• 6/05 - Orange County Round Table
• 6/11 - Silicon Valley Round Table
• 6/12 - San Francisco Round Table
• 6/13 - East Bay Round Table
• 6/21 - Los Angeles Round Table

• Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit: Save 30%
• Even a Single Workout May Make Our Brain's Memory Centers, Like Our Muscles, More Fit
• Amazon Developing Wearable, App for Voice-Based Emotion Detection
• Facebook Launches Three New Disease Mapping Tools


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE NEWS
• CMS Modernizes Care for Frail, Elderly Individuals Enrolled in PACE
• White House Plans Executive Order to Foster Greater Price Transparency
• Senate Bipartisan Discussion Draft Released to Lower Healthcare Costs, Address Surprise Billing
• FDA Soliciting New Volunteers to Test Drive Experimental Pre-Cert Program


CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE NEWS
• California Assembly OKs Healthcare for Adult Immigrants
• Newsom Proposes Penalty to Fund Health Insurance Subsidies
• New DMHC Regulation Expands Knox-Keene Licensure Requirements: Effective July 1st
• Dignity in Discharge Law: What You Need to Know
• Former Verily Leader Named "Mental Health Czar" of California
• While Rats & Filth Plague L.A. Streets, SF's Investing in Kids' Wellness

The Center for Elders' Independence (CEI) recently celebrated the grand opening of its newly remodeled downtown Oakland center, which features a demonstration kitchen that enables participants to observe and be involved in food and snack prep, an ultramodern fitness gym staffed with physical and occupational therapists, an indoor lounge sitting area and new outdoor courtyard for socializing, and a covered walkway for people to enter the building with ease. (Linda Trowbridge)

Covered California announced plans to partner with 105 community-based organizations to educate consumers about their healthcare options, offer in-person enrollment and renewal assistance, and provide ongoing support on how to get the best value from their health plan. To date, Covered California's aggressive outreach campaign has helped it achieve one of the best take-up rates in the country, which in turn meant that enrollees in California were about 20% healthier on average than the enrollees of the 38 states that rely on the federal government to promote enrollment. The healthier population of enrollees means that premiums in California are 20% lower than they would have been if the state's enrollment looked more like much of the rest of the nation. (Kathy Keeshen)

The American College of Health Care Administrators named Windcrest, HumanGood's skilled nursing residence at Regents Point, as a top performer for 2019, based on occupancy, three years of survey data from state and federal regulators, and the resident assessments that make up the nursing home Minimum Data Set. Meanwhile, several HumanGood affordable housing communities have recently celebrated: the grand opening of the new Rotary Terrace in South San Francisco; and (following extensive renovations) the re-openings of Park Paseo in Glendale and Mount Rubidoux Manor in Riverside. (Tara McGuinness)

For the ninth year in a row, Kaiser Permanente (KP) has earned the Pharmacy Quality Alliance's Excellence in Quality Award for high achievement in medication safety and appropriate use. Meanwhile, KP has been named to Becker's Healthcare's "150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare - 2019" list, developed based on nominations and editorial research. Becker's notes that KP "has made innovation and leadership a top priority. For nine years, Computerworld has named the system a best place to work in IT, and National Business Group on Health has named it a best employer for healthy lifestyles. DiversityInc also named KP to its Top 50 Companies to Work For, and Forbes named the system a best employer for women, and it's a Top 100 military-friendly employer." (Walt Meyers)

On June 20, King & Spalding (K&S) will present a webinar - Going Global: The Internationalization of the Healthcare Industry, at 10 a.m. Pacific. Topics will include: The State of the Market, Foreign Ownership Restrictions, Due Diligence, Matching Mission to the Market, New Horizons for Investment, and Lessons Learned. Also on June 20, the K&S 5th Annual West Coast Pharmaceutical & Medical Device University, featuring recent developments and trends critical to drug, biologic and medical device manufacturers, presented by their in-house counsel, regulatory professionals, managers, and executives, in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the firm's healthcare industry practice has earned a Tier 1 ranking in the nationwide category in The Legal 500 2019, based on criteria most valued by clients, including size of the team, bench strength, quality of work handled, caliber of clients, client feedback, and the reputation of the individual practitioners. (Marcia Augsburger & Travis Jackson)

Mike Stacey has announced that he will be the new Chief Medical Officer for LifeLong Medical Care based in Berkeley, effective June 24. LifeLong is an innovative, non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center serving Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin Counties with 16 health centers, mental health services, three Dental Centers, an Adult Day Health Center in Marin, four School-Based Health Centers, a Supportive Housing Program, and Urgent Care services. Most recently, Mike was Director of Medical Services for Solano County Health & Social Services. (Michael Stacey)

Wipfli recently signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, an international and industry-led pledge to protect technology users by improving the security of cyberspace. The firm joined 15 other companies in signing the accord, bringing the total number of cybersecurity-committed companies to 106. (Jeff Johnson, Larry Blitz, Tony Taddey & Steve Rousso)

Nelson Hardiman served as lead regulatory counsel for the $235 million sale of two Verity Health System hospitals - 358-bed O'Connor Hospital, and 93-bed Saint Louise Regional Hospital - to Santa Clara County, helping ensure a timely close and smooth transition. Meanwhile, reviews of Harry Nelson's current book, The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain, can be found here. (Harry Nelson, JD)

Robbins Schrader, CEO of SafeRide Health, was recently named to the Advisory Boards of NEMTAC, a nonprofit dedicated to championing standards and best practices for the provision of non-emergency medical transportation. Meanwhile, Robbins was recently interviewed by FundRx Venture Partner Perspectives, in a discussion about SafeRide and healthcare trends. (Robbins Schrader)

