Partners to close Massachusetts hospital; IRS issues clarification on hospital financial assistance final rule;

News From Around the Web

> Partners HealthCare will close its community hospital in Lynn, Massachusetts, as part of a $200 million plan to consolidate medical services on Boston's North Shore over the next three years, the Boston Globe reported. Article

> The Internal Revenue Service has published clarification on its final rule that requires hospital financial assistance policies to include a list of the providers delivering emergency or other medically necessary care and whether each provider is covered by the financial assistance policy. Guidance

> Dialysis patients in New Jersey and New York City were about 20 percent less likely to visit an emergency department or be hospitalized in the week after Hurricane Sandy if they received dialysis before the storm, according to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services published Friday in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. Study (.pdf)

Practice Management News

> The Affordable Care Act still isn't winning the favor of all doctors in its fifth year, but more are at least willing to give it a passing grade, according to new data from the Medicus Firm. Article

> Despite the prevalence of overweight and weight-related disease in the United States, "most healthcare providers recoil when they think about counseling patients about obesity," according to Scott Kahan, M.D., medical director of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance. Article

And Finally... Fragrant disregard.  Article