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Should the deal go through, it will mark the end of a tumultuous chapter for healthcare in Delaware County, which has sought to be rid of Prospect's influence for years. (Vogel, 10/15)

Medical Properties Trust — a real-estate investment company that owns the land and buildings occupied by bankrupt hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings — is at odds with Connecticut officials over what its tenant owes the state in unpaid taxes, State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said during an interview with The Connecticut Mirror on Wednesday. (Golvala and Altimari, 10/16)

The now-shuttered Weiss Memorial Hospital and its sister hospital West Suburban Medical Center owe more than $69 million in unpaid taxes and penalties to the state of Illinois, according to documents and information from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. (Schencker, 10/16)

Private equity investors are training their attention on cardiology — a fast-growing specialty rife with financial opportunity. Investor interest in outpatient cardiology practices has grown in recent years, driven by a fragmented market landscape facing financial pressures and an aging population of patients and providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also is reimbursing more cardiac procedures in ambulatory settings, which has been an impetus for private equity firms to make investments. (Hudson, 10/16)

State inspectors have revealed that UCHealth’s University of Colorado Hospital’s week-long shutdown of nonemergency surgeries came after they found dozens of contaminated surgical instruments caked with dried blood and tissue around the facility. In July, inspectors uncovered a massive backlog of uncleaned tools, prompting the hospital to halt all nonemergency surgeries from July 16 to July 25 while safety violations were addressed. (Keller, 10/16)

On layoffs and staff shortages —

Jefferson Health is laying off 1% of its workforce, or about 650 employees, due to financial constraints. A Jefferson spokesperson declined to say which roles would be affected or when the layoffs would go into effect. (Hudson, 10/16)

New visa rules and fees have disrupted international recruiting at healthcare systems across the nation this fall, leaving many worried about long-term effects on existing staff shortages. ... While White House officials have said the fee will address abuses of the visa program, healthcare experts have warned it could worsen personnel shortages. Hospitals and health systems often use H-1B work visas to sponsor physicians and medical residents, and the fee would make it more difficult for them to train and practice. Immigrants make up 27% of physicians and surgeons, 22% of nursing assistants and 16% of registered nurses in the U.S. (Taylor, 10/16)

In tech news —

Google Cloud revealed several artificial intelligence partnerships with healthcare organizations on Thursday, including for projects that summarize clinical notes and automate prior authorizations. The partnerships come as more healthcare and life science firms are deploying AI agents, or advanced tools that can more autonomously plan and perform tasks, according to a Google Cloud survey of 605 leaders released Thursday. Forty-four percent of executives said their organizations were actively using agents, with 34% reporting they use 10 or more agents. (Olsen, 10/16)

Microsoft is expanding the capabilities of its generative artificial intelligence assistant Dragon Copilot by adding a specialized tool for nurses. The tool will allow nurses to document care using ambient AI, a technology that captures audio conversations between patients and clinicians and enters summaries of those interactions into the electronic health record, the company said Thursday. (Perna, 10/16)

Cancer treatment technology company HistoSonics said Thursday it raised $250 million to help launch its Edison Histotripsy System in new global markets and speed efforts to use it on other parts of the body. The round was led by its new ownership group, which included Bezos Expeditions, which manages Jeff Bezos’ personal wealth and investments, K5 Global and Wellington Management. The $2.25 billion acquisition took place in August. (Dubinsky, 10/16)

A new challenge for MRI safety is linked to one particular beauty trend: ferromagnetic nail polish. Based on the available literature, magnetic nail polish is increasingly observed -- with reports rising 250-300% over the past decade -- and has been associated with worse image quality due to streak artifacts on 3T MRI, according to Melanie Hall, MD, of Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reporting here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). (Lou, 10/16)