug Gatekeepers 
U.S. employers facing surging costs from paying for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and similar obesity drugs are hiring virtual healthcare providers like Teladoc to implement weight-loss management programs, a dozen consultants, pharmacy benefit managers, analysts, and providers told Reuters. These programs may require diet and exercise before granting access to the medicines, and in some cases will become employees' sole covered option for medications like Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s rival therapy Zepbound, which have list prices of more than $1,000 a month. (Wingrove, 12/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Oprah Winfrey Says She Uses A Weight Loss Drug 
Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul and world’s most famous dieter, said in an interview published Wednesday that she is taking weight-loss medication as a “maintenance tool.” Winfrey didn’t disclose which drug she is taking, but her acknowledgment introduces star wattage to the debate about weight-loss medications that have rocked the pharmaceutical, food and diet industries since their widespread adoption. (Schwartzel, 12/13)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Members Of Congress Push San Diego VA To Give More Housing Vouchers To Homeless Veterans 
Four members of San Diego’s Congressional delegation are asking the local Veterans Affairs office to issue more housing vouchers amid a rise in homelessness among people who served in the military. (Nelson, 12/13)

CalMatters: Hundreds Of Formerly Homeless People Get Evicted After L.A. Nonprofit Fails To Pay Rent On Time
All together 306 people lost taxpayer-funded homes in South Los Angeles as a result of HOPICS’ failure to pay rent on time, the nonprofit said. While more than half were then placed in permanent housing or sent to temporary sites, HOPICS and Los Angeles housing authorities did not say what happened to 119 people. (Lyons and Kuang, 12/13)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Affordable Housing Program Is Razing Low-Cost Housing 
For the past seven years, Blanca Ruiz has tended each day to the lush garden outside the home that she rents on a noisy stretch of Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles. The modest back house has been home not just to Ruiz but her husband and son, the couple’s four dogs and two tropical birds — Ludina the macaw and Sofia, a white cockatoo. But that domestic setting was shattered earlier this year when Ruiz, 75, was notified that her home was slated for demolition to make way for an affordable housing project. (Zahniser and Pineda, 12/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Do Those Who Reject Shelter Choose Homelessness? In S.F. And Beyond, The Answer Means Everything
Many observers were taken aback by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ suggestion last week that some people living on the streets are too comfortable there. Asked about homeless residents who reject offers of shelter, she said at a public forum that they “have to be made to be uncomfortable is the truth of the matter. We cannot make it comfortable for them to pitch a tent on our sidewalks and stay.” But Jenkins’ characterization likely didn’t surprise anyone who has been following two key lawsuits over cities’ efforts to clear encampments —  a federal suit filed by the Coalition on Homelessness against San Francisco over its enforcement actions against the homeless, and a civil case out of Grants Pass, Ore., that the Supreme Court is deciding whether to weigh in on. (Libby, 12/14)

Los Angeles Daily News: Map Of LA’s Fentanyl Hot Spots Reveals Where Critical Resources Are Missing 
Skid Row. MacArthur Park. Hollywood. These are among the several overdose hot spots where L.A. County’s fentanyl epidemic wreaks the greatest havoc. Although the county funnels millions of dollars into addressing the crisis annually, a Southern California News Group analysis of fatal overdose locations and services intended to help found key resource gaps in multiple hot spots. (Harter, 12/13)

Fresno Bee: Fresno County Plans To Inspect Biological Research Labs. It Follows Reedley Crisis
Still reeling from the discovery a year ago of a biological laboratory operating secretly – and illegally – in the city of Reedley, Fresno County supervisors unanimously gave initial approval to an ordinance requiring annual inspections of any privately-funded biological research labs that are not regulated under federal law. (Sheehan, 12/12)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Santa Rosa Heavy Metal Concert Raises Funds For Cancer Research
About 200 metal heads packed Barrel Proof Lounge in downtown Santa Rosa on Dec. 9 to ring in the holidays and support groups fighting cancer at longtime local Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne tribute band Sweet Leaf’s annual Christmas concert. The show marked the nearly 30-year-old band’s first live show since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and raised $1,500 that will equally benefit Bay Area-based Strides For Life Colon Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society, according to Sweet Leaf guitarist and guitar teacher Steve Smyth. (Swanson, 12/13)