State's Covid Fines Overturned For San Jose Church: In a victory for a San Jose church that ignored covid health orders at the height of the pandemic, Calvary Chapel no longer has to pay $217,500 in contempt of court fines after successfully appealing the charges. The ruling issued Monday by the Sixth District Court of Appeal found orders by a Santa Clara County Superior Court to prohibit Calvary Chapel from holding indoor services unconstitutional, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Read more from the Bay Area News Group, AP, and San Francisco Chronicle. Scroll down for more covid news.

Unusual California Monkeypox Case Reported: A man who recently sought care for monkeypox at Stanford did not report sexual contact or lesions — a case that highlights the need to better understand how the virus may be spreading beyond sexual networks. The man’s case was documented in a research letter published Tuesday by Stanford researchers in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Scroll down for more monkeypox news.

Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.

The Sacramento Bee: Why Kaiser Therapists Launched An Open-Ended Strike While California Patients Wait For Care Kaiser Permanente’s mental health clinicians sent a warning shot at their employer in past contract negotiations. They’d walk out for a few days or a week to protest working conditions. This time, they hit the picket lines without setting a date for when they will return to work, an escalation that signals the strike will likely continue until the two sides reach a tentative contract agreement. (Anderson, 8/17)

The Sacramento Bee: Good Pay Can’t Keep Workers In This California State Job. Is It Too Dangerous For The Money? The pay at California’s state mental hospitals is good, but increasingly, it’s not enough to convince employees to endure the violence and forced overtime that come with the work. That’s the takeaway from a recent analysis published by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which recommended lawmakers dig deeper into hiring and retention struggles at the Department of State Hospitals. (Venteicher, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Stanford Monkeypox Case Raises Questions About Transmission Beyond Sexual Networks A man who recently sought care for monkeypox at Stanford did not report sexual contact or lesions on the anus or genitals — an unusual case that highlights the need to better understand how the virus may be spreading beyond sexual networks. The man’s case was documented in a research letter published Tuesday by Stanford researchers in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. (Ho, 8/16)

CalMatters: Monkeypox Resources Scarce In Central Valley Just before midnight on a recent Tuesday, Luna Lockhart, 25, jumped in the car with their roommate and drove three-and-a-half hours from Fresno to San Francisco. Their destination: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where more than 400 people were already waiting in line to get a monkeypox vaccine. (Hwang, 8/17)

Palm Springs Desert Sun: Board Of Supervisors Ratifies Monkeypox Emergency Declaration The Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to ratify an emergency declaration for monkeypox on Monday, a move that officials hope will bring in more resources to combat the spreading virus. (Sasic, 8/16)

AP: Monkeypox Can Spread To Pet Dogs, Doctors Report Health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus. (Stobbe, 8/16)

AP: Biden Signs Massive Climate And Health Care Legislation President Joe Biden signed Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill into law on Tuesday, delivering what he has called the “final piece” of his pared-down domestic agenda, as he aims to boost his party’s standing with voters less than three months before the midterm elections. The legislation includes the most substantial federal investment in history to fight climate change — some $375 billion over the decade — and would cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 out-of-pocket annually for Medicare recipients. It also would help an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health care insurance by extending subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic. (Miller and Min Kim, 8/16)

CBS News: Inflation Reduction Act Could Be "Game-Changing" For Millions Of U.S. Seniors "This is going to be game-changing," said Rena Conti, an associate professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business who studies drug pricing. While the law only addresses how Medicare, the health care program for seniors, sets drug prices, advocates of drug reform hope it will set a roadmap for other payers to lower soaring drug costs. (Ivanova, 8/16)

NBC News: Inflation Reduction Act Becomes Law: How It Will Affect Your Health Care The changes are “significant,” especially for anyone in need of high-cost drugs, said Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. People on Medicare are expected to benefit the most from the new law, though health experts say some of the changes could eventually find their way into the commercial insurance market. However, the changes won’t be immediate; many provisions aren’t slated to take effect for a few years. (Lovelace Jr., 8/16)

Axios: Congress Isn’t Done With Messy Health Care Fights The Inflation Reduction Act is law. But that doesn't mean major health care interests are done testing their lobbying clout. Many are already lining up for year-end relief from Medicare payment cuts, regulatory changes and inflation woes. (Knight, 8/17)

NPR: Millions Of Americans Will Soon Be Able To Buy Hearing Aids Without A Prescription Adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment will be able to buy hearing aids directly from stores, pharmacies and online retailers — no prescription or doctor's appointment required — as soon as mid-October. That's thanks to a final rule issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday and set to take effect in two months, following years of campaigning by lawmakers and advocates. It creates a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids, which the Biden administration says will make the devices more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans. (Treisman, 8/16)

