Brian Smolskis has been appointed COO of Lompoc (Calif.) Valley Medical Center.

Bayonne, N.J.-based CarePoint Health System has filed three WARN notices with the state, signaling potential layoffs as it explores financial restructuring options.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of HHS, has partnered with other federal agencies and health systems to create a national safety alliance as part of broader commitments from the federal government to reduce preventable harm and improve care quality industrywide.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has partnered with EHR vendors Oracle Health and Epic to help identify veterans receiving care outside of the VA system.

Starting Oct. 1, a Louisiana law will classify drugs used for abortion — mifepristone and misoprostol — as controlled substances, requiring hospitals to store them in locked cabinets, The Washington Post reported Sept. 17. 

Tom Keller is stepping down from his role as president and CEO of West Plains, Mo.-based Ozarks Healthcare for a new leadership position.

Beth Carlson, WVU Medicine's vice president of revenue cycle, described the Morgantown, W.Va.-based system's approach to payer denials with two words "fail fast." 

Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University has opened a new centralized "Mission Control Center," marking the first time since the initiative's 2017 launch that all technology and coordination teams have been housed in one location.

Tara Floyd, BSN, RN, is now the inaugural vice president and association chief nursing officer at Children's National Hospital.

Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) Medical Center has named Marko Serrano Jr. CFO. 

Dustin McFarland, MSN, RN, has been tapped as CEO of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Middletown (Del.).

Sentara RMH Medical Center in Harrisonburg, Va., will close its pediatric unit at the end of September, though officials emphasize the hospital will continue to provide care for children in the emergency department and make safe transfers when necessary. 

Wegovy and similar medicines have the potential to significantly reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks in "clinically silent patients," according to research from Dandelion Health. 

After a six-year legal battle, Beaufort (S.C.) Memorial Hospital has withdrawn its certificate of need for a planned hospital in Bluffton, S.C., the hospital confirmed in a statement shared with Becker's.

Christus Health is taking over the Medical Center of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, Texas, and plans to reopen the facility "in the coming months," according to a Sept. 18 news release shared with Becker's. 

UC Davis Health opened a special blood draw clinic for children with autism, Down syndrome and neurodevelopmental conditions.

AI chatbots could help fight the loneliness endemic, Julian De Freitas, PhD, assistant professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, wrote in an article for The Wall Street Journal.

The Association of American Medical Colleges has awarded UChicago Medicine and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine with the 2024 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement. 

Forty percent of all cancers are associated with modifiable risk factors, though there has been a 33% decline in the cancer death rate between 1991 and 2021, according to the American Association for Cancer Research's annual Cancer Progress Report. 

The American Association of Retired Persons recognized five nurses for their work to end health disparities and improve healthcare.