MR imaging widely follows up on CT exams, with demand for MRI capabilities only expected to grow. In response, more healthcare organizations are noticing the value of portable, point-of-care MRI.

Medicare spending on lab and imaging services increases after a physician practice becomes part of a hospital or health system, according to new research published May 3 in Health Affairs.

Collective Health, a digital employer health benefits startup, recently closed a $280 million series F financing round. 

Melanie Fontes Rainer is HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra's new ACA adviser, Politico Pulse reported May 4. 

States are offering residents incentives to get the COVID-19 vaccine, including beer, money and gift cards, according to The Hill.

CareCloud, a Miami-based EHR and practice management software provider, has agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to drum up sales of its EHR products, the U.S. Department of Justice said April 30. 

The National Cancer Institute has granted $3 million to researchers from UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh and Indiana School of Medicine's Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis to study cognitive dysfunction after chemotherapy. 

Toby Cosgrove, MD, former president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic, has joined Providence's digital health spinout DexCare as a member of its board of directors. 

Scripps Health continues to operate on downtime procedures following a May 1 cyberattack that prompted the San Diego-based health system to take its patient services offline, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. 

Brevard, N.C., leaders are urging the state's attorney general to investigate why a flood of physicians have left rural Transylvania Regional Hospital, according to WLOS.

A Texas Medicaid program has spent $24 million to keep a toddler alive at Fort Worth, Texas-based Cook Children's Medical Center, the hospital said in an April 16 appeal cited by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

UnitedHealthcare and Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health are attempting to reach an agreement to keep Renown in-network for UnitedHealthcare and Health Plan of Nevada members, according to a News 4 article. 

The death rate for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the U.S. fell 38 percent between March and May of 2020, but did not continue to significantly decrease through the fall, according to a study published May 3 in JAMA Network Open.

The Jellico City (Tenn.) City Council has approved plans for an Indiana healthcare system to take over operations of a closed hospital in the northeast Tennessee city, according to a May 4 report from Knoxville, Tenn., news station WVLT.

A rule that limited competition between the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's 35 insurers is no more, a change stemming from a $2.7 billion antitrust settlement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Doctors Hospital of Sarasota has resolved a dispute with the Florida Department of Transportation over its use of a D9-2 hospital symbol sign directing people to a standalone emergency room, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The Southern Plains Medical Center-Pauls Valley (Okla.) opened under a new owner April 28, according to News 9.

A new ranking from the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank, lists which hospitals in the U.S. are the best for avoiding overuse of low-value tests and procedures.

Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, predicted May 2 that 10 million kids ages 12 to 15 could be vaccinated against COVID-19 before the next school year starts if the FDA approves Pfizer's vaccine in that age group, The Hill reported. 

Elsie Taveras, MD, has been tapped as the first chief community health equity officer for Mass General Brigham, the Boston-based health system said May 3.