Since early January, wildfires fueled by strong Santa Ana winds have been burning across Los Angeles.

The two largest fires, Palisades and Eaton, have collectively burned more than 35,000 acres as of Jan. 27, according to Watch Duty, an app run by a nonprofit that provides real-time wildfire mapping and updates. Both fires remain burning, though first responders have made significant progress containing them.

Another fire, Hughes, erupted on Jan. 22 in Castaic, a northern LA County town, and quickly spread to more than 10,000 acres.

In response, local hospitals have jumped into disaster mode to provide emergency services and community outreach, but some were forced to temporarily shutter and at least one clinic was destroyed.

Keep reading here.—MA

New year, new rules!

In the final days of President Joe Biden’s tenure, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced three new rules to allow medical providers to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth

These rules would make temporary flexibilities—enacted in 2020 following difficulties getting prescriptions during the Covid-19 pandemic—permanent.

Telehealth companies have long pushed for a permanent extension, but there are still a few hiccups in the fine print of this proposal that need to be addressed, Christopher Adamec, executive director of industry group Alliance for Connected Care, told Healthcare Brew.

He hopes the Trump administration will make some tweaks. The White House didn’t provide an answer on that by deadline.

Keep reading here.—CC

Over half the US population was affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack last February, according to a statement from its parent company UnitedHealth Group.

While United had told the federal government in October that 100 million people were hit by the attacks, an updated estimate on Monday put that number at 190 million.

Change Healthcare, a payment processor, didn’t answer emailed questions about the reason behind the different estimates, though it said in a statement that it was “not aware of any misuse of individuals’ information as a result of this incident and has not seen electronic medical record databases appear in the data during the analysis.”

The company said the “vast majority” of people affected were given notice, according to the statement.

Keep reading here.—CM

The latest on long Covid—its symptoms, diagnosis challenges, treatments, and the ongoing research shaping the future of care. Learn how long Covid impacts millions and what steps are being taken to address this global health issue.