Kaiser Mental Health Workers Announce Readiness to Strike, According to LAist"
Some 2,400 Kaiser mental health workers in Southern California say they’re prepared to go on strike if the health care provider can't meet demands aimed at reducing employee turnover and improving patient care. More than 80% of caregivers — including psychologists, social workers and marriage and family therapists — signed the strike authorization petition. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the Kaiser employees, said the HMO has so far rejected three main contract points. That includes increased time for caregivers to work on patients’ files outside of their scheduled appointments, better pay and restoration of pensions. (Garrova, 10/3)
Capitol Weekly: Sutter Health Teams Up with Historically Black Medical School to Provide Scholarship Funding
Five Northern Californians will have their entire medical school paid for through an innovative new partnership to expand underrepresented physicians in the Golden State. Sutter Health is teaming with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, or CDU, a historically black medical program in Los Angeles, to fund the largest scholarship program in the school’s history. (Joseph, 9/27)
San Francisco Chronicle: California Health Care Workers to Receive Postponed Minimum Wage Increase
California health workers this month will finally get a long-promised minimum wage increase. It’ll kick in this month, according to a letter state health officials sent to the Legislature Oct. 1, describing a process that should trigger the pay boost. “The health care minimum wage increases shall be effective 15 days after the date of this notification, on October 16, 2024, unless a later effective date is specified,” Michelle Baass, the director of the California Department of Health Care Services wrote in the letter. (Ibarra, 10/3)
Becker's Hospital Review: Inefficiencies in Health IT Are Costing Hospitals Billions
In 2024, U.S. healthcare technology experts reported that inefficiencies, system downtimes and poor health IT integration have contributed to industry losses exceeding $8 billion annually, up from $1.7 billion in 2017, according to an Oct. 1 survey from Black Book Research. The survey, part of Black Book's "What's Hot and What's Not in Healthcare IT Investments" report, included feedback from 907 healthcare professionals, highlighting the systems that failed to meet return on investment expectations after deployment. (Diaz, 10/1)
Becker's Hospital Review: Top 10 AI Concerns Among Nurses
Nearly a quarter of nurses are uncomfortable with artificial intelligence's use in healthcare, according to an Oct. 1 McKinsey & Co. report. Here are nurses' top 10 concerns about AI, per the management consultant's joint survey with the American Nurses Foundation of 7,200 nurses. (Bruce, 10/1)
CalMatters: Legislators Have the Power to Override Nearly All of Newsom's Vetoes. So Why Don’t They?
Nearly all of the 189 bills vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year passed the Legislature with support from more than two-thirds of lawmakers — meaning the same votes from those legislators would be enough to override the governor’s veto. But that almost never happens. In fact, the last time the Legislature overrode a governor’s veto was 1979.So why don’t legislators fight for the bills that have such broad support? (Kamal, 10/3)
Abortion Restrictions Endanger Miscarriage Care in the United States
Jenna Nobles et al. (September 2024)
Reuters: WHO Recommends Maternal Vaccine and Antibody Treatment to Protect Infants from RSV
The World Health Organization on Tuesday recommended vaccinating pregnant women and administering infants with an antibody to prevent severe respiratory synctial virus (RSV) infection in newborns. ... WHO recommended a single shot for pregnant women, in the third trimester that typically starts at 28 weeks, to protect their babies. (Tandon and Satija, 10/1)
California Requires Insurance Coverage for IVF: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Sunday that requires large health insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization. Newsom also expanded coverage to LGBTQ+ families. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
AP: U.S. School Vaccination Rates Decline as Exemptions Continue to Rise
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Wednesday. The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Meanwhile, 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots, which is a little lower than the previous two years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic the vaccination rate was 95%, the coverage level that makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak. The changes may seem slight but are significant, translating to about 80,000 kids not getting vaccinated, health officials say. (Stobbe, 10/2)
Fresno Bee: Deaf Mothers in Fresno Claim Valley Children Excluded Them from Their Child's Care: 'It Was Horrible
A deaf Fresno mother who accompanied her teen daughter at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera for emergency surgery said what should have been a two-day stay stretched more than a week because staff left her out of important conversations. (Miller, 10/2)
Bloomberg: Whooping Cough Cases Surge, Even in Vaccinated Children
When Patricia Teklu’s daughter started coughing uncontrollably, her pediatrician said it was a routine asthma flare up. But that didn’t explain the eight nosebleeds she endured in just one day. “She was coughing so much that she literally could not breathe,” said Teklu, a 36-year-old software sales executive from Boston. The spasms were so severe that the 8-year-old was vomiting mucus and blood, causing a hemorrhage in both eyes that were swollen and black-and-blue. “I had no idea what was going on.” (Suvarna, 9/30)
CIDRAP: Only 56% of U.S. Infants Are Protected by RSV Vaccine and Antibody Treatment
Last year was the first time the United States had two approved methods for combating respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in infants, a maternal vaccine administered in the final weeks of pregnancy and the antibody nirsevimab given to infants under the age of 8 months during RSV season. But In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, authors describe the results of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey which shows only 55.8% of infants were protected by maternal RSV vaccine, nirsevimab, or both. (Soucheray, 9/30)
KFF Health News: Increasing Number of Restrooms Feature Adult-Size Changing Tables for Individuals with Disabilities
The blue-and-white highway sign for the eastbound rest stop near here displays more than the standard icon of a person in a wheelchair, indicating facilities are accessible to people who can’t walk. The sign also shows a person standing behind a horizontal rectangle, preparing to perform a task. The second icon signals that this rest area along Interstate 80 in western Iowa has a bathroom equipped with a full-size changing table, making it an oasis for adults and older children who use diapers because of disabilities. (Leys, 10/3)
