The quality of life of black patients with knee osteoarthritis is being impacted by their underutilization of total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, according to a study published in Arthritis Care & Research, with fewer black people being offered the surgery—and when it is offered, they’re less likely than white patients to get the operation.

Randy McCleese, MSIS, MBA, the chief information officer at Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky, was selected as the 2017 CIO of the Year by College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), with the groups specifically citing his IT advocacy on behalf of smaller, rural providers.

The Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal-leaning think tank, has added a proposal to the debate on how to achieve universal health coverage but without moving the U.S. to a single-payer healthcare system—though providers would be paid less than they currently are by private insurance and hospitals would need to adapt to a big expansion of bundled payments.

Negotiations over the proposed merger between Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas Healthcare) and UNC Health Care have yet to settle one important question: Who will be in charge of the combined organization, which will be one of the largest health systems in the nation?

Two Catholic health systems, Maryland-based Bon Secours and Cincinnati’s Mercy Health have announced plans to merge into a 43-hospital system stretching across seven states in the eastern half of the U.S.

More hospitals are screening patients on health-related social needs as the industry has recognized the importance of factors outside the healthcare system on outcomes. The investments and available funding, however, haven’t been consistent.

2018 has already been a year full of breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and those technologies are sure to receive a lot of attention March 5-9 at HIMSS 2018 in Las Vegas.

A month after HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) launched its new division focused on investigating religious or moral objections by healthcare professionals, more than 300 individuals have sent in complaints about their rights being violated, according to The Hill.