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UC Irvine officials Monday announced the university’s largest gift ever — a $200-million donation from Corona del Mar philanthropists Susan and Henry Samueli that will establish a health sciences college in their name.The grant is the seventh-largest gift to a single public university. The Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences will focus on integrated health, defined by university officials as a healthcare approach that incorporates conventional medicine, complementary and alternative medicines and “self-care,” which emphasizes evidence-based behavioral and nutritional approaches that promote wellness. (Zint, 9/18)

Susan Samueli caught a cold while visiting France more than three decades ago. Instead of the usual medicines, a friend suggested aconite, a homeopathic remedy derived from a plant in the buttercup family. She was cured — and became a lifelong advocate of homeopathy and other alternative healing methods to complement conventional medicine. Her husband, Henry — the billionaire co-founder of Broadcom, the Irvine semiconductor maker — says he was initially skeptical but found the integrative health approach helped him easily shake off colds and flus and kept their children healthy without antibiotics. (Watanabe, 9/18)

Between 2006 and 2016, childhood hunger in North Philadelphia has more than tripled among families where parents work 20 or more hours a week, according to Chilton’s research at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, part of Children’s HealthWatch, a national research network that investigates the impact of public assistance programs on children’s health. Chilton said her findings in North Philadelphia likely resemble rates of childhood hunger throughout the city. (Lubrano, 9/18)

A nursing home management firm in Indiana has sued several former executives who are already criminally charged with embezzling more than $16 million from the company. American Senior Communities filed the lawsuit Friday against several individuals, including former CEO James Burkhart, and 16 shell companies, The Indianapolis Star reported. (9/18)

After news that San Diego’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak may have infiltrated the food service industry, more than 200 people this weekend lined up for vaccinations as restaurants reinforced their health safety measures. “All eyes are on San Diego,” Steve Zolezzi, president of the Food & Beverage Assn. of San Diego, said of the outbreak, one of the nation’s largest in decades, which prompted county officials to declare a local public health emergency earlier this month. (Nikolewski, 9/18)

Clear Creek County will ask voters in November to raise the countywide sales tax by 0.65 percent — or nearly $1 million a year — in order to offset the projected growing costs of providing emergency medical services. Ambulance service provided by Clear Creek EMS is now subsidized by the county to the tune of $800,000 a year. (Paul, 9/18)

California lawmakers approved several key health care proposals — and stalled on others — in their mad dash toward last Friday’s do-or-die legislative deadline. They adopted a bill that would require drugmakers to give 60 days’ notice on big price hikes, but pushed off a decision on single-payer health care. They banned smoking at state parks and beaches, but delayed a proposal that would have established staffing requirements for dialysis clinics. (Ibarra and Bartolone, 9/18)

California has no law that defines how or when a person with dementia can consent to sexual relations. It is certainly no crime for senior citizens to be sexually active, at home or in a skilled nursing facility. But where is the line, legally and ethically, when one party may not fully understand what is happening, and with whom? (Lundstrom, 9/18)

MPR host Tom Weber spoke to Rose Roach, executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association, about the impact of health insurance on patient care. As a critic of the health insurance system Roach, believes that asking whether health care is a right or privilege will provide the foundations of health care reform. (Weber, 9/18)

Lawmakers in Salem held a hearing on Monday into the Oregon Health Authority's internal public relations plan to smear a Portland health provider. But despite Republicans' requests for the former officials involved to testify, none of them showed up. Instead, lawmakers heard from the agency's new acting director, Patrick Allen. Former director Lynne Saxton resigned in early August at the request of Gov. Kate Brown, soon after the plan became public. She had apologized and said the agency never implemented the plan. (Borrud, 9/18)

A Massachusetts biotech firm still intends to give away DNA test kits to fans at a Ravens game this season, according to the team, but the promotion first must undergo scrutiny from a federal agency and the state. The “DNA Day” event, scheduled for last Sunday’s Ravens-Cleveland Browns game at M&T Bank Stadium, was postponed after the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services raised questions with the state about approvals, state and federal officials said. (Barker, 9/18)

A year ago, Washington D.C.'s Capital Area Food Bank — one of the largest in the country — decided to turn away junk food, joining a growing trend of food banks that are trying to offer healthier options to low-income Americans. ... While some critics have argued that the poor are too often told what to eat, as if they can't make responsible decisions for themselves, Salmon says the goal of the program isn't to be the food police. (Johnson, 9/18)

A new state law loosening the penalties on marijuana possession officially took effect this weekend. Police departments around the state are worried some residents may not fully understand what the change means. (Sutherland, 9/18)