Newsweek: How Much Less Will Hearing Aids Cost With Over-The-Counter Option? In a report from 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that "the average retail price for a pair of hearing aids in 2013 was $4,700, which reflected the cost of both the hearing aids and professional services." The announcement by the FDA on Tuesday comes after Congress passed the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act in 2017, which called on the agency to allow for the over-the-counter sale of hearing aids. Biden issued a similar executive order in 2021. (Impelli, 8/16)

California Healthline: Migrants See Health Problems Linger And Worsen While Waiting At The Border U.S. immigration policies, an increasing number of migrants, and the covid-19 pandemic have led to the growth of the Mexican shelter system, in which people are getting sick and medical care is limited. (Rayasam, 8/17)

Los Angeles Times: How An O.C. Lawyer’s Bragging Prompted A Judge To Throw Out Winning Malpractice Verdict When his medical malpractice trial concluded in April, Dr. Essam Quraishi left an Orange County civil courtroom in victory. Swiftly and unanimously, 12 jurors had decided that the gastroenterologist had not been responsible for the death of a patient. That was before his lawyer, Robert McKenna III, appeared in an online celebration video, bragging of his work and saying the case involved “a guy that was probably negligently killed, but we kind of made it look like other people did it.” (Goffard, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Church That Gives Out Cannabis, Psychedelics Sues City Over Police Raid An East Oakland church that promotes the use of psychedelic plants and cannabis to connect with God filed a civil rights suit against Oakland over a police raid two years ago. The Zide Door Church of Entheogenic Plants filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court alleging that the city, the Oakland Police Department and an Oakland police officer violated the First and 14th amendments by discriminating against the church’s religious beliefs, according to the complaint. (Ravani, 8/16)

AP: California Surgeon Pleads Guilty In Sober Living Fraud Case A surgeon and his girlfriend have pleaded guilty in an insurance fraud scheme that involved recruiting patients at Southern California sober living homes to undergo unnecessary surgeries and other procedures. ... Prosecutors said they billed health insurance companies some $676 million for medical procedures and tests and collected millions in reimbursements, according to court documents obtained by the Orange County Register. (8/16)

Los Angeles Daily News: Libertarians, Leftists And Anti-Vaccine City Employees Rally For Medical Freedom Outside LA City Hall  Former and current City of Los Angeles employees joined protesters outside Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 16 to call on the city to lift a requirement that municipal workers be vaccinated. The group of eight held signs that read “medical freedom,” “drop the shot” and “coercion is not consent.” One protester waved a large, rainbow tie-dyed flag emblazoned with a peace sign. (Chou, 8/16)

AP: Jill Biden Tests Positive For COVID-19, Has 'Mild' Symptoms The Bidens have been vacationing in South Carolina since Aug. 10, and the 71-year-old first lady began experiencing symptoms on Monday. Jill Biden, like her husband, has been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. She has been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and will isolate at the vacation home for at least five days. (Miller, 8/16)

Axios: COVID Public Health Emergency Appears To Be Headed For Extension The Biden administration appears headed toward extending the COVID-19 public health emergency for another three months, allowing special powers and programs to continue past the midterm election. (Bettelheim, 8/16)

The Atlantic: Even The CDC Is Acting Like The Pandemic Is Functionally Over  All of this is happening as the Northern Hemisphere barrels toward fall—a time when students cluster in classrooms, families mingle indoors, and respiratory viruses go hog wild—the monkeypox outbreak balloons, and the health-care system remains strained. The main COVID guardrail left is a request for people to stay up to date on their vaccines, which most in the U.S. are not; most kids under 5 who have opted for the Pfizer vaccine won’t even have had enough time to finish their three-dose primary series by the time the school year starts. (Wu, 8/16)

CIDRAP: Healthcare Workers Wearing Respirators 40% Less Likely To Contract COVID A study of more than 2,900 healthcare workers (HCWs) shows that those who wore a respirator were more than 40% less likely to be infected with COVID-19 than those wearing a surgical mask. (8/16)

CIDRAP: Omicron Subvariant BA.5 Now Makes Up 89% Of US COVID-19 Infections The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Nowcast variant tracker estimates that BA.5 now accounts for 88.8% of new US COVID-19 cases, while BA.4 accounts for 5.3% and BA.4.6 accounts for 5.1% of new cases. Four weeks ago BA.5 made up 74.0% of COVID-19 cases, and 2 weeks ago it accounted for 84.5%. (8/16)

