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When Steven Collens looked at the health care scene in Chicago several years ago, he saw a place brimming with some of the biggest names in the business. The Chicago area has major pharmaceutical and device companies, hospitals, medical schools and associations. But he didn't see a community to connect all those areas and foster innovation among startups. So he and a team of others created one: Matter. The nonprofit health care technology incubator, which opened its doors in February 2015, now has 150 startup companies as members, all trying to become the next big thing in health care. (Schencker, 11/21)

The total spending per person covered in employer-sponsored health insurance in Tennessee in 2015 was below the national average, but people paid more out-of-pocket than in other states, according to a new study. Tennesseans who get their insurance through work spent an average of $928 in out-of-pocket costs in 2015 — $115 more than the national average, per an annual report from the Health Care Cost Institute. That does not include the monthly premium that people pay. Yet in the same period, the average spending per person, including money spent by employers or insurers, was $5,041 in Tennessee, or $100 less than the national average of $5,141. (Fletcher, 11/21)

Massachusetts General Hospital’s proposed acquisition of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover has cleared a key hurdle. The director of the Attorney General Office’s charitable trusts unit has concluded the proposed “deal includes sufficient protections for the charitable purposes and the assets of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Monday. That is conditioned upon the two hospitals making specific commitments for future community benefits to the Dover area. They include the addition of eight full-time behavioral health staff to provide mental health and substance abuse services. (11/22)

While that hardly constitutes a definitive plan, the mention of patient-centered health care offers a glimpse into something physicians, hospitals and insurance companies have already been working on and refining for several years. Last month, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia reported encouraging results from primary care doctors in Savannah who have been participating in the company’s value-based, patient-centered program for the last three years. (Mayle, 11/19)

Kansas officials have taken the first step toward privatizing Osawatomie State Hospital, but drumming up interest from potential bidders, finding a workable financial model and convincing the Legislature all are hurdles. Last week, state officials posted a request for proposals to operate Osawatomie State Hospital, one of two state-run psychiatric facilities for people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Federal officials halted Medicare payments to the hospital in December 2015 after finding dangerous conditions for patients and staff, costing the state about $1 million per month.Since then, the hospital has hired additional staff, completed renovations and worked with a consultant to improve its care. It isn’t clear when inspectors will come to perform the two inspections the hospital must pass to begin receiving Medicare payments again. (Wingerter, 11/21)

Across California, more seniors are winding up in hospital emergency rooms after taking a tumble, hitting a high of more than 232,000 last year, according to new statewide data. (Buck, 11/21)

A proposal from BJC HealthCare to significantly transform its campus in west St. Louis County, including plans to build a new hospital to replace the current one, passed its first hurdle Monday night. Creve Coeur planning and zoning officials gave the project unanimous initial support. In addition to the new hospital, the project calls for a new parking structure and at least four new medical office buildings and an expansion to the existing Siteman Cancer Center building on campus. (Liss, 11/22)

Olmsted County Public Health has issued a holiday health alert after receiving hundreds of reports consistent with norovirus, a highly contagious and fast-spreading virus that causes diarrhea, vomiting, aches and other symptoms. With families about to gather and cook for Thanksgiving, Olmsted County Public Health official Kari Etrheim said it's wise to wash one's hands regularly and thoroughly. (Richert, 11/21)

A Moore County pharmacist has been indicted on one count of theft over $10,000 after authorities say he submitted claims to Medicare for prescription drugs that weren't dispensed by the pharmacy. Robert Gray, 59, pharmacist and owner of the Lynchburg Drug Store, was arrested Friday and booked into the Moore County Jail on a $25,000 bond, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. (Humbles, 11/21)

A New Jersey judge has ruled that a severely anorexic woman who’s been committed to a state psychiatric hospital since 2014 has the right to refuse force-feedings. The 29-year-old Morris County woman, who weighs 69 pounds, informed the court earlier this month that she doesn’t want food or water and would instead like to enter palliative care. (11/21)

Florida CHAIN, the state's most active advocacy group working on health-care access for all, announced Monday that it will lay off all five staff members because it has lost its main source of funds. The Palm Beach Post reports that the group lost a $375,000 grant from Community Catalyst, a Boston-based non-profit. Catalyst apparently rescinded the grant with the apparent intention of sending the money to states more likely to expand Medicaid than Florida, the Post reported. (Gentry, 11/21)

The remains of a 14-year-old London girl whose dying wish was to be cryogenically preserved with the hope of someday being brought back to life are being kept at the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute. “It was her wish to be cryopreserved, and her wish was granted,” Andy Zawacki, facility manager at the Cryonics Institute in the Detroit suburb of Clinton Township, said Monday. It is one of three full-service cryonics facilities in the world. The others are in Arizona and Russia. (Householder, 11/21)