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The chief executive of NYC Health & Hospitals, which runs New York City’s public hospitals, is stepping down from his post atop the nation’s largest municipal health care system, a move that City Hall officials described on Monday as voluntary and expected. (Goodman, 11/7)

Six years ago, only a few U.S. cities had food policy directors — strategists tasked with connecting communities with local farm products and improving access to food in underserved neighborhoods. Now, in line with a national push to improve access to healthy foods and support urban agriculture, nearly 20 cities have them. (Breitenbach, 11/7)

San Francisco Bay Area companies say Sutter Health is strong-arming them into a contract that would help the hospital system secure its power over prices and potentially raise the cost of medical care for their employees in the future. Dozens of companies have received a letter, via their insurance administrators, asking them to waive their rights to sue Sutter. If they don’t, a fact sheet included in the letter says, the companies’ employees who get care through Sutter’s network of hospitals, doctors and medical services will no longer have access to discounted in-network prices. (Dembosky, 11/8)

Kindred Rehabilitation Hospital in Arlington will lay off 92 people and close its doors at the end of the year. All positions will be eliminated at the facility, at 2601 W. Randol Mill Road, said Russ Bailey, vice president of operations, in a letter to sent to the Texas Workforce Commission last Wednesday. “We will try our best to transition employees to our South Arlington campus, or other opportunities within the Kindred organization, as available,” Bailey said. Operations will be consolidated with the Texas Rehab Hospital of Arlington, a $15.8 million facility that opened at 900 W. Arbrook Blvd. in July 2015. (Rice, 11/7)

A federal judge sentenced former surgical technologist Rocky Allen to 6-1/2 years in prison Monday for his theft of a syringe filled with powerful painkillers from Swedish Medical Center in Englewood...Allen and his lawyer, Timothy O’Hara, an assistant public defender, had sought a sentence of 2-1/2 years in prison. O’Hara argued his client had not actually infected anyone despite a health scare prompted when Swedish warned 2,400 patients to seek medical testing because Allen was HIV positive. (Osher, 11/7)

Tansi A. Casillas, 51, of Fresno, alleged that her employer, Central California Faculty Medical Group, eliminated her position at University North Medical Specialty Center in retaliation for the fraud complaints she made and for refusing to perform medical services outside the scope of her respiratory care license. In her lawsuit, Casillas said doctors left the responsibility to her to have face-to-face evaluations with patients on continuous positive airway pressure, a treatment that keeps the airways open for people who have sleep apnea and other breathing problems. The patient and Medicare were later billed for a doctor’s visit, even though the patient was not seen by a doctor, the lawsuit said. (Anderson, 11/4)

A New Jersey man who falsely claimed his young twin sons had lengthy hospital stays so he could collect more than $140,000 from his insurer is now headed to prison. State officials say Steven Herder received a three-year sentence Monday and must pay restitution to the insurance company. The 41-year-old Lindenwold man pleaded guilty last month to insurance fraud. (11/7)

City Passport, jointly operated by the city of St. Paul and HealthEast Care System, has provided people ages 50 and older a social and support network. It has been in operation in some form for 27 years. Programs include trips, games, safety classes, health screenings, medical insurance assistance and discounts. The Passport program will be shut down because it is not economically sustainable and not enough people use it, according to HealthEast. From last fall to the end of this summer, about 250 people used the center, located in the Alliance Bank Center in downtown St. Paul. (Sanchez, 11/7)

Air quality regulators are investigating metal-processing facilities in the city of Paramount after detecting a potent cancer-causing metal at 350 times normal levels. (Barboza, 11/7)