During his time as CIO of Mayo Clinic, Cris Ross has transformed the Rochester, Minn.-based health system's IT strategy and led a systemwide medical record conversion program.

As 2019 comes to a close, hospital and health system CIOs are evaluating what they've accomplished in the past year and what comes next in supporting their organizations' overall missions of delivering quality care.

Even after securing millions to build an innovation hub, partnering with high-profile industry players to launch cutting-edge initiatives and gathering a dedicated team of innovators, a healthcare innovation program can still be easily sidelined if that team has not been properly trained in the art and science of innovation.

Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health on Dec. 13 said it paid an undisclosed amount in ransom to stop a cyberattack that had caused a two-day shutdown of its computer network last week, according to Asbury Park Press.

Optum, the health services arm of UnitedHealth, has a network of 46,000 physicians and is slated for significant growth. UnitedHealth wants Optum's annual revenue to hit $100 billion by 2028, and the company has a plan to make that happen, according to Business Insider.

Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton had decades of experience as medical debt collectors when they founded RIP Medical Debt in 2014. Since then, the nonprofit organization has helped eliminate medical debt for more than 500,000 people across the U.S.

From a nurse suing a Pennsylvania hospital over its flu shot policy to a health system paying $6 million to settle a data breach lawsuit, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.

Pittsburgh-based UPMC will host a special hiring event in New Castle, Pa., next week in support of employees affected by the closure of Ellwood City (Pa.) Medical Center.

Registered nurses at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley, Calif., said they will put a planned informational picket on hold after progress in negotiations with hospital management over staffing, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The FDA Dec. 13 approved Boston Scientific's device, the first fully disposable duodenoscope, designed to reduce the risk of infections in patients treated with the device.

By December, the total number of layoffs in the pharmaceutical industry was up 5.7 percent from 2018. 

One hundred and one hospitals and health systems took steps to implement a new EHR or fully deployed a new system in 2019.

Here are 10 recent health information technology vendor contracts and go-lives affecting healthcare organizations.

The CEO of Sequel Pomegranate in Columbus, Ohio, is no longer in her role amid a state probe into restraint incidents at the acute care hospital and psychiatric facility, according to local TV station WBNS. 

Residents who live close to a Medline Industries sterilization plant in Waukegan, Ill., have higher levels of a cancer-causing chemical in their blood, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago report cited by the Daily Herald. 

Assertio said Dec. 12 it will sell its shingles pain drug, Gralise, to Alvogen for $127.5 million. 

Paul Biondi, head of strategy and business development at Bristol-Myers Squibb since 2015, left the company last month for an undisclosed opportunity at a different company, according to Endpoints News. 

Aiken (S.C.) Regional Medical Centers cut 12 positions this month, the Aiken Standard reported. 

Becker's Hospital Review reported the following health IT executive moves recently affecting hospitals, companies and federal agencies.

Cerner's board of directors approved an amendment to its stock repurchase program on Dec. 13 that authorized the repurchase of up to $1.7 billion of the Kansas City, Mo.-based EHR vendor's common stock.