Health Care

Massachusetts experienced a more than 36% decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2024, the state Substance Addiction Services Bureau reported Wednesday.

Public health regulators approved the merger of UMass Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC) and Marlborough Hospital on Wednesday, with the licensing overhaul deepening an existing affiliation that's expected to improve patient care and reduce operating costs.

While workers at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester once again made up the largest percentage of the state’s highest-paid state employees in 2024, UMass men’s basketball Head Coach Frank Martin once again topped the list.

After months of negotiations, including those with an anonymous, unsolicited third party, Marlborough-based biotech firm Akoya Biosciences has officially been acquired by Quanterix.

Legislation that would authorize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts cleared its first committee hurdle, this time more quickly than in the past thanks to a new House rule.

Dozens of seniors filled a state capitol auditorium Tuesday to plead with lawmakers to expand MassHealth eligibility for older Bay Staters by raising the limit on assets they may keep by thousands of dollars.

In the latest addition in the extensive C-suite overhaul at Definitive Healthcare, the Framingham health data and technology firm has decided to eliminate its chief operating officer position.

ABA therapy helps individuals regulate themselves and control their behaviors, learn how to talk, and gain independent skills such as using the bathroom, according to Maura Sullivan, CEO of The Arc of Massachusetts advocacy organization. Private insurance already covers ABA, she said.

Department of Mental Health case managers continue to face job uncertainty, after budget negotiators opted against explicitly staving off the massive layoffs that Gov. Maura Healey had proposed in January.

As Central Massachusetts grapples with an ongoing mental health crisis, nine Worcester County organizations have split nearly $1.5 million in state funding to make the road to becoming a behavioral health clinician more accessible for the area’s student population.