The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) this week released provisional figures finding that drug overdose deaths passed for the first time 100,000 during a 12-month period from April 2020-April 2021, representing an increase of nearly 30 percent from the previous year. In California, a nearly 48…
Read More »On Wednesday, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issued its annual publication, “The 2022-23 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook,” providing an assessment of the state’s budget condition and a preview of major decision points for the Legislature ahead of budget activities in the new year. Perhaps most notably, despite the ongoing pandemic and associated economic impacts,…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) this week released a new report finding that progress toward measles elimination worldwide continues to decline, posing increased risks for measles outbreaks. During 2020, the CDC and WHO report that more than 22 million infants missed their first dose of…
Read More »The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) recently published an analysis of the state’s Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) spending plan as part of its broader 2021-22 California Spending Plan analysis series. The LAO’s analysis details the temporary increase in Medicaid federal share of cost for HCBS, eligibility requirements for states to draw down increased federal…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Injury and Violence Prevention Branch recently released a series of resources and information on firearm storage practices and violent deaths in California. The first report, “California Household Firearm Storage Practices, 2017-2019,” uses data from the 2017-2019 California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and finds that one in…
Read More »The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), in partnership with the Office of the California Surgeon General (CA-OSG), announced this week that the state’s ACEs Aware Initiative has screened more than 500,000 children and adults in California for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trained more than 20,500 clinicians in conducting the screenings. Research from…
Read More »California State Auditor Elaine Howle this week published a report as part of her office’s high-risk audit program on COVID-19 pandemic food assistance programs under the authority of the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). CDSS is responsible for managing federal COVID-19 funds that were dedicated to two nutrition programs – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Emergency…
Read More »This week, California State Auditor Elaine Howle issued two reports relative to state agency and departmental oversight of federal COVID-19 funds awarded to the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC). The reports are part of the state’s high-risk audit program, as determined by Howle. These reports are…
Read More »The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR), through the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), continues to track Californians’ engagement in COVID-19 risk reduction behaviors, impacts on personal and financial wellbeing, and views on the COVID-19 vaccine. The latest data from July 2021 finds declines in adherence to COVID-19 safety guidelines and increases in gathering…
Read More »A recent analysis of federal satellite imagery conducted by the Stanford University Environmental Change and Human Outcomes (ECHO) Lab and NPR’s California Newsroom found a dramatic increase in the number of days residents are breathing smoke across California and the United States. The analysis, based on more than 10 years of data collected by the…
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