Health Care

Heywood Hospital in Gardner will shut down its inpatient pediatrics and transitional care services units by the end of September, citing federal budget cuts, low patient volume and high-quality alternatives at nearby health care facilities.

The House on Wednesday approved broad updates to state health care laws to bring Massachusetts into compliance with the omnibus federal health care law before January, but not before Republicans challenged lawmakers to reject Congressional efforts to impose changes on a universal access system that predates the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

A new survey by Maynard-based Monster.com has found that health care workers are among the most optimistic about job prospects and third behind engineers and finance employees in job satisfaction.

Nurses at the Memorial and Hahnemann campuses of UMass Memorial Medical Center have ratified the three-year contract they reached with the hospital system last month after 18 months of negotiations, their union said today.

The launch of Fallon Total Care, a Worcester-based pilot health insurance program designed for people eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits, has been delayed due to ongoing discussion about plan rates, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS).

Harrington HealthCare said renovation of its emergency department in Webster could start as early as this fall, thanks in part to a $1.5-million funding provision in the state Senate's fiscal 2014 budget.

Two new state agencies are deep in the process of collecting and assembling data on health care costs deemed critical to the success of the state's 2012 cost containment law, grappling with the level of information commissioners will need to determine appropriate cost growth.

Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) said it will receive about $74,000 from the state to train Heywood Hospital employees in Gardner in suicide prevention techniques.

The recent release of Medicare data on hospital charges by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) was hailed as an unprecedented move toward transparency of hospital costs, with a list of hospital services and their corresponding charges to Medicare provided to the public in a comprehensive report for the first time.

Natick-based Interbit Data, which makes operational efficiency software for health care providers, has expanded its partnership with Marlborough-based Park Place International, it announced.