Health Care

Hundreds of aspiring nurse aides can start taking their certification exams in Spanish and Chinese next year, the start of a multilingual policy that advocates and lawmakers say will tackle a major workforce shortage in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

The state began getting in touch Tuesday with more than 134,000 people currently or previously enrolled in certain state programs whose personal information was part of a data breach involving a file transfer program used by the UMass Chan Medical School.

Yvonne Spicer, who was mayor of Framigham from 2018 to 2022, has been appointed as executive director of Life Science Cares Boston

Framingham-based healthcare technology company Definitive Healthcare has acquired Connecticut healthcare provider analytics firm Populi for $52 million.

Massachusetts hospitals that serve disproportionate numbers of patients on Medicaid or who lack health insurance are pressing to block or delay nearly $630 million in federal funding cuts that were originally enacted in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Natick-based Aleta Biotherapeutics, a cancer treatment development company, has received clearance from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to investigate a new therapeutic for lymphoma in a clinical trial.

Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health has awarded $1.2 million in grants to Central Massachusetts nonprofits focused on health outcomes. 

Marlborough-based biotechnology and manufacturing firm Boston Scientific has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a new catheter system for patients with atrial fibrillation, which is a type of abnormal heartbeat.

Marlborough medical device firm ReWalk Robotics in Marlborough has agreed to acquire AlterG, a California company specializing in technology for use in physical and neurological rehabilitation.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has determined UMass Memorial Health’s maternity ward in Leominster is an essential service for the people of North Worcester County, complicating the health system’s plans to close the center.