Santa Clara County Health Digest

Pharmacy benefit managers attempt to negotiate cost savings for insurers. California is considering new rules that would require them to pass their discounts on to consumers.

About 4 in 10 Californians are carrying medical debt. Lawmakers are advancing a bill that would prevent that debt from affecting credit scores.

A trio of California Democratic lawmakers say they’re frustrated by high cost estimates that helped kill their health care legislation. Did the Newsom administration inflate the numbers to quietly kill the bills?

Birth centers are popular options for families who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Nineteen of them closed in California in the past decade, deepening the state’s maternity care crisis.

The Santa Clara County Public Health reported a dead rabid bat was found near downtown Palo Alto on August 13.

The chemical, used for decades, can harm babies’ developing brains. Farmworkers and people living near fields are most at risk. The EPA issued a rare emergency order.

Testing of wastewater shows sharp increases of COVID circulating in Santa Clara County.

Over a hundred unregulated group homes in Santa Clara County are housing formerly incarcerated people on parole or those released from mental health or addiction programs, often in overcrowded or unsanitary conditions.

About 80 Californians die every year after contracting Valley fever, a fungal disease that typically affects the lungs. A recent outbreak was traced to a music festival in Kern County.

Following the confirmation of West Nile virus in tested mosquitos, pesticide spraying was ordered for neighborhoods in the 95111, 95112, 95121 and 95122 zip codes in San Jose and unincorporated Santa Clara Valley.

After years of delay, a new California regulation to protect indoor workers from extreme heat is now in effect.

The first two human cases of West Nile virus this season were reported in Yuba and Stanislaus Counties.

California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

Taking advantage of new state funds, some California healthcare providers are starting to offer what their homeless patients really need: housing.

Wastewater testing for COVID shows the virus is surging in San Jose.

Almost 400 suppliers, two-thirds in communities of color, don’t meet safety and reliability standards. Fixing them would cost billions.

Even when suicidal, California firefighters struggle to find medical help and navigate the workers’ comp morass to pay for it.

More COVID cases are being reported and Santa Clara County wastewater samples show increasing virus levels.

Over the last decade, nearly 50 maternity wards have closed across California, with more than half shutting down in just the last four years.

For families seeking affordable health insurance, the state’s health insurance marketplace, Covered California, can provide major relief. But if they’re not careful, they can get hit by an unexpected federal tax bill.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District is proposing a new ordinance banning encampments along local waterways to address increasing negative impacts.

Newsom-backed bill would allow Arizona abortion providers to practice in California as the Republican-led state restricts access.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new ad blasts GOP efforts to make it harder for people to leave states with abortion bans and seek treatment elsewhere.

Water suppliers say the costs will be massive, with rates increasing for many consumers. Known as the “Erin Brockovich” chemical, hexavalent chromium is found statewide.

Chinese Hospital, located in the heart of this city's legendary Chinatown, struggles with many of the same financial and demographic challenges that plague small independent hospitals in underserved areas across the country.

These professionals provide essential services, but their pay and working conditions do not reflect their value, and their health suffers.

Evictions have exacerbated homelessness nationwide, increasing the rate of homeless infants and toddlers. Most of those children are not enrolled in early education programs.

Disputes between insurers and providers can lead to entire hospital systems suddenly leaving the plans.

After bringing his story all the way to the University of California Board of Regents, a disabled UC Berkeley student has prompted the UC to ensure emergency evacuation chairs are in every multi-storied building in the 10-university system.

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit of an urgent priority: shutting down access to abortion pills for women across the country.

Santa Clara County Valley Healthcare is opening a new health care center in the former De Paul Health Center, expanding primary and urgent care in the historically underserved region.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that he is throwing his weight behind legislation to bar medical debt from showing up on consumer credit reports, a Democratic-led effort to offer protection to patients squeezed by health care bills.