Alvaka Networks will host a live and interactive webinar - Software Security Patching: Why you are struggling with this essential task!, from 10-11 a.m. Pacific, on the following dates: June 6, 13, 20, 27; and July 11, 18, 25; and August 1 and 8. Unpatched vulnerabilities are a leading source of compromise, and yet many organizations struggle to stay current on their patching and leave themselves exposed to security breaches. This webinar will take a deep dive into this complex security dilemma, what the risks are, and how you can start to solve this problem. (Oli Thordarson)

Corporate Responsibility Magazine has named Cigna to its 20th annual "100 Best Corporate Citizens" ranking, recognizing outstanding environmental, social, and governance transparency and performance among the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. 'Cigna Connects' is focused on: health and well-being, environment, and inclusive and responsible business. Within each area, the company applies global health services expertise, resources and innovative thinking to help solve complex challenges. (Chris De Rosa)

Arcadian Telepsychiatry, a wholly owned subsidiary of MYnd Analytics, Inc., has signed an agreement with Memorial Hospital, in Gulfport, MS, to provide telebehavioral health services. THE 303-bed Memorial is one of the most comprehensive healthcare systems in the state, including a state-designated level II trauma center, two outpatient surgery centers, satellite diagnostic and rehabilitation centers, and 95+ physician clinics. Also, Arcadian has partnered with Care Compass Network, in upstate New York, to offer telepsychiatry and teletherapy services - in a phased roll-out of solutions with a variety of organizations, including nursing homes, primary care, pharmacy, behavioral health agencies, and a visiting nurse service. (George Carpenter)

The State of New York Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program has approved the proprietary DCISionRT test from Prelude Corporation (PreludeDx) to assess breast cancer recurrence risk and to predict radiation therapy benefit in patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). PreludeDx's DCISionRT test is now available in all 50 U.S. states. Meanwhile, PreludeDx recently presented interim results from its large PREDICT study, which found that inclusion of DCISionRT changed 51% of radiation therapy recommendations for patients with DCIS, in a patient group of 200 people. (Dan Forche)

In The Reason Why Medical Outsourcing is Booming, SAVI Group discusses reasons that include a focus on patient care, drop in operational costs, evolving medical coding compliance, and increased revenues. Other recent posts from SAVI Group include: 8 EMR Management Best Practices Examples and How to Achieve Work-Life Balance with a Medical Practice. (Sumit Mahendru)

El Camino Hospital announced that its Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) teams achieved and, in some cases, surpassed its hospital infection reduction goals, and that the processes, put into place in 2018, continue to be refined as time goes on for even further improvement. Four multi-disciplinary teams took a lean performance approach to improve hand hygiene and reduce HAIs in three key areas: catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central line-associated blood stream infections; and Clostridium difficile infections. This hospital-wide initiative involved the use of process maps, constant feedback on results and data analysis to implement a plan of action for each challenge the team encountered. It was a focused plan, communicated well and with strict implementation that produced positive results, including: a 29% reduction in the use of Foley catheters, expansion of the use of UV disinfection, adoption of best practices, development of core competencies, and improvement of critical hygienic protocols for the prevention of HAIs. (Michelle McGowen & Cecile Currier)

In its recent blog post, Canada Approves Prescription Heroin: A Problematic "Solution" to an Ongoing Crisis, Elevate Addiction Services examines the Canadian government's recent decision to allow prescription heroin in their country. What is the full scope of this decision? Will it alleviate the opioid crisis or only serve to worsen it? Elevate addresses what the repercussions could be. (Dan Manson)

Pathways Home Health and Hospice will present its 7th annual Links to the Heart Golf Tournament on July 15, at the Stanford University Golf Course, which is consistently rated one of the finest in the world. The fundraising event, which supports Pathways' critical programs, will include golf, lunch, dinner, contests, awards, prizes, and more. (Barbara Burgess)

Catasys, Inc. is expanding the use of OnTrak to help identify and address loneliness, as poor social relationships have been associated with a significant increase in risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, along with increased use of accident and emergency services independent of chronic illness. Meanwhile, Catasys has expanded its OnTrak-C solution with a leading health insurance provider serving Medicaid members in Texas, as well as its OnTrak-Ci solution to eligible Medicare Advantage members in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, and has entered into an agreement with Optima Health to provide OnTrak to eligible Commercial members in Virginia. (Rick Anderson)

On June 6, PCIHIPAA will present a free webinar - Protect Your Practice from Penalties and Fines, from 10-11 a.m. Pacific. Key takeaways will include a HIPAA compliance checklist, how to navigate the complexities of compliance, how to get a complimentary HIPAA risk assessment, and best data backup and restoration practices. (Jeff Broudy)

Sidebench reports that they've been working with Children's Hospital Los Angeles to develop a NICU navigation app for parents of children who have been in the intensive care unit, and also shares a case study on how they revamped an OCD treatment tool - the nOCD app - to be engaging, accessible, and HIPAA compliant. (Kevin Yamazakis)

On the evening of June 13, John Tanner, Ph.D., CEO of Tanner Research, will present a Nutrition Science workshop, where he will share his story about how he suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest in 2009. Since then, he has studied intensely the causes of heart disease, and found that it can be completely avoided through a proper diet - and THAT cancer, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, and about 30 other diseases can be reduced, avoided, or reversed by this same diet. The free workshop, to be held at Tanner Research in Monrovia, includes a meal and your choice of one of the top books on nutrition science. (John Tanner, Ph.D.)