KTXL: National Health Insurance Company Agrees To Pay State Over $1 Million In Settlement National Health Insurance Company has agreed to pay over $1 million to the California Department of Insurance as part of a settlement for its prescription drug practices, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced Tuesday. The department is getting paid a $1.995 million penalty for prescription drug and patient information practices from the insurance company that state officials claimed were unfair and discriminatory, according to a press release. (Martinez, 8/16)

Becker's Hospital Review: United Health Centers Says Patient Data Was Stolen United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley is notifying patients of an encryption-related data breach in which documents with personal and medical information were stolen, it said in an Aug. 12 letter on its website. In August 2021, the California community health center experienced technical difficulties and computer disruptions that it found were caused by an "encryption event," the nonprofit said.  (Bruce, 8/16)

Argus-Courier: Pharmacy Closure At Lucky Supermarket In Petaluma, Across California, Reflects Expanding Equity Gap Pharmacies inside Lucky Stores’ supermarkets across California, including in Petaluma, are set to close, leaving some worried about the loss of easy access to prescription medications. (Parreira, 8/16)

Roseville Today: Roseville Mental Health Crisis Facility To Open As Part Of Placer County's Adult System Of Care Roseville, Calif.- Placer County celebrated the addition of the Lotus Behavioral Health Crisis Center-a new, voluntary urgent care center for residents experiencing a mental health crisis. The facility, located on the county’s Adult System of Care campus at 101 Cirby Hills Dr. in Roseville, will open to members of the public in early September. (8/16)

Stat: Study: Hospital Mergers Without Antitrust Scrutiny Lead To Higher Prices Hospitals that merge under state regulations that shield them from federal scrutiny tend to eventually break free of those controls and raise prices substantially, new research finds. (Bannow, 8/17)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Wants States To Scrap Certificate Of Public Advantage Laws States are not equipped to oversee hospital mergers under certificate of public advantage laws, a new paper from the Federal Trade Commission concluded. Some states have allowed hospitals to merge via COPAs, shielding the merging parties from federal antitrust scrutiny in exchange for prolonged state oversight. While hospital executives and state officials claim that mergers under COPAs will lead to lower costs and better outcomes, some transactions have produced the opposite results, the FTC said Monday in an analysis of hospital deals. (Kacik, 8/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospital Finances Are Deteriorating, Fitch Says Rising labor and supply costs will land many nonprofit hospitals in violation of debt covenants to bondholders this year, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Fitch Ratings. Salaries for nurses are particularly competitive, with Covid-19 driving up demand. Labor costs and other inflation pressures are squeezing budgets at senior-living facilities as well. (Gillers, 8/16)

Los Angeles Times: How Pregnancy App Data Could Be Used To Prosecute Abortions Many popular reproductive health apps are lacking when it comes to protecting users’ data privacy, according to a new report highlighting the potential legal risk to people seeking an abortion. After studying 20 of the most popular period-tracking and pregnancy-tracking apps, researchers from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation found that 18 of them had data collection practices that raised privacy or security concerns. The report also considered five wearable devices that track fertility but did not raise concerns about their data collection. (Masunaga, 8/17)

Stat: Once Routine, Pre-Surgical Pregnancy Testing Now Is Anything But The Supreme Court’s decision has raised the stakes of a positive pregnancy test in the states where abortion is banned or sharply restricted. (Pasricha, 8/16)

Politico: Poll: Abortion Enters Top 5 Latino Issues For the first time, abortion has entered the top-five issues concerning Latino voters, according to a new poll from two Latino civil rights organizations which showed Democrats with a 2-to-1 edge in the chase for Latinos’ midterm votes. (Martinez, 8/16)

Fox 5: Polio Vaccines Urged In California 'A Completely Preventable Disease' Resurges In NY Polio is circulating in New York, raising fears in California that the viral disease may next spread to the West Coast. ... If polio arrives in L.A., it will likely show up in local wastewater here, making facilities like Pat-Chem Laboratories in San Fernando vital to public health.Officials are considering launching a testing program for poliovirus in Southern California wastewater. (Kiszla and Mitchell, 8/16)

Bay Area News Group: Polio Has Resurfaced In The US. What's The Risk? Vaccines helped neutralize the global threat of polio, a dreaded scourge that can cause paralysis and death, but that life-saving drug may have led unintentionally to the virus’ reappearance this year in the U.S. and other countries. (Woolfolk, 8/17)

Bay Area News Group: Does Long-Ago Smallpox Vaccination Protect From Monkeypox? Health officials are scrambling to stretch scarce doses of vaccine to slow the mounting monkeypox outbreak, but do older people already vaccinated as kids for the related but deadlier smallpox virus already have protection? (Woolfolk, 6/16)

