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A former executive at Outcome Health — who was the star witness against his bosses in a trial last year — was sentenced to seven months in prison on Thursday for his role in what prosecutors have called a $1 billion fraud at the company. (Schencker, 9/19)

UnitedHealth Group's Optum filed plans to lay off 160 employees at one of its locations in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The majority of the cuts will occur on Dec. 11, with a single worker laid off Jan. 22, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the state of New Jersey this month. (DeSilva, 9/19)

Allina Health says it will soon be reducing hours for some of its medical-surgical staff members at Owatonna Hospital, but the Minnesota Nurses Association says the reductions are actually layoffs caused in part by the Mayo Clinic. An Allina Health spokesperson says the nonprofit is trimming the hospital's elective surgery schedule from five to four days a week, resulting in cuts to hours for its registered nurse care coordinator staff. (Swanson, 9/19)

The percentage of Latina doctors in the U.S. has held at 2% for several years, even as Latinas accounted for 17% of all women here. Nearly 19% of the U.S. population overall is Latino, and advocates for Hispanic health say the population of doctors who are Latinos is severely underrepresented. Just 6% of Latino men work as doctors. (George, 9/20)