Daily Briefing

A 70-year-old patient with a "do not resuscitate" tattoo arrived unconscious and critically ill at a Florida ED—but in absence of ID or guidance from next of kin, did his tattoo count as a legally binding request? That's the conundrum that ED staff had to resolve in a case study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. More

On Monday, the Associated Press reignited a debate that has divided clinicians, policymakers, and journalists: Should the term often used to describe our industry be "healthcare" or "health care"? Advocates on one side told the Daily Briefing their adversaries "are wrong and should be stopped," while others warned of "hokey" "absurdities." More

The Breakthrough Prize group, founded by tech titans including Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin, on Sunday night handed out $22 million in awards to researchers and scientists, including a $3 million prize to a researcher whose discovery could be key in the fight against cancer. More

Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care on Monday announced they plan to merge next summer to create the 10th largest nonprofit health system in the country. More

An increasing number of hospitals and other health care companies likely will file for bankruptcy or restructure their debt in the coming year, according to industry observers. More

FDA says the test, known as FoundationOne CDx, could help reduce health care costs and bolster patient care, and CMS says it plans to cover the test for qualifying Medicare beneficiaries. More

Michelle Morgan, a dentist in Dallas, has won up to $1.2 million in funding to renovate a closed hospital that was one of the few hospitals to hire black physicians and offer health care services to black people during segregation, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas. More