KQED: California School Districts Are Offering Healthier Food Choices For Students And Providing Free Meals Egg white breakfast wraps, vegetarian ramen, gumbo, glazed carrots and organic cheeseburgers aren’t just trendy restaurant offerings — they’re on some of the breakfast and lunch menus at California schools. With an influx of state and federal funding aimed at expanding access to school meals, California districts are ramping up food production, upgrading menus and using more fresh, healthy ingredients than before. School meals will continue to be free for all California students, as they have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tadayon, 8/16)

Time: The Science Behind Delayed School Start Times California teenagers can snooze a little later this year, thanks to a newly implemented law that says most high schools and middle schools cannot start before 8:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., respectively. That law—the first in the country to set statewide mandates for school start times—isn’t only big for California students, but also for public-health experts fighting against what the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has called an “epidemic” of teen sleep deprivation. Both the AAP and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long opposed early-morning class times and advocated for middle and high school bell times no earlier than 8:30 a.m. (Ducharme, 8/16)

Reuters: Baby Formula Supplies Improving, Say U.S. Retailers Walmart And Target Two big U.S. retailers Walmart Inc and Target Corp said on Tuesday that supplies of baby formula were improving, months after the country faced acute shortages that had caused a panic among parents. Considering the still-existing supply constraints, Target said it will continue with the purchase restrictions both at its stores and online. (8/16)

KQED: Bay Area Gets Taste Of Dreaded Summer Combo: Soaring Temperatures And Drifting Wildfire Smoke The Bay Area is experiencing an increasingly familiar summer cocktail of heat and wildfire smoke, a mixture that has prompted alerts from both the National Weather Service and regional air regulators. (Brekke, 8/16)

Fresno Bee: Triple-Digit Weather To Continue In Fresno. Here Are Heat-Related Symptoms To Watch Out for Fresno is facing a scorching heat wave, and daily highs on Wednesday and Saturday are forecast to reach 106 degrees. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning Tuesday morning which is expected to shift to a heat advisory by 11 p.m. on Wednesday. (Garibay, 8/17)

San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD And SDSU Report Record Research Funding To Study Everything From Climate Change To COVID  UC San Diego and San Diego State University — pillars in the region’s huge science community — reported record research funding for fiscal 2021, enabling the schools to explore everything from climate change to COVID-19 to tobacco use. (Robbins, 8/17)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Avoids Water Cuts As Federal Deadline Passes For Deal On Colorado River  San Diegans on Tuesday continued to avoid any immediate repercussions from the 22-year megadrought that has ravaged the Colorado River, threatening the water supply of 40 million people across the American West. The region gets more than half its water from the river through a 2003 deal with farmers in the Imperial Valley, which has so far proved a prescient, albeit costly maneuver. (Smith, 8/16)

AP: Scientists Say New Climate Law Is Likely To Reduce Warming Even with nearly $375 billion in tax credits and other financial enticements for renewable energy in the law, the United States still isn’t doing its share to help the world stay within another few tenths of a degree of warming, a new analysis by Climate Action Tracker says. The group of scientists examines and rates each country’s climate goals and actions. It still rates American action as “insufficient” but hailed some progress. (Borenstein, 8/16)

CalMatters: Gimme Shelter: The Limits Of Emergency Housing Vouchers In California Section 8 vouchers are great — as long as you can find a landlord who will rent to you. Nicknamed after Section 8 of the federal Housing Act, the Housing Choice Voucher program allows low-income tenants to pay only 30% of their income toward rent and utilities while Uncle Sam shoulders the rest. (Tobias, 8/16)

CapRadio: Sacramento Activists Sue City To Pull Homeless Camping Measure From November Ballot Activists representing homeless residents on Tuesday sued the city of Sacramento, asking the county court to prevent an anti-camping measure from appearing on November election ballots. Activists say the so-called “Emergency Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022” violates a federal ruling known as Martin v. Boise by criminally punishing unhoused people for living outdoors when there’s no available in-door shelter space. (Lam, 8/16)

Health Care Survey The 2022 CHCF California Health Policy Survey

This recent statewide survey found that one in four Californians had trouble paying a medical bill in the last 12 months. The survey also captures Californians' health care priorities for the governor and legislature to address.

Listening to Black Californians Black Californians on Racism and Health Care

CHCF commissioned interviews with 100 Black Californians to understand their views on health and well-being, their perceptions of discrimination and bias in the health care system, and their views on what a quality health care system looks like.

Mental Health Mental Health in California

Using the most recent data available, CHCF’s 2022 Almanac provides an overview of mental health statewide: disease prevalence, suicide rates, supply and use of treatment providers, and mental health in the criminal justice system.

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