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Hospitals and obstetrics units are shutting down across rural America, creating a shortage of care that may be contributing to the country’s rising maternal mortality rate. The United States’ maternal mortality rate ranks 138th in the world — between Lebanon and Qatar — and the rate in rural areas tends to be much higher than it is in cities and suburbs. Between 2011 and 2015, it was 23.3 deaths per 100,000 births in Tennessee and 19.4 in Kentucky, rates that are comparable to developing countries. (Simpson, 8/16)

A New Jersey judge put a temporary hold on a new law allowing terminally ill patients to seek life-ending drugs. The order means that New Jersey’s recently enacted measure cannot be enforced by the state attorney general and comes in response to a lawsuit brought by a doctor practicing in the state. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who signed the bill in April, said Thursday that Attorney General Gurbir Grewal would release guidance for residents in light of the order and vowed to oppose the lawsuit in court. (Catalini, 8/15)

Thousands of Minnesotans who are poor, elderly or have disabilities will get more assistance staying in their own homes and avoid becoming homeless under a new program paid for by the state and federal governments. The state Department of Human Services (DHS) announced Thursday that it received federal approval to roll out a new package of services designed to help seniors and people with disabilities — including those struggling with mental illnesses and substance use disorders — to find and maintain their own housing, and avoid costly institutional care. The new support services will start in July 2020 and will be paid for under the state-federal Medicaid insurance program. (Serres and Evans, 8/15)

A gun-rights group sued Thursday to block California from enforcing its assault weapons ban, contending it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The lawsuit was the latest among gun advocacy and lobbying groups to challenge California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the country, and comes after a recent series of deadly mass shootings nationwide involving military-style rifles. (8/15)

After back-to-back mass shootings killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more in Texas and Ohio, police chiefs in the nation’s largest cities, including Los Angeles, called on the nation’s top lawmakers to enact another ban on assault weapons and other measures to prevent mass killings. (Puente, 8/15)

[Nate] Lanting shared stories of people who were working through addiction and homelessness or recovering from the havoc addiction wreaked on their lives. He showed videos and talked about how climbing to the top of a mountain was in some ways like the difficult journey through recovery. ...Recovery Beyond, which became a nonprofit in 2017, does not collect data on its participants, but executive director Gina Haines estimates 100 to 200 people have gone through the program since 2011, and 39 have summited Mount Rainier. (Paul, 8/15)

The merger of two of Massachusetts’ largest health insurers could have a profound effect on consumers and the health care market. After Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan this week revealed plans to combine into a regional health insurance powerhouse spanning most of New England, the specific impacts remain to be seen, but the deal is certain to be closely scrutinized. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/15)

From 23andMe to Ancestry, home DNA testing has become so popular that a recent survey found that one in seven American adults has tried it. Now, the new clinic is offering what's arguably the opposite of modestly priced, do-it-yourself tests: It's a full-service genomics clinic for patients who want the elite care of an academic medical center and will pay for it out of pocket. (Goldberg, 8/16)

A lawyer for a Bristol couple suing to block the release of Connecticut school-by-school immunization data argues in court papers that distributing the information amounts to an “invasion of privacy” for families with unvaccinated children, even though no students would be identified. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato, a Republican lawmaker who is representing Kristen and Brian Festa in their quest to prevent more school vaccination data from being released, asked a Superior Court judge Wednesday not to dismiss their case. (Carlesso, 8/15)

A Birmingham psychologist has admitted to trying to defraud Medicaid by billing for counseling services that were never provided, state and federal prosecutors announced Thursday. Sharon Waltz has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud Medicaid of at least $1.5 million, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town announced. Waltz also agreed to pay restitution to Medicaid in the amount of $1.5 million, they said. (8/15)

A former Nebraska Medicaid audit administrator who bilked the program and his father out of nearly $300,000 has been sentenced to 16 months in prison. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Craig A. Barnett was also ordered Thursday to pay restitution of nearly $277,000 and serve three years of supervised release. Barnett, of Lincoln, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud in the scheme, which took place when he was an administrator within the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. (8/15)

A father and son from Dallas were sentenced to prison Wednesday after being convicted of fraud and identity theft in a $27 million scheme involving false hearing aid insurance claims submitted on behalf of American Airlines employees. Terry Lynn Anderson, 69, received an eight-year sentence in federal prison and was ordered to pay nearly $13.7 million in restitution to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. (Brumfield, 8/15)

Arizona recognizes that firefighters have a higher risk of getting cancer because of the harmful chemicals they are exposed to when they fight fires. State law lists multiple myeloma, the type of cancer Thompson has, as one of several diseases and cancers that, for firefighters, are presumed to be occupational diseases, "deemed to arise out of employment." That's meant to make it easier for them to get workers' compensation coverage.For Thompson and other firefighters across the state with the types of cancers on that list, getting coverage is proving difficult. (Fifield, 8/15)

The state agency that enforces workplace safety rules says employees of the city of Los Angeles were exposed to unsanitary conditions on the walkways outside City Hall East, according to two citations issued last week. Inspectors with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, found that workers at City Hall East were exposed to “trash and bodily fluids” on the exterior passageways. City Hall East is home to several city agencies, including City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office. Homeless people frequently sleep overnight on the sidewalks outside. (Zahniser, 8/15)

California recently approved a longer paid family leave, allowing workers whose pregnancies fall on the right side of the new law to take up to eight weeks off with partial pay to bond with a new baby. How’s that going to work? We asked the experts and read the fine print to help you figure it out now, before you’re too sleep deprived to think straight. (Rosenhall, 8/15)

Gov. Gavin Newsom is writing a book for children with dyslexia, a project motivated by his personal struggles with the learning disability and experience helping his own dyslexic child to learn to read. “When you’re struggling with your child to read and they’re struggling, and their self-esteem, and they get to an age where they start comparing themselves to their peers, it is deeply emotional and very challenging,” Newsom told reporters Thursday. “That was a trigger to me. If there’s not something, do it.” (Luna, 8/15)