U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is preparing to introduce legislation to allow Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange customers to buy into Medicaid, offering a government-run “public option” similar to ones discussed but ultimately left out of the law.

Ascension Health, already the largest integrated health system in the U.S. by number of facilities, will grow larger by acquiring Chicago-based Presence Health, the largest Catholic health system in Illinois.

Communication between patients and providers through secure patient portals offers an extension of care. A study published in Diabetes Care showed patients with diabetes using secure messaging for medical advice have improved levels of management.

Maintaining accurate patient records is key to providing high quality care without errors, yet many of the electronic records stored by healthcare organizations cannot be transferred from one hospital to another. A study published in the Journal of AHIMA examined innovations to improving real-time patient identification and record matching to ensure accurate records.

More than 1,100 organizations and individuals offered comments on proposed changes for the second year of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act’s (MACRA) Quality Payment Program (QPP), and some questioned the reasoning behind exempting more clinicians from the new payment tracks.

A total of $417 million in damages was awarded to a California woman with ovarian cancer who had used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for decades.

Less than a month ago, CMS reported 40 counties were in danger of having no insurer offering coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange. As of Aug. 21, that number was shrunk to just one: Paulding County, Ohio.

Moody’s Investor Service released its latest review of financial performance for the 323 not-for-profit hospitals it rates on Aug. 21, showing tighter profit margins and a milestone being reached for outpatient revenue in 2016 while retaining a stable outlook for the sector.