The Marcus Foundation has awarded a $20 million grant to Piedmont Heart Institute to establish the nation's first heart valve reference center. The Marcus Heart Valve Center at Piedmont Hospital will provide a single resource for patients with congenital or acquired heart valve problems.

Last year, 16,000 participants raised $1.7 million during Susan G. Komen Atlanta's Race for the Cure. This year, representatives of the local Komen affiliate are hoping to raise at least that much, despite a decline in participation. "We are about 10 to 15 percent off in our participation from where we were last year," said Executive Director Kelly Dolan.

Georgia consumers and businesses will get an estimated $30 million in rebates from health insurers who spent more on overhead and profits than allowed under the federal health care law, according to an analysis from the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Personal and health information for about 315,000 patients is missing, Emory Healthcare announced Wednesday. The hospital system has been unable to find 10 computer discs containing the data. The missing discs held information on all patients who had surgery at Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown and The Emory Clinic Ambulatory Surgery Center between September 1990 and April 2007.

Consumer guru Clark Howard will help children afflicted with brain and spinal cord tumors with a fundraiser this month at his Buckhead home. The April 28 event will benefit the Butterfly Fund of the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children, which provides emergency financial assistance to families with kids in treatment.

Thursday marked the final day of the General Assembly’s 40-day legislative session, which started slowly in January but came to a hectic close. Here’s how some of the most watched and debated bills in this year’s session fared:

K-12 EDUCATION/HIGHER EDUCATION

The Supreme Court hearings this week on the federal law requiring citizens to buy health insurance have widespread implications in Georgia -- where about 2 million residents have no health insurance. The mandate calls for almost everyone to obtain insurance or face a penalty.

When the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments Monday on the health care law, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens will have a coveted seat in the courtroom, where where he will monitor the case on behalf of the state's residents. Georgia is one of the 26 states challenging the law on constitutional grounds.

Cherokee health officials said Friday an unknown number of people may have come in contact with a kitten that tested positive for rabies this week. Authorities say the gray-striped kitten with medium-length fur was at a Starbucks at 1353 Riverstone Parkway in Canton from Feb.

In a year when the dominant issues were expected to be jobs and the economy, social and moral issues — namely, abortion and birth control — have reasserted themselves in the Legislature and on the presidential campaign trail. A recent burst of activity in Georgia reflects the national chatter on those issues.

For the first time, scientists have found evidence of flu in bats, reporting a never-before-seen virus whose risk to humans is unclear. The surprising discovery of genetic fragments of a flu virus is the first well-documented report of it in the winged mammals.

Seven Georgia hospitals -- including four in metro Atlanta -- scored worse than the national benchmark for cases of potentially-deadly bloodstream infections. Emory Midtown, Northside Hospital, Piedmont Henry Hospital and Southern Regional Medical Center all performed worse than their peers for rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units, according to new data released by the U.

Atlanta Medical Center and financially ailing South Fulton Medical Center announced Wednesday that they will seek state permission to consolidate the two hospitals. Both hospitals are owned by the Tenet Healthcare Corp. The 338-bed South Fulton Medical Center in East Point has been losing millions of dollars annually in recent years, according to reports filed with the state.

Trying to cut down on salt? Then push away the bread basket. Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, even more of a culprit than potato chips and pretzels, according to a new report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday.

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory is urging area Catholics to press their elected officials to reverse a federal mandate that requires church-affiliated institutions to offer health coverage that includes birth control services. On Sunday, area priests read a letter to parishioners during masses, in which Gregory called the decision a "direct attack on our religious freedom and our First Amendment rights.

In the 1960s, singer David Ruffin asked the question, “What becomes of the broken-hearted?” The answer, according to the American Heart Association, may be troubling. In a new study, the AMA reported the risk of heart attack may drastically increase after the loss of a close loved one, especially if the survivor has pre-existing heart problems.

A decade after millions of women went cold turkey on the hormone pills that controlled their hot flashes, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms, some doctors say the therapy is safe to try again. The once-feared hormone therapy is now offered in smaller doses and for a shorter time period, said Dr.

As Americans increasingly pay more out of pocket for their health care, millions are turning to retail clinics -- often located in pharmacies or grocery stores and requiring no appointment -- as a more convenient, cheaper alternative to a primary care doctor.

The impasse in Congress over extended payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits also has stalled action on a measure that could be crucial for physicians and seniors on Medicare: the “doc fix” plan. Action on a plan is needed before the end of the year to avert an automatic 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians.

Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars soon will be handed over to Grady Memorial Hospital with less control by elected officials over how it's being spent. If the roughly $50 million Fulton County will pay Grady isn't spent as intended, then Fulton County taxpayers could find themselves in the unenviable position of asking the hospital to give money back.

Brett Mathews had seen the symptoms before and so when her toddler’s eyes seemed irritated late one Friday, she knew trouble loomed. Her pediatrician’s office was closed for the weekend. And no matter how much she hoped otherwise, her son’s case of pink eye was going to get worse.

Piedmont Healthcare and Henry Medical Center announced Monday that their partnership deal has won approval from the state Attorney General's office -- the last step in finalizing the deal. The approval clears the way for Henry Medical to become an official part of the Piedmont system on January 1.

If things get any worse, and they most likely will, Ken and Robin Hulse may have to sell their home. It's hard to say what might happen. Every day since Ken was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease has brought with it a new set of problems and more uncertainty.

By the time lung cancer and back problems forced Geraldine Woelke into a nursing home, they had consumed her savings and left her only one option: Get on Medicaid to help pay the $5,000-a-month bill. "I never, ever thought that I'd be on Medicaid," said Woelke, 75, who had been living with her daughter in Villa Rica.

For Joanne Barrs, having medication delivered to her room at DeKalb Medical after a surgery in September was a surprising convenience. The 63-year-old from Stone Mountain didn’t have to sit in the car in pain as her husband waited in line at a pharmacy to fill her prescription.