Federal health officials, citing a need to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, have temporarily halted some efforts to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments made to Medicare Advantage health plans.

Blue Shield of California venture Altais on Friday said it is acquiring Brown & Toland Physicians, a medical group serving 350,000 patients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Blood tests that measure a person’s antibodies to the coronavirus could be a powerful tool to determine when it’s safe to reopen the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic could cut dental insurance claims sharply this year, and a little bit for two years after that. Joanne Fontana and Thomas Murawski, actuaries at Milliman, make that prediction in a new analysis of the pandemic impact.

With growing signs of progress in the battle against the coronavirus, government officials and public health experts are beginning to talk more openly about the next phase: The gradual, highly targeted lifting of some social distancing restrictions that have devastated the economy.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, along with the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, have issued guidance aimed at ensuring Americans with private health insurance have coverage of COVID-19 diagnostic testing and certain other related services, including antibody testing, at no cost.