In 2019, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association launched its high-performance network, dubbed Blue HPN. To date, 45 employers have chosen to offer Blue HPN as a network option for their employees, a number Jennifer Atkins, vice president of network solutions at BCBSA, said is set to grow.

Mike Cotton, the president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare's health plan SelectHealth, resigned, the Salt Lake City-based health system said Jan. 21.

From their thoughts on automated data collection to insight about what IT improvements are needed to expedite the COVID-19 vaccine rollout process, here are eight key quotes about the role of innovation in healthcare that executives from hospitals and health systems across the country recently shared with Becker's Hospital Review:

John Kapoor, the former CEO of Insys Therapeutics, agreed to pay New Jersey $5 million to settle allegations for his role in fueling the opioid epidemic, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced Jan. 21.

Amazon is teaming up Seattle-based health system Virginia Mason to establish a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site on Jan. 24, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced during a Jan. 21 news conference.

Information blocking among EHR vendors and health systems is still common despite policymakers' recent efforts to ban such practices, according to a January study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health integrated an artificial intelligence model developed by one of its physicians into its remote monitoring technology to predict patients' risk of a serious event over the next 12 hours.

A contract nurse working at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Pueblo, Colo., accidentally administered an empty syringe to a patient, local news station FOX 21 reported Jan. 21. 

Maryland Baptist Aged Home in Baltimore hasn't reported a single case of COVID-19, a rare instance as more than 1 million cases have been reported across the country's long-term care facilities, CBS News reports. 

The CDC said 10 cases of confirmed anaphylaxis have occurred in patients shortly after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, an average of 2.5 cases of anaphylaxis out of 1 million shots given. 

Surgeons at Murrieta, Calif.-based Loma Linda University Medical Center have performed their 200th transcatheter aortic valve replacement, according to a Jan. 21 news release. 

A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis looks at potential vaccination challenges by examining demographic characteristics of the 15.5 million health and long-term care workers who are estimated to have direct patient contact. These workers are included in the initial vaccination priority group and may be most at risk of patient contact with someone with the virus.   

As executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer at St. Louis-based Ascension, Eduardo Conrado has led several tech-based initiatives over the past year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine inked a neurosurgery research collaboration with Proprio, a Seatttle-based company that develops virtual reality technologies for surgery, according to a Jan. 21 news release.

Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody drug, bamlanivimab, significantly reduced the risk of contracting symptomatic COVID-19 in residents and staff of long-term care facilities, the drugmaker said Jan. 21. 

Almost 2,000 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled when a cleaning contractor accidentally loosened a plug on a freezer at Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center in Boston, The Boston Globe reported Jan. 21. 

More than 500 rural hospitals in the U.S. were at immediate risk of closure before the COVID-19 pandemic because of financial losses and lack of reserves to maintain operations, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines may not be as effective against the coronavirus variants that have appeared in other countries, including the U.K. and South Africa, Anthony Fauci, MD, the White House health adviser told CNBC Jan. 21.

The CDC updated federal vaccine recommendations Jan. 21 to allow second COVID-19 doses from a different manufacturer in "exceptional situations," reports The New York Times.

Cities and states across the U.S. are experiencing delays with their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, but some local health departments are working to alleviate residents' concerns about missing their chance to get the shot through new digital notification systems.