Health Care

The state's Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) recently released its inaugural report on the performance of the Massachusetts health care system between 2011 and 2013, with a focus on provider quality. Here's a summary of what the agency said about hospitals, primary-care practices and post-hospital care.

Doctors Express, an urgent-care franchise with locations in Central Massachusetts, will offer health care to patients of physicians who belong to the Central Massachusetts Independent Physicians Association (CMIPA) under a new partnership that both organizations said will improve access to urgent care.

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, which has operations in Worcester, has boosted its earnings estimates for 2015 by 30 percent amid rising sales for its arthritis drug Humira and the launch of its treatment for hepatitis C, the company announced late last week.

The financial costs of treating Americans for headaches could be offset if physicians focused more on counseling about lifestyle changes and ordered fewer tests, according to a study released Thursday.

The chief executive of Reliant Medical Group will step down at the end of February to pursue other opportunities, the Worcester-based organization announced Friday.

More than $18 million was seized from accounts connected to the owners of New England Compounding Center (NECC), the Framingham pharmacy linked to the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Reliant Medical Group has added another Worcester practice to its group, adding another 6,000 patients who will be served by the organization, Reliant announced Tuesday.

The year we're about to leave - for some, maybe forget - saw several noteworthy business-related events in Central Massachusetts, but here's our consensus selections for the top five stories of 2014. As a staff, we unanimously agreed on the top story. There was little debate over the remaining four.

UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC) has posted a $29 million operating surplus for fiscal 2014, according to a report the Worcester-based health care system released this week.

Community Healthlink and UMass Memorial Health Care are among 10 organizations sharing $1.3 million in grants under a new program administered by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.