If you can believe it, we’re more than halfway through 2025 already. So we figured it was a good time to reflect back on some of our favorite reporting from the first half of the year.

Here’s a short roundup of some stories we enjoyed writing the most in the last six months.

How the Human Genome Project shaped modern medicine

This story was fun to report and write because I learned so much about a topic I was not familiar with before but has huge implications across healthcare and beyond. I got to speak with experts who played important roles in completing the Human Genome Project, and it’s always special to talk to people who make history. And though this project took place decades ago, there’s still so much work to be done in the genetics space that could drastically change the way healthcare is practiced.—Maia Anderson

See all our faves here.—NO

Welcome back to Signed and Scrubbed, a monthly roundup of hospital deals, developments, and bankruptcies.

This month, Emory Healthcare in Atlanta made a big acquisition, and St. Louis-based Ascension is reportedly looking to grow its ambulatory surgery network.

We compiled noteworthy provider news from June. Here’s the rundown.

Cherokee Nation. Leaders from the Cherokee Nation announced on June 10 a $255.5 million plan to build a new hospital in Claremore, Oklahoma. The new facility would replace 46-bed Claremore Indian Hospital, a hospital built in 1978.

Emory Healthcare and Houston Healthcare. On June 1, Houston Healthcare based in Warner Robins, Georgia, became part of Atlanta’s Emory Healthcare. Houston Healthcare has two hospitals and a total 282 beds as well as five outpatient facilities and seven physician practices, according to a press release. It has 2,500 employees, 200 physicians, and cares for 300,000+ patients each year.

Find the full list here.—CM

Few pieces of legislation have been as impactful to healthcare as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Signed into law on March 23, 2010, by then-President Barack Obama, the ACA was designed to increase access to health insurance, primarily for people who couldn’t get coverage through an employer.

And it’s been pretty successful at doing so. At the time the ACA was signed, about 19% of the adult population under age 65 was uninsured. That number fell to about 8% as of 2023. By 2024, more than 45 million people received insurance thanks to the ACA, according to federal estimates.

“The Act has become so entrenched in the way…we access healthcare, that people take for granted just how extraordinary its impact has been,” Abbe Gluck, professor of law and faculty director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School, told Healthcare Brew. “It’s an accomplishment on par with national landmark statutes like Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act.”

But 15 years later, the Trump administration has proposed a number of policy changes that would significantly alter the legislation, including lowering federal funding and imposing Medicaid work requirements.

Get a refresher on the ACA here.—MA