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Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates will be pushing legislation again this session to promote direct primary care agreements, in which patients pay a fee for unlimited primary care. Del. Steven Landes outlined Republicans’ health care priorities in a speech on the House floor Thursday. (1/19)

In New York City, where shoppers and diners can find delicacies from all over the world, there is hefty demand for food grown closer to home. The taste for products from farms in the Northeast has led South Bronx-based Greenmarket Co., a nonprofit regional food distributor that serves as the middleman between farmers and buyers, to constantly expand the size and scope of its operation over the last half-decade. The state of New York has taken notice of its role in the regional food supply chain and in August allocated $15 million of the $20 million needed to build Greenmarket’s new 20,000-square-foot distribution center .... Like New York, other states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Vermont, and the federal government are investing in food hubs as a way to connect small and midsize farmers, who may not have the volume or do not have the capacity to work with large food wholesalers, with businesses and consumers to increase sales. (Breitenbach, 1/19)

WellDoc, a Columbia health care technology company, has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell a version of its diabetes management mobile application that does not require a prescription. The new offering, which should be available by the end of March, significantly expands WellDoc's potential client base and opens up new options for developing the business, said Kevin McRaith, its president and CEO. (Gantz, 1/19)

A Miami-Dade cardiologist has been acquitted of receiving thousands of dollars in kickbacks as part of a $57 million Medicare fraud scheme. Dr. Michael Bahrami, 61, who practices in the Aventura area, was found not guilty Wednesday by a Miami federal jury on a single conspiracy charge of defrauding the government. He had faced up to five years in prison in a case that threatened to end his medical career. (Weaver, 1/19)

President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted the 20-year prison sentenced imposed on Richard Ruiz Montes, convicted in 2008 for his role in the Modesto’s pot-dealing California Healthcare Collective. In one of his final presidential acts, Obama used his executive authority to cut Montes’ sentence by more than half. Now held at a federal facility in Atwater, according to the Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator, the 36-year-old Montes will be released May 19. (Doyle, 1/19)