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Research letter published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry found Medicare beneficiaries had the highest and most rapidly growing rate of "opioid use disorder." Six of every 1,000 recipients struggle with the condition, compared with one out of every 1,000 patients covered through commercial insurance plans.

Pathologists at a dozen hospitals in the state are part of a pilot project -- the first of its kind in the United States -- in which they are reporting cancer diagnoses in close to real-time to the California Cancer Registry. And they are using standardized electronic forms to make their reporting more consistent and accurate.

National guidelines call for doctors to provide full disclosure about adverse events, and studies have shown that those discussions benefit patients. But new research finds that the act of disclosure, combined with stress from the procedure gone wrong, can be an anxious experience for some doctors.

UnitedHealth Group revenues grew 28 percent, or $10.2 billion year-over-year to $46.5 billion, but that was countered by greater losses in the exchange market than projected, according to a second quarter earnings report released Tuesday.

The more generic alternatives there are to brand-name drugs, the more likely they will drive down costs for patients and providers. That's the word from a new report from the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to the department, 108 million Americans have no dental insurance and access to care can be difficult even for those who are covered.

Covered California, the state's Obamacare health insurance exchange, said Tuesday that its premiums will balloon by a statewide average of 13.2 percent next year -- more than triple the roughly 4 percent increases in each of the previous two years.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a report to Congress wherein it stated that HIPAA serves traditional healthcare well and continues to support national priorities for interoperable health information with its media-neutral privacy rule, but that the scope of HIPAA is limited.

Cerner President Zane Burke announced on Tuesday that the company has hired Jeff Hurst to be its President of Cerner RevWorks and Senior Vice President of Cerner Revenue Cycle Management.

While sources have said they expect a decision in August, Bloomberg said the DOJ could file the lawsuits this week or next.