Axios

Several states have fewer doctors who can provide buprenorphine, a treatment for opioid addiction, than they do opioid overdose deaths, according to a new Avalere analysis. Nationally, there's an average of 1.6 opioid overdose deaths per provider who can prescribe buprenorphine, which is the gold standard of treatment.

Why this matters: This clearly shows a shortage in providers who can best treat opioid addicts or those who have overdosed, which is regulated by law. “Extending prescribing privileges to nurse practitioners and physician assistants can facilitate access to this evidence-based treatment," said Avalere's Caroline Pearson.

"The Opioid Diaries" is the first issue in TIME’s 95-year history devoted entirely to one photographer’s work. Over the past year, TIME commissioned acclaimed photographer James Nachtwey to document this crisis through the people on its front lines."

Mercy Health and Bon Secours Health System, two large Catholic hospital systems spanning seven states and with almost $9 billion in combined annual revenue, have agreed to merge. The two systems expect to complete the deal by the end of the year, pending state, federal and church approvals.

Go deeper: This is another major hospital system merger and builds on the industry's insatiable appetite to consolidate — with no clear benefits to patients.

This might be the best way to understand the Trump administration’s approach to the Affordable Care Act: the ACA’s exchanges, like health insurance itself, relied on healthy people subsidizing the cost of covering sick people — but they’re sliding deeper into something a lot more like a makeshift high-risk pool, in which healthy people are absent and the government simply pays to cover sick people.

Where it stands: The White House and congressional Republicans are not trying to change that reality. In some ways, they have accelerated it. At a minimum, they accept it.

Several HIV/AIDS patients have sued CVS Health, alleging the pharmacy giant flouted federal and state insurance laws by forcing patients into two options: fill their prescriptions at CVS locations or through CVS' mail order, or face thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.

The big picture: It's another lawsuit that raises questions about how people with Aetna health insurance, especially those with expensive chronic conditions, would be treated if CVS got approval to acquire Aetna for $69 billion.