The tax cut legislation signed into law late last year will help most for-profit hospitals in 2018, boosting their bottom lines at a time when several major chains are struggling with weak admissions and making acquisitions and capital investments more attractive.

A healthcare real estate company is planning a $1 billion project for a large hospital and medical offices on a site in Carmel, Indiana, with signs pointing to St. Vincent Health as the group behind the property’s development.

John Noseworthy, MD, will step down as president and CEO of Mayo Clinic at the end of 2018 after nine years at the helm of the health system.

Under a newly proposed rule from HHS, short-term health insurance coverage that doesn’t comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be more widely available, which the agency admitted may lead to insurer losses on the ACA exchanges if younger, healthier customers leave that market to buy short-term plans.

Three months after the transaction was first announced, St. Louis-based Ascension Health and Chicago’s Presence Health have signed a definitive agreement for Presence to join Ascension’s existing joint venture in Illinois, AMITA Health.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said he wants to reduce or possibly eliminate reporting requirements for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), instead using claims data and patient surveys so clinicians won’t have to submit any data themselves.

For two decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has supposedly been blocked from conducting research into the health effects of gun violence by a budget amendment. HHS Secretary Alex Azar has a different opinion, telling members of Congress Thursday he would allow the CDC to conduct research which doesn’t veer into advocacy.

There are risks and rewards for both athenahealth and former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt in his decision to become chairman at a company much smaller than his former employer, writes Fortune’s senior editor-at-large Geoff Colvin.