Capital & Main: California Home Care Workers Demand Increased Bargaining Power
Jesus Saavedra, 71, began picking cotton in California’s Central Valley when he was just 16 years old. Now retired, he has difficulty both standing and lying down due to constant pain from nerve damage in his hands and head and fibrosis throughout his body. His wife Maria, 70, believes his decades in the fields caused his injuries. She cares for him around the clock, paid through California’s In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS). The program provides funding for disabled, Medi-Cal qualified individuals to hire in home health providers, including family members. Maria Saavedra gets paid for 50 hours of caregiving each month — her limit set by the state — and earns $18 per hour, a rate negotiated by her union with Los Angeles County. Her hourly pay adds up to $900 each month. (Castle, 10/1)
Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Intensified Depression in Southern California Youth
Children, teens and young adults in Southern California had been grappling with rising rates of depression and anxiety for years before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 came along and made their mental health struggles even worse. Among 1.7 million young patients who were part of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system, the prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression was 60% higher in 2021 than it had been five years earlier, according to a new study. The prevalence of anxiety among young patients who did not have depression also rose by 35% during that period, researchers found. (Kaplan, 10/1)
Los Angeles Times: Following L.A. Times Investigation, Newsom Signs Child Welfare Legislation
A new state law cracks down on accountability for providers of parenting classes that are often court-ordered in child abuse and neglect cases but have gone unregulated and have failed to keep children out of danger. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 3145 on Sunday, which creates the Foster Care Justice through Meaningful Help for Parents Act and requires that parenting courses provided as part of “family preservation services” prove that those services are actually working. The bill also requires that the California Department of Social Services publish an annual report on the data for the first time. (Mays, 9/30)
Los Angeles Times: New Teaching Credential to Transform Learning for Transitional Kindergartners
A new teaching credential is centering social and emotional development and playful learning in transitional kindergarten as it prepares the next wave of teachers. (Gold, 9/30)
CalMatters: With Rising Temperatures, Children Are Suffering in California Schools Lacking Air Conditioning
In her fifth grade class in a Los Angeles school, on a day when outdoor temperatures reached 116 degrees, the heat gave Lilian Chin a headache. The air conditioner in her classroom was broken. Her fingers felt numb and she vomited in class, according to her mother. The nurse wasn’t available, so she was sent back to her hot classroom. By the time the school day was over and Lilian made it to her mother’s air conditioned car, she was exhausted and red-faced. At home, she vomited again and got a leg cramp. Veronica Chin rushed her 11-year-old daughter to an emergency room, where she was diagnosed with heat exhaustion — a serious condition that leads to a life-threatening heat stroke if not treated promptly. (Reyes-Velarde, 10/1)
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Approves Legislation to Enhance Nutrition in School Cafeterias
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a suite of bills on Saturday aiming to promote better nutrition in public schools, chiefly by restricting synthetic food dyes linked to health disorders, while also attempting to boost enrollment in state food assistance programs. The first bill, AB518, is an effort to increase participation in the CalFresh food aid program sponsored by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, spokespeople for the governor’s office said. The legislation requires state officials to create a plan estimating the CalFresh participation rate by July 2025 and to work to reach Californians who are eligible but not enrolled. (Li, 9/28)
Los Angeles Blade: What Will Be the Impact of California’s New IVF Law on LGBTQ+ Families?
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California Senate Bill 729 into law on Sunday, giving California families unobstructed coverage for fertility treatments, in vitro fertilization and other family planning through major insurance plans and policies. Senator Caroline Menjivar introduced the bill last spring and since then, Republicans have amassed an attack toward IVF and fertility treatments. (Palomera, 9/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: Study Finds Significant Increase in Trans Suicide Attempts Linked to Anti-Trans Laws
Implementing laws that attack the rights of transgender individuals led to a rise in suicide attempts among trans and nonbinary young people who live in states where the legislation was passed, according to a new study that LGBTQ advocates say underscores how serious a threat these laws pose. Suicide attempts increased by as much as 72% for some young people in the years after anti-transgender legislation was put in place, researchers with the Trevor Project found. They published their findings last week in the journal Nature Human Behavior. (Allday, 9/30)
NBC News: Study Finds First Causal Connection Between Anti-Trans Laws and Suicide Attempts
State laws targeting transgender people made trans and nonbinary young people more likely to attempt suicide in the past year, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The research, published last week in the journal Nature Human Behavior and conducted by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, is the first to establish that such laws directly caused an increase in suicide attempts. (Yurcaba, 9/30)
The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive: Americans' Dependence on Government Aid Reaches New Heights
Americans’ reliance on government support is soaring, driven by programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That support is especially critical in economically stressed communities throughout the U.S., many of which lean Republican and are concentrated in swing states crucial in deciding the presidential election. Neither party has much incentive to dial back the spending. The country hasn’t always been this reliant on government support. In 1970, government safety-net money accounted for significant income in fewer than 1% of America's counties, new research by the bipartisan think tank Economic Innovation Group finds. (Zitner, Kamp and McGill, 9/30)