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In updated clinical guidance, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) urged physicians to speak out in support of access to contraception. The group's statement on access to contraception was updated to reflect the patchwork contraceptive landscape in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that ended the federal right to abortion, as well as the proliferation of mis- and disinformation about contraception. (Robertson, 10/22)

In other health care industry updates —

Tenet Health nurses in California will hold a one-day strike later this month to protest the hospital's “refusal to address nurses’ deep concerns about patient care and safe staffing.” The California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses United (NNU) announced Wednesday that more than 3,000 nurses have been under contract negotiations with Tenet since February, “with little to no movement on key issues.” (Giella, 10/22)

MultiCare Health System and Samaritan Health Services look to combine the two nonprofit health systems, they announced Wednesday. The boards of the organizations approved a membership-substitution agreement that would make Tacoma, Washington-based MultiCare the parent company of Corvallis, Oregon-based Samaritan. MultiCare operates 13 hospitals and more than 300 primary, urgent, pediatric and specialty care facilities, while Samaritan operates five hospitals, more than 80 clinics and multiple health plans. (Kacik, 10/22)

While top Medicare Advantage insurers such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are zigging, some competitors are zagging. Insurers such as AmeriHealth Caritas, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming and Scan Health Plan are expanding where they sell policies during this annual enrollment period. Humana, second to UnitedHealthcare in market share, and others are enhancing supplemental benefits to attract new members. Some, such as Devoted Health, are promising to pay full commissions to agents and brokers who direct new members to their plans. (Tepper, 10/22)

When Nikki Johnson heard Mayo Clinic Health System was closing its labor and delivery unit in Fairmont last year, she was shocked. She was 33 weeks pregnant. Instead of giving birth right nearby in town, she was suddenly faced with having to drive to Mayo’s Mankato clinic about an hour away when she went into labor. (Work, 10/23) 

Growing up in El Salvador, Ana Ascencio remembers visiting hospitals and jails with her grandmother when she was a child. “That’s where I come from — since I was very small, we always took time to visit the sick,” she said in Spanish. Ascencio lives in Manchester now and is training to become a Licensed Nursing Assistant. As she’s learning, she hopes to be patient and take time to help others like her grandmother Lucía did. (Guzman, 10/21)