Millions of Georgians don't visit dentist; Michigan hospitals get big budget boost;

New From Around The Web

> Millions of Georgians who have health coverage under the Affordable Care Act have no access to dental insurance, likely exacerbating their health conditions, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported. Article

> Michigan hospitals received an extra $610 million in state and federal funding in a proposed budget, but health insurers say were shortchanged, according to Crain's Detroit Business. Article

> Competition from New York City hospitals prompted two facilities in the Lower Hudson River Valley to spend $14.5 million to open new cardiac units despite a decline in patients, the Lohud Journal-News reported. Article

Provider News

> Mergers and acquisitions continue to be a hot topic in the healthcare industry as M&A activity rises and the government flexes its regulatory muscle, but amid all the developments it's important to note that not all mergers are created equal. A "good" merger is one that allows providers to increase healthcare value to the benefit of the community, whereas a "bad" merger is the type that regulators have increasingly sought to prevent or dismantle--one that discourages competition, write Leemore S. Dafney, Ph.D., and Thomas H. Lee, M.D., in an opinion piece for the New England Journal of Medicine. Article

Healthcare IT News

> A move to real-time analytics has Covenant Health, a not-for-profit Catholic health system with three hospitals in Maine and New Hampshire, on track to save a projected $1.8 million in 2015. Article

And finally...Smiling pig soils police car. Article