Discussions to create the largest hospital system in the country by combining Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health have ended, with the two companies deciding to focus on restructuring existing operations, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mergers and acquisitions that have consolidated healthcare markets in California have raised prices for procedures and insurance premiums, especially in the northern part of the state, according to a report from the University of California, Berkeley’s Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare.

American College of Radiology (ACR) CEO William T. Thorwarth Jr., MD, recently penned a letter to Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Louisiana, outlining how recent policies implemented by Anthem negatively impact patient access to advanced imaging provided in hospital outpatient departments.

An election year usually means little movement in Congress on major policies. That’s especially true for hot-button issues in healthcare, according to Tom Nickels, the American Hospital Association’s executive vice president of government relations, meaning major reforms may have to wait until after the midterm election—or perhaps after the next presidential race.

Screening mammography utilization dropped in 2010 after years of growth, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. The decline in utilization, the authors noted, seems to have been brought on by revised breast cancer screening guidelines released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 2009.

While it might not be on every physician’s daily radar, graduate medical education (GME) funding is still key to quality healthcare and has implications for both academic centers and private practices. 

The $1.3 trillion bill, signed by President Donald Trump March 23, included critical protections granted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which ensures women who want to get regular mammograms keep insurance coverage with no copay.

When President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill into law on March 23, it included an extension of a rule first passed in 2015 that recognizes 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations as opposed to 2009 or 2016 recommendations.