Butler (PA) Memorial Hospital will get $13.5 million in state funding for an expansion that is expected to create more than 500 jobs. The expansion will include a seven-story acute care tower and a variety of road improvements.
Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh is now UPMC Mercy after the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center took over the city's oldest hospital in a $120 million deal.
Penalties for Massachusetts residents who can afford health insurance but do not purchase it in 2008 could quadruple compared with the maximum penalty in 2007, according to draft regulations released by the Department of Revenue.
Uninsured people 55 and older, particularly those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, significantly reduce their risk of declining health after they enroll in Medicare at 65, according to research.
An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that employers can cut benefits for retirees who turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare basically codifies current practice. Analysts say most employers already coordinate their retiree benefits with Medicare, and the policy helps businesses and retirees under the age of 65, who have the most difficulty finding health insurance in the open market.
The Johns Hopkins University has received $10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead a landmark study on trachoma, a bacterial eye disease that afflicts 84 million people around the world every year and blinds about 4 million. The award is one of the largest ever to support trachoma research.