Health Care

The MetroWest Accountable Healthcare Organization (MetroWest AHO), an alliance of more than 220 MetroWest physicians formed to negotiate with health insurers and payors, has received a $75,000 grant to help the organization connect to the state health insurance information exchange, the Mass HIway.

Nashville-based Vanguard Health Systems will be acquired by Tenet Healthcare Corp., a Dallas-based health care services company, the organizations announced Monday.

As parts of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) have taken effect since its passage in 2010, business groups, politicians and others have warned that employers may opt to pay fines rather than provide the requisite health insurance coverage for their workers.

People who shop and dine at White City Plaza now have access to a new amenity: a retail store that sells insurance.

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.