The last few months in mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity in healthcare have been dominated by massive deals proposed across sectors—like drugstore chain CVS Health wanting to buy health insurer Aetna for $69 billion. What those companies should watch for, writes Morning Consult’s Jon Reid, is the result of the case challenging a merger with similar dynamics: the combination of AT&T and Time Warner.

For-profit hospital giant HCA has entered into discussions to acquire Mission Health, a nonprofit six-hospital system based out of Asheville, North Carolina, in a deal Mission admitted may result in some jobs being eliminated.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, offered some hints at the agency’s priorities in its annual rulemaking for Medicare this year, suggesting a slew of new policies on price transparency, interoperability and physician self-referral laws.

Intermountain Healthcare is asking adults who have purchased direct-to-consumer DNA tests like AncestryDNA, MyHeritage or 23andMe to upload their genetic results data or genotypes to build a global DNA registry.

In a proposed rule, CMS would loosen requirements for states with Medicaid managed care programs on analyzing and monitoring access to care, a move the agency said would provide additional relief on “burdensome” regulations finalized by the prior administration.

Google has now announced it is developing blockchain solutions aimed at ensuring the safety of its cloud systems.

A telediabetes program for veterans resulted in shorter wait times for specialist care with comparable blood glucose control rates as in-person care, according to a study set to be presented at ENDO 2018.

The promise of precision medicine is bringing together patient data and accounting for factors like genetic variability, environment and lifestyle to tailor treatment to an individual. Fulfilling that potential, according to Acxiom and LiveRamp’s global chief data ethics officer Sheila Colclasure, MA, requires using the available data ethically and gaining the trust of patients.

Downers Grove, Illinois-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee’s Aurora Health Care have gotten the final approval needed to close their merger, which will create the 10th largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the country.

The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill released on March 21 includes boosts in funding for HHS, the National Institutes of Health and efforts to fight opioid abuse. What was left out were measures aimed at stabilizing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges with funding for additional reinsurance and restoring the law’s cost-sharing reduction subsidies.